Busy Bees Day Nursery at Colchester Stanway

Just Learning Nursery 342 London Road, Stanway, Colchester, Essex, CO3 8LT

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 30/04/2013 24/02/2011

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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 benefit from a well-resourced environment where they take part in interesting, fun and challenging activities, which are planned effectively to promote the next steps in their learning and development.  Staff are very caring and attentive in their approach, ensuring babies and children form strong emotional attachments to their key person and feel very safe and confident.  Children experience strong continuity in their care, learning and development because practitioners engage readily with parents and strive to help them to support their children's learning at home.  The management team drives improvement very well. Together with the staff, they monitor and evaluate the provision thoroughly to make well-targeted, ongoing improvements to benefit the children.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Information about children's learning is not routinely exchanged with other relevant early years settings, so children do not always receive fully consistent and complementary support across the different settings they attend.

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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 activities in four playrooms and the outdoor learning environment.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents and carers spoken to on the day of the inspection and engaged in discussions with staff and children.  The inspector carried out a joint observation of outdoor play with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's learning journal records, planning documentation, the provider's self-evaluation forms and some written policy documents.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held meetings with the manager and checked evidence of staff suitability.

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Information about the setting

Just Learning Nursery was registered in 2007 and is on the Early Years Register. It is situated in purpose-built premises in the Stanway area of Essex, and is one of 214 settings that are privately owned and managed by Busy Bees Day Nurseries Limited. The nursery serves the local and surrounding areas, and is accessible to all children. It operates from four main playrooms and there are three fully enclosed garden areas available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 16 members of childcare staff, including the manager. All staff hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2 and above. The nursery also employs a chef and financial administrator. The nursery opens Monday to Friday all year round. Sessions are from 7.30am until 6.30pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 101 children attending who are in the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for three- and four-year-old children. It supports a number of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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

 strengthen partnership working with the other early years settings that children attend so that children benefit fully from a shared understanding about their needs and a common approach to supporting their learning.

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who attend

Staff plan a wide range of play and learning experiences that support babies and children to make good progress in their learning and development. Comprehensive information is obtained from parents so that staff establish a clear understanding of each child's starting points on entry to the nursery. This enables them to plan effective support for children from the beginning and provides a good foundation from which to track their ongoing progress. Planning for children's learning is based securely on children's individual needs and interests, and is adapted continuously to ensure children's next steps in learning are embraced. Consequently, children are eager to participate in activities and experience good levels of challenge to move them on in their learning.

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who attend

Staff carefully plan the environment to ensure activities and resources are easily accessible and interesting to children of all ages. This means that children show strong levels of independence and have good opportunities to make choices and lead their own learning. For example, toddlers enjoy helping themselves to treasure baskets containing an array of natural resources. Babies benefit from a wide range of toys and graphics that feature high contrast colours, such as black and white. These captivate them, encouraging them to explore and sustain their attention. Through effective guidance from the staff, children are acquiring the skills that prepare them well for starting school. For example, older children develop strong literacy skills as they are encouraged to read their names when self- registering on arrival. They also have good opportunities to practise their early writing skills using chalks, paint and trays of sand. Staff help them to develop their awareness of

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who attend

letter names and sounds as they repeat these clearly to children as they type them into a word-processing programme on the computer. They extend this activity further to suit more able children as they begin to introduce them to the uses of upper and lower case letters. From a young age, children's interest in books is fostered well. For example, babies delight in sitting with staff to share books, and are shown how to turn the pages for themselves.

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who attend

Children can explore the outside spaces during most of the session, with opportunities for toddlers and older children to flow more freely between the indoor and outdoor environments. This builds on the children's strong interest in outdoor learning, and is particularly beneficial to groups of older boys who make the most of the space to engage in more physical superhero games. Staff become actively involved in the children's play, extending their learning effectively. For example, they support children's mathematical development by encouraging them to count and recognise numbers to 10 in a game of hopscotch. Toddlers also encounter numbers as they sing various number rhymes and count bubbles as they float into the sky. Children's communication and language skills are effectively promoted. Staff give children plenty of time to talk, and ask them questions to stimulate their thinking and ideas. As a result, conversation flows well amongst the

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who attend

children, particularly during shared meal times. The staff working with babies also recognise the way in which individual babies communicate and respond appropriately to this, using lots of facial expressions and repetition.

