Eureka Discovery Hut

Eureka "Discovery Hut" Middleride Community Centre, Middleride, Ridgethorpe, COVENTRY, CV3 3GP

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 04/10/2013 29/01/2013

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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 use information from parents on what their child knows and can do, and their own assessment, to challenge children effectively so that they make good progress.  Staff successfully minimise potential risks in the building and outdoor play area. Children are safeguarded because staff are aware of their responsibilities to supervise them and protect them from abuse and neglect.  Children's personal, social and emotional development is promoted well by staff. Consequently, children are happy, settled and secure and the relationship between staff and children is good.  Children's communication and language development is promoted effectively. Staff continually engage in conversation with children, they ask open-ended questions and give children time to think and then respond.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Opportunities to promote children's mathematical development are not always maximised. This is because when supporting play activities and talking with children, some staff do not consistently encourage them to count different quantities, compare quantities, and identify and talk about different sizes.  There is scope to enhance the visual welcome for children and their parents in the play environment, and give children a greater pride in their own achievements, by making sure that displays of children's artwork are extended.

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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 playrooms.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held meetings with the provider and the manager of the provision and spoke to staff and children.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at a selection of children's assessment records and planning, evidence of suitability of staff working within the setting, and a range of other documentation.  The inspector took account of the views of parents.

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Information about the setting

Eureka "Discovery Hut" opened in 2012 and is registered on the Early Years Register. It operates from two ground floor rooms in a community centre in Willenhall, Coventry. It is operated by a voluntary sector organisation and is part of the Willenhall Community Forum. Entrance is at ground level. There is a small fully enclosed outdoor play area. The nursery serves the local and wider areas. It opens each weekday afternoon during term time only, from 12.30pm to 3.30pm.

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Information about the setting

There are currently 31 children on roll, and all are in the early years of age group. Children attend from the age of two years. The nursery provides funded early education for two- three- and four-year-old children. There are eight members of staff employed to work directly with the children. Of these, the manager holds an early years qualification at level 5 and is working towards level 6, and all other staff hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3.

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

 extend children's mathematical learning by more consistently challenging them to count and compare different quantities, and identify and talk about different sizes

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

 enhance children's pride in their achievements, and the welcoming environment created for children and parents by displaying more of the children's 'work'.

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who attend

Children make good progress. Staff ensure that children are supported well so that they acquire the skills and capacity to learn and develop in order to reach the next steps in their learning. Assessment of children's abilities is used effectively to plan next steps in their learning. Staff work well with parents to ensure that children's care and learning needs are well-met. Parents initially provide information on what their child already knows and can do and information on learning is shared between parents and staff regularly, both verbally and in development folders. Staff support children well so that they develop skills in readiness for nursery class and school. They are aware of the requirement to provide parents with a progress check at age two and complete these where necessary.

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who attend

Children are happy, settled and secure. They choose and select from a good variety of resources in the two playrooms. Children speak confidently and staff promote their communication and language development well. For example, during key person group times staff talk with children about the day of the week. Children say each day along with staff and use their fingers to represent days and count to seven with one-to-one correspondence. Staff ask open-ended questions, such as, 'what happens on Saturdays?' and children are given time to think before they respond. Children learn to listen to others and speak in turn. They sing songs about the weather and enthusiastically join in with the actions. For example, they jump up and down as they pretend that they are splashing in puddles. Children choose a book for their key person to read and they listen intently while each key person ensures that every child can see the pictures in the book. Children are

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who attend

encouraged to use mathematical language, for example, they compare the big and the small wheels on the trains in a favourite book. However, children's mathematical learning is not consistently promoted with full effect by all staff. For example, when creating faces with collage they talk about two eyes but then stick on more, and they are not encouraged to count the number that they have stuck on. Children match small toys to dishes of the same colour, but opportunities to count and compare amounts and the size of the toys are not maximised by all staff.

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who attend

Children's physical development is promoted well. They practise manipulative skills with a range of safe small toys and pencil control is developing well. Staff encourage children to draw their favourite things and they choose to draw a teddy bear. Staff draw alongside the children and they talk about how many eyes and ears the teddy has, his colour, and the texture of his fur. Children hold crayons securely using a thumb and two finger grip. Some children create circular shapes and others make small marks as they attempt to create a picture that looks like the ones drawn by staff. Children learn to recognise their name in print and older children are beginning to write their own names.

