Timbers Nursery School

Timbers Nursery School Oakridge Hall for All, Forsythia Walk, Oakridge Village, BASINGSTOKE, Hampshire, RG21 5RL

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 18/06/2013 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 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 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 The nursery staff forge highly productive links with a wide range of other providers, outside agencies and services to ensure children are safeguarded and their needs met. Any barriers to learning are quickly identified and effective support systems initiated to close gaps in learning.  High quality links have been established with parents and carers which is a major strength of the nursery. Relationships are secure, trusting and warm because they are given the utmost priority. Staff recognise and value the uniqueness of each family and the important role they play in supporting children's learning.  An excellent focus is placed on learning both in the indoor and outdoor environments which provides a strong base for children to develop confidence, independence and to explore. The effective organisation of resources ensures that children play an active and dynamic role in their learning.  High-quality professional supervision opportunities and continued reflective practice

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This provision is outstanding

ensures that staff plan a range of activities that inspire, motivate and challenge children to achieve their very best.

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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 compulsory part 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 made several short and long observations of activities in all areas of the nursery.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke with the manager and several members of staff, including the Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's learning journals, a sample of planning documentation, a selection of children's records and the nursery's policies and procedures.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of recruitment, suitability and qualifications of staff working with children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector also took account of the views of several parents spoken to on the day.

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Information about the setting

Timbers Nursery School previously registered in 2002 and re-registered in 2012 to become a Limited company. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. It is situated in the Oakridge area of Basingstoke, Hampshire. The nursery is based within the Oakridge Community Hall for All and shares the site with a children's centre. It has access to two self-contained rooms and there is access for children to play outside, at the front and rear of the premises. The nursery also has use of the main large hall for some activities and once a week uses a room at the children's centre for a group of younger children. It supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is open from 8.15am to 3.45pm, term time only offering morning, afternoon sessions and lunch club each day. It receives funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two, three and four years. The nursery employs five members of staff to work directly with the children. Of these, four staff members have appropriate early years childcare qualifications to Level 3 and the manager has a foundation degree.

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

 allow children to have the time and freedom to become deeply involved in activities which are accessible and open-ended so they can be used, moved and combined in a variety of ways.

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who attend

Staff have an exceptional knowledge and understanding of how to implement the Early Years Foundation Stage. Children's learning is impressive. This is because staff plan varied, inspiring activities, which ensures that all groups of children are active in their learning and make excellent progress. Activities are challenging but achievable, ensuring children remain confident and motivated. Staff have an extensive understanding of what each child is to gain from the range of spontaneous or planned activities. Staff gain as much information as possible from parents when children first start so that they can establish children's capabilities and starting points. Staff highly value and make full use of information from parents and successfully use this to shape the direction of each child's learning. Ongoing summative assessments are rigorous and reflected in the level of detail in each child's individual profile. Any difference in levels of achievement between groups is

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who attend

narrowing rapidly as a result of accurately targeted action. When children leave the nursery, their progress is significant as most are at the level expected for their age and many exceed it. As a result, they have made outstanding progress in relation to their capabilities.

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who attend

Children are busy and occupied in this exciting and challenging environment. Teaching is clear, well-paced and sharp, showing an in-depth understanding of children's overall and specific learning needs. Staff ensure that children have opportunities to discover and guide their own learning and provide plenty of opportunities for children to practise new skills both independently and with support when needed. On very rare occasions however, some staff over direct children in their play. While this is due in part to their caring and supportive nature, it means that sometimes children miss opportunities to fully express themselves or make choices about how they want to use the resources. The impact overall is minimal as children are motivated and eager to learn.

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who attend

Excellent support is given to those children who are in the early stages of developing their speech and language. The staff model language in a reassuring and positive way which supports those groups of children who are less confident in their ways of communicating. Staff take time to listen to children's conversations and ideas with interest and sensitivity. Children employ a range of methods to communicate, including Makaton signs and symbols, while others use a picture exchange system. Skills are further promoted through pictorial signs and labelling around the rooms, which enhance children's understanding of the written word. Staff support the use of these additional communication methods very effectively, enabling children of all ages to express themselves and make their needs known. This means that children develop extremely good communication skills which prepare them well for their future learning.

