Scallywags Nursery Limited

Scallywags Nursery Limited Castle Lane, Melbourne, Derbyshire, DE73 8JB

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 11/10/2013 14/11/2011

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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

 Staff know each child very well, which enables them to meet their individual needs. As a result, children are confident and feel safe and secure.  Staff have high expectations for children and a good awareness of how young children learn. As a result, children make good progress in relation to their starting points.  Strong links with parents enable staff to share information about the children and their learning at home and in the nursery, which assists children's all round development.  Children benefit from the effective promotion of healthy lifestyles, through homely cooked meals and daily exercise.  Effective leadership and good self-evaluation procedures effectively identify ongoing improvement plans and staff development, which help to improve the quality of care for children overall.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 In the morning outside session, there are too many children and resources in the space available. As a result, children are not always able to develop some of their physical skills, such as pedalling, as effectively as possible.  Staff working with some young children do not always make the most of chances to extend children's communication and language skills by talking and interacting with them consistently.

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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 held discussions with the manager, spoke to children, parents and staff.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children in their play, participating in focused activities, outside play and meal times.  The inspector held a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessments, learning journal records and planning documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked staff's qualifications and suitability for working with children, the nursery's documentation, policies and procedures and improvement plan.

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Information about the setting

Scallywags Day Nursery was registered in 2003 and is on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The nursery is situated in a purpose built building in Melbourne, in Derbyshire. The nursery has an enclosed outdoor area and serves the local and wider community.

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Information about the setting

The nursery opens weekdays, 51 weeks a year. It is open from 7.30am to 6pm. Children are able to attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 138 children attending who are within the early years age range. The nursery provides funded early education to three- and four-year-olds and supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 25 members of childcare staff, most of whom hold appropriate childcare qualifications at level 2 and 3. The manager holds Early Years Professional Status. The assistant manager holds Qualified Teacher Status and Early Years Professional Status. 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:

 develop further children's communication and language skills particularly for the younger children. For example, by encouraging staff to talk and interact more regularly to extend conversations

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

 review the organisation of the morning outside session, so that children can use bicycles and sit-and-ride toys effectively, to help develop some of their physical skills, such as their pedalling skills efficiently.

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who attend

Children are happy to attend this exciting and stimulating nursery. They arrive at the nursery and quickly begin to play with the toys of their choice. Staff know the children well and welcome them with care and passion. Staff have a secure understanding of how children learn through play and follow children's interests well. Children are making good progress in their learning and development with the support of staff and through an exploration of a range of activities, resources and experiences. Staff gather information about children's starting points, which help them to find out about their interests. This enables them to begin to plan to meet their individual needs effectively from when they start at the nursery. Staff use ongoing observations to assess the children's progress, which are recorded in very informative learning journals. The key person uses the information gathered to track children's achievements, identify the next steps in their

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who attend

learning and inform future planning. Staff adapt their activities to ensure children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are included. For example, they have introduced visual aids and include their specific plans into the daily routine of nursery life.

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who attend

Parents are involved in their children's learning from the start. Staff inform parents of their child's progress consistently throughout the children's time at the nursery. They talk to them at drop off and pick up times to exchange information about the day. Parents are invited to view their child's 'learning journals' records whenever they wish and to attend 'open days' to discuss the contents of the file in more depth. Key persons produce a monthly summary of children's progress, which they share with parents. This ongoing exchange of information means that parents and staff work together closely to support children and meet their learning needs.

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who attend

Staff interact and communicate positively with children, in most of the rooms. They talk and play with them and acknowledge the sounds and gestures the babies make. In other rooms staff introduce new vocabulary and ask questions that encourage older children to think. However, in contrast in one of the younger rooms not all staff interact or communicate as efficiently with the children. Younger children have opportunities to move, explore and be creative, but would benefit from adults interacting more frequently with them to encourage communication and language skills effectively.

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who attend

Children's physical skills are fostered well. Babies have opportunities to make marks using 'cereals' and cars and watch the tracks they have made and giggle as they feel the 'cereals'. Young children are using a variety of tools to encourage handling skills. For example, they roll play dough, draw straight lines and circles and use paint brushes to paint to music. They thoroughly enjoy these activities and show increasing control of the tools they are using. Older children are demonstrating skilfully handling tools, as they use scissors correctly and pencils to accurately write their names.

