Little Buds Private Day Care Nursery

Little Buds Private Day Care Nursery 21 London Road, NEWCASTLE, Staffordshire, ST5 1LQ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 29/08/2013 05/07/2010

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 Previous inspection: 3 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

 Practitioners develop warm and friendly relationships with children. As a result, children are self-assured, which promotes a sense of belonging.  Children's good health is promoted, because meals and snacks are varied and nutritious.  Practitioners involve parents as partners in the nursery, this relationship is based on regular two way communication to ensure children's individual needs are met.

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It is not yet good because

 Observations and assessment are not used rigorously enough to precisely identify the next steps in each child's learning and ensure their progress is fully promoted.  The pre-school learning environment does not consistently offer children access to a wide range of challenging resources.  Children's literacy skills are not fully supported and babies do not always have rich opportunities to develop their independence skills.  The educational programme is not effectively monitored to ensure rich learning experiences for all children.

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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 all four playrooms and the outdoor play area.  The inspector held a meeting with the manager and talked to practitioners.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at a range of documentation, including children's assessment records, planning, evidence of practitioners' suitability to work with children, risk assessment and the policies for safeguarding and complaints.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector also took account of the views of parents and children spoken to on the day.

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Information about the setting

Little Buds Private Day Care Nursery was registered in 2010 and is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is situated in a former church presbytery in the central area of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and is managed by Little Buds Day Care Nursery Limited. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children. It operates within three rooms located on two floors and there two enclosed areas available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 14 practitioners. Of these eight hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 and two hold an appropriate early years qualification at level 2.

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Information about the setting

The nursery opens Monday to Friday all year round. Sessions are from 7.30am until 5.45pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. Overnight care is also provided between the hours of 6pm and 6am. There are currently 35 children attending who are in the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for three- and four-year-old children. It supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language.

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must:

 ensure the use of ongoing observation and assessment to effectively track children's progress, and use this information to plan future learning experiences which are more precisely matched to children's individual needs.

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

 arrange indoor space and resources in the older children's playrooms to ensure maximum engagement by all children, allowing them to access a wide range of activities to support all areas of their learning and development

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

 improve the monitoring and reviewing of the educational programmes to ensure that they always have sufficient depth, breadth and challenge and reflect the needs, aptitudes and interests of children

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

 improve opportunities for children to develop their early literacy skills by, for example, providing a range of writing materials, such as chalk, charcoal and different sized brushes in the outdoor area

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

 encourage babies to develop sensory learning and increased independence skills, by giving them opportunities to pick up their food and use a spoon during mealtimes.

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who attend

The standard of teaching in the nursery is satisfactory. Children make steady progress towards the early learning goals and satisfactorily gain the skills needed for their future learning. A group of children aged three and four listen intently at story time. The practitioner ensures all the children can see the story book and models a clear voice with expression to hold children's interest. The practitioner asks open-ended questions and follows each child's lead. Children's talk is valued and a couple of children stand up and start singing a song from the story and the practitioner smiles and praises them.

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who attend

Practitioners in the baby room use singing and close contact to soothe the babies very well. They sing nursery rhymes, such as 'Twinkle, twinkle little star' and 'Five little ducks', babies show their enjoyment by smiling and bouncing. Some babies attempt to join in with the singing and practitioners offer meaningful praise saying "good singing". Babies sit on the floor in a circle; some are supported by practitioners and enjoy listening to the story about a girl and three bears. Recent photographs are displayed in the nursery showing children participating in activities that encourage them to explore and investigate, such as baking cakes, creating coloured mashed potatoes and making fruit kebabs. Practitioners use these as visual prompts and talk about them with the children to help them recall and encourage expressive language development.

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who attend

Children make suitable use of portable equipment outside, such as, trikes, pushchairs and dolls, large construction bricks and jigsaws. These resources help them to develop their physical skills. However, children do not have the opportunity to take part in mark making activities while outdoors to build on their interests and help further develop their literacy skills. Children enjoy trips to the local park that provide opportunities for them to see, hear and touch things and experience physical challenge that they might not otherwise explore beyond the home or nursery.

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who attend

The planned next steps for children's progress are not always appropriate or, on occasions, do not offer sufficient challenge. Regular observations are recorded. However, these are not always analysed to provide an assessment as to whether a child is showing typical development for their age or is working above or below what is expected of them. This makes it difficult to share the child's overall development stage with parents and any other providers or professionals involved, and to plan appropriate next steps that will challenge individual children. However, written summaries for the progress check at age two have been implemented appropriately to identify any early intervention that may be needed for this age range. Parents are kept informed about their child's learning by daily discussions, daily diaries and monthly progress sheets.

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who attend

Children with English as an additional language receive reasonable support. Practitioners use basic words in their home language when talking to children to help them make links with English vocabulary and show respect for their language and culture. Practitioners liaise with parents to establish the child's language skills in their home language.

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

The environment is homely and welcoming with a reasonable range of resources accessible to children in the baby and toddler rooms. The baby area consists of a playroom, nappy changing area and mealtime area with highchairs. Babies sleep in travel cots and a lovely relaxing sleeping area has been created using fairy lights and draped cloth so that they feel safe and secure. Children have a variety of toys to stimulate their senses, such as treasure baskets and appropriate toys that can be sucked, squeezed, pulled, held and listened to. There are three very large rooms for the two-year-old children to use upstairs, sensory play is encouraged, for example, children have large mirrors to look in and shakers made from empty plastic bottles.

