Tops Day Nursery - Lakeside

Tops Day Nursery Lakeside North Harbour, Western Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO6 3EN

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 06/03/2013 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: Not Applicable 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

 Staff know the children well and plan a range of activities that help the children learn and develop through their play.  There are positive relationships with the parents and carers, which supports the children's continuity of care and learning.  Staff's interaction with the children promotes their confidence and well-being.  Children are encouraged to explore the environment and access a wide range of good quality resources.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Staff have not developed the range of resources available in the garden to support all areas of children's individual learning.  The deployment of staff during activities such as story time is not always effective in preventing children from disturbing each other.

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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

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Information about this inspection

 scheduled more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged 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 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  scheduled 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 the children undertaking a range of activities.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled the records kept on the children, including their learning journeys.  The inspector spoke to management, parents, staff and children.  The inspector undertook a nature walk with the nursery staff and children.  The inspector invited the manager to undertake a joint observation.

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Information about the setting

Tops Day Nursery Lakeside registered in 2012. It is part of the Tops Day Nursery chain which has 15 nurseries in the south of England. The nursery building is an eco-friendly building situated in the business park at North Harbour in Portsmouth, Hampshire. The area is easily accessible with parking facilities nearby and a free shuttle bus from the train station. Children use two nursery rooms with age and stage appropriate activities and resources. The nursery accepts children from the age of three months to seven years. There are two enclosed outside play areas and one area has an all weather space. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and on the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently 30 children on roll aged from four months. The nursery is open all year including bank holidays, from 6am until 8pm, subject to local demand. Before and after school care provision is available for children aged

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Information about the setting

under eight years. The nursery employs a manager and three staff to work with the children. All staff hold qualifications in early years and childcare, with three staff qualified to level 6.

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

 provide additional resources outside to enhance children's learning and development across the areas of learning while they are in the garden

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

 review the organisation of story time and deployment of staff to enable staff to intervene when needed in order to support children's personal and social, and literacy development.

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who attend

Children enjoy coming to the nursery. They have settled quickly into their new environment, enjoying the wide range of activities that are on offer. Staff know children well and this enables them to promote and consolidate children's learning through their day-to-day interaction. Staff create specific play plans using observations previously made on the children. This helps to support each child's next steps for learning and to incorporate children's changing interests. Staff have a good understanding of children's learning and development and how they link into the Early Years Foundation Stage. This, along with good quality teaching, results in children making good progress in their learning towards the early learning goals.

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who attend

Children participate in interesting and challenging activities and become independent as they choose what to play with. They enjoy going on nature walks in the local environment where they learn to understand more about the world around them. They develop their understanding of numbers as they count the steps as they go up and down. They learn about cause and effect as they play 'Pooh sticks' on a bridge, waiting patiently to see which stick the river flow will bring first. They look closely at the different birds as they feed them, discussing the different shaped beaks that ducks and Canadian geese have.

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who attend

Indoors children sit and engage in purposeful and stimulating conversations with staff about what they are doing. This enables children to contribute their own thoughts and knowledge and develop good communication and language skills. For example, they discuss what and how they are making objects with bricks. The staff talk about number and size through incidental play, helping children to gain an understanding of mathematical language and number concepts. Children enjoy listening to stories. However, when a few children become unsettled and need comfort during story time, the organisation and deployment of staff does not always work effectively. This results in some children not being able to hear the story because it is too noisy and this has an impact on their developing literacy skills.

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who attend

Babies receive good support from their key worker because the staff confidently know their learning and care needs. Staff encourage babies to investigate and explore their surroundings through many different activities. For example, they experiment and express themselves with paint, putting it on their hands and on brushes to make marks on the paper. Babies have many resources to use to develop their large muscle physical skills. They competently use the climbing resources, smiling as they whoosh down the slide and clamber into the rocking boat where they sing songs with the staff. All of the activities and the staff's good interactions help prepare children for transition to their next stage in learning.

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

Staff protect children and safeguard their welfare. Effective procedures are in place to help the children learn about their own safety and staff are vigilant in making sure the environment is safe. All staff have undertaken safeguarding training and the systems in place help support staff if they had a concern about a child's welfare. Staff effectively monitor the arrival and departure of children to help ensure that the door is only opened to people they know or who have their identification checked. This helps keep children safe.

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

Children who are new to the nursery receive good support from their key worker, to help them feel safe and content. Staff exchange good quality information with parents before a child starts to find out about their specific needs, likes and routines. This supports continuity of care and education and helps the child to feel secure. Children develop their own independence and exploration as they select resources and choose what activities to engage with. The children behave well, share and take turns as they play, which contributes to their personal and social development.

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

The nursery provides children with a rich learning environment. The displays of children's creative work, an airy light play environment and the good teaching by staff are all conducive to children's sense of belonging and learning. The resources are of a good quality and displayed to encourage children to make free choices about what they do and play with. The division of the room means that the older and younger children have a separate base area to play in, with appropriate resources to support their ages and stages of development. This helps children feel secure and contributes to their successful learning.

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

Each age group has their own garden, although when numbers are low children happily play together in the room and garden. Children begin to learn to play safely outside by seeing pictorial risk assessments around the garden. There are some fun and interesting resources available to children in the garden. However, the range available does not always provide children, who learn better outside, with extensive and challenging play opportunities. This has an impact on some children's learning and how well staff are able to create a fully inclusive learning environment outside.

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

Children develop an understanding about keeping healthy and staff support them to become independent in their self-care skills. They wash their hands before eating, knowing that it is to get rid of germs. They blow their noses and dispose of the tissue in the nearby bin. At snack time they learn to pour drinks for themselves. Staff sit with the children, making snack time an enjoyable social occasion. Focused activities help children understand what foods are good for their teeth and which are not. Staff share this activity with the parents to extend their child's learning and understanding of good health at home.

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provision

Each child has a key worker who establishes good relationships with the parents. Systems are in place to help ensure that staff talk regularly to parents about their child's care, learning and development. Staff keep parents informed about activities their child has enjoyed and their next steps for learning. This enables parents to continue their child's learning at home to help them progress further in their development.

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provision

Senior management monitor the planning and delivery of the education programme. They meet with staff regularly to identify any gaps in children's learning and build upon the child's previous achievements. This helps ensure children make at least good progress in their overall development. Regular appraisals and meetings take place with the staff. This enables them to highlight strengths and areas for development in their practice and identify training to promote their professional development. All of this contributes to the improvement in outcomes for children. Senior management have undertaken the first evaluation of the nursery as part of their drive to make further improvements in the care and learning for each child. There are plans in place to incorporate the staff and parents' views in future evaluations. Development plans show that there is a clear vision of how to move forward successfully to meet the needs of the children in this new nursery.

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provision

All of the staff are experienced in the field of childcare. The staff team work successfully together to offer the children a wide range of activities and experiences that promote their education and well-being. All children receive good levels of support to help them make progress and they benefit from the positive interaction and teaching by the knowledgeable staff.

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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 action. 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 EY449315 Local authority Portsmouth Inspection number 885603 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 61 Number of children on roll 30 Name of provider Tops Day Nursery Limited Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 02392215786

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Setting details

set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: 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, which are usually the childminder’s 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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