Bright Start Nursery

Bright Start Nursery Thanet Multi Agency Service, Mortimer House, 24 Hartsdown Road, MARGATE, Kent, CT9 5QT

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 12/06/2013 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: Not Applicable 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

 The effective key person approach supports children's personal, social and emotional development strongly. This enables children to develop secure attachments with the staff.  Children play with a good range of toys. These are carefully selected for the age and stage of children cared for in each room.  Partnership with parents is valued and promoted to support children's learning and development requirements.  The leadership of the nursery is committed, enthusiastic and motivated to continuously strive for improvements to promote outcomes for children.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 The role play area has a limited variety of resources to promote children's imaginations fully.  Print and books are not always purposefully used in different areas of the nursery to raise children's understanding of different types of books, such as reference books and that print carries meaning.

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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 spent time in all rooms in the nursery and the outdoor play area, observing staff and children's interactions.  Documentation was sampled, including policies and procedures for safeguarding.  Parents' views were sought through discussion during the inspection process.

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Inspection activities

 Joint observations of staff practice and children's activities were held with the manager of the setting.

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Information about the setting

Bright Start Nursery was registered in 2012. It operates on the ground floor of the Thanet Multi Agency Service building in Margate, Kent. Children have access to a pre-school room, toddler room, baby room and outside play area. The nursery opens from 7.45am to 6pm, Monday to Friday, all year round apart from bank holidays and a week at Christmas.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and on the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently 84 children in the early years age range on roll. The nursery receives funding for early education for two-, three- and four- year-olds. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 17 staff including the manager. Of these, 15 hold a relevant early years qualification to at least level 3. The nursery receives support from a local authority worker.

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

 enhance the role play area by introducing features, such as curtains, dressing up materials and a variety of props to expand and extend children's imagination and experiences

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

 encourage children's use of books for different purposes and raise their awareness that print carries meaning by displaying signs and posters in the environment.

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who attend

Children make good progress in their learning and development because the staff have a secure knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Staff engage well with the children, joining in with their play and provide a good range of activities to promote the areas of learning. For example, children have good opportunities to develop their large and fine physical skills both indoors and outside. Children play on the sit and ride cars, developing their awareness of space around them. This encourages them to control the cars to avoid other children or objects. They show good balancing skills as they walk along the raised beam or balance on the large bricks. Cardboard boxes add to children's enjoyment as they develop their imagination alongside their friends. Children demonstrate effective small physical skills as they use pens, pencils and scissors with good hand and eye co-ordination.

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who attend

Children communicate well throughout the nursery, from the babbling and single words in the baby room to full sentences by the time children reach the pre-school room. Staff in each room promote communication well. They talk to the children about what they are doing and ask good questions to extend children's thinking. For example, babies are asked questions such as 'where is the dog?' when looking at the books. Older children are asked to solve problems and describe how they might get the toys out of the blocks of ice. Staff support all children's language needs, taking into account their stage of development.

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who attend

All children have good opportunities to learn about the world they live in. For example, young babies are taken on walks to learn about their local environment, and toddlers talk about their families and make books with photographs. Older children have exciting opportunities to learn about different cultures and how families celebrate different festivals. All children enjoy learning about their nursery pet, a large rabbit, which lives in their play area. They gain an understanding of what he needs such as food and water and how to treat him with care and kindness.

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who attend

Children show enjoyment with books as they climb up to the top of the raised platform, enjoying the unusual place to sit. They enjoy listening to stories read with an adult or sharing books with their friends. Staff do not always use books and print on displays and in other areas around the nursery to encourage children to use these and recognise print for different purposes. For example, reference books and posters are not always linked to topic displays. Older children are beginning to recognise their name with some children beginning to form the letters of their name correctly. Children show good recognition of numbers as they use these in practical situations. For example, they count how many children are present at circle time and ensure the number on the board reflects this. They play number games and sing number rhymes throughout the nursery, with the youngest children using treasure baskets to support their mathematical skills.

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who attend

Messy play is planned daily with children painting on easels, having opportunities for gloop, glue or collage. Jelly play is a particular favourite, together with ice play and frozen toy animals. Children have use of role play equipment, such as keyboards and some play kitchen resources. However, overall the role play resources lack variety and the area is not well used to extend children's interests or fully promote their imagination.