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who attend

Children are confident and settle quickly, developing an enthusiasm for exploration and even very young children demonstrate a confidence and ability to concentrate on new activities. They are inspired to build upon their experiences by discussing things they see and learn. For example, a child uses a funnel and pipe during a water play activity. He verbalises his plan to make the water come down the pipe and into the tray. A staff member allows him time to experiment by blowing down the pipe and then gently models a way to hold the pipe up to channel the water. The child then decides to fix the pipe to the wall so he can pour water down the tube and together they use tape and devise a way to make this happen. This inspirational support is evident in all staff interactions and is effective in scaffolding children's learning and skilfully developing sustained shared thinking. As a result, children are enthralled by the excellent range of experiences on

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who attend

offer, make their own choices about what they want to do, and feel valued and understood when their interests and ideas are thoughtfully supported.

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who attend

Children are effective decision-makers and they persevere at activities of their own choice, with time to practise and reinforce their learning. Well-planned and spontaneous activities build upon children's interests and the nursery has introduced a range of integrated and focussed learning opportunities as a result of the tracking work they have undertaken. A renewed focus on encouraging boys to write for a purpose has brought about the introduction of a range of mark making in the outdoor areas and within adult supported activities indoors. A theme of pirates has captured and enthralled older groups of children. This has not only been successful in building on children's mark making skills, as they use small treasure maps to plan their adventure, but has promoted speaking, listening and negotiating skills as children create complex storylines to follow in their play. As a result, children challenge themselves further in their learning, with many children beginning to

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who attend

write recognisable letters and construct simple sentence structures.

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who attend

Partnerships with parents are exemplary. Parents are highly complimentary about the preschool and highlight the extremely strong bond that exists between the nursery and home as one of its key strengths. Parents talk enthusiastically about the progress their children are making and are appreciative of the nursery's caring and knowledgeable staff. Parents say they feel listened to and respected. Their views are sought regularly through informal conversations and formal evaluations. Parents are regularly updated about their children's progress through detailed reports and meetings, and receive ideas on how to extend this at home. The staff have prepared a range of resource bags with simple activities that children and their families can enjoy at home. Information sessions on a range of themes are offered to families and they comment that they have gained a better understanding of the meaning of play and how they can support their children at home.

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who attend

As a result, home-nursery links have been strengthened which means that parents are fully involved in setting individual targets and sharing in future learning and milestones which their children achieve in the nursery.

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

Children thrive in a vibrant learning environment where they have an excellent sense of belonging. The premises are warm and welcoming and children display high levels of independence. This is because they have built strong and trusting relationships with their key person who has a comprehensive understanding of children's individual needs, personalities and backgrounds. Staff effectively use their knowledge to promote children's feeling of security and self-worth and the culture, ethos and practice of the nursery promotes respect and inclusion. Behaviour is excellent and children demonstrate team work and positive behaviour, such as, good manners. As a result, children are very well prepared for school as they learn boundaries of acceptable behaviour and turn taking.

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

Resources are chosen carefully to enhance learning. Fresh air opportunities are maximised within the nursery day and development of the garden area is ever ongoing so that children engage in a wide range of activities supporting their physical and investigation skills. Children develop their understanding of shape and space as they take part in large scale building projects. Their play has advanced into constructing bridges, balancing beams, dens and towers; using easily available resources such as milk crates. Children use plumbing equipment, guttering and funnels in water play to explore the flow of water and investigate gravity. They work out the best and safest way to put them together and work co-operatively to assess their effectiveness, adapting them as their design evolves. This deep level of involvement in their play increases children's attention, concentration and sustained investigation and empowers children to make collaborative decisions in their

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

learning. Staff make excellent use of further resources, such as spaces and resources in the children's centre, in order to offer children an extended range of opportunities.

