Ellergreen Nursery School and Childcare Centre

Ellergreen Nursery School and Childcare Centre Ellergreen Road, Norris Green, LIVERPOOL, Merseyside, L11 2RY

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 30/08/2013 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 Previous inspection: Not Applicable 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 4 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 4

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This provision is inadequate

 The deployment of staff during the early morning session is not sufficiently rigorous to adult to child ratios are fully met at all times. This means that on such occasions some of the children's safety, learning and well-being is compromised.  The key person system is not fully embedded efficiently across the nursery because staffing arrangements are not consistent and staff are not always deployed effectively. Consequently, some parents do not feel that they receive sufficient information about their child's learning. This means children's individual needs are not met at all times.  Self-evaluation systems do not plan fully or review the effectiveness of changes made as the provision develops. Consequently, there are inconsistencies in the way that two- year-old children are cared for.

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It has the following strengths

 The headteacher has implemented well-structured procedures for managing the performance of staff. Supervision meetings have been used effectively to identify training needs and so improve teaching and children's learning.  Staff have a sound understanding of how to promote young children's early language development. They interact and engage in conversation well with children, supporting them to become competent communicators.

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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 throughout the nursery and in the outdoor play area. The inspector also viewed the main playrooms of the nursery school, which are used during term time for children aged three and four years.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's development folders, children's and staff files and a selection of policies and daily records, such as attendance registers.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to the nursery school headteacher, childcare manager, staff and children throughout the inspection.

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Information about the setting

Ellergreen Nursery School and Childcare Centre was registered in 2004 on the Early Years Register. It is situated in the Norris Green area of Liverpool. The provision serves the local area and is accessible to all children. The childcare for children aged three and four years is provided within the school building. Childcare provision for children from birth to three years is located in a stand-alone building on the nursery school premises, called Ellergreen Childcare Centre. The provision is governed by the Ellergreen Nursery School and Childcare governing body and led by the headteacher. It is managed on a daily basis by the childcare manager.

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Information about the setting

The provision employs 16 members of childcare staff. Of these, 15 hold appropriate early years qualifications at level three. The Nursery School headteacher has Qualified Teacher Status and one member of staff has Early Years Professional Status. The childcare centre opens Monday to Friday all year round, except for bank holidays. Sessions are from 8am until 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The childcare centre provides funded early education for two-year-old children. There are currently 61 children attending who are within the early years age group. The nursery school provides funded early education for three- and four-year-old children during term time only.

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must:

 improve staffing arrangements to ensure that the continuity of care and children's learning is not compromised and they are adequately supervised at all times

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must:

 ensure the key person system is understood by all staff, in order to build relationships with parents, so that every child's learning and care, particularly during settling-in periods, is tailored to meet their individual needs.

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

 strengthen partnership working and the two-way flow of information with parents and/or carers, and other providers if a child is attending more than one setting to ensure there is always continuity in children's learning

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

 develop the self-evaluation process to ensure that where changes have been made to the service provided; specifically changes to the way that two-year old children are cared for; there is a thorough system for precisely monitoring and analysing the impact of those changes on the quality of the care and education of those children.

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who attend

Staff have sufficient knowledge and understanding of the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. They carry out regular observations that focus on capturing short annotations of interests and what activities children have carried out. This information is used to feed into the planning of next steps. Staff are able to demonstrate and discuss how the activity supports and challenges children. As a result, children are making sufficient progress in their learning and are suitably prepared for the move to school. Individual children's files are in place and these reflect the activities that children participate in during their time at the provision. These contain evidence, such as tracking documents, observations and a range of children's artwork, including pieces of early writing. Children's ability on entry to the provision is discussed with parents and used as a starting point for developmental records.

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who attend

Children play happily and enjoy their time playing by themselves or interacting with each other and staff. As a result, their language skills are developing well. Both adult-led and child-initiated activities provide children with opportunities to develop handling skills and early writing skills. For example, children use a range of hand movements to paint in the garden and cut out shapes with scissors. Children begin to create marks to represent numbers and letters. Staff are skilful in introducing mathematical language into their play, they are encouraged to count toys and discuss shape and size of objects of interest. Older children who attend the provision initiate their own play experiences using the range of available resources in the main playroom. For example, they enjoy using pencils and markers to draw pictures. They develop a range of physical skills as they participate in adult-led activities, such as music and movements sessions. However, some two-year-old

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who attend

children do not have the same opportunities to initiate their own play because their learning environment is not as effectively organised and they are sometimes disrupted by younger children. For example, they are asked not to bring their prams inside to the home corner because staff are concerned that the wheels may run over babies' fingers, who share the same room. Such restrictions on children's play do not support spontaneous learning.

