Busy Bees Day Nursery at Morden, Martin Way

Leapfrog Day Nursery - Morden, Martin Way Leapfrog Day Nursery, 2-4 Martin Way, Morden, Surrey, SM4 5AH

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 10/06/2013 23/10/2012

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 Previous inspection: 4 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

 Partnerships with parents, carers and other professionals are strong and as result, they support children's ongoing progress in their learning and development.  The new manager has made significant improvements to the nursery and is beginning to embed a thorough self-evaluation process and improve communication at all levels.  Children are happy and secure in a warm and welcoming environment. The effective key person system helps children form secure attachments with staff.  The recent refurbishment and a well resourced environment create a fun and stimulating nursery where children are allowed to explore and make good progress in their learning and development.

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It is not yet good because

 The nursery has recently had to take action to ensure that they continue to meet requirements regarding behaviour management.  Opportunities for children to explore and investigate using technology both indoors and outside are not fully promoted.  Not all staff make consistent use of the key ring pictorial communication cards to help support children's communication and language development.

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Information about this inspection

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

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Information about this inspection

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

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Information about this inspection

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

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in all rooms and the outdoor areas.  The inspector spoke with a parent representative on the day of inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke with the manager and other members of the company's management team.  The inspector spoke with the nursery's SENCO.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at planning, selection of policies, children's learning journals and the nursery's self-evaluation form.

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Information about the setting

Leapfrog Day Nursery opened in 2007. It is one of a number of nurseries run by Busy Bees. The nursery is two converted houses in Morden in the London borough of Merton. It occupies two floors with a baby room, toddler and preschool room, kitchens, toilets, office and staff room. There are two separate garden areas for outside play. It serves the local area and is close to transport links. The day nursery is open each week day from 8am until 6pm for 52 weeks of the year. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. There are currently 67 children on roll in the early years age group. The nursery receives funding for the provision of free early education for two, three-and four-year olds. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. There is a team of 16 staff including the manager. Twelve staff hold early years

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Information about the setting

qualifications at level 2 or level 3. One member of staff has an early years degree and one person is working towards a degree.

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

 enhance children's learning by providing resources and more opportunities for children to explore and discover using equipment such as cameras, magnifiers and other technology both indoors and outside

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

 make use of the key ring pictorial communication cards more consistently throughout the nursery to help support children's developing language and communication.

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who attend

Children enjoy a wide variety of activities that help them make good progress in their learning and development towards the early learning goals. The educational programme is based on initial observations of children to ascertain their starting points and then providing exciting and interesting activities, based on children's interests. For example pre- school enjoy stories about superheroes and staff use this to provide themed activities and talk about how they help people and how the children can help each other. The staff work very well with parents and share information through daily discussion, diaries and regular parent's meetings. This helps children make good progress and help plan for their next steps.

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who attend

Babies and young children are offered a broad range of opportunities to support their communication and language, personal, social and emotional development and physical development. Babies enjoy a wide range of sensory experiences such as treasure baskets, sand and opportunities to explore paint using brushes and their hands. The baby room resources and space encourages them to reach out for items, explore by crawling and shuffling, or pull themselves up on low-level equipment. Recently, following evidence that different colours affect children in different ways, staff have introduced 'busy babies.' This is a black and white area to stimulate baby's brains and a lilac area to help them relax. Staff sit alongside babies and young children on the floor so they are able to have good eye contact. They encourage their communication and language development by talking about what the children are doing. For instance staff talk about the different colours of the

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who attend

paint they are using and naming parts of the body as one child paints their hands and then puts paint on the nose of a staff member. They enjoy listening to nursery rhymes and are beginning to join in with the actions or accompany songs by playing musical instruments. Recently children thoroughly enjoyed listening to a parent singing songs in Arabic. This, along with, story books and words displayed from different home languages helps provide for a very inclusive environment.

