Sandfield Day Nursery

Sandfield Day Nursery Ashburnham Avenue, LENTON, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, NG7 1QD

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 13/06/2013 19/04/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 Previous inspection: 1 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 3 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision is satisfactory

 Staff liaise well with other agencies involved in children's specific care, which promotes a consistent approach in supporting their development.  Children enjoy a variety of messy play activities, which encourages their exploration of colour and texture.  Children play with a wide range of age appropriate resources, which are easily accessible to promote their independent choices.  Children play in bright, well laid out playrooms, which are suitably organised to promote learning opportunities.

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It is not yet good because

 Inconsistent handling of behaviour results in, children not having behaviour boundaries continually reinforced in readiness for school.  The effectiveness of teaching and learning is variable because a minority of staff do not accurately observe and assess children to plan for their individual learning.  There is scope to build on children's language in the baby room as staff miss opportunities to build vocabulary and model building sentences.  Small group sessions in the pre-school room are not consistently built on children's interests and abilities. This means some children lose interest.  Evaluation is not fully effective in support of consistent improvement.

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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 the playrooms and the outside learning environment.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector completed a joint observation and held meetings at appropriate times with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessment records and planning documents and a sample of documentation relating to children's welfare.

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Inspection activities

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

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Information about the setting

Sandfield Nursery opened in 2004 and operates from five rooms in a purpose-built building in Lenton, Nottinghamshire. It is registered on the Early Years Register and compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There is a secure outdoor play area. The nursery serves families from the local and surrounding areas.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 15 members of childcare staff. Of these, 10 staff members hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 and three at level 2. The nursery opens Monday to Friday 7.30am until 6pm throughout the year, closing for bank holidays and for one week between Christmas and New Year. Children may attend for a morning, afternoon or a full day. There are currently 105 children attending who are within this age group. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. The nursery cares for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. The nursery receives support from the local authority.

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must:

 ensure the implementation of a consistent behaviour management policy to ensure that children's behaviour is managed in a suitable manner and that the named person responsible for behaviour management has the necessary skills to advise other staff on behaviour issues

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must:

 ensure that all staff provide challenging and enjoyable experiences that fully engage, motivate and enthuse children across the areas of learning and development by: using robust observation and assessment of children's learning to identify their next steps; planning for individual children and taking into account their interests and the next steps in their learning.

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

 develop the use of self-evaluation to drive rapid improvement in key areas for development to enhance the learning environment and provision for children

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

 increase opportunities for babies to enhance their language skills, for example, by tuning into the messages children are conveying, copying babies' sounds to encourage turn taking conversations and building vocabulary by giving choices

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

 enhance small group sessions in the pre-school room to ensure they are built on children's interests and accurately reflect what children already know and can do to ensure all children become fully engaged.

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who attend

Overall, children are happy, settled, and enjoy a suitable range of experiences at the nursery. They arrive excitedly and ready to play with their friends. Children thoroughly enjoy role-play in the toddler room, they pretend to make dinner and enjoy feeding one another. They use cylinder-shaped bricks as telescopes and cameras and encourage staff to say 'cheese' as they take their picture. This shows they use their imaginations well. Children engage in conversation with staff about what they see in a 'Wheels on the bus' book. They start to sing while looking at the pictures and other children join them to dance and link in with the actions. Staff skilfully use this to further promote children's interest and puts on a musical compact disc so that children can sing along and dance using streamers. Staff use spontaneous experiences to encourage children to count, recognise shape and identify colours. Computer programmes used in the pre-school room further children's

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who attend

knowledge as they sit together and make 'Comfy cakes' where they choose shaped baking tins, add different coloured icing and match decorations. Children have good opportunities to be creative; they enjoy using their senses to explore spaghetti in the baby room, play with dough in the toddler room and paint in the pre-school.

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who attend

Children thoughout the nursery take part a balanced range of child initiated and adult-led activities. However, while adult-led activities in the pre-school room ensure children are grouped according to their age, the sessions are not always built on children's interests or accurately reflect what children already know and can do. This means some children are less well challenged and quickly lose interest.

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who attend

Children with additional needs are appropriately supported in the nursery. Staff work closely with outside agencies and implement individual education plans to help children make better progress. Children's progress is carefully monitored and they are developing sufficiently well in relation to their starting points. Children for whom English is an additional language are also making satisfactory progress. Staff work in partnership with parents to make sure children are progressing well in their own home language and monitor their language development in English. Children are able to see signs, labels and pictures that represent other cultures and beliefs. While staff plan and provide a range of activities that further their understanding of diversity and the wider community.

