Halesfield Day Nursery Centre

Halesfield Day Nursery Centre Unit J, Halesfield 22, Telford, Shropshire, TF7 4QX

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 10/09/2013 02/03/2012

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: 1 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

 Staff provide a broad range of experiences across all areas of learning to help children make good progress from their starting points. This results in children enjoying their learning and becoming active and inquisitive learners.  Teaching and learning is consistently good and on occasions inspirational in the pre- school room and therefore children are well prepared for school.  Children and their parents are warmly greeted on arrival and children show a strong sense of security and feel safe due to the secure relationships established with the staff. Consequently, children are happy, well settled and enjoy their time at the nursery.  The experienced board of trustees offers good support and challenge to the enthusiastic manager who communicates high expectations to the staff team and is successful in identifying what they do well and what needs to further improve to excel practice in all areas of the nursery.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 There is scope to enhance further the systems in place for the monitoring of the quality of what is on offer throughout the nursery and the tailored support and coaching provided to staff, to help further enhance the teaching and learning.  Indoor space and resources for children in the toddler room, is not used flexibly enough to allow children to freely use activities, such as the sand and water, to further extend choice.

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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 compulsory part 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 play rooms and the outdoor play area.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held a meeting with the manager and deputy and conducted a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessment records, planning documentation, evidence of suitability of staff working within 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 from parents and carers spoken to on the day and feedback questionnaires.

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Information about the setting

Halesfield Day Nursery opened in 1989. The nursery operates from a single storey building in a commercial area in Telford. The nursery serves the local and surrounding areas. Children have access to an enclosed outdoor play area. The nursery is open each weekday from 7.30am to 6pm for 51 weeks of the year, closing for a week at Christmas and for bank holidays.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. There are currently 64 children attending in the early years age group. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The nursery is in receipt of funding for the provision of early years education for children aged two, three and four-years-old.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 19 members of staff. Of these, two hold the Early Years Professional Status, 14 hold a qualification at level 3 in early years, three hold a qualification at level 2 in early years, of whom two are working towards a qualification at level 3. The nursery receives support from the local authority.

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

 enhance further the monitoring of the quality of teaching and learning through more regularly observing staff and providing tailored support, to further build on the good quality practice in place and share the high quality practice adopted in the pre-school room

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

 enhance further the choices available for children in the toddler room, by more flexibly using space and resources so that children can freely use activities, such as the arts and crafts, sand and water.

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who attend

The staff team have energy and work well together and are keen to try out new ideas and share knowledge for the benefit of the children. They use ongoing observations and assessments of what the children do and like and use this information as a base to plan a broad range of experiences, which are enjoyed by the children. Staff caring for children under three years place a strong focus on ensuring they foster the children's personal, social and emotional development, provide daily opportunities for physical activity and support the children's communication and language. This balance shifts as they reach three years and staff in pre-school successfully motivate children in active learning. For example, the topic of 'Harvest festival' is used extremely well to provide good quality teaching in all areas of learning. Staff skilfully plan the educational programmes around the seasons, festivals and topics, such as 'Transport', 'Our home', 'Animals', 'People who

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who attend

help us' and 'Holidays'. Staff in the pre-school provide a wealth of activities with a clear learning intention in all areas of learning and teaching is consistently good and on occasions outstanding. Consequently, children show high levels of involvement and think critically and creatively and therefore they are well prepared for school.

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who attend

Parents and carers contribute to the children's initial assessment of their starting points on entry and are kept well informed about their children's progress. Many take advantage of the 'Stay and play' sessions on offer, where they spend time with their child at nursery and learn how they can support their child at home. Taking home the nursery cuddly toy and the pet hamster further strengthens the link of home and nursery. This good collaborative working with parents and carers and other professionals, provides good support for those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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who attend

Children's personal, social and emotional development is fostered extremely well. Children under three years are happy, confident and show good levels of interest and enjoyment in their chosen play. Children in pre-school, display high levels of confidence, engagement and motivation during their play and interactions with the staff. Staff encourage these children to share their interests and ideas which are highly valued and incorporated well to plan stimulating experiences and activities.

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who attend

Staff provide a calm and nurturing environment and clear routines help children increase their confidence. Children adapt well to changes in the routine and confidently move round the nursery and outdoors. Children's communication and language is supported well. For example, in the pre-school room morning group time is extremely successful in encouraging children to speak, recall events, consider future events and the weather and to discuss what they are going to do that day. Children are confident speakers because staff value what the children say and show a genuine interest. Staff caring for the younger babies give their full attention when babies look at them and use their voice and touch to communicate with them and they are held and rocked gently when they need comforting. Staff repeat words, describe what children are doing and use songs and musical instruments to capture their interests and increase their language. For example, staff sing

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who attend

to children as they change their nappies. In the toddler room staff use strategies, such as 'Colour of the week' and 'Song of the month' very well, to introduce and reinforce language and colours.

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who attend

Staff provide good opportunities to promote the children's physical development. All children use the outdoor area daily which incorporates a challenging range of physical play apparatus which are thoroughly enjoyed by the children. For example, children use the climbing apparatus, wheeled toys, hoops, rockers and balls. Indoors, younger children have use of the ball pit, tunnels, pop-up tents and push-along toys to increase and test their physical skills.

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who attend

In pre-school staff provide a good range of resources for children to build secure foundations for early literacy. Staff skilfully introduce children to 'Letter of the week' and many children confidently begin to sound letters, such as 'S' for September and 'B' for beetroot because of the emphasis staff place on this. Listening activities are used extremely well to reinforce this learning. For example, a group of children put on their headband 'Listening ears' and sit outdoors to detect what noises they can hear, this is then followed through by children drawing pictures of what they have heard. All children have good opportunities to make marks. For example, children use water with brushes to make marks on the fence and they are provided with paint, crayons, chalk and writing paper. Books are used very well to reinforce topics and children's interests.

