The Cottage Nursery

The Cottage Nursery 1 Clarendon Road, Eccles, Manchester, Lancashire, M30 9AL

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 25/03/2013 24/09/2012

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 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 3 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision is satisfactory

 Staff demonstrates a suitable knowledge of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and use this to ensure that children make steady progress in their learning.  The indoor learning environment and planning provides children with an interesting and stimulating range of activities overall. These build on children's interests.  Children are supported to move onto school as they are introduced to a smooth transition through sound partnership working. This highlights the additional support also available from other professionals, to help children embrace new experiences.

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It is not yet good because

 There is scope to provide more opportunities to enable parents to become further involved in the settling in process and gain more knowledge of their children's progress to enhance the continuity of their children's learning between home and the group.  The monitoring and performance management is not sufficiently embedded to ensure the quality of teaching and assessment is consistent across the nursery. This results in the more able children not always being stretched enough to ensure they make good progress.  Self-evaluation is not robust enough to involve the staff and share their views to drive continuous improvement in children's learning and development.

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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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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in all the children's rooms and outdoors.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to the deputy manager, all staff, the finance director and parents at appropriate times throughout the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of staff suitability, staff files, risk assessments registers, children's records and policies and procedures.

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Information about the setting

The cottage nursery was registered in 2004 and is registered on the Early Years Register. It is situated in a residential area in the Eccles area of Salford and is one of two nurseries owned by the same provider. It occupies a large converted building and children have access to a new baby room and three rooms for children of different ages. There is a large outdoor play area. The front door has a ramp for easy access.

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Information about the setting

There are currently 64 children aged from three months to four years on roll. The setting supports children with English as an additional language. It receives funding for the provision of free early education for three-year-old children and one child receives two- year-old funding. The provision is open 7.30am to 6pm, 51 weeks of the year, excluding bank holidays. It supports children with additional needs and/or disabilities.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 20 members of childcare staff. Of these, the manager holds an early years degree and Qualified Teacher Status. There are two qualified teachers, 11 staff hold early years qualifications at level 3, three hold a level 4 and two hold a qualification at level 2. Two staff members are unqualified. There is a secretary and cleaner on site. The nursery is supported by Salford Local Authority.

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must:

 ensure robust arrangements are in place to provide support and coaching of staff to enhance consistent teaching and learning across the nursery.

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

 enhance parents' involvement in children's learning, for example, by using the key person system, to give them more opportunities to make comments to their children's ongoing progress to promote the continuity of learning between the home and the nursery

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

 build on self-evaluation by extending how the views of staff are incorporated to further assist in identifying areas for future developments and better outcomes for children.

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who attend

Most children are enthusiastic to learn and are supported by staff who have a suitable knowledge of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Teaching is stronger across the older age range of the nursery. Overall staff in the nursery are helping children to make steady progress and children benefit from a permanent qualified teacher in the pre-school rooms. Procedures for monitoring children's starting points are developing to plan for children's next steps of learning. Staff provide interesting experiences that meet the needs of all children. New systems are in place to observe children in their play activities and opportunities are planned around children's interests. Most staff are knowledgeable about each child's stage of development and correctly identify the developmental age bands for each child.

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who attend

Children's language and communication is fostered sufficiently across the nursery. They follow the 'Every Child a Talker' programme which supports children's language development, which is effective to enhance learning in the older range of children. However, this is still developing across the younger age range of children. Staff are encouraging children to talk and copy sounds. The more able children are encouraged to recognise their name during self-registration and are encouraged to write letters that are familiar to them. They learn to count and recognise shapes and patterns during planned activities learning early mathematical skills. However, there is inconsistency in teaching across the nursery and resulting in staff not fully questioning children in the circle time, to make them critically think and stretch them in their learning. During some activities, opportunities are missed to introduce new words or conversations to further extend

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who attend

children's vocabulary and learning. This is more apparent in the badger room. Children sing nursery rhymes and have great fun with action rhymes. They enjoy singing to familiar nursery rhymes relating to their favourite animal that they choose in the circle. Children sit piecing a jigsaw together for long periods with a member of staff. In these activities staff successfully promote children's positive attitudes to learning, such as developing their levels of concentration and attention, which prepares early years children for their transitions to school. Children enjoy making marks with a freely available good range of resources, including crayons paint, pencils, and paper. Furthermore, they understand that words carry meaning as staff show that books are pleasurable to look at and read.

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who attend

Children express their creativity as they access free painting and they have a variety of tools to play in the sand and water and to roll out playdough. The older children speak confidently to visitors. Staff promote children's imagination generally well. Children play cooperatively with the dolls and play food in the home corner with their friends. Staff encourage babies in their new room to negotiate how to do something, as they provide a good amount of programmable toys, developing early technology skills. Children's physical development is promoted well and staff provide a variety of different activities to develop their balancing and climbing skills. For example, young children have good fun climbing up the steps of the slide within the room. The outdoor environment has been greatly improved to include interesting learning opportunities for children. There are lots of opportunities for children to throw a ball to each other developing coordination and there

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who attend

is a variety of wheeled toys and others to bounce and or sit on.

