Little Explorers Day Nursery & Pre-School

Little Explorers Day Nursery & Pre-School Unit 4, The Square, Grampound Road, Truro, Cornwall, TR2 4DS

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 20/02/2013 31/01/2011

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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

 At this good nursery, children access a wide range of high quality, exciting play and learning activities. All children make good progress in their communication and language, physical, personal, emotional and social development.  Staff are well qualified. They have good knowledge of how children learn and provide very professional and skilful support to enhance children's learning across the seven areas of learning.  The children are developing the habits of effective learners. They are enthusiastic and motivated. They confidently initiate and extend their learning experiences with good support from staff.  Children's safety is of prime importance. They are developing personal resilience and increasingly good emotional well-being and self-confidence as a result of consistently effective praise and encouragement.  Leaders are always looking at ways to improve the quality of learning and development

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This provision is good

provision offered. They know the strengths of the setting and are quick to respond to identified areas for improvement.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 The provider has introduced an effective system of observation and assessment .  The provider makes good use of parents, children's and staff's comments and feedback to evaluate the effectiveness of the setting.

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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 inspectors observed a range of learning activities.  They held meetings with leaders and parents.

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Inspection activities

 The inspectors checked evidence of suitability and qualifications of practitioners working with children, and improvement plans.  They looked at children’s assessment records and planning documentation.

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Information about the setting

Little Explorers Day Nursery & Pre-school was registered in 2007. It operates from a detached, converted, two storey building in the village of Grampound Road, near Truro. There is a secure enclosed outdoor play area for children’s use. The setting is open each weekday from 08.00 to 17.30 for 50 weeks of the year and is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary part of the Childcare register. There are currently 43 children on roll of whom 43 are in the early years age range. The setting is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education to children aged three and four years. There are six members of staff who work directly with the children. Of these, three hold Level 3 qualifications, and three are qualified to Level 4.

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

 improve the educational programmes for the youngest children and babies by: focusing strongly on the prime areas for development; and increasing the broad and varied range of activities targeted at the child's individual learning needs

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

 extend older children's physical development and progress by providing further opportunities to challenge their physical capabilities and risk taking.

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who attend

Children's learning and development is of prime concern to staff and children are active and motivated learners. Parents take an active role in encouraging and supporting their child's learning. For instance, one three year old child arrived with a pen and pad of notepaper because they had told their parents that they wanted to develop their writing skills and pronunciation of beginnings and endings of words.

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who attend

Staff place a strong focus on providing exciting activities. For instance, they turn the imaginative play area into a Chinese takeaway following the celebration of the new year of the snake. Child initiated play is well supported by skilful staff who help children to improve their capacity to learn across the range of activities including role play; using soft noodles to explore texture; drawing and storytelling. In the Chinese takeaway role play area, when asked a three-year-old child provides the adult with a menu. The child carefully writes the adults request for soup on the order pad. 'It will be ten minutes' said the child. The adult refers to the Chinese animal symbols on the menu and asks the child if they have a tiger? The child responds; 'No tiger but there is a rabbit'. Without hesitation, the child heads off into the playroom and returns with a stuffed rabbit and gives it to the adult. The child provides the adult with their soup and asks for £10. The child counts

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who attend

correctly up to ten when encouraged to do so. A four year old confidently counts to 17 when counting the number of spots on the snake drawing. Children's language and numeracy skills are positively encouraged through effective interactions with adults.

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who attend

Boys and girls make good progress towards the early learning goals. There is a clear focus on speaking and listening, personal, social, emotional and physical development within the educational programmes. Consequently, children are growing in confidence and social adaptability. For instance, a three-year-old boy created a Chinese fan drawing a picture of 'mummy'. When finished the child confidently walked across room to show a visitor their finished picture. They glowed with pride when they were praised for their good work. Children are increasingly outgoing with unfamiliar adults and are growing in confidence when faced with the new social situations. The provider is developing increasingly effective links with agencies, schools, and other providers to ensure children are well prepared socially and emotionally as they move on to the next phase of their education.

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who attend

Babies also make good progress in their learning. Learning journeys provide accurate accounts of routine observations and assessments of children’s development over time. Individualised questioning and collaborations with parents ensure that key information about the child is obtained prior to admission. This critical assessment is used as an initial starting point by staff as they begin to measure the child's progress. Babies access good quality physical play as they crawl through tunnels, and pull themselves to standing on soft furniture. When asked, babies point to their noses and eyes. They are enthralled when listening to the story 'We are going on a bear hunt'. The adult makes very effective use of their tone of voice to make the story exciting and capture the children’s imagination. One two-year-old year old says; ‘We not scared’ and they show a keen enjoyment of this much loved book. Most activities provided for babies and the youngest children support their good progress.

