University of West Cambridge Day Nursery

West Cambridge Day Nursery The University Nursery, 8 Charles Babbage Road, CAMBRIDGE, CB3 0FZ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 19/06/2013 25/02/2011

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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

 Close relationships between staff and children support children's confidence and feelings of security extremely well. As a result, children are motivated and highly independent.  Outstanding leadership and management promotes high staff morale and an enthusiastic pursuit of excellence. This leads to high quality learning experiences for all children.  Continuous access to the versatile and engaging outdoor areas enable children to thrive and develop a healthy appreciation of active play in the fresh air all year round.  Partnership with parents are exemplary, which helps children to form strong and effective emotional bonds with their key person.  Communication and language is given a very high priority so that all children, including those learning English as an additional language, quickly become able and confident communicators. This prepares them fully for their future learning.

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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 the children during their activities in all areas of the nursery.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke with staff and the management team at convenient times during the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 A range of documentation was checked, including children's development records, staff checks and training information and safeguarding information.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to a number of parents on the day and took into account their written comments and responses to surveys.

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Information about the setting

West Cambridge Day Nursery is part of Childbase Ltd, which is a national nursery chain. It is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. The nursery opened in 2009 and offers places to the staff and students of Cambridge University and operates from purpose-built premises close to Cambridge city centre. Children have access to several enclosed outdoor play spaces. The nursery is open each weekday from 8am to 6pm, all year round. There are currently 122 children on roll in the early years age group. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The nursery supports a significant number of children who have English as an additional language.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 32 staff to work directly with the children. Of these there are four who hold early years degrees and 21 members of staff who hold childcare qualifications at level 3. Two members of staff are working towards early years degrees and two members of staff are working towards qualifications at level 3. The nursery also employs an administrator, cleaners, a nursery cook and a domestic assistant.

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

 extend still further the high quality mentoring programmes for new and less experienced staff so they constantly improve the already first rate understanding and practice.

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who attend

Children flourish in this exceptional nursery because staff support their learning and development extremely well. Excellent teaching promotes children's ability to be active and independent learners. As a result, they make outstanding progress towards the early learning goals. Exemplary team work within each nursery room means all staff are fully engaged in developing and extending each child's progress and development. They know the children extremely well, which enhances their ability to offer tailored, personalised learning plans. Parents have regular meetings with staff from the outset to discuss children's progress and are positively encouraged to share what they know about children's learning at home. Children's learning journals show many examples of special events and activities from home, which staff make excellent use of. This helps them to ensure parents are fully involved and children's learning is consistent with their home

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who attend

experiences. Children's communication and language are given a very strong focus. Many of the children are learning English as an additional language, and staff are highly skilled at promoting the development of English while supporting and valuing their home languages. This gives children a strong foundation that supports their future learning exceptionally well. Across the nursery, visual images, family photographs and multi-lingual labelling enhance children's self-esteem and firmly support their personal, social and emotional development. Children enjoy delightful story times, sitting quietly with adults to share books, or listening to each other tell their own stories in a cosy outdoor corner. They share their weekend and family books to find out about each other's differences and similarities. For example, children learn that not all grandparents are called 'granny and granddad' but have different names. Older children are adept at early writing, and there

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who attend

are many examples of their own attempts at writing proudly displayed. Younger children learn to make marks in enjoyable ways, such as making patterns in sand, or painting with chunky brushes. These practical activities develop their confidence and prepare them well for school.

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who attend

Adults acknowledge that boys play in particular ways, and provide exciting resources for them to explore, such as dinosaurs in mud, compost and green water. These activities are supported ably by interested staff, who extend children's understanding through pertinent questions, such as 'How many dinosaurs have long necks?' Children enjoy using the innovative water sprays, and pretend to put our fires, or wash down the garden equipment, acting out real life scenarios. Adult-led activities balance out the broad range of self-chosen activities admirably. For example, staff encourage children to make headbands with card, cut out mother's day cards, or cook biscuits for tea. These activities support their creativity and physical development very well. Older children take an active part in their own planning as they develop mind maps, where they think about tomorrow's activities together.

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who attend

Staff inspire children to use their imaginations in varying situations. They ensure role play areas are very well equipped and set out to attract attention. Children dress up as their favourite television characters, play mummies and daddies, or retell their own versions of their favourite story. They use large blocks to build a pretend boat, which they can sail to faraway places. Younger children show a keen interest in design and construction, and spend periods of time sorting and matching interlocking bricks. Staff question them expertly, enabling children to consider what else might be needed to make their structure strong.