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who attend

Children's movement skills are good, they have many opportunities to develop these effectively, most of the time. Babies move around and practice pulling themselves up onto play equipment and younger children learn to climb and balance in the outside area. Older children enjoy parachute games and develop movement of their arms as they try and manoeuvre the ball around the parachute. They laugh and giggle as the wind gushes the ball away. However, in the morning outside session, there are too many children and resources available. As a result, children are not always able to develop some of their physical skills, as they use bicycles and sit-and-ride toys, such as pedalling, as effectively as possible due to bumping into each other.

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who attend

An appreciation of books is demonstrated as children use books independently throughout the nursery. For example, in the pre-school room, children sit and listen to audio stories and respond to the story well. Other children choose books and talk to their friends about the pictures showing that they enjoy the pleasure books can bring. Staff develop children's literacy skills well and provide opportunities for children to learn about letter sounds. They provide good story times, where children listen and concentrate. These times are effective as staff ask children good questions to help them to recall the story and talk about their own experiences. To develop literacy skills further, older children have opportunities to write for purpose. For example, they write letters to each other, put them in to envelopes and post them, as they play 'post offices' in their role play area. These are all good activities to prepare children for learning in other environments, such as school.

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who attend

All children have the opportunity to explore and learn about technology using appropriate resources. Younger children explore simple cause and effect toys, whilst the pre-school children use computers. Mathematical games are played on the computers and demonstrate children's understanding of sorting and matching objects. Staff use everyday play to encourage counting. For example, counting the blocks in a tower, or how many children are at the snack table or in the line to come in. They further develop these skills through specific activities, such as recognising numbers and playing number board games.

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who attend

The outside environment provides opportunities for children to learn about the world around them. Children grow flowers, fruit and vegetables. Hunt for mini beasts and collect leaves and twigs to learn about autumn. They care for animals, such as their guinea pigs, rabbit and fish. To further their understanding of their surroundings children have the opportunity to explore their local community, as staff take them off site. For example, they have been to look at the 'fair rides' in their village.

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who attend

Children have exciting opportunities to use their imagination and to be creative. Young children splat bright coloured paint on paper to represent the 'fair ground', while older children paint pictures using books as inspiration. One example of this is when children paint a helter-skelter after looking at a book and hold a conversation with staff about their experiences of the 'fair'. They imagine the steps being different colours and making a rainbow. Staff provide adult-led activities to help enhance children's creative and imaginative skills further. For example, the children are encouraged to design and make fairground rides. Children proudly display their creations in the entrance to the nursery, providing opportunities to value the work they produce.

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

All children and parents receive a warm welcome when they arrive at the nursery. Each child has a key person who helps them to settle in and gets to know them well. The successful key person process enables children to form strong attachments to staff and highly positive relationships exist across the nursery. Staff know the individual children very well and are perceptive to their needs. For example, they know when babies are hungry or tired. They offer cuddles and sing soothing songs as they settle babies to sleep. Children sleep according to their routines within the peaceful baby room. This all helps to ensure they are well-rested throughout the day. Staff provide parents with feedback books to keep them informed of their child's day. Staff show a genuine interest in what older children have to say and they hold positive conversations, which results in children feeling valued. Children enter the nursery enthusiastically and engage in enjoyable activities with their

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

friends. They develop the ability to cooperate and negotiate with one another to maintain harmonious play. Staff are positive role models and provide clear guidelines and boundaries to support children's good behaviour. Adults are calm, gentle, kind and sensitive to children's needs. As a result, children are very well behaved and collaborate with each other in their play. Consequently, the nursery has a calm, yet vibrant, atmosphere. Children benefit from good opportunities to develop a positive awareness and respect of people's differences, as they explore the local community, wider world, their own cultures and beliefs and those of others.

