Stars Day Nurseries Ltd t/a Bright Stars Day Nursery

Bright Stars Day Nursery 241 Park Road, PETERBOROUGH, PE1 2UT

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 03/05/2013 07/11/2008

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early years provision

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

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This provision is outstanding

 Children make excellent progress in relation to their individual starting points. Staff provide them with very well planned activities that are interesting and fun. Older babies look at the herb garden, using small cans to water the plants, pre-school children indulge in role play with real bricks and tools and toddlers explore chalks, paintbrushes and water on the chalk board in the garden.  The outstanding partnerships with parents actively support children's feeling of belonging in the nursery and extends their learning at home. The key persons suggest tasks linked to the nursery activities that parents can do with their children at home.  The owner and management team within the nursery work very well together and are absolutely committed to continually improving their service for all the children and families in their care.  Babies settle quickly and clearly demonstrate that they feel very safe and secure. For

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This provision is outstanding

example, they look for their key person calling out to them excitedly, they snuggle in to them for comfort and they sleep peacefully after lunch.  All children thoroughly enjoy the free flow play opportunities into the nursery gardens. The staff often bring all the children together in the main garden and this enables children to spend time with their younger siblings and friends while playing outside.  Children are very successfully prepared for their transitions both from room to room within the nursery and ultimately onto school. The staff work very closely with each other, with the children's parents and with other providers to ensure that each child's needs are taken account of to help them with the change.

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Information about this inspection

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

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Information about this inspection

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

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in the three play rooms and in the outside learning environment.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held meetings with the manager of the provision and with three members of staff.  The inspector carried out a joint observation with the nursery manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessment records and the planning documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of the suitability and qualifications of practitioners working with the children and took account of the providers self-evaluation form and action plans.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents and carers spoken to on the day of inspection.

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Information about the setting

Bright Stars Day Nursery was registered in 2008 and is on the Early Years Register. It is situated in converted premises in the centre of Peterborough. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children. It is managed by Stars Ltd. and operates from three main play rooms with associated facilities and there are fully enclosed areas available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 20 members of child care staff. All hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2, 3 and 4, and the manager is qualified to degree level. The nursery opens Monday to Friday for 51 weeks of the year. Sessions are from 8am until 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 81 children attending who are in the early years age group. 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.

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

 expand the use of the existing inspiring and rich outdoor provision. For example, by providing chimes, streamers, windmills and bubbles to further enhance children's rapidly developing interest in investigating the natural world and the effect of the wind.

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who attend

Each child's learning and progression is extensively supported by the extremely knowledgeable and skilled staff team. They understand how to implement the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage for individual children. They plan activities on a personalised basis that responds to each child's interests and current stage of learning. Children enjoy a rich and vibrant range of activities that cover the prime and specific areas of learning both inside and in the nursery gardens. There is scope, however, to expand children's opportunities even further to learn about the world and the effects of nature, such as the sun and the wind. The activities are very well planned and thought out by the staff whose quality of teaching is considerable. For example, older babies are motivated to explore the small slide. They are helped to negotiate the steps safely through close supervision by the staff and then to position themselves on the seat before sliding

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who attend

down. The staff use very positive language and facial expressions alongside clapping to praise the children in their success. The children respond to this by smiling proudly and returning to the steps for another go. Children benefit greatly from the staff's positive involvement in their play. They are skilled in knowing when to get involved and when to stand back and monitor. The children really enjoy taking part in activities with the staff and they show that they are confident to initiate conversations. For example, toddlers who choose to draw enjoy sitting with a member of staff. She demonstrates drawing a range of shapes on her sheet of paper that the children copy, they have full discussions on the different colours and shapes they are making and the staff make sure the children have plenty of time to be involved in their chosen activities.

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who attend

Children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are ably supported because a number of staff have completed the special educational needs co-ordinator training. They work very closely with the children's parents to ensure that any specific needs can be met. The key person knows the children extremely well and the relationship in place contributes to them making progress. The key person also works very closely with other professionals who are involved with the children to ensure a consistent approach. She has completed further training to ensure her skills are finely tuned to meet the children's needs. Pre-school children are learning to be independent in their play. They make their own decisions about their activities and they move confidently between the different resources. They all know which key group they are in and they thoroughly enjoy their small group time where they have lively discussions about what they have been

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who attend

doing earlier or about a topic raised by one of them. They make rapid progress because they are able to follow their interests and are supported by the staff who show a genuine interest in their uniqueness. Children who speak English as an additional language are very well supported because the staff work with their parents to find out specific information about their home language. There are a number of staff employed within the nursery who speak different languages and they have provided translations on labels and displays throughout the premises.

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who attend

Children are prepared extremely well for being ready for school. They play freely with self- chosen resources and activities that cover all areas of learning and particularly the prime areas. The pre-school room staff have a strong understanding of how to enable children to develop in their own style and pace and they gradually introduce some adult led activities for the children to take part in. The nursery invites the reception teachers from the local schools to visit the children and they share relevant information about their current interests and progress. The parents of all the children attending the nursery are fully involved in their child's learning. They are asked to provide detailed information about their child's progress and interests at home when they start attending and this is built upon throughout their time in the nursery through regularly seeking updates from parents. The staff encourage parents to provide details from home about the achievements their

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who attend

children make. The staff report that the recent introduction of home/nursery communication books that are available in the entrance hall for all parents has significantly increased the information that parents share from home. This information is included in each child's file of observations and contributes to the information used by each key person to plan entirely appropriate activities to promote their individual next steps in learning. This complete valuing of information from home contributes significantly to children's learning.