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who attend

Pre-school children have access to a highly resourced environment. Although the rooms are arranged into different learning areas children are encouraged to move resources from one area to another to extend their learning. For example, a group of children measured out flour and oil to make moon sand and then transferred it to the sand tray. Here they took cooking equipment from the role play area to pretend to make a cake and cook it. This supports their developing creativity as well as their mathematical, communication and negotiating skills as they decide on the roles they play in the activity.

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who attend

Staff provide an environment that is rich with both written and spoken words. For example, all boxes of resources are labelled, and words are all at child level and easy to read. This helps children to learn that words carry meaning. Staff also display words from various languages which creates a welcoming environment for parents as well as children who have English as an additional language. This helps them settle and develop a sense of belonging. To help support children's skills in communication and language staff use laminated picture and word cards displayed on the wall and on key rings. This helps children communicate their needs. However these cards are not displayed in the pre- school room and staff do not always use the key rings to help support children with delayed speech and language development. Children have opportunities to experiment with different writing materials and to develop early writing skills. For example, they enjoy

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who attend

using chalk outside drawing patterns on a chalk board.

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who attend

Children in the toddler and pre-school rooms have access to a computer. Older children show good skills in being able to operate programmes and co-ordinate the mouse to select activities. However the use of technology inside and outside has not been maximised to allow children to fully investigate and explore their natural surroundings. Therefore children are not supported in their understanding of how technology works and can be used to enhance their learning.

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

Arrangements to help children settle into the nursery and build secure attachments with the staff are positive. Staff have recently introduced 'photo boxes' for children. Parents are asked to provide photos and personal things from home to help children settle and provide a homely environment. The key persons system is effective and helps children feel safe and secure. Staff get to know all the children well, not just their key children. As a result children move confidently between rooms and age groups as they feel safe and secure in all rooms. For example a child in the pre-school room invited a member of staff from the toddler room to have tea with them in his room. Settling-in sessions are individual to each child's needs. This allows children to begin to form secure emotional attachments with their key person and opportunities for the key person to build good relationships with parents. This allows information and progress reports to be shared and helps children

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

All staff have recently attended training in behaviour management, to improve the consistency of behaviour management techniques. They are now able to help children understand their own and other's feelings and appropriate behaviour. Each room has photographs to promote positive behaviour such as sharing and using kind hands. Children in the pre-school have written up their 'Golden Rules' and staff write on stars children's good behaviour to be displayed alongside. This helps promote aspects of positive behaviour and gives children pride in themselves.

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

Children are provided with a healthy and varied diet that includes different fruits and vegetables. A chef prepares hot, nutritious meals using fresh ingredients on site. Children enjoy snacks of fresh fruit, and drinks which they are able to pour themselves. However fruit is prepared for them, so children's developing independence is not fully promoted. Menus are displayed for parents to see and there is a robust system in place to ensure children with allergies and different dietary requirements are catered for. Water is readily available to all children throughout the day so that they do not get thirsty. Good hygiene practice is promoted by staff and children are reminded to wash their hands before they eat and after going to the toilet. This helps children understand how to keep themselves healthy.

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

Children's physical development is well supported, with lots of opportunities for the children to play outside. Staff make obstacle courses which the children enjoy adapting and think of their own ways they can manoeuvre around objects. New bikes and ride on toys are very popular and children are developing their spatial awareness skills as they move around obstacles, and on different surfaces and slopes. Low level furniture both indoors and outdoors helps babies develop strength and balance to help pull themselves up and progress to walking.

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provision

This inspection was brought forward as the result of concerns received about the nursery regarding the management of challenging behaviour. The inspection found, that behaviour management techniques are now positive and appropriate. The nursery followed the correct procedure to contact the local authority designated safeguarding officer and Ofsted following an incident involving a member of staff. The nursery carried out an investigation, which satisfied the local authority designated officer and Ofsted that the original incident was dealt with appropriately. However, the nursery took further action to ensure that all staff understand and implement effective behaviour management techniques. Overall, the leadership and management of the nursery is positive and is bringing about improvements to the outcomes for children. The manager is recently appointed and she is in the process of implementing changes to the nursery to continue to improve staff practice.

