Kids Planet Parliament Street

Fisherfield Farm Nursery Bury College, Market Street, BURY, Lancashire, BL9 0DB

p.1

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 06/09/2013 14/12/2009

p.1

early years provision

This inspection: 1 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 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

p.1

This provision is outstanding

 All practitioners have high aspirations for children's achievement. This means the nursery is exceptional in the way it meets the needs of all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and they make very rapid progress towards the early learning goals.  Children are encouraged to be independent and often lead their own play and discovery, but practitioners are skilled at recognising teaching and learning opportunities and are always at hand to sensitively and skilfully step in to extend children's understanding.  Close observation of individual children's play is used to assess children's learning and development and help plan future opportunities. Practitioners ensure parents take an active role in this process. This means children make excellent progress.  Children's behaviour throughout the nursery is outstanding. Children consider each other's feelings. They share well and pass each other resources. This is because the

p.1

This provision is outstanding

practitioners are good role models, teach children about feelings from a very young age and ensure children's needs are met.  Recruitment processes, induction, supervision and support for practitioners is exemplary. Practitioners have weekly team meetings during which they reflect on their progress and individual children's development and learning. At these meetings, practitioners share ideas and relate targets to their vision and development plan.

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

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.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector had a tour of the premises and discussed how the setting operates.  The inspector talked to the manager and parents throughout the inspection.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children at play in each of the units, both indoors and outdoors and talked to children and practitioners.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector discussed lunch and snack time arrangements and also watched the children having lunch and snacks.  The inspector undertook a joint observation with the manager.  The inspector examined a range of documents and records.

p.2

Information about the setting

The Fisherfield Farm Nursery was registered in 2004 and is on the Early Years Register and boththe compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The nursery is based in a purpose built detached building in the grounds of Bury College, which is situated in close proximity to Bury town centre. It is privately owned and is one of six early years nurseries and out of school clubs owned by same company. The nursery is used by students from the college and families from the local area and wider community. Children have access to three playrooms and a sleep room off the baby room, a sensory area and supporting facilities. There are two enclosed areas available for outdoor play.

p.3

Information about the setting

The nursery employs 14 members of childcare staff. Of these, 13 hold appropriate early years qualifications, the majority of which are at level 3 or above. One member of staff holds Qualified Teacher Status. The nursery opens Monday to Friday all year round, except for the week between Christmas and New Year and bank holidays. The nursery is open between from 7.30am until 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 72 children attending all of whom are in the early years age range. 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.

p.3

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

 continue to develop innovative ways to further enhance the excellent partnership working between parents and the nursery.

p.3

who attend

All practitioners have high aspirations for children's achievement, irrespective of their circumstances or starting points. This means the nursery is exceptional in the way it meets the needs of individual children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and they make very rapid progress towards the early learning goals. This is because the enthusiastic and highly motivated practitioners are knowledgeable and work within a very successful system which ensures they understand about the various ways children learn successfully. They also know their children well and are well organised.

p.3

who attend

All planning is based on close observation of individual children's play. They use this information to assess and then to plan future opportunities. Before children start at the nursery, key practitioners work closely with parents. They share information to ensure they understand each child and their development and learning requirements. Parents also find out how the nursery will support their child. This partnership continues as practitioners encourage parents take an active role in the planning system. Topic webs are displayed at week seven of the planning theme, which enables the parents and carers to add any ideas and interests their child may have for the forthcoming weeks. They provide the parents with an activity at home sheet that includes information about the learning opportunities that will be provided at the nursery and suggestions to help parents or carers support these at home. These methods help parents to extend their children's

p.3

who attend

learning at home which means children are enthusiastic and make rapid progress. Practitioners provide parents with regular assessments of their children's progress including the required 'progress check at age two'. The nursery holds regular parents' evenings. Nevertheless, the nursery feels there is potential to develop ways to allow more parents to become involved to even greater extent.

p.4

who attend

Practitioners understand that all children are individuals and learn as they play and explore in their own ways. They provide a rich, varied and imaginative environment for them to do this. Children with English as an additional language or special educational needs and/or disabilities, therefore, receive the support specific to the way they learn. For example, practitioners provide pictures around the room to enable children with little language to communicate their wants and needs. This sensitive support enables children to communicate well and develop their vocabulary. Children explore and investigate because they are highly motivated by practitioners who know how to interest them and how to successfully extend their learning in carefully planned activities. Children are also encouraged to be independent and lead their own play and discovery in the cleverly organised environment. Practitioners help children succeed by encouraging them to keep

p.4

who attend

on trying if they encounter difficulties, but they are always at hand to sensitively and skilfully step in to extend children's understanding.

