Play Away Day Nurseries Ltd

Playaway Day Nursery Play Away Day Nurseries Ltd, 1-5 Chapel Road, West End, SOUTHAMPTON, SO30 3FE

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 11/04/2013 25/01/2011

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early years provision

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

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This provision is outstanding

 Children flourish at the nursery. They thoroughly enjoy their learning and achieve extremely well in relation to their starting points.  Children show they feel extremely safe, secure and happy in the nursery and arrangements for safeguarding the children are robust.  Staff support children extremely well as they move to the different age groups within the nursery and for their preparation for school.  Children benefit hugely from the highly successful partnership between the staff and parents, ensuring key information is shared between them.  The quality of planning for all children is excellent; each child receives an exceedingly enjoyable, challenging experience across all areas of 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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Inspection activities

 The inspectors discussed the format of the inspection on arrival.

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Inspection activities

 The inspectors observed activities in the indoor and the outside learning environment.

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Inspection activities

 The inspectors looked at children's assessment records and sampled other documentation.  The inspector took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day.  The inspector and manager undertook a joint observation of a planned activity.

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Information about the setting

Playaway Day Nursery is one of three privately owned nurseries. It opened in 1997 and operates from a large site, consisting of three houses, in the West End area of Southampton. It serves the local and wider area. The nursery is registered on the Early Years register. The nursery is open each weekday from 7:30 am to 6:30 pm all year round. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area. There are currently 160 children in the early years age group on roll. The setting receives funding for early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. Children come from a wide catchment area and are able to attend for a variety of sessions. The setting currently supports a number of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and also supports children who speak English as an additional language. The nursery employs 31 members of staff, all hold appropriate early years qualifications. The owner and a

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Information about the setting

manager hold Early Years Professional Status. The nursery is a member of the National Day Nurseries Association.

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

 provide added opportunities in the outdoor area for children to build and role play, to further enhance their learning.

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who attend

Throughout the nursery children are making excellent progress in all areas of development. Staff create a stimulating environment, where the atmosphere is incredibly positive and encouraging. Each child receives an extremely enjoyable, challenging experience across all areas of learning. Excellent systems for assessment and planning are in place to ensure activities and learning experiences fully support children's interests and the next steps in their learning particularly well. The nursery ensures the monitoring of children's progress towards all the early learning goals is enormously effective. The staff team promote children's development through an excellent balance of child-led play, planned activities and interesting resources. For example, during the inspection the older children make a wormery with a member of staff. They fill a large container with layers of soil and sand. Children dig for worms in the garden and develop confidence in handling

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who attend

them carefully. This planned activity is highly effective and enhances the children's learning. Children develop new skills and grow in confidence and rise to the challenge of trying something new. They are very active learners. Staff demonstrate a very secure knowledge and understanding of how children learn. As a result, children are very motivated and develop a highly positive attitude to their learning and learn to work alongside their peers extremely well. Children's independence is promoted particularly well, they are developing skills such as putting on their own coats and shoes and pouring their own drinks and helping to tidy up. All children enjoy many opportunities to choose, participate and become independent in their play.

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who attend

Children develop very good communication skills and chat happily both to one another and to adults. Staff support children extremely well, by offering praise and encouragement and they demonstrate an excellent understanding of children's individual learning needs. Babies are actively involved in their play, confidently selecting and exploring resources. They touch, cuddle, shake and bang objects they investigate and are able to climb and practise a range of movements in safety. They are supported exceptionally well by staff and become confident in their daily routines. All children relish their time at nursery and are very happy and relaxed. They are able to thoroughly enjoy a wide range of exciting activities that stimulate and motivate them.

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who attend

The nursery has implemented the two year old progress check highly successfully and all related documentation is in place. As a result of the highly effective assessment and recording of children's progress parents receive a very clear picture of where their children are in their learning and are actively encouraged to be involved in their children's learning and development. Parents are kept very well informed about the life of the nursery via the notice boards, parent meetings and through daily chats to staff. They state they have seen their children make outstanding progress while at the setting.

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

Children are developing particularly warm relationships with each other and staff. An excellent key person system is in place which enables all children to be ready for the next stages in their learning. Children develop very strong emotional bonds and trusting relationships with their key worker and this wonderful relationship helps children develop high self esteem and confidence. Staff make excellent use of the extensive range of resources: the indoor and outdoor play areas are very well organised to ensure children can take part in a wide variety of activities.

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

An excellent variety of healthy and nutritious meals and snacks cooked on the premises are provided by the nursery. The children benefit greatly from the carefully balanced menu offered. Excellent systems are in place to inform staff of any health or dietary issues the children may have and thorough records are kept of accidents or any medication administered. Children from an early age understand good hygiene routines and know why they must wash their hands after using the toilet and before eating. Children develop an excellent awareness of tooth brushing routines and how these contribute to their good health. Children behave very well; very effective systems are in place for behaviour management and children learn to share and take turns and play very well together. Opportunities to develop physical skills are fostered very well. Children play in the outside areas of the nursery and they have excellent opportunities to

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

ride a range of wheeled toys and can learn to climb, balance and catch. However, the range of resources to allow children to build and role play in the outside area is not extensive.

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

One of the nursery's exceptional strengths is how they handle children moving to the different age groups within the nursery and their preparation for school. Excellent procedures are in place for a smooth move. Parents are kept informed throughout the process to ensure they know what is happening. They are also invited to visit the next age group to get to know the staff as well. All staff are committed to making the moves to the different age groups as smooth as possible for each child. Staff liaise extremely well with the local schools that children will move on to; they also have provided a school role play area for the older children to become familiar with uniforms and equipment needed for school. This ensures a smooth transfer, consistency of care and learning and reassurance for each child.

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provision

Parents and children are welcomed into an extremely warm and friendly setting, by staff who meet children's welfare and learning needs with great success. Very effective management structures are in place and communication with all levels of staff is excellent. The registered provider is extremely committed and highly dedicated to maintaining the highest levels of achievement for the children and their families. Arrangements for safeguarding children are robust. All staff undertake training in child protection and have a very good understanding of safeguarding procedures and how to protect children. Clear procedures are in place for the recruitment and vetting of new staff and this ensures all adults working with the children are suitable to do so. The management team have high aspirations for quality. This is evident through ongoing improvement in all areas, in close consultation with staff, parents and children. Efficient

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provision

systems are in place for self-evaluation of the nursery to reflect the excellent practice and prioritise any areas for improvement. The management team closely monitor staff performance and have worked exceptionally hard with the staff to help them improve their knowledge and practice relating to observations, tracking and planning. This results in an extremely confident staff team who all demonstrate an excellent understanding about how to help all children develop and progress. All children are included and supported extremely well and the nursery promotes equality and diversity highly successfully.

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provision

A superb partnership between the nursery and parents ensures key information is shared between them. Parents of all the children are kept informed about daily routines and the activities their children have taken part in and the food they have eaten. Parents express enormous confidence in the standard of care, communication and their children's preparation for the future. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and those learning English as an additional language extremely well. Parents of children learning English as an additional language state they have seen their children blossom whilst at the nursery and with excellent support from staff develop the skills to speak both their home language and English fluently. Partnerships with other settings the children attend are excellent. Staff liaise extremely well with the other providers of the Early Years Foundation Stage where children attend other settings. This results in a fully

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provision

shared approach to children's care and learning.

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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 509572 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 909819 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 100 Number of children on roll 160 Name of provider Play Away Day Nurseries Limited Date of previous inspection 25/01/2011 Telephone number 023 80466563

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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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