Early Days Nursery

Early Days Nursery 32 Reservoir Road, Edgbaston, BIRMINGHAM, West Midlands, B16 9EG

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 16/08/2013 02/04/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 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 4 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 4

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This provision is inadequate

 Assessing of risk when accidents occur is not sufficiently effective at all times. Therefore, prompt action not consistently taken in identifying and removing risk and informing staff of practice to minimise risk in future. This compromises children's safety.  All staff do not consistently follow the written procedure for the collection of children. Therefore child's safety is compromised and a welfare requirement not met.  The provider has failed to inform Ofsted of a serious accident within 14 days of it taking place as required by the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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It has the following strengths

 Staff provide high quality teaching, resources and experiences across all seven areas of learning in a highly stimulating environment. Therefore, children make excellent progress from their starting points in their learning and development.

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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 playrooms and the outside learning environment.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held a meeting with the operations manager, manager of the nursery and the deputy.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessment records, planning documentation, evidence of suitability of staff working at the nursery, the provider's self-evaluation form and a range of other documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector also took account of the feedback questionnaires from parents and carers.

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Information about the setting

Early Days Nursery was registered in 1991 and is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The nursery is situated in a grade two listed building in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham, and is managed by a private provider. Children are cared for in playrooms based on both floors of the premises and in an annexe. Children come from a wide catchment area. There are enclosed outdoor play areas.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is open each weekday, from 7.30am to 6pm, all year round. There are currently 52 children on roll, 49 of whom are in the early years age range, two aged five to eight years and one aged over eight years. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It supports children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The nursery is a member of the Pre-School Learning Alliance and receives support from the local authority.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 25 members of childcare staff. Of these, two hold a qualification at level 6 in early years, one holds a qualification at level 5, 12 holds a qualification at level 3, six hold a qualification at level 2 and four are unqualified and working towards a qualification. The nursery also employs a cook, cleaner, administration staff and staff who help with gardening and maintenance.

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must:

 ensure children are only released into the care of individuals who have been notified to the nursery by the parent

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must:

 conduct a thorough risk assessment, in particular, when an accident has occurred to assess why the accident happened and take prompt action to remove or minimise risk

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must:

 determine more effectively when it is helpful to make some written risk assessment in relation to specific issues, such as adjustments to be made when a child attending nursery has a plaster cast, to inform staff of practice to manage further risk.

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

 improve the recording of significant incidents, conversations and accounts and their accuracy.

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who attend

Despite the weaknesses in leadership and management in securing the children's safety and well-being, teaching and learning are outstanding.

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who attend

Staff use highly effective planning, observation and assessments systems to provide children with a challenging and interesting range of high quality activities. This results in activities clearly being based on children's interests, ideas and developmental needs. For example, staff in the pre-school room give high priority to ensuring they capture the children's ideas and interests on the flip chart board and use this as secure base to provide meaningful experiences. Consequently, children enjoy variety and challenge in all activities, and show high levels of interest, independence and curiosity as they play. All staff carefully use the evolving planning each day, which reflects observations of individual children during activities, their changing interests and their planned next steps in learning. Consequently, children make outstanding progress from their starting points across all areas of learning during their time at the nursery.

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who attend

Staff are clearly committed, dedicated and enthusiastic in their roles and clearly value their time with the children and their parents and carers. This is clearly demonstrated with the high priority given to children with special educational needs and /or disabilities and English as an additional language. There are effective systems in place to carry out a needs analysis and make the necessary adjustments and attend further training, when required. This results in a highly inclusive approach and ensures they meet the educational needs of the range of children attending extremely well. A highly successful two-way flow of information and communication, from the outset when children first start and throughout their time, results in an excellent partnership working. For example, they contribute to the planning of activities with their own observations and ideas, which are highly valued by the staff to plan experiences.

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who attend

Staff ensure there is sufficient time and space for children to concentrate on activities and experiences, in order to explore their own interests and offer a balance of adult-led activities. They place a clear focus on supporting the younger children's learning in the three prime areas of learning and shift the balance to more active learning for children over three years. Consequently, children are extremely well prepared and ready to learn when they start school.

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who attend

Children's communication and language is supported extremely well. Children's interests in their environment, the wider world and their favourite books and toys are used extremely successfully to increase their learning. In particular, staff encourage children to speak, share their ideas and introduce new ideas, concepts and vocabulary continuously. For example, a simple interest in dinosaurs has spiralled into children learning about skeletons, the history of their own families, babies and how they have changed and a visit to the museum. Children use words, such as extinct and skeleton, and are introduced to the concept of time and old and new. Staff skilfully use the children's interest of dinosaurs to offer excellent opportunities in all areas of learning. For example, children draw dinosaurs from the models they have in front of them. They are encouraged to use words, such as long, to describe the neck of one dinosaur and children compare them to other

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who attend

animals it reminds them of, such as giraffes, snakes and worms. Staff continuously ask challenging and open-ended questions to make them think and give them time to respond, problem solve and genuinely value their questions.

