Canterbury Day Nursery, Holiday Playscheme and ASC

Canterbury Day Nursery, Holiday Playscheme and ASC Havelock Street, Canterbury, Kent, CT1 1NP

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 05/08/2013 09/01/2012

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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

 Action plans are well-targeted and effectively prioritised to continually improve the experiences and outcomes for children.  Children are happy and engaged as they play and form good relationships with each other and with staff.  Children enjoy snack and meal times and learn the importance of healthy eating.  Parents value the good relationships they have with staff and feel that these support their children to settle and to progress in their development.

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It is not yet good because

 Fire safety arrangements are not effective because, following recent maintenance work, the required emergency exit signs have not been replaced.  Staff do not consistently use effective strategies to extend children's communication and language.  Some of the planned activities for children to do arts and crafts have too much staff direction and do not allow children to express themselves creatively.

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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 viewed all areas of the setting.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke with managers, staff, parents and children at appropriate times during the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed a range of activities and experiences including outdoor play and meal times.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled documentation, including incident records and children's progress records.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector conducted two joint observations with members of the management team.

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Information about the setting

Canterbury Day Nursery, Holiday Playscheme and After School Club opened in 1974. The group is run by a registered charity committee. It operates from several rooms in a single storey building in the city centre of Canterbury, Kent. There are fully enclosed outdoor play areas for children to use. There are some steps leading to the larger garden area.

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Information about the setting

The setting is open each weekday from 8.00am to 6.00pm all year round, closing at Christmas and for bank holidays. It is registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently 162 children on roll, of these 92 are in the early years age group.

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Information about the setting

The setting receives funding to provide free early years education for children aged two, three and four years. The setting is able to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language.

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Information about the setting

There are 28 staff in total including the management team and a chef. Of the childcare staff, a significant majority hold relevant qualifications to at least National Vocational Qualification at level three.

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must:

 improve fire safety arrangements to ensure the safety of children by ensuring that evacuation routes are clearly identifiable

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

 extend the support for children's communication by consistent use of strategies that encourage them to use language

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

 review the organisation of some activities aimed at promoting children's creativity to offer greater encouragement for them to explore their own ideas.

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who attend

Educational programmes within the setting are satisfactory overall. Staff communicate regularly with parents and offer encouragement for them to contribute to their child's learning. They also use observations of children to identify their likes, dislikes and levels of ability. However, the management team recognise that newly introduced arrangements for assessing children's progress and identifying any gaps are not fully effective. This means that staff provide activities and experiences which children enjoy but they cannot be fully confident that they are always offering sufficient challenge to children across all areas. This continues to receive attention as an area for ongoing improvement within the setting. Appropriate arrangements are in place to complete the required progress checks for children aged two years.

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who attend

There is inconsistency in the quality of support for children's communication and language. All staff speak constantly to children and use clear, appropriate language. Staff working with the youngest children, effectively naming objects and playing with children to explore sounds. As a result, these children are becoming confident to vocalise and use some words with clear meaning. Staff who interact with older children, engage them in conversations. However, they do not routinely use strategies to extend their language such as using open-ended questions to encourage them to form full answers, for example when sharing their views and describing events.

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who attend

Children make good use of the outdoor play spaces. They have fun playing physical games and their coordination is developing well. They confidently climb, operate and steer ride- on toys and run around with their friends. Children also benefit from observing the plants, insects and other features which help them learn about the natural world. Children receive regular opportunities to engage in messy play and to explore different art materials. However, at times, staff plan creative activities too rigidly and offer too much direction. For example, they sometimes provide children with pictures to colour in. This does not encouraging children to explore their own ideas or to express their individuality.

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who attend

Appropriate arrangements are in place to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. One member of staff takes lead responsibility for liaising with parents and other professionals to competently identify and support children's individual needs. The setting also effectively supports children who speak English as an additional language. Staff learn some key words to communicate with children when they first start and also use clear English, gestures and visual aids. There are resources available to reflect a range of languages including books, labels and CDs. This helps all children learn about the different ways that people communicate and the skills needed to speak more than one language.

