Cedars @ Boot Farm Day Nursery & Pre-School

Boot Farm Kindergarten Boot Farm, Wasing Back Lane, Brimpton Common, Reading, Berkshire, RG7 4RG

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 11/07/2013 07/07/2009

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early years provision

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

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This provision is satisfactory

 All children form a strong bond with their key person, which provides a secure base for their learning and development.  Effective partnerships with parents and other providers help to promote children's care and learning.  Staff interact purposefully with the children which helps them to develop good levels of language and communication skills and great interest in their play and learning.  Staff support children well as they move between rooms and as they go to school.

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It is not yet good because

 There have been recent concerns about the security of the setting.  Staff provide fewer opportunities for children to see words and numbers outdoors and explore these further in the outdoor area.  Staff provide fewer opportunities for children to fully develop their knowledge and understanding the natural world through growing and caring for plants.

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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 rooms and outdoor areas.  The inspector had discussions with parents, staff and children.  The inspector undertook a joint observation with the deputy.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled a range of documentation including children's records, risk assessments, policies and procedures, self-evaluation and action plans.

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Information about the setting

Boot Farm Kindergarten registered in 2002. It is privately owned and operates from a house and converted buildings in a rural setting, near the village of Brimpton in West Berkshire. Children from a wide radius, including nearby towns, villages and hamlets attend the setting. The ground floor of the premises is readily accessible. Some care is provided on the first floor. Children have access to a secure outdoor environment. The kindergarten is registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently 72 children on roll in the early years age group.

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Information about the setting

It opens five days a week, all year round with the exception of bank holidays and a week at Christmas. Children may attend for a variety of hours between 8am and 6pm. The kindergarten receives funding for the provision of free early education for two, three and four-year-olds. The setting currently supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who are learning English as an additional language. The kindergarten offers extra curricular activities, including swimming lessons. The owner who is also the manager, runs 'Boot camp', a holiday playscheme during all school holidays, with the exception of Christmas. The playscheme operates each weekday from 8am to 6pm. Children aged four to 10 years may attend. The manager holds a relevant qualification at level 3. She employs 19 members of staff including two deputies. Of these, 14 hold a relevant early years childcare qualification.

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

 increase opportunities for children to link written words and numbers with their meaning in the outdoor world

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

 provide experiences for children to grow and care for plants to increase their understanding and interest of the natural world.

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who attend

Children make good progress in all areas of their learning and development including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff are clear about each child's level of development and the planned next steps to help them progress. The ongoing assessments feed into the progress check for two year olds. Parents receive regular updates about their child's progress in all areas of learning. Parents are encouraged to contribute to their child's learning journal. Staff provide parents with information about how they can continue to help their children learn at home.

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who attend

The enthusiastic and knowledgeable staff use good teaching techniques and deploy themselves effectively, which allows them to promote children's learning. Children are happy to play with their friends and are motivated to learn. Staff place a strong focus on building children's confidence while developing their language and physical skills. Staff engage well with babies, sitting at their level and gaining their attention with rattles and different textured toys. Babies develop good coordination as they explore the paint with their fingers. Staff brightly encourage babies to stand and strengthen their leg muscles saying 'bouncy bouncy'. Babies respond showing great excitement and bounce up and down.

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who attend

Staff effectively use planned activities to promote children's learning. Small groups of children play picture lotto. Staff adapt the game to meet the developmental levels of the group and for individual children. They skilfully ask questions challenging each child according to their communication and language learning needs. 'Can you see something that you can eat?' Children point to and say 'the lemon'. Staff repeat the word and emphasise the beginning letter encouraging children to copy her. 'L, lemon.' Children are challenged to think critically as they decide if the woolly hat or the ball would the best thing to have at the beach. This stimulates conversation about the weather. Staff increase children's understanding by introducing the proper words for familiar objects such as 'maracas'. Staff encourage children to develop their mathematical skills as they ask, 'how many more cards do you need' and pointing to each picture as they count together.

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who attend

Children show they are focussed and engaged as they happily play along, taking turns and helping each other to find the cards they need to match their cards.

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who attend

Children enjoy initiating their own play using the activities and resources that are always available. They hunt for bugs in the insect hotel and around the trees. However, their interest and learning about the natural world is not encouraged as well as possible. This is because there are few opportunities for children to grow and care for plants and seeing how they change over time. Many children show good early writing skills. Staff encourage them to trace and copy words that are used in displays. Some children write their names independently on their artwork. There are lots of words and number labels indoors to help children develop reading and counting skills but there fewer opportunities outdoors. For example, staff do not provide pictures with the names of the insects children hunt for. This means that children do not have as many opportunities to link written words and numbers to things that they find outdoors.