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who attend

Staff caring for the younger children emphasise and repeat words continuously and describe to children what they are doing and what they see. For example, as children roll the dough staff constantly vary the tone of their voice as they use phrases and words, such as ' roll', 'it's gone', 'pull ' and 'star', which engage children very well and they begin to imitate what they hear and see. Staff caring for babies give good attention and use eye contact, hold them close and use voice and touch to communicate with them. All staff use songs, musical instruments, music and puppets to capture children's interests and increase their language at every opportunity. For example, a varied range of music including classical music is used in the background to create an appropriate ambiance according to the routine and what children are doing.

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who attend

Outdoor play provides excellent opportunities for children to test and extend their physical skills and offers meaningful planned, purposeful play and exploration. For example, children and staff are provided with waterproof clothing, so they can be outdoors in all weathers and make the most of what is provided. Indoors babies have a safe area environment to move, roll and stretch and more able babies have opportunities to stand, crawl and walk. Promoting the children's understanding of the world is a clear strength of the nursery and the extended outdoor play space helps support this. All children use the outdoor play spaces with confidence and great enthusiasm. For example, they explore the sand, water and soil and care for the tomatoes, lettuce, carrots and many plants and flowers they have planted. A wealth of natural resources, such as shells, fire cones, hay and logs, is used extremely well both indoors and outdoors for children to freely explore and investigate and

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who attend

use in their play. Excellent use is made of the local nature reserve and reservoir to observe wildlife and learn about the natural and changing environment. For example, staff have organised a treasure hunt in connection with the children's favourite story, which has been used well to reinforce learning.

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who attend

Children build excellent foundations for early literacy. An extensive range of opportunities engage children in making marks both indoors and outdoors. For example, children use chalk, water, mud, sand and paint and are thoroughly absorbed as they make their creations. Children make sense of visual signs, symbols and recognise their names and more able children rapidly learn about and begin to link sounds and letters. Books are used extremely well by the staff as they are often linked to the topic and children's interest to reinforce learning. For example, children have brought in their own dinosaur books, including a Portuguese dual language book, which they proudly share together.

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who attend

Staff skilfully guide children to think critically and solve problems as they play and during the daily routine. They successfully encourage children to explore mathematical concepts and use mathematical language as they learn to sort, count, create pattern and consider concepts, such as weight, capacity and measures. For example, staff now more often incorporate a mathematical element in the sand, water, role play and outdoor area, to widen further the opportunities for mathematical learning. The computers and an interactive white board are used very well to reinforce mathematical ideas and to support the children's learning.

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who attend

Extensive opportunities are available for children to develop their creative skills and use their imagination. All children, including babies, use a wide variety of resources, and use their senses to explore colour, texture and space. For example, natural items, textured fabrics, metal objects, cooked pasta, jelly and shredded paper are thoroughly enjoyed by the children. The role play areas offer endless play opportunities for children due to the extended range of resources included, which capture the children's interest and imagination.

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

Children's wellbeing is inadequate due to the weakness in ensuring risk assessment is effective in identifying and removing risk and informing staff of practice in relation to this, when an accident occurs. In addition, there are inconsistencies in the implementation of the policy in relation to the collection of children. This compromises children's safety and well-being.

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

Children are extremely happy and settled in this very warm and welcoming nursery. Staff know the children very well and children have a settling-in period, which is flexible and used well to gather information about their care needs. Consequently, for the vast majority of the time the key person system works exceptionally well, and staff are able to give a detailed overview of each child's progress and care needs. Children show an extremely strong sense of belonging and staff actively seek children's views to find out about what they like or dislike at the nursery and act on this to ensure their contributions are valued. Staff are excellent role models and gently reinforce positive behaviours, such as talking to children about using kind hands, kind words, sharing and taking turns. Consequently, children display exemplary behaviour.

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

This vibrant nursery both indoors and outdoors and the superb range of resources and experiences provide an enjoyable and challenging learning experience for children. Staff deployment is effective and children supported very well to initiate and extend their own play and learn comfortably at their own pace.

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

Overall staff supervise the children well and children develop a very good understanding of how to keep themselves safe at the nursery and when on outings. For example, they learn about road safety and know how to follow the procedure when they practise the fire drill. There is an exemplary range of policies and procedures in place to help secure children's welfare and safety. However, due the weakness in staff consistently implementing the child collection policy and the use of risk assessment, children's safety cannot be assured.