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

An exceptionally well managed key person system enables children to develop secure emotional attachments with adults. As a result, children of all ages show high levels of confidence and feel safe in the nursery. Babies follow their own home routines for sleeping and eating and have affectionate relationships with the adults who care for them. They have quiet and comfortable places to sleep, and enjoy playing and learning in their well- planned and attractive rooms. There are excellent systems to support children's move into other rooms, enabling them to handle these and future transitions with confidence. Parents are fully involved and have a say in who their child's new key person will be. All this ensures children are settled and happy.

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

Children's behaviour is exemplary because staff give them a very good understanding of what is expected. Older children are actively involved in deciding on their own rules and boundaries and this gives them a strong sense of pride and ownership. Exceptional organisation of resources and activities means children of all ages have free choice. This means they engage themselves in enjoyable activities that interest them. As a result, they are highly motivated, active learners. Children show a very good understanding of personal safety because staff involve them in risk assessments and emergency evacuation drills. Staff skilfully extend children's ability to keep themselves safe by encouraging them to think about risks, such as how to move up and down the pre-school stairs safely.

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

Meals and snacks are varied, healthy and nutritious. All food is freshly prepared and cooked on site each day, from good quality, local ingredients. Allergies and special diets are sensitively managed, enabling children to eat safely in the company of their friends. Older children are highly competent in serving themselves meals and snacks and take an active part in food preparation. Frequent cooking activities and growing fresh produce in the nursery garden enhances further children's already superlative understanding of foods that support their healthy growth.

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

Children in all areas of the nursery have continuous access to the outdoor areas and therefore can enjoy the most part of their day in the fresh air. Staff set up the outdoor areas according to the weather, for example, so that on sunny days there is an emphasis on quieter play in shady places. The nursery provides outdoor clothing for children and there is an enormous enthusiasm for outdoor activities all year round. This enables children who prefer outdoor learning to thrive regardless of the weather. The superbly resourced environment enables children to explore nature, test their physical skills on large climbing equipment, and become engrossed in sand and water play.

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provision

Leadership is outstanding at all levels and staff morale is extremely high. Staff speak with pride about their teams and their individual rooms. They say managers are highly supportive and enable them to develop their ideas and implement new practice, which spurs them on to drive change and improvement. Staff are articulate and communicate their views well to managers, ably informing self-evaluation and helping to direct best practice. Self-evaluation is updated and reviewed continually to further improve the environment and children's learning experiences. This has enabled the setting to meet the recommendations made at the last inspection and make significant improvements at all levels. The educational programme is monitored rigorously and constantly evaluated to ensure each child is making the best possible progress. Regular auditing of assessments and effective tracking of individual and groups of children helps to ensure any early

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provision

intervention is promptly secured. As a result, children's progress towards the early learning goals is outstanding.

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provision

There are excellent safeguarding procedures to ensure all children are protected from harm. Staff speak confidently about their responsibility to keep children safe and know what action to take if there are concerns about a child's well-being. All staff receive regular training on safeguarding and health and safety issues, so they have current skills and knowledge to fully support children's health, safety and welfare. Regular meetings, including one-to-one supervision meetings create a protective ethos where both adults and children feel confident and safe. The company has rigorous recruitment and vetting for all staff to establish their suitability and therefore keep children safe. Senior staff conduct in-depth induction to ensure new staff and students clearly understand their roles and responsibilities. Newly implemented peer performance monitoring enhances the already high quality performance management systems. Mentoring programmes for new

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provision

or less experienced staff are well-established, but seen by management as an area for further development to enhance children's learning still further. This ensures staff training and development is focussed and highly effective to ensure all children benefit from highly skilled and committed individuals.

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provision

The established and highly effective partnerships with parents help to ensure all children benefit from the very best quality care and learning. Parents are encouraged to join the parent forum groups, which meet regularly to plan social events and discuss their views on the nursery life to effectively inform self-evaluation. Parents praise the staff and hold the nursery in high regard. They say staff listen to them and communicate very effectively with them. Where they have made suggestions for improvements, they say managers are highly receptive, and do their best to meet any requests. Children move on to a wide range of schools, which makes planning for their transitions problematical. However, staff have been innovative in their solutions, and bring examples of school life into the nursery. For example, children have opportunities to see their new uniforms, look at pictures of their classrooms and school buildings and meet with new teachers. All this enables

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provision

children to move onto school with excitement. Very few children attend other early years settings, but there are well established procedures that help to ensure continuity of learning when required. Although there are no children on roll with special educational needs and/or disabilities, there are tried and tested systems to implement when necessary, to ensure that they make good progress given their starting points.

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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 EY396219 Local authority Cambridgeshire Inspection number 919512

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 100 Number of children on roll 122 Name of provider Childbase Partnership Limited Date of previous inspection 25/02/2011 Telephone number 01223 464227

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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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