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

Staff encourage children to become independent, they take care of their own needs, such as toileting and hand washing. From an early age staff support them to develop skills, such as dressing themselves and children confidently tackle buttons and zips as they dress to play outdoors. At snack time children pour their own drinks. Children use tongs to serve their fruit with support from staff to encourage children to do this for themselves.

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

Staff promote children's healthy lifestyles effectively. Children benefit from lots of physical play and exercise in outdoor activities, and learn the importance of keeping themselves and others safe in their play. The nursery providers employ an on-site cook. Meals are freshly prepared in the nursery kitchen. The menu includes a substantial amount of fresh fruit and vegetables. On the day of inspection, children enjoyed a tomato and pork casserole and pudding of home-made sponge, accompanied by custard for lunch. Special dietary needs are catered for well. All children can eat at their own rate. The cook also involves parents in the meals she provides. She arranges cooking sessions for parents. This enables parents to also understand the nutritional values to the meals their children eat.

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

Staff support children through periods of change. For example, they carry out effective settling in process when children progress from each room. They talk to older children about starting school and arrange visits to and from local schools. This helps children to feel reassured and confident to move on successfully to the next stage in their learning.

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

Children are accommodated in a clean, comfortable environment that is secure and well maintained. Staff put a lot of effort into the presentation of their rooms, resulting in interesting, attractive and child-friendly surroundings. For instance, there are cosy areas in the rooms, which are beautifully presented. Babies can relax on the comfy cushions in their room and look at themselves in a mirror. Children gain a sense of belonging as they see many examples of their artwork displayed. Children explore an interesting range of good quality resources in their rooms, which cater for all areas of learning. Play materials are arranged to be easily accessible, this encourages children to help themselves and follow their own interests.

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provision

Management and staff all have a secure knowledge and understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. They have a good knowledge of the correct procedures to follow if they have a concern about the welfare of a child. They have undertaken the relevant safeguarding training and understand their responsibilities well. Management follow robust vetting procedures to help ensure staff are suitable to work with children. There are clear induction procedures, so new staff learn their roles and responsibilities effectively. They monitor risks and implement a range of safety procedures, such as regularly checking all areas and resources are clean and safe. In addition, clear policies and procedures, comprehensive risk assessments and effective accident and incident procedures help to maintain good standards of health and safety.

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provision

The management gives good attention to employment procedures and staff's qualifications and training for professional development. Staff benefit from strong encouragement to further improve their skills. These practices have a good impact on children's well-being and learning. Management and staff demonstrate a clear drive to keep improving what is provided for the children. A clear action plan is in place for addressing identified weaknesses drawn up by management. This shows their ability to improve. These areas are identified at staff meetings and from feedback from parents. As a result, children benefit directly from the improvements made. For example, children now enjoy improved tea times and 'Grandparents Days'. Staff and parent's views are valued and sought in the development of the provision through staff meetings and questionnaires. These all help to provide quality care for children. The staff have effectively addressed the action and

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provision

recommendations from previous Ofsted visits.

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provision

Management implement successful processes to monitor staff performance, the implementation of the educational programmes and the assessment process. Sampling of children's 'learning journal' records at inspection, indicates a consistent approach to assessment is taken across the nursery overall. Good processes are in place to ensure that staff, have regular supervision and appraisals to monitor their performance in order to improve the quality of care for children. All staff demonstrate a positive attitude to undertake further training that will benefit children's care and learning.

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provision

There is a strong partnership with parents keeping them well-informed on a daily basis how their child has been and what they have been doing. Informative notice boards are displayed throughout the nursery with useful information for parents. Management are proud of the links they have with parents and provide many events for parents to become involved in nursery life. For example, as they work together with the children to produce a 'float' for the village carnival and become involved in 'Cultural days'. The nursery has good links with other settings that children attend to provide a shared approach to children's learning and development. The manager is a member of a local group of providers and schools. They meet regularly and discuss how they can all help to improve the learning for children effectively and to ensure continuity of care and education. The nursery also has good links with outside agencies to seek advice and support for children's individual

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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 EY244298 Local authority Derbyshire Inspection number 872574

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 111 Number of children on roll 138 Name of provider Scallywags Nursery Limited Date of previous inspection 14/11/2011 Telephone number 01332 862188

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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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