p.4

who attend

For example, a practitioner encourages children to run a 'bakery' in the role-play area as part of their topic on people who help us. During this activity the practitioner addresses all areas of learning through this well-carried out activity. For example, children learn about mathematics as they weigh ingredients and compare quantities and more about their world as they find out about bakers, what they do and how they do it. Practitioners often plan this type of activity to support individual children's progress, but are skilled at being flexible and involving all children who show an interest. A practitioner begins the activity by asking a child if they would like to make play dough for the bakery. This allows her to help child to take responsibility for the full process, from choosing the colour, weighing the ingredients and making the finished dough ready for use. However, she does not prevent

p.4

who attend

others from joining in. As other children notice and join in, she adapts the space and her support to accommodate them. This sort of planning and teaching encourages children to solve their own problems and practise their communication skills as they reason and discuss. Practitioners know that using statements, rather than questions with only one correct answer, helps children to develop communication skills and encourages them to think. Children develop their physical skills as they spoon and mix ingredients and learn to cooperate with each other as they share resources. This sort of activity also encourages children to persevere and achieve what they set out to do. These important, prime areas of learning, in communication and language, physical development and personal, social and emotional development, underpin all other learning and development and are given high priority across the whole nursery. These skills form a firm basis for their future

p.4

who attend

Practitioners do not often tell children what to do, but ask them what happens if they do things. They model curiosity and exploration. This encourages children to be inquisitive and develop skills in analysis and explanation. Practitioners ensure they cover all areas of learning and development by careful and detailed planning for each individual child. They ensure the environment and resources offer children enough opportunities to make excellent progress. For example, practitioners are very skilled in introducing mathematics into activities and routines in a sensitive and meaningful way. The system of eight week topic-based planning is a highly successful framework within which to plan exciting activities, meet all children's individual needs and provide resources to support the activities. For example, special chef's aprons and other bakery equipment is provided for the bakery activity. Thus children are encouraged to use a range of equipment to help

p.5

who attend

them find out about and explore their environment. In these ways, they learn about the world around them and how to use technology to help them. Challenging, but safe climbing equipment allows children of all developmental stages to practise their physical skills, both independently and with skilled practitioners. Children are offered resources to allow them to experiment and explore a range of media.

p.5

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

The environment is noteworthy and offers a wealth of opportunities for children of all ages to learn and develop. All children have easy and regular access to the well-planned and attractive outdoor areas for vigorous play. This means children can get fresh air and exercise. There are quiet areas where children can relax, for example, the sensory room indoors. Outdoors, there are interesting places to sit and play. For example, there is a landscaped tunnel and wooden den. All areas contain carefully chosen resources in which children are encouraged to use independently but with sensitive support from skilled practitioners from a very early age. This means children are highly motivated, have very high levels of self-esteem and make excellent progress.

p.5

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

The baby room is spacious and allows children to develop important skills. For example, there is plenty of space to practise crawling and walking. Two babies cruise around the low table which is just the right height for them to hold on to and help them practise walking. Babies develop strong attachments with their key person and good communication skills as they snuggle with their key person to drink their milk. This means babies are happy and quickly become independent as they explore their environment. Because children develop strong supportive relationships with their key persons they develop resilience and become capable, confident and self-assured. Practitioners skilfully support children's transitions both within the setting and to other settings and school. Parents are actively involved in this process.

p.5

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

Children's behaviour throughout the nursery is outstanding. Children consider each other's feelings. They share well and pass each other resources. This is because the practitioners are good role models, teach children about feelings from a very young age and ensure children's needs are met. Children are encouraged to be independent and learn to begin to take responsibility for their own welfare and safety. Children throughout the nursery make healthy choices about what they eat and drink. Older children are encouraged to choose between fruit or pudding after their lunch. The cook is an important member of the team. Children are also given the opportunity to take a piece of fruit home daily. Children serve their own food at lunchtime. This allows children's preferences to be respected and to gain confidence in making decisions, whilst contributing towards their 'five a day' and healthy balanced diet. Children learn to take responsibility for their safety and take part in and

p.5

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

record risk assessments. Consequently, children develop an understanding of risk and how to keep themselves safe.

p.6

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

Parents make very positive comments about the care their children receive and the support they receive as families. Parents spoken to during the inspection believe this is an exceptional setting and are very confident their children are safe and very well provided for at the nursery. The children themselves are very happy. They obviously feel safe, welcome and valued in this remarkable nursery.

