Pencil Pots Day Nursery

Pencil Pots Day Nursery 321 The Drive, ILFORD, Essex, IG1 3PW

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 15/04/2013 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 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 3 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision is satisfactory

 Assessment processes provide an accurate picture of children's learning and development. Staff use this information to plan for children's next steps on their individual learning journeys.  Strong attachments are developing between the children and their key person. In particular those that speak the children's first language.  Children are well nourished. They enjoy a varied range of freshly cooked meals which helps to promote their good health.  Staff understand the importance of building a strong partnership with parents/carers to promote children's well being.

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It is not yet good because

 Only one member of staff holds an up to date first aid qualification, which compromises children's overall health and safety.  Emergency evacuation procedures have not been practised when all children are present, putting children's safety at risk.  Self-evaluation and monitoring processes do not target areas for improvement or seek the views of all staff, parents and children.  The outside play space is not used effectively to promote children's learning across the areas of learning or to help them understand the value of healthy lifestyle.

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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 spoke with the staff working in the nursery and recorded observations of their interactions with children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled children's assessment records and planning documentation, alongside a range of other documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held discussions with the manager and the owner throughout the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sat in on a registration meeting with a parent enrolling her child into the setting.  The inspector observed activities in the main play area.

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Information about the setting

Pencil Pots Day Nursery registered in 2012 and it is owned by a private provider. It operates from a two-storey converted house in Ilford, within the London Borough of Redbridge. It operates from three rooms and there is a fully enclosed area for outside play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is open each weekday from 7am to 7pm, for 52 weeks of the year. It is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. Six children currently attend the nursery for a variety of sessions. The nursery is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education for children aged three and four years.

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Information about the setting

The nursery currently employs three members of staff. All of these hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 or above. One member of staff has attained Early Years Professional Status.

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must:

 ensure at least one member of staff that holds a current paediatric first aid certificate is present at all times.

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

 implement rigorous and effective systems of self-evaluation to inform priorities and set challenging targets for improvement, involving staff, parents and children in the process to include their views.

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

 practise emergency evacuation procedures regularly so that all children and staff are able to act promptly and safely in an emergency situation

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

 make better use of the outdoor play space to provide children with opportunities to participate in a broad range of activities outdoors which cover all areas of learning effectively.

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who attend

Generally, staff have a secure knowledge of how to promote children's learning and development. Key persons observe children at play to find out their needs, current interests and what they can do at this time. They use this information to plan activities which children are keen to take part in. This helps children to make appropriate progress in their learning and development. Systems to establish children's starting points when they begin attending the nursery are developing well. Parents are encouraged to complete an on-entry assessment. This is used by the child's key person to help them understand what make that child unique and to plan for their next steps in their learning. Systems for the undertaking of the two-year-old progress check are being developed with the assistance of the local authority development worker. Staff are aware of the requirement to complete the checks and are starting to gather relevant information to share with these

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who attend

The staff have caring relationships with the children. They provide a suitable range of learning experiences that encourage children's curiosity. Generally children are suitably engaged and developing growing independence. The staff sit with the children, encouraging them to try new experiences. In the main, staff ask open-ended questions that help children to express their thoughts and start to challenge their thinking. Children enjoy looking at books and have their favourites, which they share with their friends and staff in the cosy book corner. Children are starting to understand how books work and understand that these resources should be treated carefully. Currently, as numbers in the nursery are still low, all children use the same play room. This encourages the children to share and take turns and helps promote useful role modelling. Young children sit with staff and the older more able children, counting coloured keys. The younger children attempt to

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who attend

copy the other children with their counting and recognition of colours. Children can access the computer throughout the day are becoming skilled at selecting suitable programmes, using the computer mouse. Staff help children to recognise the letters in their name on the keypad, encouraging them to sound out the letters as they select them. Children that are settled sit for a considerable time trying to fit pieces in a puzzle, concentrating as they turn the pieces round until they complete the puzzle. Examples of children's art work adorn the walls. This shows staff value children's efforts and demonstrates children experience lots of choice in art materials and explore texture in a variety of ways.

