Hazles Farm

Hazles Farm Day Nursery Hazles Farm, Hazels Road, SHAWBURY, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY4 4HE

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 28/05/2013 12/05/2011

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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

 First aid requirements in relation to ensuring that at least one person with a current first aid certificate accompanies children on outings, is not met and, therefore, children's welfare compromised.  Risk assessment is not sufficiently effective and consequently, outdoor spaces are not secure and reasonable steps not taken to prevent unauthorised persons entering and children leaving unsupervised.  Contingency plans in place to ensure a named deputy is able to effectively take charge in the absence of the manager and to oversee the smooth running of the setting and the safety of the children, are not robust enough.  The deployment of staff in the out of school provision is not consistently effective to ensure children are supervised fully and their safety secured. In addition, all areas are not kept clean and hygienic to prevent the spread of infection to fully secure the children's well-being.

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This provision is inadequate

 Staff caring for children in the Busy bees room and out of school provision do not consistently make effective use of available resources to provide a more rich and varied range of experiences, to further enhance children's enjoyment and learning.

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It has the following strengths

 Staff caring for children in pre-school provide high quality resources, experiences and playful teaching across all areas of learning in a stimulating environment.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections of registered early years provision are:  scheduled at least once in every inspection cycle – the current cycle ends on 31 July

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Information about this inspection

 scheduled more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged inadequate  brought forward in the inspection cycle where Ofsted has received information that suggests the provision may not be meeting the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage or where assessment of the provision identifies a need for early inspection  prioritised where we have received information that the provision is not meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and which suggests children may not be safe  scheduled at the completion of an investigation into failure to comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Information about this inspection

The provision is also registered on the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. This report includes a judgment about compliance with the requirements of that register.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in all the playrooms and outdoors.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held a meeting with the manager, registered person and deputy of the provision.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessment records, evidence of suitability of staff working within the setting, the provider's self-evaluation and a range of other documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector also took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day and information and feedback from parent questionnaires.

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Information about the setting

Hazles Farm Day Nursery has been open since November 1999. It operates from three converted farm buildings, situated in a rural location near Shawbury, North Shropshire. The setting adopts the Montessori education approach and the forest schools ethos in their work with the children. Facilities include a before and after school club and holiday provision for children up to the age of 11 years.

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Information about the setting

The setting is open Monday to Saturday, all year round, except bank holidays. Hours of opening are from 7am until 7pm. All children share access to outdoor play areas. The setting is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently 90 children on roll in the early years age group. The setting is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early years education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. There are 54 children on roll in the out of school provision, of whom 43 are aged from five to under eight years and 11 are aged over eight years. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The setting supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Information about the setting

There are 16 staff working with children. Of these, one holds Early Years Professional Status, one holds Qualified Teacher Status, one is a Montessori teacher, one holds a qualification at level 6 qualification in early years, one holds a qualification at level 5 in early years, 8 hold a qualification at level 3 in early years and three are working towards an early years qualification. The setting receives support from the local authority.

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must:

 ensure that at least one person with a current first aid certificate accompanies children on outing to secure their welfare

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must:

 ensure the outdoor spaces are secure and take reasonable steps to prevent unauthorised persons entering and children leaving unsupervised

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must:

 ensure there are effective contingency plans in place to ensure the named deputy is able to effectively take charge in the absence of the manager and oversee the smooth running of the setting and ensure arrangements fully secure the safety of the children

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must:

 ensure the deployment of staff is effective when using the 'jungle gym' and the out of school provision to ensure children are fully supervised and their safety secured

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must:

 ensure the premises are kept clean, this relates to the children's toilets in the out of school provision building, to prevent the spread of infection and secure the children's well-being.

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

 increase further the use of available resources in the Busy bees room and out of school provision to provide a more rich and varied range of experiences to further enhance children's enjoyment and learning.

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who attend

The quality of teaching and learning is good. However, the weaknesses in leadership and management and securing the children's safety, welfare and well-being have a direct impact on meeting the needs of all children. Consequently, outcomes in meeting the needs of the range of children who attend are inadequate due to the poor leadership in the absence of the manager and the inconsistent deployment of staff to ensure adequate supervision of children.