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who attend

However, some, such as the making of Chinese lanterns, do not meet their specific learning needs and lack too little focus on the prime areas of learning, which are crucial to the development of babies and young children.

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who attend

Children are developing a good range of skills as they become increasingly good at tending to their personal care needs. For instance, a two-year-old child confidently says that she needs to get her coat in preparation for outdoor play. She puts on her coat accepting adult help to fasten the buttons. She is a very able child for her age and she is developing her independence through effective routines and unobtrusive support from adults.

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who attend

During outdoor play, children move freely and confidently. They squeal with delight as they spin around, fall down laughing; they chase each other and join in singing rhymes, acting out and imitating the noises of animals as part of the activity. Outdoor play is incorporated into daily planning and is supporting good progress in children's physical development. However, there are limited opportunities for children to take calculated risks and further extend their physical capabilities.

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

The setting is safe and secure. Children's emotional well-being is effectively promoted and encouraged as adults make good use of positive praise and encouragement. Staff are trusted by children and parents; they are kind and caring and there are strong personal relationships and emotional bonds between children and staff. Consequently, children are provided with good care, guidance and support. For instance, children receive sensitive and attentive support when they feel poorly or when they are upset.

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

Children are developing a good understanding of safe behaviour and how to keep themselves safe. Their behaviour is consistently good and impacts positively on their learning and development. They reflect on consequences of actions as they consider the story of 'Goldilocks'. A group of three and four-year-olds considered whether Goldilocks's behaviour was of concern. One four-year-old concluded; 'She shouldn't go into other people’s houses 'cos she might get hurt'.

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

The key worker system is very effective and staff know children and their individual needs, likes and dislikes. For instance, staff are well aware of babies weaning and personal care needs. Meals take account of children's particular dietary requirements. Babies are appropriately supported in their weaning programmes and solid foods are made a safe consistency using a food processor. In the baby unit, a 23 month-old-child helps as they hand out drinks to the babies and other children. This shows how young children are developing their independence and taking responsibility for tasks. Mealtimes are happy and relaxed. The babies are well protected from potential risks of choking because all staff are trained in paediatric first aid. Meals are healthy and nutritious and cultural dishes such as noodles and chicken Korma are especially popular with the children.

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provision

Importantly, leaders are driven by their ambitions for the nursery to become an increasingly effective centre of high quality provision. The nursery is being effectively led and managed during a time of transition. Leaders have revised policies and procedures and reviewed systems to ensure all requirements of the new Early Years Foundation Stage are met. Changes to the observation and assessment processes are making a positive difference to the effectiveness and accuracy of the way staff monitor and record children’s learning and developmental progress.

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provision

The provider has clear plans which drive continuous improvement. Leaders are determined not to stand still or become complacent and constantly seek out knowledge and information to reinforce existing good practice. These confident leaders easily reach out to and engage with other professionals to support their journey towards improvement. For instance, they are working closely with a training partner to support their moderation and quality assurance processes of their observations and assessments. An area for improvement at the last inspection, assessments are now robust and established as the key method to record and analyse children's progress, and clearly set out the next steps in children's learning. Skilled and well-qualified staff at the setting demonstrate a good knowledge and understanding of how children learn. They plan exciting and stimulating educational programmes which are highly influenced by children's interests and learning

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provision

needs, especially in the pre-school room.

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provision

The provider makes good use of parent, child and staff's comments and feedback to evaluate the effectiveness of the provision. This too was an area for improvement at the last inspection. For instance, a planting and growing project was developed in the outdoor play area as a result of feedback and suggestions from parents. Parent satisfaction surveys are completed each year and show high levels of satisfaction with the nursery and their child's safety and learning and development.

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provision

Performance management arrangements have been a constant feature of this good nursery. To drive further improvement and to support the professional development of the staff, leaders are introducing a new approach to supervision and annual appraisal. The staff team consists of well-qualified professionals, all of whom are qualified to at least Level 3 in childcare and education.

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provision

The centre’s safeguarding arrangements are thorough. Successful multi-agency working between key agencies ensures that child protection concerns are swiftly acted upon. Recruitment procedures are comprehensive, and include Criminal Records Bureau checks. All staff attend regular training to update their professional knowledge of child protection.

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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 EY355980 Local authority Cornwall Inspection number 905069 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 18 - 25 Total number of places 29 Number of children on roll 43 Name of provider Sonya MacIntosh Date of previous inspection 31/01/2011 Telephone number 01726 883 444

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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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