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who attend

The group offers an inclusive setting where children begin to value diversity. Staff work closely with other professionals and children who need additional support receive input through, individualised plans which ensure they progress to the best of their ability. Parents are invited to look at the children's learning journals. However, through discussion with parents and observing children's journals across the nursery evidence indicates there is further scope to involve them in their children's learning and progress to help them to support more consistently in their children's learning at home.

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

The deployment of staff is mainly ensuring that all children form secure emotional attachments. Staff have a suitable knowledge of their individual likes, needs and routines. There are sufficient routines in place to enable children to gain a smooth transition from room to room. However, there is scope to improve the key person system to enhance relationships with families to enable them to become fully involved in their children's settling in programme.

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

The indoor and outdoor learning environment encourages children's imagination and enables them to play an active role in their learning during routine sessions for self-chosen play. Children show a sense of belonging and demonstrate that they feel safe. They gain self-esteem, learning to make friends with their peers from an early age. Staff foster children's preparation for school appropriately, by developing their confidence and independence through personal responsibility skills, such as tidying away after play and putting on and fastening their coats. Furthermore, resources are easily accessible to children, which foster their choice and independence.

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

Children are learning to respect and tolerate each other's differences and staff encourage them to share and take turns. Staff model and involve children in finding solutions to diffuse conflicts. One example, of this when two children want to read the same book, the staff member sits with them both and encourages them to read the story together.

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

Staff talk with children about the importance of hand washing. Illustrations are used to successfully reinforce the children's understanding of good hygiene. Staff sufficiently support children to develop an understanding of the importance of physical exercise and a healthy diet. They support them in managing their own hygiene and personal needs. Children have access in all weathers to a large well-resourced outdoor play area where they have regular daily exercise. This further contributes to promote children's health and well-being. Staff promote children's safety across the nursery. They are reminded not to run indoors and how to use scissors correctly. Children participate in regular emergency evacuation procedures, which mean that they have good opportunities to learn how to protect themselves in the event of an emergency.

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

The nursery has a good relationship with own local school and other schools in the area. Staff pass their individual reports on to the other professionals and this ensures consistency across their learning and development. This practice highlights sound partnership working to improve outcomes for children.

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provision

Staff working within the setting have received training in the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and are therefore able to offer children a suitable variety of activities that promote children's learning and development. Recent improvements have included the introduction of a new observation process and the new management structure, which includes the deployment of a qualified teacher to enhance learning across the lower age range of the nursery. However, it is in the early stages and is not yet making an impact on the progress some of the young children make.

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provision

Staff receive yearly appraisals to help to identify their training needs to enable continuous professional development. Furthermore, the manager is developing procedures to monitor staff practice to enable consistency in teaching and to monitor children's attainment. However, to date this is not robust enough to have a secure impact on children's progress particularly in the badgers room. This results in children in some parts of the nursery not being challenged enough to think for themselves. The directors and the manager have action plans in place to look at areas to improve. Discussions take place with the room leaders to keep them updated; however, self-evaluation is not consistent to include the views of existing and new staff.

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provision

Staff provide a suitable understanding of their responsibility to meet the safeguarding and welfare requirements. They know how to keep children safe and have a good understanding of the safeguarding procedures in the event of a concern. The managers keep a detailed range of policies and procedures, which staff implement effectively to promote children's health and welfare. Their recruitment and vetting procedures are rigorous in checking the suitability of all adults working with children. Risk assessments are in place which ensures that children are protected effectively within a safe, welcoming and generally stimulating environment. Since a previous inspection the action raised regarding risk assessments in the badger room have been reviewed and better procedures have been put in place to enable staff to supervise the children in the room more effectively.

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provision

The directors involve themselves with the staff team and other stakeholders, such as the local authority and the speech and language team. Purposeful partnerships with their own school and others in the locality help to ensure children's learning continues to improve and develop. Staff are establishing generally suitable relationships with parents and they mostly display satisfaction with the nursery, stating staff are friendly and their children enjoy the activities they provide for their children. The new newsletter informs them about recent staff changes and keeps them updated with information about the nursery. The staff ask them to be involved in children's learning through twice yearly summative reports.

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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 EY280485 Local authority Salford Inspection number 910072

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 103 Number of children on roll 64 Name of provider Clarendon Cottage School Ltd Date of previous inspection 24/09/2012 Telephone number 0161 789 3071

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Type of provision

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

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

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

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Type of provision

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

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Type of provision

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

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Type of provision

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

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Type of provision

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Type of provision

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

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