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who attend

Staff foster partnerships with some of the professionals who are involved in the children's care outside of the nursery, including physiotherapists and occupational therapists. They invite them into the nursery to observe children and implement many of their suggestions. As a result, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive timely support and specialist intervention, and make good progress. A key strength of the nursery is how well the staff connect and work in partnership with parents. Staff hold frequent parents' evenings to encourage them to share what they know about their children and to discuss children's ongoing progress in detail. For example, staff share each child's learning journal record with parents, asking for their comments to ensure the assessments provide a fully accurate account of children's learning and development. Staff go further to foster parents' involvement in their children's learning. For example, they

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who attend

proactively suggest fun and educational activities they can enjoy with their children at home, such as singing rhymes and counting with bricks. As result, children experience strong continuity in their learning.

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

Children are very happy and settled in the nursery. An effective key person system helps children to form particularly strong and supportive attachments with the staff, resulting in them feeling very safe and confident. Staff are especially caring and attentive to the needs of the youngest children. They take time to talk with parents in detail about their children's care routines, ensuring they can provide babies with a seamless transition from their home into the nursery. For example, babies quickly develop a secure sense of belonging as their individual sleeping and eating routines are fully respected throughout the day. Strong emphasis is placed on ensuring that children are well prepared when they are ready to move into a different room within the nursery. They go on visits so they become familiar with their new surroundings and the new staff who will be caring for them. Similarly, staff provide good support to children when they are due to move onto

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

school. For example, they offer items of school uniform for children to wear in their role play situations, and share meaningful books featuring photographs of the school environment. As a result, children know what to expect from school life and are well prepared for their transition.

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

Older children are very confident in managing everyday tasks for themselves. This is because they are given every opportunity to be independent in hanging up their coats, pouring their own drinks, and helping to tidy away resources. The atmosphere within the nursery is very calm and children's behaviour is reliably good. They respond positively to the clear guidance and boundaries that are consistently reinforced by all staff, and thrive on the staff's frequent praise and encouragement. Staff give strong priority to the safety of children and foster their growing understanding of risks and how to keep themselves safe. They use resources safely, including the new balance bikes, which they learn to manoeuvre cautiously around the garden to avoid bumping into others.

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

Children relish the opportunity to engage in physical play on a daily basis. They benefit from a wide range of equipment to support their physical strength and control, including balance beams, bats, balls and ride-on toys. The nursery implements various additional initiatives to enhance children's health. These include popular 'Wake and Shake' sessions, which encourage children to exercise to music, and have fun as they move like 'runner beans' and 'jumping beans'. Staff organise themselves well so a member of staff is always on hand to support the children's personal care needs, including regular nappy changing and hand-washing routines. Children enjoy social meal times, as they are provided with suitable seating and tables to enable them to sit close to one another and share in discussions. The nursery offers a varied menu of snacks and meals which are freshly prepared, nutritious and tailored to meet children's individual dietary needs. This goes

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

further to support children in adopting aspects of a healthy lifestyle.

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provision

The management team and staff make children's safety their priority. They diligently undertake thorough checks of the environment to minimise hazards and the risk of harm to children. Staff have a good knowledge of child protection issues and take very positive steps to protect children. For example, the nursery's safeguarding children policy is well understood by all staff. It is included as an important part of their induction process, and ongoing safeguarding practice is always discussed during staff meetings. The recruitment of staff and students involves a range of robust checks to make sure children are cared for by suitable people. The manager monitors staff performance through annual appraisals and encourages staff to attend regular training courses to extend their knowledge, understanding and skills. This means that staff are well trained and qualified to meet children's needs.

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provision

The key person system is thoroughly embedded to support strong relationships with parents. They express their high levels of satisfaction with the quality of care their children experience at the nursery, particularly the staff's commitment to meeting their child's needs. There are rich opportunities for parents to join the nursery's Parent Partnership Group, which extends their involvement in decision making at the nursery. The manager is keen to foster links with the other local early years settings attended by children alongside the nursery, and has started to request information from parents to support this. However, this means that these partnerships are not yet fully established to enable all parties to exchange relevant information about children's learning and ensure children make the best possible progress wherever they spend their time.

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provision

The committed management team works very closely with staff to reflect on the quality of the provision. Although the manager is relatively new to the nursery, she has implemented a number of effective procedures for monitoring the effectiveness of the educational programmes. For example, she conducts regular checks of the children's learning journey records to ensure they continue to reflect children's progress across all areas of their learning and development. Parents and staff are fully involved in evaluating the provision to ensure their views are considered when planning future improvements, including their input into the radical plans for development of the outdoor environment. Staff complete detailed reviews of the continuous provision within each room, ensuring any weaknesses in practice are identified and incorporated into their action plans for improvement. This means that plans for improvement are always closely matched to the needs of all children,

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provision

and have a very positive impact on their welfare, learning and development.

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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 EY308705 Local authority Essex Inspection number 910045

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 139 Number of children on roll 101 Name of provider Just Learning Ltd Date of previous inspection 24/02/2011 Telephone number 01206 212233

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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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