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who attend

Children over three years, have good and meaningful opportunities to explore mathematical concepts, such as shape, space, problem solving, weight, capacity and measures. For example, children use balancing scales and staff encourage children to consider what happens when they put more bricks on one side and why. They reinforce well mathematical words, such as 'heavy', 'heavier', 'light' and 'lighter'. A wide range of wooden blocks in various shapes including wooden cylinders, egg cups and rings are used effectively to encourage children to count, sort, match, build and problem solve. Therefore, children begin to show a keen interest in mathematical concepts and ideas. Staff provide a good range of opportunities for children to use the computer, headphones and programmable toys and children use a light box to consider light, shadow and shape.

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who attend

Children have meaningful opportunities to learn about the natural world and people. For example, they benefit from a 'Forest school' session at a local site, where they look at changes in the natural environment, collect items and make mud puddles and dens. At nursery they have been planting and caring for herbs, sunflowers and tulips, and hanging plastic containers on the fence to collect natural water and insects. Various religious festivals are celebrated throughout the year and children have opportunities to taste foods, wear costumes and listen to music from other cultures.

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who attend

Staff regularly change the role play areas to capture the children's curiosity and imagination, such as into a boat, opticians, campsite and travel agents. Children easily adopt roles and play their imaginary games. Staff provide good opportunities for children to use a range of painting techniques and use their senses to explore resources, such as sand, shaving foam, dough, cooked pasta and jelly. For example, in the toddler room staff use these resources to reinforce the 'Colour of the week'. However, there is scope to make better use of the indoor space and resources, for children in the toddler room by making the arts and crafts, sand and water, more freely available, to further extend choice.

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

The required staff and child ratios are maintained and staff are deployed effectively throughout the day to meet the needs of children. Overall the resources are used well and there are secure systems in place, to help staff to build effectively on children's achievements in learning. Consequently, children are involved, busy and enjoy their time at nursery. For example, the well-embedded assigned key person system works effectively in helping staff tailor the children's care according to their individual needs and to help to get to know the children's educational needs and their parents and carers. Transition from one room to another is also carefully planned and staff work very well as a team in sharing information about the children's care needs and achievements. Consequently, children settle easily. Children transfer to a wide range of schools and staff support children well by making contact with the school teachers and sharing useful information.

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

They also provide a transition board, which includes pictures of all 14 schools along with the names of which children are transferring to each school. This provides parents with an excellent opportunity to make contact with each other and help develop support systems.

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

Children are well behaved because staff consistently set clear boundaries and use positive strategies to manage the children's behaviour. For example, staff reinforce good listening, sitting and looking, by holding up visual aids to reward this behaviour, when it is observed during group time. Staff place a clear emphasis on children learning how to stay safe. For example, a topic on 'People who help us',' Stranger danger' and visit from the police, fire brigade and ambulance, helps reinforce these important messages.

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

Children are provided with a substantial amount of food and drink to meet their individual needs. For example, they are provided with breakfast, lunch and a mid morning and afternoon snacks, which are enjoyed by the children. All meals and snacks are varied, healthy and nutritious and this contributes well to their good health. All first aid, medication and accident requirements are met to secure the children's' health and well- being. The nursery is kept appropriately clean and good practices adopted to prevent the spread of infection, such as clear hand washing routines, wearing protective clothing and those responsible for the preparation of meals are competent to do so.

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provision

The leadership team consists of the board of trustees, which is made up of parents whose children had attended the nursery and have now left to go onto school and those with children currently attending. Many of the members, including the Chair of the board are very experienced and have a good overview of the nursery. They offer good support and challenge to the manager. Since the last inspection the deputy took on the role of the acting manager and the pre-school leader the role of the deputy, to cover in her absence and ensure the smooth running of the nursery. However, the manager on her return acknowledges during this time the monitoring of staff practice in rooms and the tailored support and coaching offered to existing staff and apprentices, although good has not been as diligent. This has resulted in outstanding teaching and learning not being sustained throughout the nursery.

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provision

There are effective systems in place to manage any under-performance in relation to securing the children's safety and well-being, which is tackled and managed very well. The manager has a realistic overview of the nursery at this time and the well-focused improvement plans in place are very well targeted on areas for improvement, to further enhance the children's learning and the quality of teaching. The recommendation made at the last inspection has been successfully addressed in relation to offering challenging opportunities for physical activity and opportunities for children to learn about their natural environment.

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provision

There are effective procedures in place to update all staff about health and safety and any risks identified are recorded and acted on promptly to minimise and remove hazards to children. Staff have a secure understanding of child protection issues and the procedure to follow in the event of safeguarding concerns. In addition there are effective vetting and induction procedures in place to ensure adults caring for children are suitable. Consequently, children's welfare is secured.

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provision

Partnership with parents and carers is strong. They are kept well informed through the nursery website, policies, daily written reports for the babies and for the older children each room has a white board, which includes useful information about the children's day. Parents and carers spoken to on the day of the inspection are positive about the quality of the service provided and are happy with how much progress their children have made and how well staff use their children's interests in their planning of activities. Effective partnerships working with other professionals and agencies involved with the children results in a good sharing of information and support for the children's welfare, care and education.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory 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 208203 Local authority Telford & Wrekin Inspection number 931700

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 54 Number of children on roll 64 Name of provider Halesfield Day Nursery Centre Date of previous inspection 02/03/2012 Telephone number 01952 583848

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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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