Hawes Side Nursery

Hawes Side Nursery Hawes Side Primary School, Pedders Lane, BLACKPOOL, FY4 3HZ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 08/05/2013 04/03/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 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 4 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 4

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This provision is inadequate

 There are too few planned activities to challenge children's thinking or to help them make progress in all seven areas of learning. Children's self-chosen play is not effectively extended or supported by staff.  The qualification requirements are not met. In addition, the staffing ratios are not met. This breach of requirements puts children at risk.  Children's learning is not assessed in sufficient detail to identify the next steps in their learning and there are no targeted plans in place to help individual children make progress, particularly for those who speak English as an additional language.  Information is not shared effectively or consistently with parents, including the progress check at age two years. Information about how their children are developing is not detailed enough to help them understand how to support learning at home.  The management's monitoring of children's learning and development is poor and few

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This provision is inadequate

areas of weakness have been identified in the nursery's own self-evaluation.

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It has the following strengths

 Staff have warm and friendly relationships with children, they praise their good behaviour and encourage sharing and cooperation.  Children have plenty of opportunities to develop their physical skills.

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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 inspector observed staff and children engaged in activities.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector had discussions with the management team and with various staff in each nursery room.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector examined a sample of children's observations, enrolment forms and communication books.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector examined a range of organisational documentation, such as staff performance records, risk assessments, registers and training information.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke with children throughout the day and with parents when they came to collect children.

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Information about the setting

Hawes Side Nursery has been registered on the Early Years Register since August 2007. It is situated in a purpose built premises in the south shore area of Blackpool, in the grounds of Hawes Side Primary School. The registered provider is the owner, who also has four other nurseries in Blackpool. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children. There is an enclosed area available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is open Monday to Friday all year, apart from bank holidays and Christmas. Sessions are from 7.30am to 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The nursery employs eight members of childcare staff. Of these, six hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2 or above. There are currently 89 children on roll, who are in the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year old children. It supports a number of children, who speak English as an additional language.

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must:

 ensure that the ratio requirements as set out in the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage are met at all times. In particular, ensure that there is at least one member of staff for every eight children, who are aged three or over

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must:

 ensure that the qualification requirements as set out in the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage are met at all times. In particular, ensure that there is at least one member of staff in every room with a full and relevant level 3 qualification and at least half of all other staff in every room hold a full and relevant level 2 qualification

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must:

 ensure that children whose home language is not English have sufficient opportunities to learn English. In addition, explore children's communication skills in their home language with parents to establish whether there is a cause for concern about language delay

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must:

 improve the observations and assessments to consistently take into account each child's progress against all aspects of each of the seven areas of learning by considering their age and stage of development and using this information to plan and shape learning experiences for each child based on their interests

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must:

 develop the progress check at age two years by identifying clearly the areas where children's progress is less than expected, specifically, in the prime areas of learning and share this with parents in a timely way.

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

 involve parents in their children's learning more effectively by improving the exchange of information, so that they can better understand how to support their child's learning at home

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

 strengthen staff's understanding of each child's personal needs by collecting and keeping consistent records, in order to support new children to settle in

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

 develop the appraisal process further by giving staff specific targets to help them to understand what they need to do to improve their practice, in particular, consider how well individual staff support children's critical thinking

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

 reflect on the setting's areas for development in a more robust way, in order to identify weaknesses and drive improvement.

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who attend

On the day of inspection, there were insufficient staff to meet the required ratios specified in the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. In addition, the qualification requirements were not met. This impacts on the quality of children's learning in the nursery. For the vast majority of the day, children initiate their own play and staff are on-hand to supervise them. However, the staff do not focus sufficiently on extending children's learning or helping them to think critically. This means that children do not make good enough progress in their learning.

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who attend

Planning focuses on themes pre-selected by staff that do not appear to follow children's current interests. For example, topics, such as 'Space' and 'Under the sea' are planned well in advance. Key people plan for individual children, but this is inconsistent, as some staff lack the knowledge to identify children's development in all seven areas. In addition, children's learning is not assessed in sufficient detail to identify the next steps in their learning. Gaps in children's learning are evident, particularly in the area of communication and language. However, there are no targeted plans in place to help individual children make progress. During planned circle time, learning is more effectively promoted. For example, children enjoy singing the 'Hello' song and staff encourage less confident children to join in and give them time to respond. Stories about aliens come to life, when children access props, such as puppets. Also, staff encourage children to count how many

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who attend

arms or eyes each alien has. As a result, children are supported in developing their imagination and their knowledge of number.

