Top Tots Day Nursery

Top Tots Day Nursery 23 Queen Street, Portsmouth, PO1 3HN

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 22/04/2013 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 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 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 Leadership and the drive for improvement across the provision are inspirational. Very high quality management and supervision of all staff, encourage exemplary teamwork and information sharing.  Owners, managers and staff have a very clear understanding of how children learn and expert knowledge of the areas of learning. They provide rich, varied and imaginative ideas to widen children's experiences and develop their skills.  Highly effective systems of assessment for each child support children's progress and enable staff to plan for children's future development.  Staff are highly skilled in sensitively responding to children's needs at all times. Very well-planned daily routines protect children and ensure their safety.  The environment is fully stimulating both indoors and outside. Staff inspire and challenge children by providing accessible resources and enabling spontaneous activities.  The nursery provides parents with an extensive range of opportunities to be involved

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This provision is outstanding

in their children's learning and to enable them to share and celebrate children's achievements.

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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 compulsory part 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 planned the inspection with the providers and the manager on arrival.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector viewed all areas used by children and staff; she observed a range of activities and daily routines, including a jointly observed activity.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector gained information through discussion with staff, children and parents.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector gained information from a wide range of documentation and displayed notices.  The inspector shared the inspection judgements and provided feedback.

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Information about the setting

Top Tots Day Nursery first registered in 2006. The private owners re-registered as a Limited Company in 2012. The nursery operates from rooms in the John pound Centre, in Portsmouth, Hampshire. Children have access to two designated base rooms, organised into approximate age groups. The nursery is located on the first floor of the building and there is lift access. There is a fully secure play area available for outside play. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. The nursery receives funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two, three and four years. There are currently 52 children in the early years age group on roll. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those with English as an additional language. There are 15 members of staff employed to work directly with the children, including both of the owners. Of these,

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Information about the setting

14 staff hold early years qualifications ranging from Level 2 to Level 6.

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

 enhance opportunities for older children to more independent during hand washing routines, to wash their hands more often without adult support.

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who attend

The nursery staff consistently provide an extensive range of learning opportunities and staff show an expert knowledge of the areas of learning. They are highly responsive and listen attentively to recognise and react to children's interests. Staff work very closely with children. This has recently enabled them to introduce daily planning for activities in response to children's spontaneous ideas. For example the planned outdoor activity to paint pictures of what is around them, leads children to investigate and find leaves which they add to the painted paper. They also dig in the soil and use tools, learning about growing plants and understanding what plants need to grow. They find snails and excitedly collect these to take inside. Later they use magnifying glasses and wear rubber gloves to hold and feel the snails as they move. These activities develop entirely from children's considerable imaginations and desire to explore. Staff interact with children

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who attend

continually, asking questions and encouraging children's understanding of the world around them. Staff encourage children to extend their use of descriptive words when they make snail trails on large sheets of card. They use glue and add sand and soil saying it is 'soft and fluffy'. They find wood to make a house and they talk together about what snails need to survive. Children's ideas are limitless and they follow this by working together to make their own camp indoors, using props and covers with staff help. Staff thoroughly recognise children's progress in working together and sharing ideas. This increases their speech and language and levels of confidence. Children link the snail's home with their personal experiences and their own families. This shows that they are able to make complex links between lots of ideas. They have many opportunities to explore the world around them. For example they experience light and dark inside the den and learn about

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who attend

different textures of materials. They recognise and create shadows, often using torches inside the camps they make. Staff frequently encourage children to research further information by using the nearby library and the internet. This thoroughly supports their skills as active learners, as well as developing their understanding of information and communication technology.

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who attend

Children are making very significant progress in their speech and language through practising sounds and following the 'Mr Tongue' speech programme. This encourages children to use the different muscles in their mouths. Staff fully recognise that this motivates children's confidence in forming words and being understood. Younger children flourish in an environment of making choices and freely moving between activities. Staff support children exceptionally well as they experiment with the variety of activities provided. Children show high levels of interest in play insects that are in 'gloop.' They eagerly pick these up and show them to others. They enjoy the sticky feel of the 'gloop' and staff encourage them to name the insects and count their legs. This shows how staff can use simple activities to explore several areas of learning. Children paint freely and follow individual decisions to paint dolls. They explore different materials creatively as they

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who attend

make patterns in shaving foam and delight in the feel and texture. Younger children enjoy close attention from staff; they push cars and vehicles and learn to make sounds as they speak with staff. Staff take time to help children focus, they recognise younger children's increasing concentration when they persevere to fit play equipment together. This means that children are motivated, focussed learners who are developing excellent skills for the future.

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who attend

All staff use highly effective systems to support children's progress and plan for children's future development. They compile individual records of progress through precise observations, photographs and examples of their work. They assess children's level of ability accurately and plan very well for future learning. This benefits children individually and enables staff to focus and bring specific aspects of learning into child-led activities. For example, staff frequently count items during play and use mathematical language to encourage children to see differences in size and shape. There are very regular assessments across all age levels and staff make accurate and comprehensive two-year- old assessments. As a result, all children make excellent progress.

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who attend

The providers have developed an extensive range of opportunities to involve parents in their children's learning and to enable them to share and celebrate children's achievements. Parents provide substantial information about what children can do when they first start and complete questionnaires regularly. They add children's achievements to wall displays and staff use these as evidence in children's learning journals. Parents have regular meetings with key persons and they comment and sign the assessments. Parents take part in special events, for example they are involved in reading to children in their home language. The nursery fully supports families in the community by sharing information and increasing parent's knowledge and understanding about children's learning. This underpins children's excellent achievements.

