Noah's Ark Nursery (Redditch) Ltd

Noah's Ark Nursery Matchborough Church Centre, Ryton Close,Matchborough, Redditch, Worcs, B98 0EW

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 02/10/2013 07/06/2010

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: 1 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

 Children make good progress in their learning and development because staff clearly identify their current stage of development and provide activities to enhance and support their future learning needs.  Children are excited, enthusiastic and happy. They enjoy the very wide range of activities on offer, which challenges and stimulates them.  A well-established key person system helps children form warm and secure attachments and promotes their well-being.  Staff make parents feel welcome at all times. The regular exchange of useful information keeps parents well informed about their child's progress and helps in the sharing of ideas to enhance children's learning.  The drive for improvement is demonstrated through accurate and thorough self- evaluation, resulting in successful improvement plans that support all children's achievements over time.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 There is scope to enhance the very good opportunities for children to speak in their home languages and use further signs and labels written in different scripts, so they recognise and value a variety of languages.  Opportunities to further enhance the very good performance management and monitoring systems are not always fully realised to promote staff's 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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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 observed activities throughout the nursery.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke with the managers, staff and children at appropriate times throughout the observations.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at documentation, including children's assessments, planning and a selection of policies and procedures.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector also took into account the views of parents spoken to during the inspection and also from the nursery's own parental questionnaires.

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Information about the setting

Noah's Ark Nursery opened in 1996 and is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is a committee run community group that is linked to a local church. It operates from five rooms within Matchborough Church Centre, in a residential area of Redditch, in Worcestershire. There are enclosed areas available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 14 members of childcare staff. Of these, two hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2 and 12 at level 3 and above, including one who has Qualified Teacher Status.

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Information about the setting

The nursery opens Monday to Friday in term time only. Sessions are from 8.15am until 4.30pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 65 children attending, who are in the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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

 promote further all languages spoken and written by parents and children, so that children recognise and value a variety of different languages and scripts, for example, by providing more opportunities for children to use their home languages and through displaying different words

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

 develop the performance management and monitoring systems further to ensure that the good quality of teaching continues to be monitored and the information is used to shape practitioners' professional development in the future.

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who attend

Children are happy and keen learners, who are making significant progress in their learning and development. This is because they are supported well by staff, who have good knowledge of each child and a clear understanding of how children learn. Children's development is assessed and monitored well because staff track the impact of the experiences provided on children's learning. Staff's interactions and teaching techniques are positive and show their secure knowledge and skills, which engage and capture children's interests. As a result, staff ensure there is a variety of stimulating activities across the seven areas of learning.

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who attend

Staff complete all required progress checks and assessments effectively. This helps them to identify children's next steps in learning and plan activities to enable children in making good progress. Staff share these very well with parents, so that parents are fully aware of their child's development and are made aware of any areas where their child's progress is less than expected. The information is used effectively to gain appropriate support at an early stage, so that no child gets left behind. As a result, all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and English as an additional language, are progressing well and are developing good skills for their future learning, such as moving on to school.

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who attend

Children's starting points are assessed well on entry. For example, at initial visits parents are invited to share information about their child's development. This valuable detail, such as, likes, dislikes and favourite activities, is used effectively to support staff's observations of children. As a result, staff learn about children's preferences and skills and build on these to help them to settle well into the nursery. This partnership is extended further because parents complete 'Wow Moments', which are accounts of the experiences children have enjoyed while they are not in nursery. Staff then use this information to plan and provide complementary activities. In addition to this, staff encourage parents to attend open days and workshops. These provide some wonderful opportunities to liaise with staff and to share activities with their children. As a result, children's learning is supported well,

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who attend

Children thoroughly enjoy their experiences at the setting and are eager to engage with staff and peers. Staff make the most of the spaces available by having different zones full of thoughtful resources. The whole environment is used well as children can select from the variety of age and stage-appropriate activities on offer. There are some good opportunities for children to share stories with staff and peers during circle times. This is supported by the picture and print rich environment, which offers prompts for children to extend ideas and language further. For children who speak English as an additional or dual language, they have regular stories read in their home language. However, there is room to value further their background and their recognition of different languages. For example, by providing more opportunities for children to speak in their home languages and displaying examples of print in scripts other than English.

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who attend

Children love the opportunity to sit with a member of staff and have a go at taking the register. They sit proudly with the list of names on a clip board and tick off as the other children respond to their names. During collage activities children are encouraged to give praise to one another as staff point out what each child is doing. This gives children good opportunities to talk with staff and friends about what they are making. They are excited to choose from a good variety of blue 'treasures' and different shades and shapes of blue paper. This helps them to recognise the colour blue and learn about number as they count how many 'jewels' they are using. Furthermore, they enjoy following their own thoughts and feelings as they stick the objects on the paper. As a result, children are developing confidence and good self-esteem.

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

Children play in warm and welcoming surroundings throughout the nursery. Each of the spaces are well resourced and set out with good use of the equipment. Thus, supporting children's learning and development well. There are many brightly coloured displays, notices and a wealth of useful information about the nursery and early years practice. In addition to this, the examples of children's pictures and paintings, which decorate their surroundings, help them to reflect on their successes and supports their self-confidence and self-awareness well.

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

The key person system is effective in meeting children's individual needs. This means that children feel safe and secure and the close bonds formed with staff promote good levels of well-being. Children's care routines are adhered to and a clear exchange of regular information between parents and staff ensures that changing needs are consistently met. As a result, children appear comfortable in their surroundings and build relationships with the kind and caring staff throughout the nursery.