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who attend

All children are included into the nursery, with the staff demonstrating a good understanding about working with children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The nursery has a trained special educational needs coordinator, who ensures that all children's needs are recognised and supported well. Parents are fully included in the care of their child and contribute to all aspects of their child's learning and development. Opportunities to talk to their child's key person are available daily, alongside daily access to the learning journals located on each child's peg. A notice board together with regular newsletters enables parents to support their child in forthcoming events

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

The key person system is implemented effectively, enabling all children to settle well and feel safe and secure. Children approach their key person for a cuddle or help with individual tasks, providing them with a familiar adult to support children strongly. The key person know their children well and this enables them to plan activities to meet children's individual needs. Children are encouraged to develop their independent skills, for example, by putting on their aprons and making choices of activities. Children behave well, learning how to share the toys and take turns when playing games or using different resources.

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

The staff show a good understanding about the importance of promoting a healthy lifestyle. They provide children with a good range of healthy snacks, including fresh fruit, cucumber and breadsticks. Children choose milk or water to drink at these times. In addition, children have access to drinking water during the day to meet their own needs. Children are able to bring their own packed lunches, which are stored in a fridge, keeping food fresh and healthy. Alternatively, they may choose the outside caterer's hot meal service, which is served up on the premises. The daily free-flow from indoors to outside provides children with lovely opportunities to keep active and healthy, while benefitting from fresh air. The play area is used by all children and plans to extend this area are in the process of being developed. Hygiene routines are in place with children understanding why they must wash their hands. For example, before eating or after stroking the rabbit.

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

Staff provide good role models to the children, ensuring that areas where meals are prepared are cleaned appropriately.

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

Children learn how to keep themselves safe through gentle reminders from the staff. Children are reminded why it is not safe to run indoors and why it is important to hold onto the rail when climbing the steps to the high book area. Children experience challenges with the play equipment outside, enabling them to learn about their limitations and to find methods to keep themselves safe. Staff follow thorough procedures when taking children on outings. For example, they use an 'outing bag' with all necessary items in and sign children and staff in and out of the nursery. The highly effective security systems in place prevent unwanted visitors entering the nursery and protect children's safety.

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

The management have invested time and finance into the nursery enabling children to play in a well-resourced and welcoming environment. There are ample resources for each room to have their own toys that are suitable for the ages of the children attending. Consequently, children are well engaged and their interest maintained. All resources are easily accessible in all rooms and are divided up into areas. This enables children to easily find their favourites. The outdoor area has a good range of resources, to promote children's physical skills.

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

Staff understand the importance of supporting children in their move to school. They are aware of the skills children need and provide activities and routines to enable children to develop these skills. For example, children learn to recognise their name on their coat hooks and have access to mark making tools on a daily basis. They follow the routine of the day and develop their independence, taking themselves to the toilet and learning to put coats on and off. Numbers are well promoted within the setting, including mathematical activities such as floating and sinking and recognition of shapes. Parents are involved in the process of preparing their children for school and work well with the key person to achieve this. As a result, there is a consistent approach to supporting children.

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provision

The leadership of the nursery is committed to providing effective care to children and a safe environment. The management team strive to ensure all the children are well cared for by employing good quality trained staff and a wide variety of resources. The manager ensures she is involved in the daily care of the children. This enables her to closely monitor children's progress and ensure all children are receiving tailored support. Systems have recently been implemented to improve the observation, assessment and planning process to provide continuity throughout the setting.

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provision

Strong procedures are in place for the recruitment and retention of staff. Regular supervisions are carried out for all staff, in addition to annual appraisals to maintain staff's suitability. All relevant checks are taken up for each staff member, alongside references and a thorough induction and probation period. Training is fully encouraged with some in- house training and whole staff team training, resulting in consistency and a motivated staff team. Safeguarding is given high priority in the setting, with each member of staff attending training. A well-written policy is in place and implemented effectively. All staff have a strong knowledge and understanding of the process to follow in the event of concerns arising about children's welfare. They have easy access to contact details for outside agencies if required. The finger print security and visitor's book fully promote children's safety while being cared for at the nursery. Staff undertake daily safety checks,

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provision

alongside these are well-written risk assessments for both the premises and outings. Consequently, children's safety is well promoted.

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provision

The management team meet regularly to discuss the routines of the nursery and use this time to discuss the self-evaluation. They have recently implemented further monitoring systems to ascertain the effectiveness of the learning and development programme in place. Parental comments from parent questionnaires and suggestions from staff alongside each room's written input, provides focussed support for the self-evaluation. In addition, children's views are obtained, resulting in a nursery where all users' views are taken into consideration to provide a good standard of care for all children.

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provision

The nursery has established good links with other providers and outside agencies, such as speech and language therapists and the area special educational needs coordinator. These good relationships enable children's needs to be identified, monitored and detailed programmes implemented, with support from the key person and parents. Consequently, all children make good progress in their learning and development.

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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 EY452173 Local authority Kent Inspection number 894994 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 54 Number of children on roll 84 Name of provider Thanet Childcare Limited Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 01843228014

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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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