Woodlands Day Nursery (MK)

Woodlands Day Nursery Byerly Place, Downs Barn, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK14 7QE

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 15/04/2013 26/05/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 Previous inspection: 1 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 make exceptional progress in their learning and development because of high quality teaching.  The staff place a very strong emphasis on helping children to feel safe and secure in the nursery.  There are excellent partnerships between parents and others to fully support the individual needs of the children.  Excellent self-evaluation clearly identifies areas for continued progression, which results in well-targeted and sustained improvement to the provision for the children and their families.  The leadership and management of the nursery are inspirational and all staff are highly enthused and offer the children wonderful learning experiences.

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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 activities in all of the play rooms and the garden areas.  The inspector had discussions with parents, children and the staff.  The inspector undertook a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled a range of documentation including children's records, policies and procedures, and the nursery's self-evaluation.

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Information about the setting

Woodlands Day Nursery registered in 1990 and is run by Child Base Limited, who manage a chain of nurseries in the south of England. It is registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The nursery operates from a purpose built building situated in Downs Barn, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. There is access to four play rooms, art and craft area, sensory room and secure outdoor play areas. The nursery provides a service for children from the local community and it is open each weekday from 7.30am to 6.30pm throughout the year. There are 152 children on roll. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The nursery is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education to children aged two, three and four years. Systems are in place to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and children who are learning to speak English as an additional language. The

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Information about the setting

setting employs 15 full-time staff and 15 part-time members of staff who work directly with children. Of these, 25 staff hold appropriate early years qualifications.

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

 display lists of relevant words from different home languages, to further help staff to support children during activities.

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who attend

Children make excellent progress in their learning and development because of high quality teaching and an invigorating educational programme. The staff track the progress of each child meticulously. They nurture and facilitate, rather than direct, the children's learning. From babies to pre-school, children are accustomed to making their own decisions as they make choices from an excellent range of toys and resources both in and outdoors. Therefore, they learn at their own pace and are highly focused during activities. Parents are extremely well-informed about their children's progress and they have many opportunities to be involved in their learning. This includes the two-year progress check. Parents come in to the nursery to share their skills with children. For example, they play the guitar, teach dances, and talk about being a dentist.

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who attend

Children experience very exciting learning opportunities, based on first-hand experiences that bring learning to life. For example, they have great fun using the spray water bottles to change the colour of the sand. Children are very proud of their lava lamps and they are able to explain how to make them with oil, water and glitter. Staff focus on allowing the children to have significant input when planning and developing their own learning experiences. Children are very busy and curious learners from the time they come eagerly into nursery to the time they leave. The staff who work with babies and the younger children create very warm, welcoming and homely environments. Children spend time exploring through using their senses. They love feeling the different textures in the treasure baskets, such as fabrics, pine cones and sponges. Younger children thoroughly enjoy number songs and rhymes, posting shapes, stacking toys and fitting puzzles

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who attend

together. They bob up and down to music and explore different musical instruments. All children enjoy looking at and talking about their family books, which include photographs of themselves and their extended families.

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who attend

Children make excellent progress in their communication language and literacy. There are many examples of high quality teaching. For instance, during conversations with children, staff use open-ended questioning very skilfully to improve children's listening and speaking skills. Suggesting, speculating and inviting children to express their own thoughts and ideas successfully also moves their learning forward. Children identify letters and sounds and enjoy rhyming word games. They show a very keen interest in books and listen attentively to stories. Children retell familiar stories to their friends and at the same time, they draw recognisable pictures on the white board. They have excellent opportunities to practise their early writing both in and outdoors. For example, they paint with mud and use chalks and crayons. Children learn to recognise their names, for instance, on their coat peg, drawer and lunch mats. Several pre-school children demonstrate a keen interest

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who attend

Both indoors and outdoors, children are highly involved in a vast range of problem solving and mathematical activities. For example, in the pre-school room children recognise and talk about diamonds, pentagons and hexagons. During water play, children explore floating and sinking, volume and capacity. They are highly focused as they work out how to adjust the flow of the water through the funnel and pipe into the container. When making play dough, children weigh and count the spoonfuls of ingredients. Staff introduce new words to widen children's vocabulary, such as 'sticky' and 'squidgy'. The nursery has superb spacious outdoor play areas each with unique features. For example, children and staff wear wet suits and boots in the mud garden to dig and observe the creepy crawlies. They talk about the 'big, small and wiggly worms'. Children have excellent opportunities to develop their information and communication technology skills. For example, they use

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who attend

binoculars and magnifying glasses and complete programmes on the computer and interactive white board. In the garden, children use their imaginations as they make dens, and move crates and wooden blocks around the garden to build with. They develop excellent physical skills as they skilfully steer bikes around objects, balance, climb and slide.

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who attend

The nursery places a strong emphasis on promoting the inclusion of all children. When caring for children with English as an additional language staff ask parents for words in their child's home language and use these and sign language to support effective communications. However, staff do not display the words gathered from parents for all staff to refer to in order to further support children's learning. Children enhance their understanding of diversity and difference as they celebrate many festivals and special events from around the world. They use excellent resources that reflect positive images of people from different cultures. Children show great interest and ask many questions about the use of wheelchairs, Braille and a walking cane as they play a matching card game. Very kind and passionate staff have high expectations for children's successful achievement. They prepare children extremely well for their future education by providing

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who attend

an environment in which they gain a zest for learning.