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

Children are showing good awareness of their own and others' safety. They are encouraged to take manageable risks in the forest garden, tidy up when they have finished and to take care of the resources and equipment. This practice supports the nursery's risk assessments and helps children to understand how to ensure safety and minimise hazards. Staff are good role models and use consistent strategies and age and stage-appropriate explanations to provide children with a clear knowledge of acceptable behaviour. Children receive gentle reminders during play, so that they clearly understand expectations and how to conduct themselves appropriately.

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

Children are developing good self-care skills. Some use the toilet with confidence and ask for help if needed, while those in nappies are taken care of effectively. In the bathroom they are encouraged to make sure their hands are clean and dry before returning to their play. Children enjoy sitting together sharing stories and daily news as they eat their nutritious snacks and meals. There are some good opportunities for children to make choices about the food they eat as staff encourage them to select healthy options from their lunch boxes. At snack time, children enjoy a range of fresh fruit, which they bring from home to share with their friends.

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

The outdoor and physical opportunities help children to understand the importance of fresh air and exercise. There is very good use of the spaces outside with varied zones for different types of play. Children enjoy walking through the willow tunnel and use magnifying glasses to find mini-beasts and to look at the frog in their pond. They are very proud to show staff what they have found and encourage staff with excitement to 'come and look'. In the forest garden, children move different sized planks of wood to make a bridge. They help each other to drag the large planks and show each other where they can be placed. They use 'tools' to saw, screw and hammer the planks together and then pretend to be the goats 'trip-trapping' on the bridge. This follows on from children's interests in the story earlier in the session. In the second garden area, children love to tend to the fruit and vegetables they are growing. In addition to this, children negotiate

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

around one another on bikes and cars, while others build towers with construction or jump over the low hurdles.

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

Staff are very focused on ensuring that all children, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are valued in the nursery. Staff adapt practice to meet their individual needs effectively and maintain a good level of communication with parents and carers. Furthermore, they actively seek advice and guidance from other professionals, in order to gain knowledge and skills to ensure all children's needs are met. Staff recognise diversity as a strength and are happy to celebrate festivals and events to promote children's understanding of different cultures. As a result, staff create an environment that is welcoming, safe and stimulating, where children enjoy their learning and grow in confidence. Every child from the youngest to the oldest and of differing abilities, receives a happy and enjoyable early years experience that secures their future learning and helps to prepare them ready for school. Transitions to school are well

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

supported. Staff share information very effectively with other providers and valuable information is given to future providers or teachers, so that children's individual learning needs are met.

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provision

Children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. This is because staff have a very good understanding of their responsibilities in meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. There is a broad range of well written and effective policies in place to support the management of the nursery and staff's clear knowledge demonstrates a significant level of understanding of the procedures to follow. Staff are alert to any issues of concern and respond in a timely and appropriate manner, in order to safeguard and protect children. In addition to this, they have robust procedures in place with regard to assessing risks within their nursery, supervising children and notifying Ofsted of incidents. This means that children are protected through staff's clear understanding and good practice of how to keep children safe.

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provision

There are clear recruitment, vetting systems and induction procedures in place to ensure all people working with children are suitable to do so. Performance management systems are, generally, effective with staff identifying suitable training and gaining good knowledge through team meetings and regular supervisions. However, consistent and sharply focused monitoring and evaluations of staff skills are not as good as they could be. This means that there is further scope to develop the systems to support staff, such as peer-on-peer observations and more structured appraisals, in order to improve the opportunities and experiences provided for children. Staff are fully aware of the importance of assessing and monitoring the planning and delivery of the educational programmes and seek advice and guidance effectively. For example, they work well with their local authority advisory team to share ideas and identify best practice and use quality audits as a welcome support.

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provision

Staff's enthusiasm is promoted well by the recognition that they are valued because of the opportunities which arise for further development of skills and knowledge. Regular staff meetings are held to reflect and share ideas to adapt practice where they feel necessary. The valued opinions of staff, parents and other childcare professionals are collated and used to complete evaluations and action plans. As a result, staff have a vision, which is focused on the priorities for development, in order to continue to improve the nursery for the benefit of children and their families.

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provision

The welcoming environment provides children with space to relax, unwind and have fun. Staff share information very effectively with parents and other providers and valuable information is given to future providers or teachers, so that individual learning can be continued. These partnerships are well established and ensure smooth movements into school. In addition to this there are good communication links with other settings that children attend in parallel with the nursery. Staff actively share details of children's individual needs, skills and characteristics, in order to enhance children's learning and development in consistent and complementary ways. For example, they work closely with other professionals and are involved in referral processes ensuring all families get the support they need.

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provision

Parents actively express their gratitude for the nursery and staff and explain how settled their children are. They like that staff are approachable and share relevant information about their children effectively. Parents say that they feel involved at the nursery and enjoy the regular drop in coffee sessions because they provide good opportunities to develop friendships with other parents. In addition to this, they say that the workshops help them to understand the activities to do with their children at home because they can watch staff's good practice. Some additional comments from parents include: 'Noah's ark is such a nurturing environment,' 'My child has made excellent progress both emotionally and socially' and 'The staff are so friendly and make me feel very comfortable. I feel honoured to have been part of Noah's'.

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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 205332 Local authority Worcestershire Inspection number 915445

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 36 Number of children on roll 65 Name of provider Noah's Ark Nursery (Redditch) Ltd Date of previous inspection 07/06/2010 Telephone number 01527514180

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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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