Noah's Ark Childrens Nursery

Noah's Ark Nursery Lancing Manor Park, Manor Road, Lancing, West Sussex, BN15 0PH

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 22/03/2013 16/07/2009

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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

 Staff fully consider children's abilities and needs in group activities such as singing, as they give them options to use additional resources, which effectively supports their confidence and self-esteem.  Children are safe because staff implement good measures to provide a child-friendly environment and are confident in knowing how to safeguard the children's welfare.  Children feel happy and secure as they develop secure emotional attachments with the staff.  Children develop good relationships with their friends and adults and work effectively as part of a group.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 staff do not consistently encourage children's self-care skills or always provide clear reasons for behaviour expectations  staff do not always work in partnership with everyone involved in the children's lives to support consistency and continuity of care and learning.

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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 spent the majority of her time observing the children and staff in the two main play rooms and the outside area.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled documentation, including children's information, development records and attendance records.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held discussions with the manager, staff and children. The provision for safeguarding and special educational needs and/or disabilities was discussed with the designated person in the nursery.  The inspector gathered parents' views through discussion with two parents.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the manager.

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Information about the setting

Noah's Ark Nursery registered in 2000, and re-registered under the current provision in 2005. It operates from two rooms in a self-contained unit within Lancing Manor Park, in Lancing, West Sussex. All children share access to an outside play area.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and on the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The nursery receives funding for the provision of free early education for children aged three and four years. The nursery is open each weekday from 8am to 6pm for 51 weeks of the year. There are currently 42 children on roll. All are in early years age range. The nursery supports children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. There are six members of staff. Of these, four hold appropriate early years qualifications and two are working towards a childcare qualification at level 2.

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

 consider ways to enable children to gain self-care skills; and provide clear explanations to help children learn how to play safely

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

 strengthen the systems for sharing information about children's progress with parents, and other professionals involved in their care, to fully support children's learning and development.

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who attend

Staff promote all areas of learning well because they provide a wide range of resources and activities for children of various ages and abilities. For example, children enjoy developing their communication and language skills by choosing the songs they wish to sing and explaining to other children why they like it. They also learn about numbers because staff encourage them to count their fingers and predict how many they have left as they sing a number song. Children enjoy developing their imagination and physical skills. Younger children explore movement while pushing their prams in the outside areas and older children excitedly create role-play games with staff. For example, they help to create garages and pretend to put petrol in their vehicles. Children have regular trips to the local woods and visit a library van. This helps them to develop a good understanding of the natural world and encourages a love of books.

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who attend

Staff are friendly and caring with children and provide some good quality interaction. They encourage children to develop their communication and language skills using open-ended questions. This, in turn, encourages children to think for themselves and focus. When young children approach staff holding out boxes saying 'open', the member of staff models building sentences by adding other words, such as 'do you want me to open this?' Staff encourage children to use their senses by inviting them to feel textures and look at the patterns they create when using playdough. This develops their understanding of the world and of shape. Staff also sensitively encourage children to try new challenges. For example, they show children how to use a computer mouse and give them lots of praise and encouragement as they try it themselves. This motivates children to persevere and become increasingly successful as they gain technology skills.

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who attend

Staff know the children well and use information from observations effectively to help ensure that children achieve as much as they can, in line with their needs and capabilities. The staff successfully find out children's starting points and plan for their next steps for learning by gathering information from the children's parents. Staff complete regular short observations on what children know, can do, and understand, and link these to the areas of learning. Staff then effectively use all the information gathered, including the next step the child is working towards, to inform their planning. As a result, children make good progress in their learning and acquire the skills, attitudes and dispositions they need to be ready for school or their next stage of learning. Staff appropriately complete the required progress check for children aged between two and three years to monitor the progress they are making.

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who attend

Parents have some involvement in their children's learning as part of the nursery's partnership with them. Staff share information appropriately with them regarding their child's achievements through daily discussions and two-monthly regular parent meetings. Parents sometimes contribute to their children's development, by discussing 'wow' moments at home. However, there are not always clear partnership systems in place to help parents know how to support their children's learning at home.

