Magical Moments Day Care

Magical Moments Day Care St Giles Children's Centre, Lamb Gardens, LINCOLN, LN2 4EG

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 21/08/2013 26/02/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 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 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 Children make good individual progress in their learning and development because staff have good knowledge of how young children learn at different rates.  Children's learning is consolidated well because staff involve parents effectively in their child's learning, enabling them to continue this at home.  Staff manage a wide range of behaviour very well and rapidly diffuse situations by effectively engaging children in purposeful activities that help them to learn how to manage their feelings positively.  Partnerships are strong and effectively support those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and aid transitions.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 On occasions, there is scope to improve the organisation and grouping of children, for example, at story time, to ensure that all children's listening and attention skills are promoted to their maximum potential.  There is scope to familiarise children more with their new routines during their transition period, for example, by telling them in advance what is going to happen next.

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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 had a tour of the premises and met with staff and children.  The inspector observed children in all rooms and outdoors.  The inspector and early years manager completed a joint observation of children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's learning journals, care sheets, planning, a range of policies, procedures and documentation and sought the views of parents.

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Information about the setting

Magical Moments Day Care was registered again in 2008 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is committee run and is located in the St Giles Children's Centre in Lincoln city. It is self-contained within the building and has an adjoining outdoor play area. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 12 members of childcare staff. Of these, 11 hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3, including the manager and deputy. In addition, the manager holds Early Years Professional Status and an Early Years BA Hons degree at level 6. The deputy also holds a diploma in higher education in childhood practice at level 5.

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Information about the setting

The nursery opens Monday to Friday for 50 weeks of the year, from 8am until 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There is a holiday club provision each school holiday. The nursery also provides wrap-around care for children, who attend the nursery school on the same site. There are currently 92 children attending, who are in the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four- year-old children. It supports a number of children, who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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

 maximise the opportunity children have to develop their listening and attention skills, for example, by organising story time for toddlers and pre-school children according to their stages of development

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

 help the younger children to develop their understanding and become more confident with expectations, for example, by discussing what is going to happen next with toddlers, who are learning new routines during their transition period.

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who attend

Children's learning and development is promoted effectively. This is an established and consistent staff team. All staff know the children well and have a good understanding of the areas of learning and how young children learn at different rates. Staff continuously share information with each other about each child's level of ability and about each child's next steps in learning. All staff complete observations of their own key children and contribute to a generic observational sheet when they notice any child achieving something or showing a particular interest in something. This enables every member of staff to successfully focus on progressing all children through their interactions during both child-led learning and adult-led learning. As a result, children make good progress with their learning and development because planning provides purposeful learning experiences, which are accurately based on children's abilities, next steps of learning and

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who attend

interests. Parents also contribute observations and ideas, which staff use well to enhance children's learning experiences. Staff keep parents very well informed about their child's learning and since the last inspection, have greatly improved how they enable parents to contribute to this. Parents are now provided with details of activities they can do at home with their child to extend the learning that takes place in the nursery. This has been embraced by parents, who comment favourably about the benefits this has for their child.

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who attend

All staff interact very well with children indoors and outdoors. They engage and enhance children's self-initiated play when appropriate and equally know when not to. For example, staff play with children in the sand pit, filling and emptying containers and talking to children about what is taking place. Children are asked questions that challenge their thinking and are given time to respond. On another occasion, when two children are acting out a camping trip, staff do not interact as they know this will change the dynamics of the game and that very important imaginary experiences will be lost. This is highly effective teaching and shows that staff have a good understanding of how young children learn and are confident with their teaching practice. The camping trip demonstrates a wonderful example of children making friendships and organising a game together from their own experiences. For example, they sit on camping chairs and pour each other

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who attend

imaginary cups of tea from a flask. They chat together as they pretend to bake potatoes on the barbeque using large, round pebbles. They are completely engrossed in their imaginary world together and are oblivious to what the other children are doing around them. Other children are playing cooperatively in larger groups organising a car wash. They choose their equipment from the designated water-shed, which is very well resourced with a wide range of things for water play. More children play in another shed that has been converted into a stable; complete with straw, brooms and hobby horses. The idea for the stable originated from the children's interest in horses. Staff began the process by taking photographs of each child with their own choice of hobby horse. The children gave their horse a name and provided details about their horse and what they did with the horse, for example, a trainer. Staff and children subsequently made a stable for

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who attend

their horses to live in. Children enjoy this as this brings their interest to life.

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who attend

All children are very happy in this nursery and have good access to resources that cover all areas of learning. They have writing materials and books indoors and outdoors and enjoy a wide range of crafts, singing, computers and dressing up. Children show a particular interest in magnets and use these to hunt for metal objects. They show great pleasure each time they find something metal and are excited to tell staff about it. Babies enjoy playing with their chosen resources, with staff sitting on the floor with them as they engage in their play. They have lots of baskets, which are full of interesting objects that they explore. They also have a very good balance between manufactured toys and natural products, which extends their desire to explore and to be creative in their play. Toddlers are in the process of moving out of the baby room and into the pre-school room. This is a mixed age-group room where toddlers and pre-school children learn together. The

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who attend

majority of the time this works very well as younger children learn from older children and experience natural challenge as they try out new things that the older children can do. However, at this early stage in their transition, there are a couple occasions when the toddlers are not always prepared well enough for their new routine or are not developmentally ready for a joint activity. For example, circle time is very good as all children come together and learn each other's names and develop a sense of belonging as a group. However, the toddlers are not given much notification about circle time, so they are unable to prepare themselves fully around an unfamiliar routine by knowing what is going to happen next. Toddlers enjoy a joint singing time with action rhymes as they can join in. However, they become a little restless during story time as they have not yet developed the listening skills and same level of understanding as the older children. In

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who attend

spite of these couple of examples, children are very active and capable learners, who are confident to make their own choices and their own friends. They are ready for school by the time they leave the nursery and often meet with the teacher beforehand, which prepares them well and helps them to look forward to their move.

