Little People Farfield

Little People Farfield Farsley Farfield Primary School, Cote Lane, Farsley, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS28 5ED

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 23/05/2013 06/03/2012

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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

 The practitioners are led by a highly committed manager. The company provides accredited training for practitioners. This means there is a culture of continuous reflection and improvement and children's individual needs are well met.  The setting is based in and has use of the extensive grounds of a primary school in addition to their own exciting outdoor space. This means they have good opportunities to learn outdoors and have exercise. It also helps them become familiar with school.  Practitioners observe children's play, assess their interests and developmental stages and carefully tailor planning to their individual needs. This means all children, including those with additional educational needs, make very good progress.  The setting develops highly effective partnerships with parents and other agencies. This means all children make good progress in their learning and development.  Management and staff have a good knowledge and understanding of safeguarding

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This provision is good

procedures and practice. This helps keep children safe.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 There is scope to improve the already good mentoring and supervision of practitioners to strengthen quality of teaching even further, in the pursuit of excellence.  Children's opportunities to express their own ideas independently through a range of media, such as paint and recycled materials, are sometimes reduced because the resources are not always freely available for children to choose for themselves.

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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 had a tour of the setting, including the separate out of school club building and the grounds which they share with the local school and discussed with the manager how the setting operates.  The inspector spoke to parents throughout the day.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children playing in the various rooms and outdoors, and examined their learning records.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the manager of the setting.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector talked to children, practitioners, the cook and the managers throughout the inspection.

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Information about the setting

Little People (Farfield) was registered in 2001 and is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is situated in purpose built premises in the Farsley area of Leeds and is managed by Little People Nurseries Ltd. The setting serves the local community and has strong links with the children's centre and two local primary schools. It operates from Farsley Farfield Primary School site and there is a fully enclosed area available for outdoor play. The setting has access to the school's extensive grounds.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 33 childcare practitioners. Of these, 24 hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2 or above, including one with Early Years Professional Status. All staff have or are working towards qualifications at level 3 or above. The nursery opens Monday to Friday for 51 weeks a year, from 7.30am until 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 105 children attending who are in the early years age group. There are also 127 school-aged children who attend the nursery's out of school club, which is situated in a separate building on the same site. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The setting is a member of the National Day Nurseries Association and receives support from the local authority and other agencies.

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

 extend the monitoring of the already good quality of teaching, to ensure all practitioners consistently encourage children to become highly independent and motivated learners

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

 make resources, such as paint, recycled materials and other creative materials freely available for children to choose for themselves, to allow them opportunities to express their own ideas through a range of media.

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who attend

The setting meets the needs of all children well. Practitioners know that children learn as they play and explore. They provide a stimulating environment that is well resourced both inside and outdoors. They use these resources and the environment well to extend children's learning. For example, a practitioner supports four-year-old children as they investigate the effects of driving a scooter through a puddle. Another practitioner encourages and supports children as they build with giant blocks. Younger children also play outdoors and sing action games and rhymes with practitioners, such as 'Down at the bottom of the deep blue sea'. In these ways, children develop communication and language skills, learn to cooperate, take turns, develop physical skills and find out about their environment. Practitioners do this particularly well because they ensure children's play and exploration is enthusiastically supported and children are encouraged to think

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who attend

Practitioners introduce mathematical ideas of shape and number into all such activities and into routines. This means children are also developing these skills as they play. The children use computers, programmable toys and cameras. In these ways, children become familiar with a range of technologies. Children are encouraged to write their own names, for example, on their art work and many of the resources are clearly labelled with words and pictures. This encourages children to develop an interest in words, letters and in writing. Practitioners help children to paint by painting an example themselves. For instance, there is an effective display of paintings of grey cats with black features. A practitioner paints an example and children paint their interpretations. Children are encouraged to notice similarities and differences as they choose eye colour and hair colour for their self-portraits. However, children do not have many opportunities to explore and

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who attend

investigate techniques they have learned for their own projects because the resources are not easily accessible for the children to select for themselves.

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who attend

The room leader and practitioners plan activities and experiences for children based on observations of what they like doing. They jot down notes in a scrap book and use these notes to help plan weekly activities. They also base some activities each month on a reading book. For example, the children showed a keen interest in a favourite book about a duck, so practitioners used this story as inspiration for a number of activities. Practitioners also use living things to help children find out about their environment. They observe tadpoles as they turn into frogs and grow plants from seeds. They also feed the chickens and grow plants at the 'farm'. In these ways children find out about living things and how to care for them. The children have a learning journal that practitioners use to monitor children's rate of learning and to keep parents informed about their child's learning. These records include photographs and notes about what children have done as

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who attend

well as regular assessments of children's progress, including the formal progress check at age two. This means parents and the setting can work closely together to ensure children make good progress in their learning and development. It also means parents and practitioners can quickly identify and provide any additional support children may require. The setting provides for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities extremely well. Children make good progress because practitioners understand their needs and work closely with other agencies to ensure these needs are well met. This promotes children's learning and development and will help children establish a firm basis for their future education.

