Kids Planet Linden House

Linden House Day Nursery 34 Crow Lane West, NEWTON-LE-WILLOWS, Merseyside, WA12 9YG

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 09/09/2013 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: Not Applicable 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 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 Children are making very good progress including those who use English as an additional language or those with special educational needs. This is due to detailed individual learning plans and a high level of staff knowledge.  Effective links with outside agencies mean children and families receive the most up-to- date advice and support.  The management team carry out thorough reviews and peer observations in all rooms to ensure practice is consistent for all children.  Staff build close relationships with parents and carers to ensure they know children well and as a result, children settle quickly in their surroundings.  Staff use interactive whiteboards to engage older children in learning phonics to help them be well prepared for further development of this in school.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Staff do not consistently provide meaningful physical experiences outdoors to help develop and challenge children's large physical skills.  Babies have limited visual stimulants to engage their interest as they lay and explore on the floor.

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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 practice in the pre-school room.

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Inspection activities

 A discussion about planning and assessment was held with the pre-school room leader.  The inspector observed practice in the room for two- and three-year-olds.  The inspector met with parents at appropriate times of the day.  The inspector observed outdoor play for all ages.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed practice in the baby room and discussed children's development files.  The inspector discussed practice and procedures with the management team.

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Information about the setting

Linden House Day Nursery registered in 2013 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is situated in Newton-le- Willows, Merseyside and is managed by Linden House Day Nursery Limited. It operates from the ground floor of a refurbished detached three storey building. There is an enclosed area available for outdoor play. The nursery employs 11 members of childcare staff. Of these, three hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 6 with rest of the team holding between level 3 and 5. The nursery opens Monday to Friday from 7.30am to 6pm, 51 weeks a year. There are 75 children on roll.

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

 provide more challenge for older children in the outdoor area by introducing more testing climbing equipment and obstacles

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

 introduce more visual stimulants, such as mobiles, from above to capture young babies' interest when they are laying down.

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who attend

Educational programmes are detailed and thorough for the children who attend showing good commitment to ensure development is at a pace that suits individual children. Staff do not rush children to meet learning outcomes but have high expectations of what they can achieve. As a result, children feel relaxed and are able to focus on activities that effectively challenge their development.

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who attend

Children are making very good progress including those who use English as an additional language or those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Individual planning ensures that children are supported and staff have clear guidance of areas for development. The special educational needs co-ordinator has good partnerships with outside agencies and engagement with parents to ensure learning outcomes can continue at home. All children are generally working within their expected range of development and staff continually introduce new ideas of how to extend learning further.

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who attend

Staff have carefully created visual routines for all children to understand and follow. The routines include pictures and the written word, so children can begin to recognise that text has meaning. Staff have a strong emphasis on routines being flexible, especially in the baby room. Children with special educational needs find the visual routine a lot easier to follow along with the use of Makaton and simple sign language. Staff have had training to use Makaton and have begun the use of phonics to enable children to communicate in different ways, be ready for school and allow for easier transitions. Some families in the setting use English as an additional language, so staff work closely with parents to learn prominent words to use in everyday routines at all ages. Books and digital video devices have been purchased, to help engage the children in their first language and increase staff knowledge for secure transitions.

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who attend

Parents are invited to complete a wealth of information about their child as they register at the setting. This information includes children's starting points, what they enjoy doing and detailed information about children's routines. This enables staff to then plan efficiently for children, get to know them and help them settle in. Parents can update these documents as children progress to show development of their skills they may learn at home.

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who attend

Children have access to a wide range of challenging and interesting resources. Exploring is highly promoted and staff are able to enhance all aspects of play using child initiated interests. Magnifying glasses are available so children can investigate their interest in bugs which is further extended outdoors. Children create a bug tent, which increases their knowledge of mini beasts and how insects move and change. This in turn, promotes the introduction of a story about a caterpillar changing into a butterfly, encouraging children to learn about the world around them and how to observe things closely.

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who attend

Role play areas also allow for mark making including making signs and writing notes as children role play being in a fire station or a cafe. Staff help children to create a fire station as they were recently visited by the local fire fighters. This left a lasting impact on the children as they still discuss the experience and use the dressing up clothes to be a fire fighter in play.

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who attend

Young children have access to a good range of resources with natural materials to explore hand to mouth. Young babies do not have many low-level visual stimulants which help to engage their interest as they lay playing in the room. Staff use many musical instruments to engage children and further extend their curiosity by making their own instruments from bottles and pasta. The children have yoga lessons indoors to further develop muscle strength, think about exercise and how our bodies work. Children have continuous access to their own water bottle which is labelled for recognition by a picture and names are written on by the child. Children take great pride in finding their own bottle as they like showing ability to meet their own personal needs.