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

The provision operates a key person system, which enables children to form some positive relationships with caring staff and seek reassurance from them. However, it is not fully effective as some staff do not have a clear understanding of their role as a key person. As a result, they are unable to fully explain to parents the benefits of this role for their child. In addition, staff ratios are not maintained at all times, which compromises children's safety. Staff are beginning to gain awareness about children's preferences on transition as they move from one room to another. However, the inconsistencies in the key person system mean that transitions children make from home to the provision are not always fully supported. They gather information from parents about their child's care needs through daily diaries and settling-in procedures are in place to welcome children into the provision. However, information about whether or not children attend other provisions is

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

not always obtained. Consequently, not all children are fully supported because important information is not shared.

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

The provision has a suitable range of resources, which are readily available for most children to use and explore, so they make some independent choices and decisions about their play. However, the decision to provide care and education for two-year-old children alongside babies and children under two has not been effective. Some two-year-old children have limited access to age-appropriate equipment, such as dressing up clothes to promote their independence and develop their imagination. This means that these children are not always challenged and stimulated by the learning environment.

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

Children benefit from nutritious, well-balanced meals and snacks. Their dietary requirements are known and suitably considered. Children learn how to keep themselves safe. For example, they practise regular fire drills, so that they know what to do in an emergency. Adequate strategies are in place to manage children's behaviour. For example, staff encourage them to share and take turns, which enables them to play together. However, staffing arrangements are weak and disorganised during the morning session. Consequently, arrangements do not always ensure staff give children the individual attention and support they need during this time. This results in some children being unsettled when they first arrive. Children have daily opportunities to play outdoors in the fresh air, which enhances their health and well-being. The outdoor area is very well resourced and contains fixed equipment and wheeled toys for children to ride on. This

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

promotes their physical development. Babies use the outdoor play area within the provision. Staff make good use of the soft play surface to enable them to have access to this area on a daily basis.

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provision

The manager and registered person have failed to meet some of the learning and development and safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Self-evaluation processes are insufficient because where changes have been made to the organisation of the provision, the impact of these changes has not been sufficiently monitored. Specifically, the management team have taken the decision to provide care for children over two years in what was previously the baby unit, along with young babies and children aged under two. However, the impact of this change on the care and learning of children has not been assessed appropriately. The management team have failed to recognise that two-year-old children, who remain in this unit, do not have the same opportunities as other two-year-old children who are cared for separately. Toys and equipment are not as easily accessible and opportunities for

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provision

spontaneous learning are limited because staff decide when children are able to visit another room to choose more age appropriate equipment. The headteacher is aware of this and is currently making plans to improve the layout of the room and review the toys and equipment available.

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provision

Systems are in place to secure Disclosure and Barring Service checks for staff working with children. Staff have undertaken safeguarding training and demonstrate a suitable understanding of the procedures to follow if they have any concerns about a child in their care. The provision has a safeguarding policy in place, which is understood by the staff team and the manager does make time to cascade her knowledge to staff through her own in-house training. Staff also conduct daily risk assessments around the premises, so that hazards are minimised. Some staff hold first aid certificates and ensure parents sign for all accidents that occur to children while in their care. However, at times these systems are compromised because adult to child ratios are not effectively maintained, which puts children at risk of harm and does not always ensure that their needs are fully met.

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provision

The management team are committed to raising the quality of teaching at the provision. Staff hold regular meetings and attend termly appraisals with the headteacher. During these meeting plans are drawn up and training needs are identified to further develop staffs skills. The deputy manager also provides regular supervision to support staff; she sets out regular times to undertake peer observations and identifies areas for development. Consequently, staff are motivated to improve practice. The manager does have a sound knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Educational programmes are generally sound and children are supported in making sufficient progress across the areas of learning and development. However, at times a lack of organisation and effective deployment of staff has resulted in inconsistencies in staffing and practice across the provision.

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provision

Links with parents, and other providers involved in supporting children's care and education are generally sufficient to ensure that individual care and learning needs are identified. However, there are some inconsistencies in the way that information is shared when children start at the provision. As a result, staff are not always aware that some children attend more than one provision. Consequently, those children are not supported effectively. Parents are given opportunities to discuss their children's development through daily informal discussions and daily diaries when completed. They are allowed to look through their children's files any time. However, some parents feel that they do not receive enough information from the provision about the activities that their children take part in.

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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 EY284604 Local authority Liverpool Inspection number 915296

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 54 Number of children on roll 61 Name of provider Ellergreen Nursery School and Childcare Centre Governing Body Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 0151 233 4594

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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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