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

Babies and older children develop strong attachments with their key practitioners. Because children have very strong supportive relationships with their key persons, all children learn well and are well prepared for the next stages in their learning. The manager and her practitioners skilfully support children's transitions both within the setting and to other settings and school. Many children move on to the school which shares the same site as the nursery. Parents are actively involved in this process.

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

The environment is generally well organised and offers a wealth of opportunities for children to learn and develop independently, however, some resources, such as paints, are not easily accessible for children to access themselves. This reduces their ability to return to an activity, experiment and investigate for themselves, although practitioners will always provide resources, should children ask for them.

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

The children in the whole setting are very happy. They feel safe, welcome and valued. Each age group has a separate dedicated outdoor space, although children can and do share these on occasions. This ensures that older children can get vigorous exercise without endangering younger children. The outdoor space is well used. All children have regular opportunities to get fresh air and exercise, and older children can choose to go outside for much of the day. The area for the three and four-year-old children has been recently landscaped to provide an exciting and challenging environment in which children can develop skills, confidence, self-esteem and learn to take supervised risks. Children's behaviour throughout the nursery is very good. Children consider each other's feelings. They share well and pass each other resources. This is because the practitioners are good role models, teach children to consider others feelings and ensure children's needs are

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

met. Children are generally encouraged to be independent and learn to begin to take responsibility for themselves. For example, older children pour themselves drinks if they are thirsty.

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provision

The manager and all her practitioners give high priority to the safety of children and arrangements for safeguarding children within the provision are good. The newly landscaped outdoor area was designed to minimise risk to children. The nursery carries out comprehensive risk assessments which are checked daily. Children are allowed to explore their surroundings and are appropriately physically challenged. However, the inspection took place following notification of an accident to a preschool child using this updated outdoor space. The inspection found that the practitioners were fully aware of their responsibilities and took all the necessary steps for appropriate treatment, informing parents and the relevant authorities. The manager carried out a full review of the outdoor area following the accident and put in place additional arrangements for supervision, for example padding has been added to parts of the perimeter fence and tyres have been

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provision

placed to prevent children from rolling down the short bank towards the fence. All children, including older children in the out of school club are very well supervised at all times.

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provision

The practitioners are led by a very committed setting manager. She also oversees the manager of the out of school club, which is based in a separate building on the same site. The setting manager in turn is supported within a strong, wider management team. The company runs four settings and provides an in-house training programme providing work- based accredited qualifications in conjunction with a local college. The company has eight assessors across the four settings, including several at this setting. Seventy five per cent of practitioners are qualified at level 3 and the remainder are in training and working towards a level 3 qualification. All managers within the company meet every four to six weeks, to develop their practice, discuss policies and exchange ideas. They attend training and sometimes work at each other's sites. This enables the manager to observe how other settings run and allows her to reflect on her own practice. The practitioners hold weekly

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provision

meetings in each room to review and plan activities. This culture of constant reflection and improvement ensures standards of care and teaching throughout the nursery continue to improve for children and families.

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provision

Children's progress is monitored closely by each child's key practitioner and the room leaders. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are also monitored by the manager who is the special educational needs coordinator (SENCO). The manager monitors practitioners' work on a daily basis and also assesses students working towards vocational qualifications within the setting. She reinforces good practice and makes suggestions for further improvements to enable them to improve the way they work with children. However, there remains scope to strengthen the quality of some practitioners' teaching further, to ensure all children make the very best possible progress. The manager samples children's records monthly and each term reviews the progress of all individual children. This enables her to quickly identify any additional support children may need to help them meet learning and development targets. The nursery works very closely with a

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provision

wide range of other agencies, for example, specialist teachers and language specialists, to provide extra support for children. The analysis of children's progress also allows the manager to identify any extra support or training that practitioners may require. Parents are also encouraged to be actively involved with the children's learning in a variety of ways. Posters, notes from practitioners and leaflets encourage parents to extend children's learning at home and they are encouraged to contribute to assessments.

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provision

The manager and the company place great emphasis on ensuring the children are safe. Recruitment processes are rigorous and include an in depth selection and induction processes provided by the senior management of the company. This supports new practitioners and ensures they know how the nursery runs and enables them to develop good practice. Management and practitioners have a very good knowledge and understanding of safeguarding issues. They know the policy and procedure to follow if they have concerns. Management ensures all staff are kept up-to-date with current guidance and have regular refresher training through in-house and external training providers. Parents and children are consulted on a regular basis to ensure their needs and views are included in the self-evaluation. For example, all policies are available for parents in a file in the entrance lobby and key policies are displayed on a notice board. Parents are

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provision

asked to comment and make suggestions about these via questionnaires, a suggestion box and informal discussion. Parents make very positive comments about the care their children receive and the support they receive as families. Parents spoken to during the inspection are very confident their children are safe and very well provided for at the nursery.

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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 320804 Local authority Leeds Inspection number 920162

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 137 Number of children on roll 232 Name of provider Little People (Farfield) Limited Date of previous inspection 06/03/2012 Telephone number 0113 256 6495

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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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