University Of Portsmouth Nursery

University Of Portsmouth Nursery The Quadrant, Milldam, Burnaby Road, Portsmouth, PO1 3AS

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 01/03/2013 17/09/2010

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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

 The nursery maintains a high level of organisation and managers show a dedicated and committed response to continually evaluating the provision and planning for improvements.  There are comprehensive systems in place for safeguarding children and for sharing information with parents, staff and the university.  The nursery managers and staff competently promote partnership with parents; they show a very inclusive attitude and clearly support families and meet family needs.  Practitioners in the pre-school room have high expectations for all children and this is the result of a focused learning environment which spontaneously uses child-led initiatives to promote children's progress.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 There are limited opportunities for children to choose for themselves to play outdoors during the session.  There is less challenge for younger children during some planned activities; particularly for activities that promote good concentration and language skills.

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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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Inspection activities

 The inspector toured the nursery premises.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in three age-related nursery rooms and tracked children during activities.  The inspector spoke with staff, children and parents.  The inspector viewed documentation in the nursery rooms and with managers.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector gave the inspection judgements at feedback to both managers of the nursery.

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Information about the setting

The University of Portsmouth Nursery registered in 1979 and is owned and managed by the University. It operates from purpose-built accommodation within the university campus and serves children of university students and staff. Children are cared for in three age-related rooms with toilet and kitchen facilities. There are two enclosed outdoor play areas. Children attend from a wide catchment area. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register. It is open each weekday from 8:30am until 6pm for 50 weeks of the year. There are currently 41 children aged from six months on roll. The nursery supports children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Staff also supports children learning English as an additional language. The nursery operates in line with the HighScope educational philosophy and provides places for funded early education. The nursery employs 17 members of staff and all staff hold appropriate early years qualifications.

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Information about the setting

There is one member of staff who has Early Years Professional Status.

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

 arrange flexible indoor and outdoor play provision to further extend the use of the purpose built outdoor play area

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

 plan more first hand experiences and challenges appropriate to the next steps in development for younger children, particularly with regard to developing their concentration and language skills.

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who attend

The nursery staff show high levels of attention and interest in children's play and learning. They effectively implement the Highscope philosophy as children progress through the nursery rooms. This encourages older children to gain independence and confidence in planning and organising their own routines and activities. Older children talk about what they will do next and they come together in small groups to share their experiences. Staff competently engage children and gain their attention during group singing. They encourage children to choose songs and children show they are keen to sing and they know the words to many different songs. Staff expertly hold children's attention by singing quietly and at times they use actions instead of words. They introduce numbers in songs and children show clear skills of recognising and reducing the number of 'monkeys jumping on the bed'. Children are eager to use their imagination as they talk to staff about

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who attend

their paintings. They make different coloured marks with paint and say these are footprints that will lead to the treasure. Staff expertly extend children's conversation and respond with suitable questions to develop children's thinking and encourage their language skills.

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who attend

Younger children are responsibly learning to follow daily routines and staff help them to make independent decisions. Children dig in the sand and fill containers, they sit together to play games on the computer, learning to take turns and share. Children show strong enthusiasm for outside play opportunities and staff competently recognise the wider benefits of outdoor play provision. However the nursery has not yet implemented the action plan for providing flexible indoor and outdoor play. Children relish the opportunity to run and be active, they ride on bicycles and scooters; they manoeuvre wheeled vehicles and gain physical strength in pushing and pulling items. Children learn how to balance on the see-saw and increase their momentum. They seek quiet times in the outdoor play house and pretend to use telephones, naming numbers as they randomly press the buttons and pretend to talk.

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who attend

Staff encourage children through dialogue and gestures in the baby and toddler room. They provide ample freedom for children to move independently and children show increasing awareness and capability. Toddlers use play tools on the work bench and understand how to fit spanners and turn bolts. They happily play alone for extended periods. They feel and touch the sand learning how to use shovels and fill containers. Staff attentively follow children's individual needs for care and incorporate activities spontaneously at times. They read from books and talk about pictures. However, there is sometimes less challenge during play for individual children, which results in less focus on extending children's concentration and language skills.

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who attend

Nursery staff regularly plan activities together and in the younger age groups these are general. As children progress through the nursery rooms there is more specific planning linked with children's next steps in development. This is based on the strong level of knowledge that key staff hold and gain through observations and assessments for individual children. Children's ongoing progress is included in a new nursery tracking system and managers can use this to strengthen any areas of learning and narrow gaps in achievement. The nursery provides written assessments for all children each term and these focus on the prime areas of learning for younger children attending.