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

The nursery gathers comprehensive information from parents about their children's individual needs when they first start and when they move rooms. Children form very strong bonds will their key person and all other staff. Staff have a good awareness of equality of opportunity and know each child's dietary requirements, religious and cultural beliefs. They have strong relationships with parents and fully understand each child's background and family circumstances. Staff keep parents well informed about their child's day and notify them immediately of changes that occur to their routines. This helps to ensure that new routines are agreed and established to meet the changing and developing needs of children. This is focussed on particularly well in the baby room where sleep and meal patterns rapidly change. Care records are maintained and parents can also note changes from home, which all staff are made aware of. This ensures that, in the event of

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

staff absence, another carer is fully informed of what each baby requires. Staff focus well on the prime areas of learning, which help children to develop a strong sense of belonging and the physical and communication skills necessary to become independent learners. This prepares children well emotionally for their transitions through the nursery and to other settings.

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

Staff manage children's behaviour extremely well and consistently support children with learning how to cooperate, participate in most routines and with learning how to be helpful. At times, staff have to deal with various forms of over-zealous behaviour and they do this with skill and great expertise. On each occasion, potentially disruptive situations are instantly diffused and turned into very positive learning experiences that the children greatly enjoy. Situations soon calm down and children behave well as staff provide them with lots of praise and encouragement. As children grow, they become increasing aware of how to take care of their own needs and require less and less support as they do this independently. In addition to taking care of their personal needs and learning to wash their hands, they also learn how to organise their own snack time and to help prepare this. They learn to take care of their resources and environment by helping to tidy away

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

their toys and they learn how to manage risks as they use their resources safely. Staff set positive examples of health and safety, which children see on a daily basis. They see staff wiping tables to get rid of germs and completing checks of the environment to make sure everything is safe. Children know they are well cared for because all staff have first aid qualifications and help them if they hurt themselves in any way. Staff keep parents well informed of all accidents, regardless of how minor as all injuries are documented with an explanation of what happened and what action staff took. All accidents are strictly monitored for trends, which further ensures children's safety and well-being. Staff supervise children very well and always ensure that there are staff indoors and outdoors as children move freely between the two areas.

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

Children spend lots of time outdoors being physical and getting lots of fresh air. Babies have thick mats to sit on if they are not yet mobile and these are positioned in a nice shady den, so they are protected from the sun and any adverse weather conditions. The den is also used by older children when the babies are not outdoors as it has been erected to create a friendly space for communication. The nursery provides all children with waterproof clothing and 'wellies', so that they can play outdoors in all weather and also benefit fully from water play activities. Children are well nourished with well-balanced meals and snacks and all those who need a rest can have one in cosy areas in each room. The combination of nutritious food, fresh air, exercise and rest throughout the day fully promotes children's physical well-being.

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provision

All staff prioritise children's welfare and have a thorough understanding of how to keep children safe and the procedures to follow if they have any concerns. The nursery provides a full range of comprehensive policies and procedures to help assure children's safety, health and well-being. Staff implement these extremely well. Robust employment and vetting procedures, induction and regular staff review meetings, help monitor staff suitability. All new staff undertake a comprehensive induction, enabling them to be fully aware of the ethos and expectations of the nursery. The nursery has effective systems for monitoring and evaluating the quality of provision and the educational programme. All documentation is maintained to a high standard and continuously reviewed. Robust risk assessments and daily routines are used extremely well to help ensure that all areas children use are safe and that hazards are minimised in the nursery and on visits into the

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provision

The management are highly committed to the continuous professional development of the staff. Training is accessed continually, through staff appraisals, supervision and ongoing observations of the effectiveness of teaching. Staff complete a wide range of training that provides the nursery with a diverse range of skills that contribute well to the learning and care children receive. For example, one member of staff completed an intensive course in another language to help aid the transition for some children for whom English is an additional language. The management and staff are a strong, committed team, who drive improvement well. All staff contribute to self-evaluation, so that their views and ideas are given full consideration. The views of parents are sought through an ideas wall, surveys and discussions that also take account of the views of their children. Since the last inspection, the nursery has made many improvements that have enhanced the care and

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provision

learning children receive. These include meeting the recommendations that were raised at the last inspection. Outdoors has been further developed and improved assessments and feedback enable parents to contribute more to their child's learning at home. Staff have introduced the progress check at age two and this keeps parents well informed about their child's development and identifies at an early stage if there are any gaps in their child's learning.

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provision

The setting shows a strong commitment to working in partnership with others. They have very good relationships with parents and carers, based on mutual respect and trust. The management and staff work exceptionally well with parents to promote children's care and learning and fully consider the needs of each child and their family as a whole. Parents' comment on the highly supportive approach and how much they value the staff and what they do for their children. There is very strong partnership with external agencies that support staff in meeting children's individual needs. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well as a result of these strong partnerships, as they receive specialised support at an early stage. The nursery has three trained special educational needs coordinators, who work very closely with external agencies, key person staff and parents. This helps to ensure that children with special educational needs and/or

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provision

disabilities receive strong, consistent support and continuity in their learning. The sharing of comprehensive information with other early years providers ensures that children and their parents are confident about their preparation for leaving the nursery. Strong links are in place with local schools and children are extremely well prepared for their transitions to school when the time comes.

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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 EY370711 Local authority Lincolnshire Inspection number 915408

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 33 Number of children on roll 92 Name of provider Magical Moments Day Care Committee Date of previous inspection 26/02/2009 Telephone number 07902915122

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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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