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provision

Safeguarding procedures are implemented suitably. Recent training means all staff are aware of their roles and responsibilities with regard to protecting children and promoting their welfare. Following the recent refurbishment staff have adapted well to the different layout of the rooms and consequently children are carefully supervised both indoors and outdoors. All staff hold a paediatric first aid qualification and some have attended additional training such as administration of epipens to meet children's individual care needs. Effective and comprehensive systems are in place for recruitment, induction and performance management of staff. The manager has introduced regular supervision meetings for all staff. This provides support, guidance and opportunities for staff to talk about new ideas. For example, staff caring for babies are planning a trip to a nearby farm and inviting parents to accompany them.

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provision

Since the last inspection the management have worked to improve the outcomes for children. The management team, within the nursery and company, are enthusiastic and dedicated to further improving the nursery and to improving the consistency in staff practice. All staff are involved in decision making and they have widened their knowledge and experience by recently attending training courses. A number of staff are working to further improve their qualifications. As a result, the staff team are motivated and keen to continually develop the experiences for all children. The management team are committed to thorough on-going self-assessment. Staff, parents and children all contribute their ideas and suggestions for improvement. Views from parents are sought in a variety of imaginative ways. Through questionnaires, comments box and 'you said, we did' section on the parent's notice board. The recent introduction of a 'Parent Partnership Group'

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provision

means parents can express their views through parent representatives. This allows the nursery to evaluate the service they provide and to drive improvement. Parents are kept informed about their child's learning and development through daily written and verbal feedback on activities children have engaged in. Staff send home written observations of activities children have done and parents are invited to comment on them. These are then included in children's learning journals. This effective partnership with parents makes a valuable contribution to meeting the needs of children and they benefit from the shared approach to learning.

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provision

Staff have a good understanding of child development which helps them identify children's individual learning and development requirements. The nursery has developed strong relationships with other professionals. These include local authority early years adviser and speech and language therapists. This means staff are able to help and support the differing needs of the children who attend the nursery and consequently children are making good progress.

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provision

The new manager monitors and evaluates the provision and educational programmes, with additional support from the wider company and management teams. Good systems are in place for observation and assessment and planning is linked to the current interests of the children. The management team and staff have worked hard to improve the indoor and outdoor areas to create a bright, colourful and stimulating learning environment for children to feel safe, happy and keen to explore. Consequently this helps children prepare themselves in readiness for school.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 Satisfactory Satisfactory provision is performing less well than expectations in one or more of the key areas. It requires improvement in order to be good. Grade 4 Inadequate Provision that is inadequate requires significant improvement and/or enforcement action. The provision is failing to give children an acceptable standard of early years education and/or is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be inspected again within 12 months of the date of this inspection.

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Grade Judgement Description

Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider does not meet the requirements for registration.

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Inspection

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY349182 Local authority Merton Inspection number 922478 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 56 Number of children on roll 67 Name of provider Busy Bees Day Nurseries Limited Date of previous inspection 23/10/2012 Telephone number 020 8540 8090

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Setting details

set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

Full-time provision is that which operates for more than three hours. These are usually known as nurseries, nursery schools and pre-schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the higher fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Sessional provision operates for more than two hours but does not exceed three hours in any one day. These are usually known as pre-schools, kindergartens or nursery schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the lower fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Childminders care for one or more children where individual children attend for a period of more than two hours in any one day. They operate from domestic premises, which are usually the childminder’s own home. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Type of provision

Out of school provision may be sessional or full-time provision and is delivered before or after school and/or in the summer holidays. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Where children receive their Early Years Foundation Stage in school these providers do not have to deliver the learning and development requirements in full but should complement the experiences children receive in school. achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children,

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Type of provision

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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