Small World Nurseries Ltd

Small World Nurseries Limited Tudor House, Manchester Road, Castleton, Rochdale, Lancashire, OL11 3AD

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 30/01/2013 21/02/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: 2 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 Children are provided with a broad range of learning experiences across all seven areas of learning. The learning environment is well resourced and planned for with good quality equipment which offers children interest and challenge.  There is a particularly strong focus on children developing good communication and language skills and social skills which lay a strong foundation for their future learning.  The management team are highly supportive of staff developing their skills and knowledge through training and by effective mentoring by senior staff.  The whole staff team are highly committed and enthusiastic in their work with children and eagerly bring newly acquired knowledge to their daily practice to ensure all children achieve.  Children are happy settled and confident in their interactions with adults and their peers.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Pre-school children have limited access to interact with age-appropriate computer software to extend their learning.  Monitoring of the revised observation, assessment and planning systems for children's learning are not yet fully implemented to ensure that children have exceptional educational programmes.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections of registered early years provision are scheduled:  at least once in every inspection cycle. The current cycle ends on 31 July 2016  more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged as inadequate  brought forward in the inspection cycle where Ofsted has received information that suggests the provision may not be meeting the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage; or where assessment of the provision identifies a need for early inspection  prioritised for inspection where we have received information that the provision is not meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and which suggests children may not be safe  at the completion of an investigation into failure to comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Information about this inspection

The provision is also registered on the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. This report includes a judgment about compliance with the requirements of that register.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in all the playrooms.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held meetings with the manager and operational manager, and spoke to room leaders and childcare staff at appropriate times throughout the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's observation, assessment and planning documentation, the nursery's action plan and a selection of policies, including safeguarding and risk assessments.  The inspector carried out a joint observation of an activity with the manager.  The inspector took into account the views of parents spoken to on the day.

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Information about the setting

Small World Nurseries Limited @ Tudor House registered in 2001 and is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It operates from three buildings on one site in the Castleton area of Rochdale and is managed by Small World Nurseries Limited. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children. There is a fully enclosed area available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 16 members of child care staff. Of these, nine hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3, two hold early years qualifications at level 4 and two hold early years qualifications at level 2. The manager holds Early Years Professional Status. The nursery opens Monday to Friday all year round. Sessions are from 7am until 7pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The nursery also offers before and after school care and holiday care. There are currently 65 children attending who are within the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four- year-old children. It supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language and children with special needs and/or disabilities.

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To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 improve pre-school children's access to and ability to explore and operate information and communication technology equipment, such as the computer and age-appropriate software packages

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To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 monitor the implementation of the revised observation, assessment and planning procedures to ensure the first rate practice already achieved is sustained and constantly improved upon.

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who attend

Children are cared for in a warm welcoming learning environment which is planned thoughtfully so they can play and explore using the good range of quality toys and equipment available. The whole staff team have a well-developed knowledge and understanding of children's individual needs and interests and have high expectations of what children can achieve. This successfully enables them to respond to their individual care, learning and developmental needs. Those children who have identified special needs are progressing well because their key person demonstrates a good level of commitment to ensuring they achieve their full potential. Observation, assessment and planning documentation for all children is in place which means that their individual progress is carefully observed, recorded and their next steps planned for. The tracking of children's progress is routinely linked to the revised 'Development Matters in the Early Years

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who attend

Foundation Stage'. This clearly shows that all children are within their developmental age bands and are making good progress given their starting points and capabilities. The pre- school room leader attends local cluster group meetings with the local primary schools to share information and reception teachers are invited to visit children in nursery to observe and get to know them in a familiar setting. Parents are involved in their children's learning by contributing their observations and sharing children's achievements within their children's learning journeys. Both parents and staff celebrate children's successes in all areas of learning through the recent implementation of the 'Our Exciting News' board. The staff caring for younger children show a good knowledge and understanding of how and when to implement the assessment check for children aged two years and actively involve parents with this.

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who attend

A range of activities are available to support children's understanding of the world. As a result, all children have lots of opportunities to explore and investigate through sensory play, using a variety of materials. For example, babies explore what they can see, hear and feel, such as sensory bags filled with dried pasta or paper. While children in the two- to three-year-old room make marks in shaving foam with cars and trucks. Painting and gluing and sticking activities enable children to express themselves creatively. Well- planned role play areas, such as the shop and a camp site in the pre-school room, enable them to be imaginative and act out real life scenarios. Babies' early understanding of technology is fostered through playing with push button toys, while three-year-old children are adept at turning music players on. Currently, pre-school children have limited access to a computer which impacts on their opportunities to practice and refine their developing

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who attend

skills in using information communication technology.

