Ashfield Nursery & ELC

Ashfield Nursery & ELC 259 Stanhope Road, SOUTH SHIELDS, Tyne and Wear, NE33 4RT

p.1

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 22/05/2013 11/05/2010

p.1

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

p.1

This provision is inadequate

 The quality of teaching is not good enough. Staff do not engage with children to a consistently high standard and, as a result, challenging and motivating experiences are not always planned, in order for children to make good individual progress in their learning and development.  Staff deployment is not effective in ensuring children's safety so that they are adequately supervised at all times or so that children's learning needs are met.

p.1

It has the following strengths

 Varied, healthy and nutritious menus ensure children are provided with good range of meals.  Children develop close and warm relationships with caring adults  Children are provided with lots of opportunities to support their physical development and access the outdoors on a regular basis. This contributes towards their overall good health.

p.1

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

p.2

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.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in the main playrooms and outdoors.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke with the staff and children at appropriate times, met with the manager and carried out a joint observation.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled a range of documentation, including children's development records and evidence of staff suitability.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents through documentation provided.

p.2

Information about the setting

Ashfield Nursery and ELC was registered in 2002 on the Early Years Register and is owned and managed by a private company. It operates from converted premises in South Shields. There are enclosed areas available for outdoor play.

p.3

Information about the setting

The nursery employs 11 childcare staff in addition to the manager, cook and domestic staff. All childcare staff hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 and above. The nursery opens Monday to Friday, all year round. Sessions are from 7am until 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 105 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 children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

p.3

must:

 provide challenging and enjoyable experiences for children in all areas of learning and development by: developing staff's knowledge and understanding of the learning and development requirements; improving the organisation of how activities are delivered and implementing planned, purposeful play through a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activities across all areas of learning

p.3

must:

 ensure that staffing arrangements meet the needs of all children to keep them safe and so that they are adequately supervised through effective staff deployment

p.3

who attend

The quality of teaching, staff deployment and organisation of activities do not ensure that all children have an enjoyable experience and are fully engaged in all of the areas of learning and development. Child-led activities do not always support children in remaining interested or provide them with adequate challenge. This results in children sometimes lacking enthusiasm and motivation to learn. Although staff plan a suitable range of activities, which are based on children's interest and development stages, these often lack sufficient planning and organisation. Therefore, children quickly lose interest and become distracted easily. Some activities offered are basic and do not sufficiently challenge children in their learning or effectively help them to build on their existing skills and abilities. For example, staff encourage children to sit together to look at books. However, they do not interact with the children or use appropriate teaching techniques, such as

p.3

who attend

open-ended questions, to stimulate and extend children's learning. Therefore, this does not support children in their next steps of learning. In addition, this means children are not supported to acquire the skills and capacity to develop and learn effectively and be ready for the next stages in their learning.

p.4

who attend

Satisfactory systems for assessment are in place. Staff carry out regular observations and identify children's next stage of learning. They are familiar with the different age bands and this supports them sufficiently to track children's development across the areas of learning. As part of the assessment of children's progress, staff have completed the progress check at age two to help them identify children's strengths and any areas of concern. These are shared with parents.

p.4

who attend

Children are given choices on what they would like to do and are developing self- confidence as they choose to play indoors or outdoors. Young children are able to self- select their own cups and attempt to put on their own coats for outdoor play. At lunchtime they are encouraged to serve their own meals and make their own choices. This helps to support and develop children's independence. Children are learning to share and take turns. They play cooperatively with one another and staff encourage them to be considerate of others. Children thoroughly enjoy engaging in a planned activity to support them in their colour recognition skills and communicate effectively as they describe the coloured glue as being 'cold and sticky'. Following the morning and afternoon sessions staff encourage children to recall the activities they have participated in, and to listen to others. This sufficiently, supports and develops their communication skills. However, not

p.4

who attend

all children participate in this activity, which makes it difficult for those who choose to, to concentrate. Children are mostly able to access outdoor play freely and enjoy the challenges of physical play. They develop their physical skills well in the garden by climbing on the climbing frame and pushing themselves round on ride-on cars.

p.4

who attend

Staff members interact with parents on a day-to-day basis and children settle well when they start attending the nursery. Staff work well with parents of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They link with agencies that work with the children and meet with them and parents to discuss the next steps that they can all work on to promote their development. Good efforts are made to engage parents in their children's learning, to keep them informed or encourage them to look at, or contribute to, their child's learning journal. Weekend journals contain information about what activities and learning opportunities children have taken part in during the week and contain ideas on how parents can extend their children's learning at home. In addition, children regularly take home the nursery teddy bear 'Daisy bear', which further develops the partnership between children's families and the nursery.