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

Staff effectively help children to settle in and feel secure. They know children well and are quick to respond if a child shows signs of distress. For example, when separating from parents the staff offer children lots of cuddles and reassurance. They also use visual time lines that clearly help children know when parents are due to arrive. The staff encourage parents to participate in settling-in visits with their child and gather information about the children's interests at home. As a result, almost all children demonstrate a strong sense of belonging. For example, children confidently inform staff of what they want to play with.

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

The staff provide a purposeful learning environment where children are able to make good progress towards the early learning goals. Resources are safely organised, giving children good opportunities for independence and choice making. Some areas are particularly inviting and made exciting for children. For example, children are able to read their books in a cosy, tented area. The nursery environment reflects the social wider world and staff effectively organise space to maximise children's learning through play. For example, children are able to move freely between the two main play rooms and the outside areas.

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

Children are developing good behaviour. Staff encourage children to develop habits and behaviour appropriate to good learners, their own needs and those of others. For example, they encourage children to work together through collaborative tasks such as at tidy-up time. Children also have regular opportunities to become 'helpers' for the day. As a result they are developing good relationships and work effectively as part of a group. However, staff do not always provide clear explanations for why certain behaviour is not appropriate, to help them learn to play safely. For example, they tell children not to run indoors, but do not always explain why.

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

Children are developing a good understanding about healthy eating by growing their own vegetables and sampling them. As a result, they know fruit and vegetables help them to be healthy and strong. They engage in regular routines that promote good hygiene, such as washing their hands before meals. They begin to develop some understanding of keeping themselves safe through occasional visits from the community police officer. However, they do not always have good opportunities to gain self-care skills, such as putting their own coat on to go outside because staff sometimes over direct them.

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

Staff have good systems in place to help children prepare for their transition to school. They share records of each child's development with relevant teachers and the children meet the teachers who visit them at the nursery. These strategies effectively help to ease children's move on to school.

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provision

The leadership and management have a good understanding of their responsibilities in meeting the learning and development requirements. There are suitable supervision opportunities and a good appraisal system in place for staff. For example, regular impromptu meetings allow them to discuss any issues concerning children's development or well being. They receive coaching to improve their personal effectiveness and identify any training needs. All of this contributes to the improving outcomes for children.

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provision

Staff have a good awareness of safeguarding procedures. They are confident in knowing the signs and symptoms, as well as the procedures to follow if concerns arise regarding children's welfare. They take good measures to provide a safe indoor and outside environment for children. For example, they keep external doors locked at all times. They check identification records when visitors enter the nursery and make records of any visitors. Staff also complete regular risk assessments of the learning environment and outings. This helps make sure that children are safe at all times.

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provision

Leadership and management effectively evaluate the provision and implement action plans to improve weaknesses. They evaluate their practice and work closely with the local authority, identifying and implementing a targeted action plan to improve the care, learning and development for the children. For example, numbers and building blocks have been introduced to the outside area to encourage children's understanding of mathematics. In addition to this, the staff closely monitor children's progress by collating their achievements in the areas of learning. This helps them to successfully identify and address gaps in learning for each child. For example, when statistical evidence indicated that boys were not developing as well in some areas, such as mathematics, staff did additional training and added resources such as cars into these areas. This has a positive impact on the boys' learning through play.

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provision

Staff work well with parents. The nursery provides good information about their provision through displays on notice boards and by parents receiving copies of their policies and procedures. Consequently, this helps ensure that everyone is clearly aware of their responsibilities. Parents are very pleased with children's care and learning. They state that staff are very welcoming, and there is a feeling of being like one big family. They also feel the staff treat children as individuals and meet their individual needs. Overall partnerships with other professionals are good. For example, staff work effectively with other professionals to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. However, the links they make with other settings that children attend are not always consistent. For example, childminders receive and discuss regular records regarding the children's next steps in learning. However, links with nurseries consist of occasional

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provision

informal chats between managers. This means there may be gaps in how they all support continuity and consistency in some children's learning and care.

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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 EY312802 Local authority West Sussex Inspection number 909537 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 18 Number of children on roll 42 Name of provider Carolyn Hopson Date of previous inspection 16/07/2009 Telephone number 01903 766413

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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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