p.6

provision

The exceptionally motivated and knowledgeable practitioners are led by an enthusiastic, highly competent and strong manager. The management has a clear and well-defined vision intent on giving children the best start. Their expectation of practitioner's performance and their quality of teaching is equally high. The manager is supported by a wider management team who run a small group of nurseries and out of school clubs. The group uses a highly successful formula of weekly, well-documented analysis of, and reflection on their practice, to continually drive forward improvements for their children and their families. Within this process, the manager also takes into account views from children and parents and is supported by a consultant early years advisor. This means practitioners are outstandingly successful and confident and provide first class learning and development opportunities for their children.

p.6

provision

Staff recruitment processes, induction, supervision and support for staff are exemplary. Practitioners have weekly team meetings during which they reflect on their progress and individual children's development and learning. At these meetings practitioners share ideas and relate targets to their vision and development plan. They set targets for improvement which they continually monitor. This process feeds into the room and into the whole nursery development plans. These are reviewed every six months. This enables the practitioners to meet the learning and development requirements of all children exceptionally well.

p.6

provision

This practice means practitioners feel confident in sharing their ideas with their colleagues and have a clear idea of what they, parents, children and the setting want to achieve. It means they constantly improve the experiences they offer children. Practitioners also take on board new ideas from training courses and other professionals. The manager regularly monitors practitioners' quality of teaching and staff deployment, which is exemplary. This means there is always a knowledgeable adult available to support and extend children's learning. The manager is also skilled in giving practitioners feedback. She reinforces good practice and makes suggestions for further improvements to enable them to enhance children's learning further.

p.6

provision

The manager is aware of her responsibility to keep children safe. All adults are fully checked to ensure they are suitable to work with children, before they start working at the nursery. The manager ensures all practitioners consistently give the highest priority to the safety of children and understand signs and symptoms that may be a cause for concern. Safe practices are in place and monitored to ensure children are safe. For example, there are clear and robust systems for reporting concerns and babies are regularly checked while they are sleeping. There is a designated health and safety officer who is responsible for overall health and safety and completing the necessary checks, such as, testing fire doors, checking fire protection equipment, and maintaining risk assessment and first-aid boxes. New equipment is risk assessed to identify hazards and to ensure it is age and stage appropriate for children. Opening and closing checks of the learning spaces are

p.7

provision

carried out daily by the early and late staff to ensure the setting is safe and secure for children. An outdoor play risk assessment is carried out by practitioners, before each outdoor play session. Risk assessments are displayed around the setting for each room and are reviewed annually or as a new risk or hazard arises. The manager monitors children's safety and practitioners practice very closely. For example, she ensures all accident records are completed and analysed regularly. This ensures any patterns of accidents are identified and causes addressed very quickly.

p.7

provision

Children's individual progress is monitored closely by each child's key person and the room leaders and is overseen by the manager. The manager regularly samples children's records and she reviews the progress of all individual children and that of various groups each term. This enables the manager to quickly identify any additional support children may need to help them meet learning and development targets. The nursery has special educational needs coordinators who work closely with the local authority additional needs team, to ensure children are full supported within the nursery. The nursery works closely with other agencies, for example, speech and language specialists to provide extra support for children. The analysis of children's progress also allows the manager to identify any extra support or training practitioners may require.

p.7

provision

The nursery seeks views and opinions of visitors to the nursery. For example, during induction of staff or following a viewing of the setting, parents and prospective employees are asked to fill out a comments form or viewing questionnaire. These are available in the brochure given during a viewing or throughout induction. This allows parent/carers/others to give the nursery feedback regarding their experience and first views, allowing them to improve practice or celebrate what they do well with the comments they make. These ideas are discussed at staff meetings and if appropriate added to the development plan.

p.7

provision

This system of constant monitoring and review is very successful and means the manager is skilled in supporting her staff to drive forward the nursery's vision for children. This culture of constant reflection and improvement has resulted in very high standards of care and teaching throughout the nursery, creating a dynamic and lively environment for practitioners, children and families. Practitioners are confident and justifiably very proud of their outstanding practice.

p.7

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

p.8

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.9

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.9

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.10

Setting details

Unique reference number EY281471 Local authority Bury Inspection number 908393

p.10

Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 53 Number of children on roll 72 Name of provider Fisherfield Farm Nursery Ltd Date of previous inspection 14/12/2009 Telephone number 0161 705 2233

p.10

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.10

Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

p.10

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.10

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.10

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.11

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.11

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.12

Type of provision

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

p.12