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

Nursery staff nurture children of all ages, helping them to feel secure and form close friendships. Children learn to be independent and make decisions from an early age. Staff are highly skilled in sensitively responding to children's needs at all times. Children have very well-planned daily routines and this increases their sense of security and trust. Planning of key staff responsibilities and daily rota systems is highly organised. All staff show an exceptional understanding of protecting children and ensuring their safety. For example, older children learn to recognise the nursery rules from pictures and staff include this as a game at group time. Many of the ideas for creating the rules come from the children and parents say they have adopted these at home. Children also carry out risk assessments on a daily basis; they tick laminated sheets with pictures to identify if the outdoor area is safe. Staff use music and singing to encourage a positive response from

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

children. For example, when children are walking together to and from the ground floor play area they sing with staff. This increases their concentration and focus. They learn to manage on the stairs sensibly and staff praise them when they place their feet carefully. Older children respond extremely well to the music for tidying up and they work together with lots of praise from staff. Children learn positive behaviour very well. Staff encourage them to raise their hands when answering questions and take turns when speaking at group time. As a result, children are very respectful of each other and behave very well.

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

Staff promote children's understanding of health extremely well, supporting them in many ways. Many families have actively improved healthy lunch boxes they provide because the nursery held a competition to measure the amount of fruit included. Nursery staff also provide healthy snacks and regular drinks throughout the day. Staff have developed a picture menu to enable children to choose their own healthy food daily. Children have regular times for brushing teeth during the day and this has benefitted their dental health. Children learn to follow daily routines to promote personal hygiene. .Hand washing routines are robust and support children's good health. However, older children are not always able to make their own decisions about when to wash their hands. They have to be accompanied by an adult, so are not always able to be fully independent in this one area. Children have daily opportunities for exercise and fresh air and they plan outdoor activities

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

in advance with staff. They take responsibility for gathering the resources they need and use these to develop physical skills during outdoor play. Children use hoops and push crates, they paint and dig to develop their large and small muscles. The nursery also has pre-arranged access to large indoor areas which staff use to thoroughly meet children's growing needs for physical exertion and exercise. Staff meet younger children's health needs simultaneously throughout the day. They follow individual routines for sleep, while waking babies have space away from sleeping babies. This gives the babies and toddlers and opportunity to explore the wider areas of the room with close supervision. The nursery has a large six-seater trolley to take younger children to local parks or for walks in local areas. This supports their understanding of the world around them. . The nursery environment is fully stimulating both indoors and outside. Staff inspire and

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

challenge children through providing accessible resources and responding to children's spontaneous interests. There are excellent arrangements to prepare children for moving on to school. They become familiar with the community around them as they visit places around them. Staff attend local meetings and make links with the nearby school. Staff prepare children for more formal learning at school by encouraging them to listen at group time and following instructions. Children develop their increasing independence skills at meal and snack times. They learn to change their own clothing when they wear dressing- up clothes for role play. Overall, children show high levels of confidence and increasing independence in preparation for future learning.

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provision

The nursery has highly effective leadership and the owners and manager strive to continually improve the provision. They have a very clear understanding of how children learn and their knowledge, experience and enthusiasm is motivational. There is a very high quality of professional management and supervision for all staff, which encourages exemplary teamwork and information sharing. There are rich, varied and imaginative ideas for widening children's experiences and developing their competencies.

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provision

The providers and the manager have developed comprehensive systems of assessment across the nursery. This has enabled all staff to successfully close any gaps in children's learning and work together to plan for any identified gaps. All staff show a clear awareness of children's capabilities. They use the systems to show individual children's levels of learning and this influences future activities and planning.

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provision

The nursery providers have established rigorous employment processes and there are detailed records in place to show the suitability of all staff. There are fully embedded systems of induction and staff appraisal, staff have regular supervision and training is updated and ongoing. All staff attend child protection training, they have a precise knowledge of their responsibilities to raise concerns. They have recently practised and refreshed their knowledge of the requirements for safeguarding, by completing an in- house questionnaire.

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provision

The providers have reviewed all the existing policies and procedures since the nursery re- registered and all staff are currently reading these and signing to confirm their understanding. Staff follow rigorous routines to assess risks and maintain safety when children move between rooms and in all areas of the premises. There are secure coded entry doors and the providers maintain high ratios of staff to children at all times to promote children's safety.

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provision

The nursery providers have recently completed a thorough self-evaluation, they have included the opinions of staff, parents and wherever possible, the children. They have comprehensibly covered all areas of the requirements and they have included relevant and detailed plans for improving the outside play area. Staff use evaluation on a daily basis to ensure that the intended achievements of activities and daily routines are met.

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provision

Parents have a dedicated handover from their child's key person which includes excellent detail about children's achievements. There are close relationships with families, and staff know and respond to any personal changes that may affect children's behaviour and general well-being. The providers and the manager show extensive professional knowledge and a significant ability to link with other agencies to support children's individual needs.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory 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 EY454735 Local authority Portsmouth Inspection number 885872 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 53 Number of children on roll 52 Name of provider Top Tots Day Nursery Ltd Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 07795073231

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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

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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