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who attend

Children in the toddlers and pre-school enjoy purposeful interaction from staff, which encourages their language skills. For example, when drawing pictures children talk about a recent trip to the park and how they found and collected leaves. Children therefore, in these rooms, become confident speakers and use a widening range of vocabulary to express themselves. However, this is not as consistent in the baby room as, occasionally, staff miss opportunities to enhance children's language skills through repeating key words with clarity and modelling short sentences.

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who attend

Staff regularly observe children and key workers plot children's progress using individual progress trackers. However, the observations and assessments made by a minority of staff do not track children's progress as consistently as for those children in other key groups. The subsequent planning and staff engagement that takes place in these key groups does not always challenge children to their maximum potential. Therefore, at times, some learning opportunities are missed to help ensure that all children make as much progress as they can in all situations.

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who attend

Staff frequently share children's development files with parents and encourage them to continue children's learning at home. Parents have satisfactory opportunities to contribute towards these records and share children's home achievements. During discussion parents' comment children are happy and make pleasing progress. They feel that staff are very approachable and keen to involve them in children's learning.

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

Children benefit from the bright vibrant environment of the nursery. Children happily separate from their parents when they arrive which demonstrates they feel safe and secure at the setting. This means their physical and emotional well-being is supported. Children are cared for by staff that are warm and affectionate, which results in the forming of positive relationships. Overall, the key person system is implemented well to meet children's care needs.

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

Children are generally confident, happy and engaged in a wide range of activities. Older children, demonstrate a positive attitude towards their learning and are, in the main, acquiring suitable skills that will prepare them for school. However, some staff within the pre-school room are less confident in dealing with minor behaviour incidents which occur. This results in, inconsistent handling and children not having behaviour boundaries continually reinforced.

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

Children learn about healthy lifestyles through discussion and the healthy snacks and meals provided. Learning is further enhanced by planting and tending to fruit and vegetables in the garden and taking part in a variety of outdoor play sessions, which promote children's physical development well. Children confidently move around the nursery. They make their own choices from a good range of resources, both inside and outside. Resources are stored at child height. This means that children can self-select and take charge of their own learning.

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

Children learn about some aspects of their own safety. For example, they take part in regular fire drills which means they learn how to get out of the building quickly and safety.

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provision

Staff are supportive to each other and know the children well. They have regular supervision and appraisals to monitor their performance. Staff are keen to undertake further training to support children such as using block play, nature, science and diversity. This supports their own learning and development and benefits the children. The staff have a secure understanding of what to do in the event of a child protection concern and have completed safeguarding training to help them protect children's welfare. Staff complete regular risk assessments and daily checks of the rooms each day to minimise any potential hazards to the children so they keep safe.

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provision

The staff have a positive partnership with parents. They have daily discussions with parents about how their child has been and what they have been doing. The staff hold regular meetings with parents to share information about their children's progress. This enables them to see their children's learning journals and to be involved in their child's learning and development so they can support them at home. Parents are encouraged to share home news and details about children's individual interests to support continuity of care and learning. The nursery has good links with outside agencies to seek advice and support for children's individual needs in order to promote inclusion.

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provision

Policies and procedures are in place and shared with parents. This helps ensure that parents are clear about the nursery's practices regarding the care of their children. All the required documentation is in place to support children's care and the required parental consents have been obtained from parents. This makes certain that staff care for children according to the parents' wishes. There are various noticeboards around the setting with useful information put on display for parents in the hallway.

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provision

Appropriate systems are in place for the recruitment of staff to ensure they are suitable to work with children. New staff have an induction programme to make sure they are clear about their roles and responsibilities regarding the children's welfare and learning.

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provision

Through self-evaluation, the manager has identified areas for improvement and is aware of inconsistencies in practice. While plans are in place to further support less confident staff, these are not robust enough to drive rapid improvement. The nursery is being supported by the Early Years Advisory Teacher who has made recommendations to improve the provision for children, which the manager is striving to implement.

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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 EY282595 Local authority Nottingham City Inspection number 919301

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 86 Number of children on roll 105 Name of provider Sandfield Day Nursery Ltd Date of previous inspection 19/04/2011 Telephone number 01159 792424

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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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