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who attend

Group and story times are used very effectively to develop children's listening, language and communication skills. Planned activities, such as 'Sing and Sign' in the under two's room and 'Looking and Listening' for the children aged over two, also successfully promote children's social skills as they learn to share and take turns. In the pre-school room, the 'Story of the Month' is used to introduce children to well-loved stories which ignite their interest. This successfully promotes active learning and enables them to be creative and think critically. For example, following the current story about a 'superworm', children search for worms in the garden which they cover with soil and bring indoors. The staff support children effectively by enhancing play areas with tools and materials to enable children to follow their interests, and extend their own ideas and thinking, such as making 'worms' in the workshop or with play dough.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Pre-school children who are in their final year of nursery do not have direct access to the outdoor area for continuous indoor and outdoor provision. As a result, the staff ensure that the daily routines incorporate daily access to fresh air and exercise, both in the morning and afternoon. Planned music sessions are used effectively to build on children's personal, social and emotional development as they listen carefully to music and songs and learn to take turns as they play musical instruments of their choice. They move with great care around the room, as they reach high and low or beat the instruments rhythmically, fast or slow.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Each of the children's rooms provides good quality learning opportunities with accessible resources at children's height, enabling children to play and explore. All resources are placed at a low-level in the baby room, and activities are planned to take place on the floor or at low-level tables. Babies become aware of themselves as they look at their reflection in low-level mirrors, as staff support them by talking to them about what they can see. Staff are attentive, sensitive and caring towards the children, helping them to feel safe and secure, particularly during periods of transition as children settle into nursery, progress from room-to-room or move on to school. They embark on short taster sessions with their key person to their new room. While daily verbal exchanges of information between the parents and the children's key person ensure children's individual needs are continually identified and met.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Lunch and snack time routines are well-established where children sit with their key person or another adult. All children show good levels of knowledge and understanding of their own needs and develop good independence skills, such as washing their hands and faces, feeding themselves or choosing appropriate cutlery. They move around safely and confidently and show a good understanding of the daily routines which keep them safe and effectively promote their sense of security and belonging. This is achieved by the whole staff team being effective role models. For example, two- and three-year-old children promptly stand to one side when asked, as a member of staff carries hot food across the outdoor area to the baby unit. Pre-school children have good opportunities to practice real life skills and develop their understanding of healthy eating. A favourite and often repeated activity is using money from the shop in the role play area to buy food

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provision

Children are safeguarded by a professional staff team who have a good understanding of safeguarding children and keep up-to-date with training. There is a clear line of management for the reporting of concerns and in each of the children's rooms the safeguarding procedures are displayed. Robust systems are in place to ensure the ongoing suitability and professional development of all staff. Arrangements for safeguarding children within the provision are good. Children are allowed to explore their surroundings and are appropriately physically challenged. The inspection took place following a concern raised by a member of the public regarding the safety of children being transported to school by car. The inspection found that the manager and staff were fully aware of their responsibilities in keeping children safe and took all the necessary steps for appropriate car seats, seat belts and insurance to be in place. In addition, risk assessments for

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provision

transporting children are used on a daily basis to make sure risks are minimised or eliminated. Risk assessments for the indoor and outdoor environments are of good quality and reviewed and updated on a regular basis to ensure that children continue to be cared for in a safe environment.

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provision

The management team demonstrates a high level of commitment to support staff training to ensure they are confident, capable and develop their professional skills. This is achieved through staff meetings, in-house and external training, and mentoring and role modelling by senior staff, as well as peer observations. The nursery staff team have joined up with other local nurseries to share good practice and the cost of external training. The whole staff team are enthusiastic, committed and take pride in their work to ensure that all children enjoy valuable learning experiences. They eagerly bring back ideas from any training they have attended and quickly implement these, such as developing more resources in the sensory/sleep room in the baby unit. At a recent staff meeting, staff suggested changes to the way they observe and plan for children's next steps in learning. This means they plan for and follow children's interests more effectively to promote more

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provision

active learning. As a result, staff show they are effective reflective practitioners. Monitoring of the changes is not yet fully implemented to ensure that all children benefit from the staff striving towards excellent practice.

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provision

The management team has a secure understanding of their responsibilities in meeting the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. For example, the monitoring of different groups of children is in place, in order to identify any group falling behind their peers or below their expected achievements. Recommendations from the last inspection have been successfully completed and have improved the quality of the learning environment and children's play and learning experiences. Development and action plans for the future are well-targeted to drive further improvement and include the views of parents and children.

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provision

The nursery's engagement with parents is very good. They are actively invited to contribute their ideas comments and observations if their child has a new interest or achievement and through the termly parents meetings. They are consulted about changes through the Friends of Small World Nurseries meetings. Parents are welcome to contribute their ideas and skills to give children interesting learning experiences, such as coming into nursery and cooking with them. There is a strong ethos for staff to support all children, especially those with special needs and/or disabilities. As a result, all staff have high aspirations for children's individual progress through effective partnership working with parents and other professionals. Parents comment extremely positively about the professionalism of the staff team, their approachability, how they feel confident that their children are safe and well cared for and the good quality of the support and advice given

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provision

to them, especially during the settling-in period.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are Met

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 Satisfactory Satisfactory provision is performing less well than expectations in one or more of the key areas. It requires improvement in order to be good. Grade 4 Inadequate Provision that is inadequate requires significant improvement and/or enforcement. The provision is failing to give children an acceptable standard of early years education and/or is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be inspected again within 12 months of the date of this inspection.

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Grade Judgement Description

Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider does not meet the requirements for registration.

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Inspection

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under Sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 503594 Local authority Rochdale Inspection number 899098

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 94 Number of children on roll 81 Name of provider Small World Nurseries Limited Date of previous inspection 21/02/2011 Telephone number 01706 861 103

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Type of provision

set out in the guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

Full-time provision is that which operates for more than three hours. These are usually known as nurseries, nursery schools and pre-schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the higher fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Sessional provision operates for more than two hours but does not exceed three hours in any one day. These are usually known as pre-schools, kindergartens or nursery schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the lower fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Childminders care for one or more children where individual children attend for a period of more than two hours in any one day. They operate from domestic premises that are usually their own home. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Type of provision

Out of school provision may be sessional or full-time provision and is delivered before or after school and/or in the summer holidays. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Where children receive their Early Years Foundation Stage in school these providers do not have to deliver the learning and development requirements in full but should complement the experiences children receive in school. achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children,

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Type of provision

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Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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