Dawn to Dusk Day Nursery (Maidstone) Ltd

Dawn to Dusk Day Nursery (Maidstone) Ltd 732 London Road, Larkfield, Aylesford, Kent, ME20 6BQ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 02/04/2013 26/10/2009

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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

 Children have good relationships with staff because a well-established system helps children to feel emotionally secure.  Children learn to play well together, share toys and cooperate. This is because staff use good plans to manage children's behaviour.  Children play in a safe environment because staff recognise that children's safety is a high priority and take effective steps to minimise hazards.  Parents feel welcome at the nursery because staff are on hand to answer queries and provide regular reports on their children's progress.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 links with other early years providers when children attend more than one setting are not yet effectively promoted.

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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 observed and talked to the children whilst they played.  The inspector talked to a selection of parents to obtain their views.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector carried out a brief joint observation of the garden play facilities with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled a selection of the setting's paperwork, such as the safeguarding procedures, children's accident records and the setting's risk assessments.

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Information about the setting

Dawn to Dusk Day Nursery (Maidstone) Ltd is one of two privately owned and managed settings. The nursery opened in 2005 and is registered by Ofsted on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It operates from six rooms in a converted house in Larkfield, Kent. All children share access to an enclosed outdoor play area. The nursery is open each weekday from 7am to 7pm for 52 weeks of the year, with the exception of public holidays. There are currently 70 children aged from three months to 11 years on roll, of whom 50 fall within the early years age group. Children come from the local and wider community. The nursery employs 12 staff. Of these, over half hold appropriate early years qualifications. One member of staff is qualified to degree level and three are working towards a relevant qualification. The nursery provides funded nursery education for three- and four-year-olds.

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

 improve links with other early years providers to maintain the regular two-way flow of information between providers when a child is attending more than one setting, in order to establish a united approach to children's care, learning and development.

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who attend

The staff have a positive effect on the children's learning and development because they provide a good range of interesting activities for children to explore and investigate. They take into account children's starting points, abilities and interests. The educational programmes cover all of the areas of learning for most of the children. The toddler and baby room staff concentrate their efforts on the children's physical, social and communication development. Staff support children to acquire skills and maintain good levels of progress in the next stages of their learning. Children are interested learners who are willing to have a go at activities, concentrate well and choose their own way of doing things. These are all characteristics of effective learning. Records show that all children are making good progress towards the early learning goals.

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who attend

Children really enjoy their outdoor physical play and competently use the good selection of ramps, poles and decked areas to make up their own games aided by staff. Indoors, children use scales to measure ingredients for cooking activities and really enjoy the mess involved in making play dough. The role play areas change regularly to accommodate children's growing understanding of the world around them. For example, children write letters and post them from the 'post office' or look at holiday brochures at the 'travel agents'. The book area is a firm favourite with many children. They enjoy the closeness of story time with staff and become absorbed in helping tell the stories or listening to story tapes. Children make their own marks and some are proficient in copying letters from the wealth of written signs around the rooms. Gaining such useful skills helps children be well prepared for their future learning and eventual move to school.

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who attend

Children proficiently use self-care procedures, such as taking themselves to the toilet and washing their hands afterwards. Babies and younger children explore their environment using treasure baskets and different textures, such as foil type materials. They enjoy painting with their hands and feeling the paint being squidgy between their fingers. All children are busy with their chosen activities.

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who attend

Staff regularly discuss the children's learning journey records with their parents. Staff report that parents often comment about things their children do at home which relate directly to the activities used at nursery. One parent commented that her child's 'key person' knew her child as well as she did. She considers that the informative chats with the key person at the end of each day help her understand her child's development needs at home.

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

Children demonstrate that they are happy and settled at the nursery through their body language and demeanours. For example, all children investigate and play happily with the toys on offer. They are interested in visitors and many happily chat about what they are doing. These actions show that they are confident and are developing social skills. The welcoming, well-resourced environment, both indoors and outside, encourages children's independence and cooperation. For example, children use improvised signs to be traffic lights whilst others cooperate with stopping their vehicles when directed. The well- established key person system also helps children to feel emotionally secure because children have a special adult to seek comfort from which is especially important in the baby and toddler rooms. The staff are all good role models for the children helping them to learn to be kind and respectful to each other and to look after and share their toys. This

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

means that children learn to manage their own behaviour and contribute to the nursery's calm atmosphere.

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

Children adopt a healthy lifestyle whilst at the nursery. They learn about food and which foods are good for their bodies; they grow their own vegetables in the garden and serve themselves with food they like at meal times. The older children understand that they need to drink water throughout the day because water is good for their bodies too. They enjoy lots of risk taking, physical activities in the garden, such as swinging from the standing poles and negotiating the wooden stepping stones. They use the large physical play room for indoor games and races during unsuitable weather. The staff carry out good risk assessments of their rooms and the outdoor area daily. The manager checks different aspects of the nursery each week to ensure hazards and hygiene issues do not arise. This shows that the staff give children's safety a high priority and children benefit because they play in a safe, healthy environment.

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provision

The provider and her manager organise the nursery very well. They have a good staff team who implement the policies and procedures effectively. Parents receive copies of all policies to help them understand how the nursery functions. The provider has rigorous and robust recruitment and vetting procedures to ensure staff are suitable to work with the children. The provider has good procedures in place to ensure unvetted staff are never left alone with children, including the toilet area. Visitors are required to sign the visitors' book and are accompanied around the premises by staff. The manager ensures that staff complete all regulatory paperwork, such as attendance records and accident books appropriately. This shows that the provider and her staff give the safeguarding of children a high priority.

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provision

The provider demonstrates her responsibilities towards staff by offering training and support for them on all levels. For example, staff have regular one-to-one meetings with the manager to discuss their professional development and day to day performance in the nursery. The additional regular staff meetings also offer staff internal training opportunities and the chance to discuss nursery procedures thoroughly.

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provision

The staff demonstrate a good understanding of the areas of learning and how young children learn and develop. They observe children and effectively assess and record their abilities and stages of development. Each room team plan their own interesting educational programme for the children in their care using children's interests and their identified next steps. In this way, staff can see how much progress children make and, when necessary, provide appropriate interventions to support learning.

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provision

The provider has good links with other agencies and health professionals who help her support children's individual development needs when required. For example, the local speech and language therapist visit children at the nursery to conduct their assessments. The provider has also developed good links with local schools to help children in their move to school. Reception teachers visit children at the nursery before they start at school full time, to get to know them. However, the links with other early years providers are not yet well-established to support the children who attend more than one setting, in order to take a cohesive approach to children's care, learning and development. Overall, children benefit from the good partnership working because staff meet their individual needs.

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provision

The provider and her manager conduct a good evaluation of the nursery's strengths and weaknesses. Following this evaluation, the provider has streamlined the management structure to give all members of staff a clearer picture of their roles and responsibilities. This action also helps all staff be accountable for what happens in their team rooms and the effect of any changes on the children. This shows that the provider makes a concerted effort to maintain improvement at the nursery. Parents report they are happy with the way the nursery operates; they report they feel welcome at the setting and any requirements for their children are respected. For example, if they want their child to sit in a high chair at meals times, staff accommodate their requests. Children benefit from good consistent 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 EY321463 Local authority Kent Inspection number 910973

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 11 Total number of places 75 Number of children on roll 70 Name of provider Dawn to Dusk Day Nursery (Maidstone) Ltd Date of previous inspection 26/10/2009 Telephone number 01732 848480

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Type of provision

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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