p.4

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

The nursery has a key person system in place to support individual children, who demonstrate a sense of security with staff familiar to them. However, children have a false sense of security because staff are not effectively deployed to ensure their safety. Children approach staff with confidence and staff respond to them with patience and purposeful care, which helps to support children's welfare and well-being. Initial information is gathered from parents with regard to children's individual requirements and a flexible approach is taken to settling-in periods. Children mostly appear settled and secure and relate appropriately to staff. They seek out other children to share their play and approach staff to join in with their activities. Child-sized furniture is in use and resources are stored at child height around the nursery, which means children can make their own choices about what they want to play with. Babies and toddlers are becoming increasingly

p.4

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

independent as they self-register. They select their own photographs displayed on the caterpillar display and place on the leaf in the room. This helps to support and develop their independence.

p.5

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

Care practices do ensure that most children are happy and behave well. They generally play cooperatively with their peers and develop friendships, learn to be increasingly independent in line with expectations for their age and are confident to explore their surroundings. However, some children demonstrate quite challenging behaviour and staff work hard to manage this. This hinders the learning of others and contributes to the sometimes chaotic environment. Therefore, there are many missed opportunities to develop children's overall learning. Children are provided with regular opportunities to enjoy physical activity and outdoor play. Staff talk to them about the benefits of physical exercise as they enthusiastically prepare for outdoor play which supports their understanding of keeping healthy. In addition, the nursery has recently enrolled in a healthy eating scheme 'Eat better, start better' and changed their menus to ensure

p.5

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

healthy and nutritious meals and snacks are provided daily using fresh produce. All children's dietary requirements are closely adhered to and children demonstrate their knowledge of healthy practices as they wash hands before meals. This all contributes towards children's overall good health.

p.5

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

Children are beginning to develop an understanding of keeping themselves safe, as staff gently remind them not to run and push, and have 'kind hands'. They know they must line up sensibly as they move outdoors and tidy up after themselves to ensure safe clear floor space. However, there are some instances when staff are not deployed effectively to ensure the full and safe supervision of children.

p.5

provision

The manager and staff members demonstrate some understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements, and learning and development requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. They have a suitable range of documentation in place to support them and planning is based on the seven areas of learning. However, actual practice in delivering both adult-led and child-initiated activities is not sufficient to ensure that the educational programmes provide a range of experiences. Staff miss many opportunities during activities to support children in their learning. For example, children are often left waiting in between activities while staff attend to routine jobs, such as clearing up and preparing snacks. As a result, children do not make good enough progress towards the early learning goals.

p.5

provision

Suitable systems are in place to ensure the suitability of staff, including appropriate vetting checks, induction programmes and on going systems of supervision and appraisal. The provider understands about the importance of informing Ofsted of any significant events and any action taken. Written policies are in place to support their understanding further and a record of visitors is also maintained. Regular team meetings are used to build confidence, monitor new systems of working and cascade training to all staff. The nursery building is safe and secure and risk assessments along with daily checks are conducted, which ensure that any possible hazards are identified and minimised for children. Suitable records are completed with regard to any accidents and medication administered. A recent serious incident required the provider to take action to ensure that health and safety procedures were consistently implemented. The manager has reviewed

p.6

provision

and improved the procedures for identifying, reporting and dealing with accidents, which are now routinely followed. However, the poor deployment of staff does not ensure that children are adequately supervised at all times to ensure their continuous safety.

p.6

provision

The nursery has begun to complete their own self-evaluation and has had input from the local authority development officer to support them in making further improvements. They recognise this will have an overall impact on individual children and welcome the support and advice. Previous actions and recommendations have been addressed and staff attend relevant training to ensure their skills and knowledge are kept up-to-date.

p.6

provision

The written policies and procedures, parents' handbook and noticeboards provide parents with a suitable range of information on the service provided for their children. Parents' comment that staff always welcome them and their children into nursery, are friendly and approachable and keep them informed of their children's progress. Partnership working has been established with other professionals where children have special educational needs and/or disabilities, and individual care or education plans are implemented to a suitable standard.

p.6

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.

p.7

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.

p.7

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.

p.8

Setting details

Unique reference number EY217674 Local authority South Tyneside Inspection number 919505

p.8

Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 70 Number of children on roll 105 Name of provider Ashfield Nursery And Early Learning Centre Limited Date of previous inspection 11/05/2010 Telephone number 0191 4550777

p.8

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.

p.8

Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

p.8

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.

p.8

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.

p.8

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.

p.9

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,

p.9

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’.

p.10

Type of provision

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

p.10