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who attend

Staff focus on promoting children's personal, social and emotional development. Children are making friends and beginning to understand the rules of group. The staff team give consistent messages on behaviour, explaining why some things are unacceptable in the nursery. Children are encouraged to become independent selecting toys and resources which interest them and pouring their drinks at meal times. Children attend from a wide variety of cultural and religious backgrounds and a range of languages are spoken at home. The staff team are able to provide children and families with advice and support in their first languages, as they speak a variety of community languages. This helps children and their families feel valued and helps children develop a stronger sense of self-esteem.

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

Clear risk assessments and daily visual checks help keep children safe. Caring relationships quickly develop between the children and the staff; strong attachments are evident between children and their key workers. Some children recently enrolled into the nursery are still finding it very difficult to leave their parents/carers and are particularly reliant on their key person to help them settle into the nursery environment. Key persons work with children's parents to find out children's starting points, their interests at home and information which may help the children become accustomed to nursery life.

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

Children's physical development is appropriately promoted. They have lots of space to practise their walking and develop spatial awareness. The youngest children enjoy walking the length of the play room with a small broom or rolling a large ball to one of the staff. Children use paint brushes, spatulas and scissors with increasing skill. Resources are readily available. Staff display these attractively indoors to encourage children's interest and promote their independence. However, staff are not using the outdoor play space effectively to promote the areas of learning or to help children discover the value of a healthy lifestyle. Currently children have limited access to the large open play space. This reduces children's opportunities for outdoor learning as the outdoor area is only used for ten minutes each day for physical exercise.

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

The nursery provides children with healthy snacks and hot meals, with a varied choice available each day. Menus are planned around children's dietary and religious needs to promote children's good health. The staff usually eat with the children at lunch time, talking to children about healthy eating and acting as role models for children's table manners. The manager holds a current paediatric first aid certificate. However, the first aid certificates held by the other members of staff have expired. They are enrolled on a first aid course to be held very shortly. Under the current working arrangements, this means there could be times when no-one that holds a current first aid certificate is present. This is a breach of requirements for the Early Years Register and the Childcare Register and compromises children's overall health and safety.

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provision

All staff have a sound understanding and knowledge of safeguarding issues and the procedures to follow should they have concerns. They know how to report and record concerns and most staff have attended appropriate training. Recruitment processes are robust and vetting procedures help to ensure that adults working with the children are suitable to do so. A sound induction programme helps new staff to understand how the nursery operates and to become familiar with polices and procedures. Appraisal and team meetings are planned to help promote consistency and the effective promotion of polices.

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provision

The nursery is working closely with the local authority and the area special needs coordinator to develop practices that support children and families. The manager understands the importance of self-evaluation to help identify strengths and areas for improvement. However, systems to involve staff, parents and children in the self- evaluation process are yet to be implemented to bring about steady improvement. Some procedures are still to become embedded into routine. For example, the nursery has only practised the emergency evacuation procedure once since they opened. Therefore, a number of children and staff are unaware of the process to follow in an emergency. This puts children's safety at risk.

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provision

The partnership with parents is developing satisfactorily. Sound systems are in place to help ensure parents understand how the setting works, the role of the key persons and how the setting delivers the learning and development requirements. This helps parents to be involved in their children's learning. Daily diaries help to ensure parents are fully aware of their child's day at the nursery and encourage two-way communications. A digital photo frame runs in the lobby showing pictures of the children at play and capturing their wow moments that day.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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actions)

The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

 ensure at least one member of staff who is caring for children has an appropriate first aid certificate qualification (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure at least one member of staff who is caring for children has an appropriate first aid certificate qualification (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)

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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 EY454335 Local authority Redbridge Inspection number 890123 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 45 Number of children on roll 6 Name of provider Pencil Pots Day Nursery Ltd Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 02085540033

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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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