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

Staff actively encourage children to talk about their experiences of keeping safe throughout the day and include them in managing daily risks as they help staff to complete daily checks. Rich and varied opportunities allow children to understand about safely assessing risks and about how to keep themselves healthy. The children have an exceptionally good understanding of keeping themselves safe because they regularly risk assess their own activities and have learnt safe practices. For example, staff support children to toast marshmallows on an open fire in their outdoor area. Fire safety is well- embedded in children's understanding because clear boundaries are set, and children understand the risks of getting too close to the fire.

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

Children enjoy a healthy lifestyle. Staff model and encourage highly effective hygiene routines and use age-appropriate discussions about the importance of these. Staff provide clear messages to children on healthy eating and advocate the benefits of a healthy lifestyle through topic work and regular cooking activities.

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provision

Leadership is inspirational. There is a dynamic vision and high aspirations shared by the manager and staff at the nursery. Staff talk with pride about the work that they do and there is a tremendous feeling of passion and total commitment throughout the staff group. Rigorous health and safety and safeguarding procedures provide safe premises for children and their families. All staff are exceptionally well-trained in the Local Safeguarding Children Board procedures so that they are up-to-date with all current legislation. A comprehensive child protection policy reinforces this excellent knowledge and supports staff to help them keep children safe from risk of harm and neglect. Strong partnerships and integrated working with the children's centre have a very positive impact on the safeguarding of children and, as a result, their progress and safety is excellent. Use of the Common Assessment Framework is well established and staff are highly competent in use

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provision

of this process so that children are properly protected and their well-being is frequently monitored. Procedures to promote children's daily safety are exceptionally robust. Comprehensive risk assessments have been carried out for inside and outside of the nursery to reduce any potential hazards. Children's individual or specific additional needs are also fully risk assessed and children are very well supervised, with extremely high levels of consideration given to ensure their safety at all times. Recruitment procedures for all adults working at the nursery, including students, are extremely rigorous to ensure appropriate checks are made before work commences and during their time at the nursery.

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provision

Exemplary systems of performance management provide a high quality workforce that is highly effective in meeting the needs of families. The manager communicates high expectations and ambitions to staff, who are inspired to drive forward and improve services. A well-constructed and focused professional development and training programme for staff has created a trusting professional environment in which staff are ready to discuss key professional issues robustly and learn from each other, and from outside professionals. A key factor in the nursery's success is strong team work. Staff work as a team with a common aim, shared responsibilities and a culture of celebrating successes. Their enthusiasm, professionalism, commitment and dedication to raising standards are exemplary.

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provision

Systems to monitor and evaluate the educational programmes are securely embedded and the 'can do' attitude of the staff team is leading to continuous and rapid improvement. Robust self-assessment is based firmly on the analysis of outcomes and leads to challenging target setting. Activity plans record what children do and say, and how well each child has met their learning objective. Equality and diversity underpins this and threads through all aspects of the children's day. Reviews of children's progress highlight the effectiveness of matching intervention to the needs of children. The manager analyses all of this information into a sophisticated data set that is used extremely well to evaluate the impact of children's play and the progress made in their learning. Outcomes for different groups of children at different ages are rapidly improving as evidenced by the range of studies completed by staff that include topics such as boy's engagement with

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provision

early writing and mathematics, or enhanced outdoor play provision. The staff actively seek and welcome the views of all users and the wider community. Evaluation and development planning are very well coordinated in a cycle that includes rigorous analysis of user feedback. As a result, the nursery is moving forward at a considerable pace, demonstrating an excellent capacity to maintain continuous improvement.

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provision

There are highly effective and established partnerships with outside professionals and collaborative working with external agencies is exemplary. The nursery works seamlessly with a number of partner agencies to provide an extensive breadth of provision. Inclusion of all families and children is outstanding and is fully promoted in all aspects of the nursery to ensure that their diverse needs are particularly well supported. This facilitates children's effective move from their nursery to a school environment in order to give them the best possible start in their future learning.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory 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 EY457530 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 896707 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 5 Total number of places 44 Number of children on roll 48 Name of provider Timbers and Lychpit Ltd Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 01256 475833

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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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