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who attend

Staff collate information about children's progress to look at cohorts of children, such as boys and girls, to identify enhancements for learning. Recently the pre-school team focused on numbers, shapes and colours as it was highlighted by observations and parents input, that children were not confident naming shapes. Songs were introduced, along with positions in yoga classes, linked with names of shapes which has significantly increased understanding. Tracking of children's progress shows a positive reflection of this learning taking place as well as observations of shape recognition during a yoga class taking place.

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who attend

Staff have close well informed relationships with parents and carers so know children well and as a result, children settle quickly. New children attend on a daily basis so staff work hard to ensure children settle and know the routine early on. Parents praise staff on their settling-in procedure and how welcoming the setting is ensuring their child is at ease and feels safe to explore.

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who attend

The children benefit from having a qualified teacher in the setting and begin to become school ready engaging in phonics using the interactive whiteboard. The interactive whiteboard in the pre-school room is available for all children to access but is mainly used with the older children to extend skills in information and communication technology with the use of interactive games.

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

Children are allocated a key worker depending on the attachments they build with staff where possible so children are matched carefully. Children are able to spend one to one time with their key worker during personal care routines and quiet time. This helps to enable a strong bond especially with younger children. In the baby room, staff use a rocking chair in the sleep room to spend quality time with children, as they fall asleep or would like some quiet time out. All areas of the baby room allow for close contact and space for children to move around to be near staff if they choose. This ensures babies feel secure and build attachments at their own pace. Staff are attentive and skilled in caring for babies being aware of their needs and meeting their well-being. Transitions into other rooms are monitored closely and well planned. Children have various settling-in visits to meet the other children and staff and begin to learn the routines.

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

Children are confident in their surroundings and explore with increased curiosity especially outdoors. Children gain independence and make good judgments about their safety and behaviour understanding boundaries and healthy choices. Older children develop their hand-eye co-ordination and gain a sense of achievement as they serve themselves their meals and pour their own drinks. The setting is working towards a local authority healthy early years award to engage children further in healthy activities and a nutritious menu.

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

Outdoors, children are able to develop many skills with the range of equipment and resources available. The setting has recycled the trees they had to cut down to make seats and steps as well as a balancing beam to promote children's muscle skills. Children quickly gain confidence in using the available equipment and there is scope to develop the availability of more challenging resources which support the development of physical skills. Children grow a range of their own fruit and vegetables and are encouraged to care for them by accessing the watering cans and using water from the barrel that collects rain water. Children use tools and equipment to dig up and bury items in the soil. They comprehensively discuss how the soil feels and have extended opportunities to learn new mathematical vocabulary, such as, 'higher than', 'lower than' or 'deep' and 'shallow'.

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provision

The management team originally educated in Holland have a wealth of experiences with all ages and abilities. The management team have a 'very hands on' approach allowing them to have a high level of awareness of what is happening in the setting, including knowing the children and families very well. This ensures that they can effectively oversee educational programmes and check that what is planned meets a broad range of children's needs. Some areas of physical development have been highlighted as presenting scope for further challenge within self-evaluation, which has been observed during inspection.

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provision

The management team have a detailed and reflective self-evaluation taking into account views from parents' questionnaires and staff feedback. This ensures all views are listened to and further drives improvements for individual family's needs. Parents highlighted they would like to see more physical education activities. The setting listened to this and introduced indoor yoga sessions.

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provision

Safeguarding is given high priority with staff being inducted to fully understand the importance of safety and child protection. All staff attend a local authority safeguarding training course and all rooms display a flow chart to remind staff of what to do if they have any concerns.

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provision

The management team carry out termly planning reviews and peer observations in all rooms. The focus is on how staff carry out assessments and provide support and guidance to ensure all children's needs are being met. Monitoring of observations and children's development are thorough and regular to ensure any gaps in learning are identified quickly and interventions provided where necessary. The management team work closely with the pre-school room leader who has eight years of experience in schools and is also the special educational needs coordinator. Between them they offer comprehensive, care- driven provision, to ensure all reasonable steps are taken to support children's learning and development.

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provision

Purposeful links are established with the local children's centre and nearby support groups and schools. The management team are invited to attend children's centre meetings and cluster groups to gain valuable advice and support from outside agencies. For example, this has introduced the team to baby massage, which has been used as a settling-in activity with parents. It has also provided them with further advice and guidance about subjects, such as breast feeding for families. The local school head teacher visited recently to talk to the children about their transition to school and discuss use of phonics and Makaton with the pre-school room leader. This extended knowledge among the staff team and allows pre-school staff to ensure activities they are doing are effectively supporting children to be ready for school.

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provision

The management team are very dedicated to providing a welcoming and highly skilled childcare provision. Staff are well organised due to the 'hands on' availability of the management team and feel fully supported in their role.

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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 EY458974 Local authority St. Helens Inspection number 911858 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 50 Number of children on roll 75 Name of provider Linden House Day Nursery Limited Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 01925 551 756

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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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