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

Excellent attention is given to encouraging children to adopt healthy lifestyles. For example, a recent innovative idea has resulted in the introduction of a 'Wake up, shake up' physical session for children held at breakfast, which many parents and carers join. They benefit from freshly cooked, healthy, nutritious meals, and an excellent range of fresh fruit is always made readily available. Children's dietary needs are met exceptionally well and parents contribute their ideas and recipes to the nursery menu. For example, children enjoy Caribbean chicken, Polish dumplings and Portuguese one pot pasta. Excellent hygiene practices are in place to minimise the risk of cross-infection, with high standards in place with regards to food safety, nappy changing and personal care routines.

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

Parents and carers are extremely well informed about the nursery and their child's progress, achievements and daily experiences. The nursery places great value in ensuring that parents develop a sense of belonging and are included in the education and care of their children. For example, The 'Stay and Play' sessions are already popular and have now been extended to four Saturdays a year to reach even more parents, carers and family members. Transition between rooms within the nursery is carefully planned to make this a smooth and easy move for individual children and to continue their care and education. Collaborative working with other settings, including the schools children transfer to, is very well embedded. For example, teachers visit the nursery prior to children joining them and information is shared, valued and acted upon to ensure their educational needs are continued to be met.

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provision

The inspection was prioritised by Ofsted because concerns were raised about procedures for the collection of children and a child sustaining an injury whilst playing at nursery. The inspection found that on one occasion the provider released a child into the care of a family member without the parents' prior agreement. The staff have failed to follow the nursery's own written policy and meet the legal requirement in relation to only releasing children into the care of others notified by the parent. Consequently, this compromises the children's safety. The inspection also found that a child had recently sustained a fractured wrist at the nursery. It was also found that insufficient information was obtained about the nature of the injury and a risk assessment not conducted about the care of the child. Since the incident took place a training day has been organised and a medical profession invited to help advise staff, how they can more fully detect such an injury and what action to take

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provision

in future. However, it was found that the manager has not carried out a detailed investigation of the circumstances of the accident, such as considering the contributing factors. For example, trip hazards in the environment and if the children were wearing shoes or socks, to help take action and to minimise risk in future. It was also found that on the child's return to nursery insufficient information was obtained about the nature of the injury and a risk assessment not conducted about the care of the child. In addition, the provider has committed an offence by failing to inform Ofsted of a serious accident within 14 days of the accident occurring at the nursery. This is a requirement of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. The inspection found that although accidents are recorded the details of conversations held with parents are not recorded and records not always accurate.

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provision

It is clear to see that the senior leadership team, which includes the provider and operations manager, are highly skilled. They support the experienced manager and deputy extremely well and place a strong emphasis on raising children's achievement. Consequently, the educational programmes offer challenge and reflect the aptitudes, needs and interests of the children and they make outstanding progress in all aspects of their learning and development. Despite these strengths, leadership and management are inadequate due to poor monitoring of the safeguarding and welfare requirements. This has resulted in breaches of the safeguarding and welfare requirements that have an impact on the safety and well-being of the children.

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provision

The management team provide high quality individualised supervision, coaching and training opportunities for all staff to further raise their skills and qualifications. The positive culture of mutual respect, successful staff supervision and annual appraisals result in a highly effective, dedicated team. The nursery has very robust recruitment, vetting and induction procedures in place to ensure staff are suitable to work with children. In addition, the management team regularly review staff's ongoing suitability and underperformance tackled swiftly. Any concerns in relation to child protection issues are given the utmost priority and dealt with effectively. All staff have a comprehensive awareness of safeguarding issues and how to implement the safeguarding policy and procedures in relation to child protection.

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provision

The ongoing parental satisfaction surveys clearly indicate that they are highly satisfied with service provided and the excellent progress their children make and how they are kept fully informed about their child's achievements. The nursery is extremely motivated in working with parents and carers. For example, the active parents' forum has up to 15 parents and carers involved who have a wide range of skills, to help support the nursery and shape the service offered. Extremely effective collaborative working with other professionals involved with the children results in the ongoing sharing of information to help secure the best outcomes in children's care and education.

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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 any serious accident or injury to any child while receiving childcare are reported to Ofsted (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that all necessary measures are taken to minimise any identified risks (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure any serious accident or injury to any child while receiving childcare are reported to Ofsted (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that all necessary measures are taken to minimise any identified risks (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 227184 Local authority Birmingham Inspection number 932421

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 61 Number of children on roll 52 Name of provider Early Ventures Ltd Date of previous inspection 02/04/2009 Telephone number 0121 456 5550

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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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