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

All staff are highly skilled at helping children to make secure emotional attachments, which means that they settle quickly and develop in confidence. The key person and back-up support key person know their children extremely well in order to respond to their individual needs effectively. Children are very well-behaved; they develop an amazing sense of right and wrong and remind each other of the nursery behaviour rules. There is minimal disruption around the excellent indoor and outdoor areas for learning. Children become independent, enthusiastic learners, recognising their own needs and those of others. There is an excellent range of toys, materials and resources to meet the varying needs of the children attending. Very good quality furniture and equipment is available to meet their individual needs, for example, cots, beds, nappy changing facilities and a variety of seating for children's comfort.

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

Children enjoy fresh air and exercise on a daily basis and they have great fun playing outdoors. They gain an impressive understanding of how to keep fit and healthy by taking part in daily physical activities. Children learn that exercise is fun, as they move in a variety of ways. In addition, the educational programme is enhanced by weekly sports, music and movement activities delivered by visiting teachers. Children take small risks and challenge their physical skills. For example, in the garden they experience different surfaces, walking and balancing on large pebbles. Staff place a very strong emphasis on helping children to develop their understanding of keeping safe. For example, they learn to use tools such as scissors correctly in the art and craft area, practice the emergency evacuation procedure and learn to cross the road safely on outings.

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

Children develop a very good understanding of why it is important to lead healthy lives. Staff promote excellent hygiene routines, for example, they wash younger children's beds daily and bed linen is stored individually in bags to minimise possible cross infection. All children learn to wash their hands during the routine of the day. They take part in the daily hygiene routine as they help staff sweep up sand and wash and lay the tables for lunch. Children enjoy a very good variety of nutritious snacks and meals prepared by the qualified cook on site. Food hygiene guidelines are followed, for example, food is stored and cooked at the appropriate temperatures. Children's individual dietary requirements are catered for and very secure systems are in place to ensure these are followed.

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provision

The quality of leadership and management is exemplary. Very effective teamwork amongst staff gives a strong drive to promote children's learning and welfare. The management team have an outstanding understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements. This includes their responsibility to inform Ofsted of significant events. There is a very strong emphasis on safeguarding with comprehensive policies and procedures clearly understood by staff. All staff have an excellent knowledge and understanding safeguarding procedures. Children are safeguarded by very robust recruitment and vetting procedures, including effective induction procedures for new staff. Furthermore, all visitors to the setting are required to sign in and out using the visitor's book. This maintains an accurate record of everyone coming into contact with the children. Highly effective systems are in place to promote children's safety and security,

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provision

for example, closed circuit television and comprehensive risk assessments cover all areas of the premises and outings. As part of the staffs' induction process they complete first aid training to administer care effectively in the event of an accident. Very good record keeping is in place for accidents and medication administration. The management team maintains all documentation to a very high standard. Therefore, children are safeguarded extremely well.

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provision

The management team has a very accurate view of the nursery, although they are reluctant to grade everything outstanding as, 'you can always be better'. Questionnaires are given to parents to obtain their views of the nursery and activities. In discussions with parents during the inspection, they speak very highly of the staff and are extremely happy with the progress in their child's learning and development and they would recommend the nursery to others. In discussions with children, they state they particularly like playing in the art and craft room, and outdoors.

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provision

The management team has vigorous systems in place to monitor the educational programmes. Staff observe one another's practice and are very open to suggestions to continually improve learning outcomes for the children. This demonstrates the professionalism and confidence of staff, resulting in this high performing child care service. Staff appraisal systems are very thorough and indentify future training needs, therefore, addressing any gaps in staffs' knowledge. In the event of staff underachieving, very secure and supportive procedures are in place to help them to progress in a positive manner.

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provision

The nursery provides a very good service for children who are learning English as an additional language, and for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Parents are particularly complementary about this aspect of the service. Staff quickly identify any concerns in relation to children's learning and development and they work extremely well with parents and other professionals to support children in the setting. Furthermore, staff establish very good links with the local schools to help children to move on successfully from nursery.

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provision

Partnership with parents and carers is excellent. Staff create strong and purposeful relationships with parents and carers. The value of assessment files to monitor children's progress and involve parents in their children's education is exceptional. Children enjoy taking photos to stick in their file and they are very proud to share their achievements. Parents are involved in the setting, for instance, fathers enjoy breakfast with their children on Father's Day. In discussions with parents, they speak very highly of the staff and the knowledge they have about their children. Parents' state they look forward to receiving the weekly e-mail updates and taking a copy of their child's weekly activities home. They value the ideas staff share to help them to extend their children's learning in their home environment.

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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 141883 Local authority Milton Keynes Inspection number 908896 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 75 Number of children on roll 152 Name of provider Child Base Limited Date of previous inspection 26/05/2009 Telephone number 01908 690 999

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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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