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

Children are happy and settle well as a result of the effective key person system. They are friendly, sociable and play cooperatively together. Staff are very caring and this gives children a strong sense of security. Children generally respond well to all staff but are confident to seek out their key person when they feel they need support, such as when they are tired and want a cuddle. Appropriate behaviour management arrangements are in place. These are currently being fully reviewed and revisited with staff as part of the setting's commitment to continual improvement. Staff interaction with children is positive and children generally listen well to the advice and guidance they receive. This helps them to understand the boundaries in place to keep them safe. For example, they know that they cannot currently free-flow into the garden as a gate has not yet been secured following recent building work.

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

Children play with a good range of resources and are confident to transport items around the setting to the areas they want play in. They use furniture which is well-maintained and suitable for their ages and stages of development. The setting is being fully refurbished following building work and therefore the decor is currently unattractive in some areas. The maintenance work is creating some minor, and temporary, inconvenience; for example, useful displays of information for parents have been disrupted. In addition, images aimed to promote positive images of diversity have been taken down.

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

Staff promote children's health well. The chef provides tasty, nutritious midday meals which children thoroughly enjoy. These are supplemented by healthy snacks during the morning and afternoon sessions. Children have drinks available to them at all times. Staff support children to understand the importance of good personal hygiene by teaching them to wash their hands after using the toilet and before they eat.

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

Satisfactory arrangements exist to prepare children for their move to school. They work with parents to ensure that children feel ready, for example by talking positively about school life. Staff prepare useful transfer records on children's interests and abilities for their new teachers.

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provision

The management team understand their responsibility to promote children's learning and development. They are fully aware that, while staff are skilled and motivated, the systems helping them to assess and monitor children's progress need improvement. The managers use a computer programme to provide a setting-wide overview of the success of educational programmes. They are working with staff to improve the accuracy of information entered into this system to help identify any achievement gaps more efficiently.

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provision

Overall, self-evaluation processes are effective and take into account the views of all staff and parents. The managers are proud of their staff team and the clear areas of strength of the setting. They have an accurate understanding of the areas where improvement is needed and prioritise actions plans well. For example, they are currently obtaining quotes to replace all of the children's toilets in order to offer greater privacy and independence.

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provision

Robust recruitment and vetting procedures help to ensure staff are suitably vetted and appropriately qualified. Records of staff checks are clearly maintained for easy reference. There is a lengthy induction process to support new staff to learn all procedures and working practices. All staff are trained in child protection and a comprehensive policy outlines the process to follow should any concerns arise. The setting has detailed guidance available, for staff and parents, relating to potentially hurtful behaviour by children. This includes the possible reasons for behaviour such as biting, hitting and name calling as well as the strategies to use to address these.

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provision

Security on the front door is effective as all visitors are identified on a monitor before being allowed entrance. Staff are vigilant in their supervision of children and undertake ongoing risk assessments in response to the building work that is taking place when the setting is closed. However, all the signage for the fire exits has been removed following the installation of new doors and windows. This means that evacuation routes are not clearly identifiable. This poses a risk as there are several doors which have not been deemed suitable as evacuation routes.

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provision

Children benefit from observing the friendly exchanges between their parents and the staff. Parents spoken to during the inspection are very happy with the service they receive. They use words such as 'fabulous' to describe the staff team and are pleased with the progress their children are making. Effective arrangements are in place to share information with any other childcare settings attended by the children. This supports all practitioners in their efforts to provide coordinated and cohesive care.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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actions)

The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

 ensure that the premises are safe and suitable for the purposes of childcare by clearly identifying the evacuation routes (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that the premises are safe and suitable for the purposes of childcare by clearly identifying the evacuation routes (voluntary part of the Childcare Register).

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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 127078 Local authority Kent Inspection number 927453 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 118 Number of children on roll 162 Name of provider Canterbury Day Nursery, Holiday Playscheme and ASC Committee Date of previous inspection 09/01/2012 Telephone number 01227 454557

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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

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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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