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

The pre-school area consists of four areas, one for messy play, an eating area with two large tables that fill the room, and a carpeted empty room with limited resources with a cosy book corner in the smaller sensory room leading off from it. However, the space and resources in the pre-school learning environment do not allow children to consistently access to a wide range of resources and do not challenge them sufficiently. Consequently, some children were not fully engaged and spent time unoccupied.

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

Practitioners plan daily outdoor energetic play for children so that they learn the benefits of physical exercise. The outdoor play area has been refurbished with artificial grass flooring, large wooden house, small wooden pirate ship climbing frame, sun canopy and child-sized tables to allow the children to eat and undertake activities outside.

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

Children receive a warm welcome from practitioners, which helps them to settle more easily when they are feeling insecure. There are strong relationships between key persons and children. Parents are aware of their child's key person through discussion and lists displayed on the wall; this keeps them well-informed. Discussions with parents reveal that they feel that 'Staff are emotionally involved with the children and children love their key person'.

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

Children's good health is promoted through the lunch menu, which operates on a four week rota and is nutritious and home-made. Children enjoy meals, such as home-made stew and mashed potato with water to drink. Discussions with parents indicate how much they appreciate the nursery menu and make comments, such as 'Fantastic food, my child eats food here she would never eat at home'. Snacks provided for the children are nutritious and consists of fresh fruit with milk to drink to encourage children to make healthy choices. Older children are encouraged to be independent wherever possible, they attempt to pour their own drinks, serve their own food from the serving dish onto their own plate and scrape left over food into the bin when they have finished. Practitioners are at hand to offer support if necessary and praise children's efforts. They sit with the children at lunchtime to encourage social interaction and independence skills. However,

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

practitioners feed babies their lunch and do not offer them opportunities to pick up food or a spoon, or to share control of their feeding. This also limits their ability to learn about texture, shape, size and colour of different foods, and does not encourage hand and eye coordination or independence.

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

Practitioners consistently manage and encourage positive behaviour, they use praise and promote sharing and negotiation. Children's behaviour is good and their actions show they are aware of the nursery's rules and behaviour boundaries. For example, the older children do not run around indoors and know that they are expected to take turns and share. Practitioners deal with older children's inappropriate behaviour towards other children very well. They provide a safe place for children to calm down and invite them to re-join the group in a calm reassuring way, explaining the reasons for the actions.

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

There are resources in the nursery that reflect positive images of diversity and a colourful, inviting sign depicting 'welcome' in a number of different languages displayed in the foyer. This encourages children to respect and value different cultures and lifestyles. The nursery has made a reasonable start preparing children for the move to school. For example, teachers from the local primary schools are invited to attend the nursery to talk to the children.

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provision

Management demonstrate a suitable understanding of their responsibilities in meeting the requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. There is some monitoring of the planning and assessment, however, it is not rigorous enough, leaving gaps in the process and the potential for some individual children's learning needs to not be fully met.

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provision

A self-evaluation system has been implemented with input from children, parents and practitioners to involve them in the process. Strengths and some weaknesses have been identified and a detailed improvement plan is in place. Plans to improve the continuous provision include a new secure outdoor area for babies, free flow for the pre-school room and new raised planters to encourage children to grow their own vegetables.

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provision

There is a comprehensive up-to-date safeguarding policy implemented. Practitioners are aware of the procedure they must follow if they have concerns about a child in order to ensure their well-being. Suitable procedures are in place to help keep children safe and secure. Visitors to the nursery are asked to sign the visitor's book and registers record the times children arrive and leave. There are a range of written risk assessments in place and daily and weekly safety checks are completed. Security of the premises is well organised with key codes on the main door, inner door, kitchen, office & top of the stairs door to prevent anyone entering the building uninvited.

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provision

The manager provides supervision for all practitioners, assesses the quality of teaching and learning and has a procedure for dealing with any underperformance of practitioners. However, these procedures have not effectively highlighted weaknesses in the learning environment provided in the pre-school room.

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provision

There is a well-qualified practitioner group as most hold an early years qualification. Every practitioner is working towards a higher qualification ensuring that they are constantly improving their knowledge and practice. The nursery meets the basic requirements for first aid and food safety training. All adults in the nursery are appropriately vetted and suitable recruitment procedures are in place to ensure children's safety.

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provision

Children and families benefit from the friendly relationships that exist between practitioners and parents. Parents are kept well informed about early years issues through the wealth of information displayed in the foyer. There is also a poster with information in numerous different languages explaining how parents can get more information about the nursery in their own language, which ensures no parent is disadvantaged because of a language barrier. Practitioners involve parents in their child's learning as they share children's assessment files with them. Parents are also kept informed through a secure social media website, daily discussions, daily diaries and the progress sheets. The nursery links with other providers and outside agencies, such as the National Health Service Oral Health Team, social workers, health visitors and the local authority advisors to meet the needs of 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 EY400530 Local authority Staffordshire Inspection number 875164

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 45 Number of children on roll 35 Name of provider Little Buds Day Care Nursery Limited Date of previous inspection 05/07/2010 Telephone number 01782633051

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Type of provision

set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

Full-time provision is that which operates for more than three hours. These are usually known as nurseries, nursery schools and pre-schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the higher fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Sessional provision operates for more than two hours but does not exceed three hours in any one day. These are usually known as pre-schools, kindergartens or nursery schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the lower fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Childminders care for one or more children where individual children attend for a period of more than two hours in any one day. They operate from domestic premises, which are usually the childminder’s own home. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Type of provision

Out of school provision may be sessional or full-time provision and is delivered before or after school and/or in the summer holidays. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Where children receive their Early Years Foundation Stage in school these providers do not have to deliver the learning and development requirements in full but should complement the experiences children receive in school. achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children,

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Type of provision

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Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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