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

The effective key person system and the caring approach of the staff play a positive role in ensuring children settle well. Staff get to know the children and form close attachments with them. As a result, children display confidence and develop independence in their play and routines. Very young children learn to feed themselves with the caring support and encouragement from staff. Older children work alongside staff to prepare the tables at meal times. They show pride in being 'great helpers'. The staff team deploy themselves well so they can support and supervise children. Many carefully considered policies and procedures are implemented to promote children's well-being. However, recent incidents, when security measures were not effective, compromised children's safety. This identified a weakness in how well the provider and staff are working to ensure children's well-being. Children learn to keep safe as they follow procedures. They travel up and down the stairs

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

on their bottoms so they do not fall. Staff gently remind children that no more than three children may use the trampoline at one time. This encourages children to be aware of and be responsible for their own safety. Children build confidence and learn to take risks as they whizz around on the bikes. Young children lay across the seat of the swing doing 'tummy swings' under close staff supervision.

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

Staff promote children's understanding of healthy lifestyles well. Children talk about the healthy fruit they select to eat and follow effective hygiene routines to keep healthy. The kindergarten recently took part in a dental survey. A dentist visited the setting and provided advice to children and parents about maintaining healthy teeth. Children enjoy spending lots of time outdoors in all weathers. It used well to promote children's health and learning. Staff monitor babies closely as they sleep in buggies under a shelter in the garden. Children sit under the shade of trees to eat and listen to stories in hot weather. Children develop physical skills and muscles as they climb and balance on a wide range of interesting apparatus. Indoors, the playrooms are bright and child friendly with resources easily available many of which, help children learn about the wider world and the people in it. Staff make sure equipment is easily available to all ages of children so they can help

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

themselves. Children confidently select from a wide range of creative resources including scissors and glue that allows them to explore and design. Toddlers use the easy grip brushes, which allows them to use tools and increase control of their bodies as they paint.

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

Children behave well and play cooperatively with their friends and staff. They respond well when staff intervene and make suggestions to help avoid conflict. For example, staff suggest finding out if the children's friends want to get wet before they spray them with water. Children finding it more difficult to share and show kindness respond well to strategies used by staff who work closely with parents. Staff prepare children well for moves within the kindergarten and to school and for their future learning. This is because a series of visits to the next room allows children to get to know their new key person and learn the new routines. Children learn positive skills and attitudes to exploring and learning, building friendships and their self-care. Staff work with other settings children attend to promote continuity in the care and learning.

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provision

Overall, the provider has a suitable understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements. Robust vetting and recruitment procedures ensure all adults working with children are suitable. Staff are clear of the child protection procedure to follow should they have a concern. Staff ratios are maintained and procedures for dealing with accidents and administering medicines are followed appropriately to promote children's health and welfare. Hazards are generally appropriately risk assessed and suitable measures taken to minimise risks. However, this inspection has been brought forward because Ofsted received concerns about the effectiveness of the security procedures for the kindergarten. It was found two incidents had occurred prior to the inspection, when procedures failed to ensure that children could not leave the premises without the provider knowing, which is a requirement. However, the provider took prompt appropriate action and now security

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provision

measures are more robust. At the time of the inspection all safeguarding and welfare requirements were found to be met and no further action was necessary. Improvements to the procedure for making the main door inaccessible to children means children are better protected and kept safe. The provider is aware that the fire door is easily opened from the courtyard playroom, so ensures that the door is inaccessible to children.

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provision

The manager and staff team have a secure understanding of the learning and development requirements. They work together to continuously improve the delivery of them through monitoring children's progress and the curriculum provided. The staff appraisal system identifies any development needs. Staff share their knowledge and skills gained through training, such as recent speech and language course the deputy attended. This has a positive impact on staff's knowledge and enthusiasm which benefits children's learning. All staff are involved in evaluating the provision and seek comments from parents at meetings and through their children's development records. Areas for development are identified and their implementation is continuously tracked on the settings development plan. For example, they are obtaining a new piece of play equipment to increase children's sensory awareness.

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provision

Partnership with parents is highly successful. Staff are very welcoming and friendly when parents arrive with their children and have a useful update to discuss children's changing needs. Parents report their children make good developmental progress and that staff prepare them well for school. Parents feel their children learn to manage their emotions and behaviour, which helps them develop friendships. Good links are made with schools children will go to. Staff work closely with outside agencies to support children with additional needs, which has a positive effect on children's wellbeing and learning.

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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 EY219924 Local authority West Berkshire (Newbury) Inspection number 926491

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 58 Number of children on roll 72 Name of provider H A B Kindergarten Ltd Date of previous inspection 07/07/2009 Telephone number 01189 816619

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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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