Huggies Day Nursery

Huggies Day Nursery Old Hall Drive, Bradwell, Newcastle, Staffordshire, ST5 8RQ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 26/06/2013 07/09/2009

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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

 Children form warm relationships with adults and their care needs are consistently met, adequately supporting their personal, social and emotional development.  Activities, experiences and opportunities enable children to make satisfactory progress across all seven areas of learning.  Transition arrangements for children between rooms and on entry into school, prepare children for the next stage in their learning and support their readiness for school.  Leadership and management sufficiently identify the strengths and weaknesses of the nursery to improve the educational programmes for children.

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It is not yet good because

 The assessment arrangements do not enable practitioners to provide challenging experiences for all children; to motivate, enthuse and engage children effectively.  Children are not always given opportunities to develop their independence skills and self-care skills throughout the day.  Opportunities are missed by staff to challenge children through skilful questioning and there is a satisfactory rather than good quantity of resources. As a result, children do not make better than satisfactory progress in their learning.  The organisation of the age and range of children during outdoor play hinders children's ability to explore and move freely.

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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 inspectors spoke with children, across the nursery and joined their activities to understand their enjoyment and engagement in the setting.  The inspectors observed activities in all rooms and outside.  The inspectors spoke with staff at appropriate times throughout the observations.

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Inspection activities

 The inspectors looked at children's learning and development records, selection of policies, self-evaluation documents and organisational records.

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Inspection activities

 An inspector conducted joint observations with the manager and Early Years Professional, and he also spoke with them throughout the inspection.  The inspectors took account of the views of a range parents spoken to on the day.

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Information about the setting

Huggies Day Nursery was registered in 2006 and is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is situated in purpose-built premises part of an elderly care home in the Bradwell area of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and is managed by a private company who run two other nurseries in the local area. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children. It operates from seven rooms and there is a fully enclosed area available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 35 members of childcare staff. Of these, 34 hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2 and above, including one with Early Years Professional Status.

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Information about the setting

The nursery opens Monday to Friday all year round from 7.30am until 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 162 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.

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must:

 implement effective ongoing assessment that helps staff to provide challenging experiences for children, to effectively support their progress across the prime and specific areas of learning.

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

 develop the quantity of resources and staff's ability to skilfully question children to enable children to make good progress

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

 support the independence and self-care skills of the youngest children; through the organisation of the learning environment and raising staff's expectations of what children can do

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

 consider the impact of the shared use of the outdoor area on all children, for example, by offering all age groups exclusive use of the outdoor area on a daily basis.

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who attend

Parents have access to regular exchanges of information including evening meetings with key persons where children's learning journals are shared. As a result, most are able to actively contribute to their children's learning and development. Staff understand how to conduct the progress check at age two and consequently suitable next steps of learning are identified. Most staff have reasonable knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage, and how to promote learning and development. The manager is taking steps to improve staff knowledge and their ability in order to help children make the best progress. Adequate information is gathered about children's starting points on entry to the nursery. Staff are able to use this information to support children to settle well, and prepare them for learning. There are a range of activities, experiences and opportunities that are interesting and cover all seven areas of learning. As a result, children are making

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who attend

satisfactory progress towards the early learning goals and generally gaining a suitable range of skills in readiness for school when the time comes. However, the assessment arrangements are not precise enough to take into account what each child knows and can do. Therefore, staff do not always challenge children effectively, for example, by using skilful questioning, to allow their learning to be purposeful so that they make best progress. Planning is completed by using observations and next steps that are identified suitably, as most staff make effective use of the guidance document Development matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage. Planning supports children's acquisition of skills in communication and language and in their physical, personal, social and emotional development. For example, children develop their fine motor skills through the use of malleable materials, such as play-dough and 'gloop'. However, assessment is not precise enough to enable

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who attend

staff to consistently plan challenging activities and experiences promoted through their teaching. Therefore, children's acquisition of skills occurs mainly through care practices.

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who attend

Children's progress is improving, as a result of the changes implemented by the newly appointed manager. All children make satisfactory progress, and for a small number of children their progress is good. The recording of progress is improving through the use of electronic monitoring tools, and termly assessments. However, staff do not always have sufficient knowledge or information to make precise assessments. For example, staff are currently undertaking training to improve their knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage, although this has not had enough time to embed to improve the accuracy of assessment. Some children with English as an additional language enter the setting with starting points generally lower than those of other children in some areas, for example, communication and language. As a result of the low expectations of staff, it is accepted that these children may not make the expected progress. These expectations are reflected

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who attend

in the assessment and planning for most children and therefore does not support children's rapid progress. For example, children who are able to feed themselves are not encouraged to.

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who attend

Partnerships with parents are developing steadily, and there have been recent actions identified to improve the collaboration, for example, establishing a parents' forum, and informal consultation through 'you said, we did' consultation.