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

All the children in this nursery across the three rooms clearly demonstrate a strong sense of belonging and well-being. They are happy and confident. For example, during outdoor play the children laugh with the staff when they get involved in a game with bats and balls. When a member of staff lies on the grass in the sun a group of children immediately join her and sit in a line across her legs and tummy, all the time laughing together. The staff work very well as a team and all the children develop attachments to their key person as well as to other members of staff. Children feel confident because the staff are skilful in their use of explanation to make it clear to them about which activities they can help themselves to and the expectations for behaviour. For example, pre-school children become involved in the risk assessment of their own activities. They talk with the staff about what they are doing, such as playing with the bricks and tools or balancing on the

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

beams and they are encouraged to think for themselves about what may happen if they are not careful or do not think about other people around them.

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

Each child's transitions are very sensitively managed by this nursery. Settling in when children first start attending is managed within the nursery policy with flexibility to take account of the individual needs of the child and their parents. The close family atmosphere across the three nursery rooms support this transition time because the children get to know all the staff and they enjoy having a look into the other rooms when they play outside in the central garden area. Children are very well prepared when they are moving on to the next room. They go for visits and spend time with their new key person. Meetings are held with their parents for reassurance and information sharing and parents are fully involved in the whole process.

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

Children are actively encouraged to be independent. For example, older babies are confident to indicate that they want to go outside into their own garden. Toddlers are supported to peel their own fruit, such as bananas at snack time. The pre-school children register themselves when they arrive in the morning and they serve themselves to all their food at meal and snack times. Children behave extremely well because they are provided with a delightful and very well planned range of activities that are linked to their interests and are completely appropriate in offering sufficient challenge. The staff are very attentive to the children and are willing to get involved with the children's play. The children know the expectations for behaviour and they respond positively to the staff's gentle reminders to think of others and to be careful during their play particularly when all the children attending join together for time to play in the garden.

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

Children take part in an excellent range of activities both inside and outside that promotes their continued good health. They use the large garden areas on a daily basis. These have a range of great equipment to promote their balancing, climbing and role play explorations. During outside play the staff get fully involved, extending children's learning and confidence through discussions and making suggestions for games. The staff respond to the children's suggestions too; when a small group plan to read a familiar story they ask if they can do it outside. The member of staff supports this wholeheartedly and the children thoroughly enjoy acting out familiar sections of the story while moving around the garden. The nursery has embraced a particular method of physical play that is linked to developmental movement. They have developed an outside play house for the activities around this concept where the staff take small groups of children to use the soft play

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

cushions, large gym balls, construction materials and streamers to work on specific movement skills. The staff report that this concept has a very positive impact on the children's learning and risk awareness.

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provision

The highly committed owner, management and staff team are very effective at meeting each child's individual needs within the nursery. They work extremely hard to continually evaluate their provision and strive for improvement. The manager works through action plans that identify their very well-targeted priorities for the future development of the nursery. Recent changes to the management have included employing an administrative assistant to free up the manager from these tasks so she is able to spend more time in the monitoring of the staff and activities within the rooms. The deputy manager has the responsibility for the co-ordination of the implementation of the learning and development requirements for each of the children and she monitors their planning and assessment by working closely with the key persons. The manager carries out regular room inspections and these have significantly contributed to the successful monitoring of the quality of

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provision

teaching within the nursery. The management and staff team welcome the support from the local authority and from other agencies who are involved with any of the children.

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provision

The provider demonstrates a strong understanding of their responsibilities to meet the learning and development requirements and they are highly effective in continually monitoring the quality of the experiences that are offered to the children. The staff are actively supported in their planning, observation and assessment of the children in their care through in-house training and the consistency that comes from the Early Years Foundation Stage co-ordinator. There is excellent partnership working both with parents whose contribution is highly valued, and other agencies and local schools to support children's transitions. Parents are provided with regular questionnaires and have opportunities to comment on the notice boards in the entrance hall and to share their feedback about the nursery.

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provision

Safeguarding is given the highest priority. The staff maintain close supervision at all times and they are expected to complete core training, which includes first aid and safeguarding children. The staff fully understand the Local Safeguarding Children Board procedures for the reporting and recording of any concerns, including allegations against staff. Robust procedures are in place for the recruitment and retention of suitable staff. The owner values all members of staff and provides them with training to gain professional qualifications and to increase their knowledge in specific areas. The nursery manager and owner are fully aware of the importance of informing Ofsted of any significant events. All required documentation, policies and procedures are in place. The sustained and ongoing development of the nursery and how it continues to respond to the needs of the children and their families is inspiring and the commitment of all members of staff to the children's

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provision

care and learning actively contributes to their feelings of well-being and belonging in the nursery.

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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 EY375142 Local authority Peterborough Inspection number 911470

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 52 Number of children on roll 81 Name of provider Stars Day Nurseries Limited Date of previous inspection 07/11/2008 Telephone number 01733 343 278

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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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