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who attend

Children explore and investigate. A good variety of play materials promote their sensory development. For example, children explore the texture of tinsel, wool, wooden objects, beads, sponges, and pine cones. They regularly enjoy cooking activities and bread making is a favourite. Staff identify that the activity promotes their learning across all areas of learning. Children weigh ingredients, make predictions as they explore change while mixing the ingredients, and notice changes in the oven. Children practise physical skills while they use tools to mix and knead the dough. They take turns, share and learn to follow instructions. Winnie the Pooh is popular with children. They recently made, baked and compared white and brown bread, and then used good skills as they spread honey onto the brown bread just like their favourite character.

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

Children's emotional security is initially addressed well by staff because a settling-in period is agreed with parents in accordance with children's different needs. Children are happy and confident and they develop a secure attachment with their key person and other staff. Children are well-prepared for their transition into other early years settings and reception class in school. This is because links with local schools are good and because children meet different people in the local community. For example, a trip to the local church for harvest festival was recently enjoyed by all. A clear and thorough behaviour management policy is implemented effectively by staff. Children behave well and any concerns that parents have with regard to their child's behaviour at home are addressed well by staff and parents working effectively together. Children gain an awareness of behaviour expectations such as, sharing and turn taking. Strategies for managing children's

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

behaviour include explanation and consistency, and staff use positive reinforcement in order to address children's confidence and self-esteem. Children's independence is promoted well. For example, they confidently make decisions about what to play with and they develop an ability to attend to their self-care needs. Resources are safe and meet children's learning and development needs well.

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

Staff greet children and parents warmly and enthusiastically, and they create a welcoming play environment. However, display boards in the premises are minimal, and walls, particularly in the larger playroom are bare. Consequently, this means that children are not always able to take pride in seeing their paintings and drawings displayed. This also has some visual impact on how welcoming the environment appears to be. Admission information obtained from parents enables staff to address children's individual care needs effectively. Information on practice with regard to safety, illness and accidents is shared with parents. Children's good health is protected well because staff encourage them to be physically active. They gain confidence and physical skills with use of a good variety of large physical play equipment at a nearby park. Staff are aware of their responsibilities to protect children's health through the implementation of good food hygiene practice and

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

snacks provided for children are healthy. Children's welfare is addressed effectively because staff ensure that the environment is safe. Children learn how to keep themselves safe. For example, they know why they must not run inside playrooms and they learn how to cross the road safely when they are out walking.

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provision

Staff ensure that children's health and safety is protected well. They are fully aware of their responsibilities with regard to supervising the children in their care and ensure that children are never left unsupervised with a person who has not been vetted. They assess and minimise risks successfully and strong systems are in place to protect children from abuse. Staff are aware of the setting's referral procedures and their own responsibilities to safeguard children. Procedures for recruitment, selection and induction are robust and vetting procedures for staff are thorough. Parents are made aware of a clear safeguarding policy. The provider and manager ensure that their own and staff members' safeguarding knowledge is kept up-to-date. Health and hygiene routines are good.

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provision

The provider, manager and staff use their experience and skills effectively to ensure that the service provided for parents and children is reviewed and improved. The educational programmes are successfully monitored in order to ensure that children make good progress. The current priority for improvement is to continue to support staff in developing their skills so that they are able to fully promote children's mathematical learning. The 'all about me' information obtained from parents on what their child knows and can do is currently being reviewed to include more detail. In order to be able to offer staff continuous support, a recent improvement is that the manager has become supernumerary. Processes for staff supervision, performance management, training and ongoing professional development are good. The manager welcomes advice and support offered by local authority development workers. The choice of resources is good and

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provision

books and toys meet children's needs at their different stages of development well.

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provision

The partnership with parents is strong because communication, both written and verbal, between staff and parents is good. This ensures that they work well together to meet children's different needs effectively. Staff have experience of developing links with other early years providers in order to ensure continuity of care and learning. Policies and procedures support the safe and efficient management of the provision and parents are made aware of them. Parents share very positive views about the service provided. Required documentation is kept up-to-date and in good order, which supports the safe and efficient management of the provision.

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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 EY451153 Local authority Coventry Inspection number 937902

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 44 Number of children on roll 31 Name of provider Willenhall Community Forum Limited Date of previous inspection 29/01/2013 Telephone number 02476 308 016

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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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