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

Children have a good understanding of what is acceptable behaviour, and this is supported by the good role models of staff. Effective procedures to manage behaviour are understood by staff and are implemented well. Peer relationships are generally good, children work well together to achieve shared tasks, such as retrieving objects stuck in the 'gloop' and they remind each other of the nursery rules. However, as a result of the arrangements for outdoor learning, the youngest children and oldest children's play and freedom to explore, often becomes limited in order to protect the safety of other children. Outdoor play has recently been developed by the Early Years Professional. This has allowed greater access for all children through the arrangements for free-flow play. Because of the new developments in outdoor play, children have been introduced to equipment and new opportunities that allow risk taking behaviour. The recent changes in

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

the outdoor area, have however, led to staff becoming too focused on keeping children safe and not allowing them to support and skilfully question children's learning and development. For example, they use comments, such as 'that's nice' or 'well done' to comment on children's actions and do not pose challenging questions.

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

Children have caring and loving relationships with their key persons, especially those children in the baby room, because most staff are welcoming to all children and families. They use information gathered on entry to the nursery regarding care practices to meet the individual care needs adequately. As a result, children seek out adults for comfort and cuddles, and find reassurance from their affection. Healthy meals and snacks are served to children from the on-site kitchen and there are daily opportunities for children to enjoy physical exercise and fresh air. Children learn about the consequences of unhealthy choices and staff promote this through conversations at meal times. Staff encourage children to access a range of physical activities and children are beginning to learn about the effects of physical of exercise on their bodies. Meal times offer some opportunities for the oldest children to manage their own personal care needs as they serve their own food,

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

and use utensils suitably. However, opportunities are missed for the youngest children to develop their personal care needs as staff wash children's hands for them and feed children who are developmentally able to feed themselves.

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

Transitions of children throughout the nursery and into school are well planned and prepare children well for the next stage in their learning. Children visit their prospective room on several occasions prior to their move, supported by their key person. The new and existing key persons meet to share progress enabling children's next steps in their learning and interests to be planned for continuously. Relationships with the local school are developing as a result of the new manager and Early Years Professional's commitment to ensuring children are well prepared for school. There are a range of resources, accessible to children throughout the setting that are developmentally appropriate to all ages. However, the amount of each type of resource is limited and therefore sometimes some children become frustrated or lose interest in learning and opportunities are missed to promote children's learning further. Resources for the youngest children are stored at

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

low level for easy access. Areas within the room have been developed specifically as a result of some staff's knowledge of children's learning and development. This includes a black and white feature in the baby room and a sensory space for the toddlers. Older children recognise resources through photographs and word labelling. Children plan what resources to use throughout the day because of their 'plan-do-review' system.

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provision

The manager has a generally good understanding of her responsibilities in meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Effective safeguarding procedures are in place to protect the children who attend. All staff have a sound knowledge and understanding of the procedures and know how to implement them because they have attended safeguarding training. The nursery shares the full written policies and procedures with parents to ensure they are aware of the staff team's responsibilities towards protecting their children. Children enjoy a safe and secure play and learning environment because staff carry out daily checks and written risk assessments are completed. Robust recruitment and vetting procedures alongside effective induction systems help to ensure all adults are suitable to work with children. All visitors are required to show identification and sign in and out of the visitor's book to

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provision

ensure that a full and accurate record of everyone in contact with the children is in place. The manager has a sufficient knowledge of the learning and development requirements. She has started to analyse the progress children are making across the nursery and as a result has identified strategies to improve practice for the benefit of the children. The manager is aware of staff's inconsistent knowledge and has a clear drive demonstrated through detailed improvement plans to ensure children make good progress towards the early learning goals. However, the manager's expectations of children with English as an additional language are not good enough to ensure they make better than satisfactory progress in relation to their starting points. There is a range of monitoring and audit tools used by the manager to monitor children's progress and therefore appropriate interventions are able to be made in children's learning where necessary.

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provision

The manager and directors successfully monitor staff performance and their contributions to the nursery through regular team meetings, reviewing staff record keeping and annual appraisals. As a result, staff identify areas for development to help improve practice. The setting's self-evaluation identifies most aspects of improvement required and has been developed to seek the views of all children and parents, to contribute towards the setting's drive for improvement and ensure continuous development. The manager has started to carry out regular consultations with parents to obtain feedback. As a result, changes and improvements that have been implemented have been recent, but have not had time to embed within practice. For example, parents asked for the opportunity to influence and shape practice directly. The manager took steps to deal with this request and a parents' forum has been formed to meet and consult with parents. Consequently parents have

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provision

expressed how contented they are. The nursery has started to develop links with other agencies, such as the local authority, Sure Start children's centre and local schools to build effective partnership working to promote continuity for children.

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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 EY313554 Local authority Staffordshire Inspection number 919973

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 107 Number of children on roll 162 Name of provider Huggies Day Nursery Ltd Date of previous inspection 07/09/2009 Telephone number 01782 799 440

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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

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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