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who attend

Children who have English as an additional language are not well supported. No effective plans are in place to help them acquire English and staff have not considered if their language development is appropriate in their home language. Information shared with parents focuses on daily care needs, such as what children have eaten, rather than how they are developing. Consequently, parents have not been given sufficient opportunities to share what they know about their children's ongoing development or how they might extend their learning at home. The progress check at age two years is completed, but lacks the detail required to identify each child's strengths and areas where more support is required. In addition, these are not shared with parents promptly. For example, a progress check completed in March has not yet been shared with parents.

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who attend

Children have access to a variety of resources arranged in specific areas. For example, children choose to play in the shaving foam, the construction area and at the writing table. For parts of the day, some children have free access to the outdoor area, which has a selection of resources to support their physical development. Children have use of some of the facilities in the adjacent school. For example, they use the school hall for planned weekly activities, led by specialist practitioners, such as football and tumble tots. Staff take children to the school library and occasionally, access the 'trim trail' in the school grounds. This suitably supports children's transitions to school, as they get to know the building and teachers become familiar to them.

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

Staff have warm and friendly relationships with children, they praise their good behaviour and encourage sharing and cooperation by playing group games. For example, children wait patiently to take turns to run around cones and throw a ball into the net, during a specialist football session. They are encouraged to cheer each other on and this helps to promote their confidence and self-esteem. In the nursery garden, children take turns to try and jump over the hurdles and staff offer support by holding the hands of less confident children. These activities help children to persist with challenging tasks and so prepare them to be active learners, which helps them when the time comes for them to start school.

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

Children spend a large part of the day independently accessing a variety of resources, which are arranged in specific areas. They make up their own imaginary games as they play with items in the role play area. Consequently, children are learning to negotiate and consider the needs of others. Staff remind children to play safely, for example, not to run around indoors. Children play out on large climbing frames and slides, they throw balls and roll hoops and practise aiming, as they try to knock down the skittles. Extra weekly sessions offering specialist physical activities, such as a soft play centre, are available. As a result, children enjoy lots of physical activity, which helps them to develop a healthy lifestyle. Children's health is promoted further, as the nursery offers well-balanced, nutritious meals and provides fresh fruit for them to snack on.

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

Flexible settling-in sessions are offered to new children and they are assigned a key person. Parents are encouraged to complete a 'baseline' form for their child, which asks for information about their likes and dislikes, family and home life and some aspects of their development. However, not all children have a baseline form in place and so staff are unaware of details that would help individual children to settle quickly.

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provision

The leadership of the nursery is inadequate. The owner and manager are unaware of the qualification requirements in the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and these were not met on the day of inspection. Records show that this has been consistent practice for some time. In addition, the staffing ratios were not met on the day, and on a number of other days according to the records checked at inspection. In each of these aspects, there is a breach of requirements and as such, puts children's safety at risk.

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provision

Generally, the environment is safe. Staff complete a daily risk assessment of the premises, inside and in the garden to ensure no hazards are present. Staff have completed safeguarding training and explain the signs of abuse and neglect, they know who to contact should they have concerns about children's welfare. Partnerships with outside agencies are developing. For example, the manager attends meetings with social workers and has arranged for a speech therapist to offer parents and staff support in developing children's communication and language skills. The nursery borrows resources from the local children's centre and works closely with the adjacent school.

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provision

The manager has been in post for eight months and also manages a second setting in the nursery chain. Parents' comment that the nursery has improved since she has been in post, they get more information about their child's day and the nursery feels more welcoming and friendly. Parents have completed a questionnaire and their views have been considered in the nursery's self-evaluation. However, the evaluation has not identified the weaknesses found during the inspection and so it is not an effective tool to drive improvement. The manager has very recently taken part in a training course to enable her to implement the local authority's child development tracking system, 'Success from the start'. She has completed the process for a small sample of children as a trail run and identified that there appears to be a significant delay in communication and language development for almost all of the sample children. As a result, she has put a plan in place

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provision

to try to address this, which includes training for staff.

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provision

The planning and assessment of children's learning is not monitored effectively. Staff have inconsistent practice that has resulted in some children not being observed frequently enough to identify the areas where they need more targeted support. The manager implements staff appraisals, however, they are not detailed enough to address the areas of development required to improve children's learning and development, as no specific targets are set. However, the manager does encourage staff to attend external training courses. All staff have up-to-date first aid certificates and three staff are enrolling on an early years degree course in the autumn.

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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 EY362182 Local authority Blackpool Inspection number 916961

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 52 Number of children on roll 89 Name of provider Sarah Louise Sloane Date of previous inspection 04/03/2009 Telephone number 01253 839397

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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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