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who attend

Staff provide an inviting and interesting environment and offer challenging, and playful opportunities across all areas of learning and development. Consequently, children make good progress from their starting points and are well prepared for their next stage of learning. For example, all children including those with those with special educational needs and/or disabilities are fully integrated and valued. Staff recognise children's progress and plan an interesting range of activities to support and extend their learning. Parents and carers contribute to the children's initial assessment and are kept well informed about their children's progress.

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who attend

Children's personal, social and emotional development is fostered well. Children are supported very well to help them settle and are happy and confident within their environment. Older children display good levels of confidence and interest and are supported well to complete tasks. They work well independently and with their peers showing good negotiation and cooperation skills. Children are encouraged to share their interests and ideas, which are valued and used well to plan stimulating experiences and activities.

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who attend

Children's communication and language is supported well through purposeful play and interactions. For example, staff encourage babies by making sounds and copying their sounds in turn-taking conversations. Staff in pre-school use the Montessori session and resources extremely successfully to introduce new ideas, concepts and vocabulary. For example, staff ask challenging and open-ended questions to make them think about what they are doing and give them time to respond, problem solve and value their questions. All staff use songs, rhymes and books very well to capture the children's interest and further increase children's language development.

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who attend

Staff provide good opportunities to promote the children's physical development. For example, the baby room children have a separate outdoor area which they can use safely. This ensures they can move safely and freely with good support offered to encourage them to use the rockers, slide and various balls. Indoors, babies freely move, roll, sit and stretch. For example, staff encourage babies to sit and look at their reflection in the mirror and encourage them to explore, grasp and squeeze objects. Children in Busy bees room aged 16 months to three years have a good range of challenging physical play equipment indoors, to test and increase their physical skills. All children thoroughly enjoy being outdoors in the fresh air and confidently use the various fixed structures, wheeled toys, bats and balls. Children have a varied range of opportunities to handle and manipulate tools as they use items, such as, crayons, chalk, paint brushes and scissors. In addition,

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who attend

children in pre-school daily use the Montessori 'Practical life' resources, such as, the jugs and water, funnels and beakers, beans and tweezers and sewing kit to help them develop their ability to concentrate and to coordinate their movements.

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who attend

Children in pre-school build secure foundations for early literacy. Children enjoy playing sound games and considering the initial sound of words, which helps foster a fondness for rhyming. Many children know print carries meaning as they make sense of familiar words and recognise their own and others' names. Staff use 'letter of the week' very well to encourage children to bring in objects in relation to this and place a good emphasis on letter formation when children begin to write.

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who attend

Staff in pre-school place a clear emphasis on promoting the children's mathematical development. The daily Montessori session offers children very good practical and meaningful opportunities to explore and consider problem solving and reasoning. Consequently, children easily sort, grade, weigh and sequence a range of objects and staff introduce and reinforce mathematical vocabulary and concepts extremely well.

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who attend

Children show a good understanding of places, objects, materials and living things. For example, a topic on mini-beasts has led to children observing the life cycle of the frog and butterfly and children use words, such as 'countries' and 'continents', as they closely examine world maps and flags. Children learn to grow fresh produce and greatly benefit from using the forest school area to consider changes in their environment. All children have good opportunities to use their senses to explore. For example, the recent addition of the sensory room includes items, such as, a light box, various natural items, metal objects, tubing and ribbons for children to freely explore.

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

The first aid requirement in relation to at least one person holding a current paediatric first aid certificate being on the premises at all times is met and exceeded. However, first aid requirements in relation to ensuring that at least one person with a current first aid certificate accompanies children on outings, is not met and, therefore, children's well- being is compromised. Indoor areas are safe and secure and, consequently, children can move freely and safely in their environment. However, on occasions the deployment of staff in the out of school provision is not consistently effective to ensure children are supervised fully. For example, when children use the challenging indoor soft play area called the 'Jungle gym', they become particularly boisterous and staff are not vigilant enough, which compromises the children's safety.