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who attend

The nursery has highly effective procedures to link with parents and promote children's learning. Many families attending the nursery are encouraged to use and develop their home language. Parents have arranged meetings with their children's key worker every term following the children's termly assessments. In this way parents are fully informed about their children's development and they can share information and contribute to children's learning.

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

The nursery has a strong team of competent and knowledgeable staff who have worked together for many years. Staff have experience and value their role as key workers, they show competent skills of observing and responding to children's needs. Staff follow regular daily routines and there are visual displays for children of all ages. These routines encourage children to be independent and to often make decisions for themselves. Children show a clear understanding of their individual responsibility for following routines. For example, children pause at collection time to move their registration photograph to the correct position before they leave the nursery. Staff encourage children to respond to tidying toys and play equipment. They often use a timer to show children how to recognise five minutes. This encourages children's positive behaviour and they recognise and respond to clearing up when they hear the music that signifies this.

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

All nursery children have their own routines for settling and staff work with parents from the start. They follow individual feeding and sleeping times throughout the day to support and maintain children's emotional well being and strengthen their sense of belonging. Younger children are encouraged to develop relationships by making space for each other at the sand tray. Older children learn to take turns when speaking at group time. They share time on the computer and they are encouraged to show care for each other when they accidently collide during outdoor play. Children show they instantly respond to each other's needs from a young age. For example, when toddlers automatically turn off some of the lights because babies have gone to sleep. Staff instantly recognise the toddler's positive response and their level of understanding.

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

Children show that they feel safe in the nursery because they have developed good relationships with staff. They learn to recognise and follow the daily routines and this develops security in knowing what happens next. Children negotiate their movements safely during indoor and outdoor play, especially when using larger apparatus or manoeuvring and steering wheeled toys. They manage steps to reach the play area and they sometimes use the stairs inside the building to play or take part in music and dance activities on the first floor. Children learn about fire safety through first-hand experiences, when they tried on fire fighter's hats and squirted water from the fire engines hose. They also take part in regular fire drills with staff. Children learn about risk taking with animals because the nursery organise farm visits and children hold and feel different animals.

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

The nursery fully promotes children's understanding of dental cleanliness and hygiene. Staff include regular daily teeth brushing to music for the two older nursery rooms. Children practise brushing their teeth for the full length of the music and staff sit with children to encourage all brushing actions. Children show they are keen to take part and they manage well.

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

All the nursery rooms are very well-equipped and children can choose and play with items at their level. There are planned areas for activities and low level furniture and fittings, which enable staff to display photographs and time lines at child height. The purposeful design of the rooms benefits children and supports their all round development. This in turn promotes their confidence and prepares children for transitions.

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provision

The nursery managers have very clear and focused attitudes towards their responsibilities for promoting children's learning and development. They have increased staff knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage and incorporated the prime and specific areas of learning in the children's records of development. The managers are highly innovative in applying new technology to help in monitoring the educational provision. They recognise the flexibility that this will provide in measuring many areas of children's progress. The nursery has extensive systems in place for safeguarding children and the managers have the support of the wider university provision. There are dedicated policies and procedures which cover all areas of safeguarding and the managers and staff review these regularly to meet any changes in the regulations. All staff have attended child protection training and know their responsibilities for raising concerns. The managers are competent

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provision

and know how to refer any concerns or allegations to relevant agencies. The nursery provides all parents with copies of the main policies and procedures to ensure that they are well informed. There are also clear and concise details for recording any complaints from parents and the nursery maintains and stores all records confidentially.

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provision

The nursery managers follow very well organised systems for checking staff suitability to work with children. They have precise tracking records of clearance and all details are available. The nursery works closely with the human resources department of the university for staff employment, supervision and appraisals. Staff confirm they have regular room meetings and there are weekly meetings between the managers and room representatives as well as whole nursery meetings. This promotes staff understanding and links with driving improvements. All staff have qualifications in childcare and early years education and new staff follow an induction process and complete a trial period. The managers work with staff to seek and plan any new training. There are many systems in place to evaluate different areas of the provision and the nursery has been part of the pilot for completing this. This has enabled the nursery to develop an action plan which

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provision

shows the areas for planned improvements. For example, the recent changes to developing the assessment of children and forthcoming changes to the planning for activities. The nursery use parent questionnaires and staff have taken part in an independent survey.

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provision

The nursery has close links within the community and with other agencies, as well as the university. The managers provide regular newsletters and use the nursery website to share information. They have established systems to share information with other settings and this includes verbal liaison with childminders to monitor children's ongoing development.

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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 143572 Local authority Portsmouth Inspection number 902968 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 38 Number of children on roll 41 Name of provider University of Portsmouth Date of previous inspection 17/09/2010 Telephone number 02392 842299 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

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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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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