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

Resources and equipment is of good quality, safe and suitable and overall they are used well to meet planned goals in learning. However, resources, such as those in the role play area and those that promote technology, are not always used effectively in the Busy bees room and out of school provision. This does not help to provide a more rich and varied range of experiences to further enhance children's enjoyment and learning.

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

Staff adopt good hygiene practices, such as effective hand washing routines and the use of protective clothing when changing nappies. Overall, the setting is kept clean and hygienic. However, the toilets in the out of school provision, are not kept clean and hygienic throughout the day to prevent the spread of infection. This compromises the children's health and well-being. Children benefit from prepared meals including breakfast, lunch, tea and snacks, which are appropriately healthy and varied.

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

Clear routines in the baby room and the positive relationships with staff help them gain a real sense of belonging. Babies form close attachments with familiar staff and they feel safe and have a sense of trust. There is an appropriate assigned key person system in place which means staff know the children's likes and dislikes and their care needs are met well. Children are well behaved and staff skilfully reinforce positive messages of acceptable behaviour, such as praising children for using their 'listening ears' and for their 'good sharing'. Children are well prepared for transition within the setting as they move from one room to another and there are strong systems in place to share information with the local feeder schools and other settings that the children attend, to support transition. Children's understanding of safety is enhanced as part of the forest school ethos, for example, as they learn and understand the rules about the fire circle.

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provision

This inspection was prioritised due to concerns received about the maintenance of staff to child ratios, a lack of child supervision, the security and hygiene and poor contingency plans in place to cover during the managers' absence. These concerns were centred on the out of school provision provided by the setting. The inspection found that adult and child ratios are maintained. However, staff deployment during the out of school provision in not always effective indoors and outdoors and children's safety is further compromised as the gates to the outdoor play areas are not secure. Consequently, reasonable steps to prevent unauthorised persons entering and children leaving the area unsupervised have not been taken and children's safety is compromised.

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provision

Since the last inspection the manager now works part-time and a well-qualified and capable deputy covers in her absence. However, on the occasions when the deputy is also absent, there is no other named person who is capable to take charge to ensure the smooth and safe running of the setting. On these occasions, this compromises the effectiveness of the setting and the safety of the children.

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provision

All staff know and understand their roles and responsibilities in relation to safeguarding and the procedures to follow if they have child protection concerns. Therefore, children's welfare is promoted in this respect. There are effective vetting procedures in place to ensure adults caring for children or having unsupervised access to them are suitable to do so to secure their safety. The required children's records are in place.

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provision

It is clear to see that the leadership team place a strong emphasis on raising children's achievement through the ongoing monitoring of the educational programmes and coaching of staff. Consequently, teaching and learning is good. Despite these strengths, leadership and management are inadequate due to poor monitoring of the safeguarding and welfare requirements. This has resulted in poor risk assessment in relation to identifying areas of risk to children and numerous safeguarding and welfare requirements not being met. This also affects the Childcare Register requirements. Therefore, children's safety, welfare and well-being are not secured at all times.

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provision

Parents and carers are kept very well informed about the setting and their children's progress through regular newsletters, daily discussions, written diaries and parents' evenings. Parents and carers spoken to on the day of the inspection and the ongoing parental satisfaction surveys clearly indicate that they are very satisfied with the service provided and the progress their children make. These positive relationships have resulted in many parents and carers coming into the setting to talk to the children about their work in relation to the theme 'People who help us'. Collaborative working with the local feeder schools, other settings and other professionals and agencies involved with the children, helps to support the children's education and care needs.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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actions)

The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

 ensure that children receiving childcare are kept safe from harm (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that no one can enter the premises without the knowledge of a person who is caring for children on the premises, this relates to the security of outdoor spaces (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that children receiving childcare are kept safe from harm (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that a child is unable to leave the premises without a person who is caring for children on those premises becoming aware of the child leaving, this relates to the outdoor spaces (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that no one can enter the premises without the knowledge of a person who is caring for children on the premises, this relates to the security of outdoor spaces (voluntary part of the Childcare Register).

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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 508021 Local authority Shropshire Inspection number 915840

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 98 Number of children on roll 144 Name of provider Hazles Farm Childcare Ltd Date of previous inspection 12/05/2011 Telephone number 01939 250234

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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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