Hephzibah Day Nursery

The Heritage Family Centre 161 Pitfield Way, London, NW10 0UW

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 10/09/2013 20/03/2013

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 Previous inspection: 4 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

 Staff do not always plan activities with all children's specific needs and interests in mind. As a result, children make insufficient progress towards the early learning goals.  Staff do not do enough to promote young children's communication and language, and older children's mathematical development. This means children have insufficient experiences to help them progress in these areas of learning.  Some resources, for example creative equipment, are not stored accessibly, for young children. This means that they are not able to explore creative activities independently and freely to support their imaginations as well as possible.

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It has the following strengths

 Children are happy and show they feel safe because staff are kind to them and welcome them warmly.  Staff build sound relationships with parents, These positive relationships support children's emotional wellbeing.

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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 children at play in a variety of situations both indoors and outside.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector specifically tracked the progress in learning and development of two children in the whole nursery group.  The inspector carried out joint observations with the manager.  The inspector had discussions with the manager, staff, parents and children.  The inspector looked at a selection of documents.

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Information about the setting

The Heritage Family Centre is privately owned It opened in 1993 and is situated in a purpose built building in the London Borough of Brent. There is one large room and there are two adjacent rooms for children aged two to five years. There are two separate baby rooms. All children share access to an outdoor play area. The premises are fully accessible. The nursery is open each weekday from 8am to 6pm for 50 weeks of the year. It is registered on the Early Years Register and there are currently 12 children on roll. The nursery receives funding for the provision of free early education for children aged three and four years. The setting currently supports children who are learning English as an additional language. The nursery employs seven members of staff including the manager and the deputy manager, as well as a cook and a part time housekeeper. All of the staff hold appropriate early years qualifications. The manager has completed the Foundation

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Information about the setting

Degree in Early Childhood Studies and is continuing her studies towards a degree, working towards Early Years Professional status. The deputy manager is qualified at level 4 in relevant studies.

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must:

 consider the individual needs, interests and stage of development of each child and make sure activity planning is tailored to meet children's individual learning needs

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must:

 develop the programme for communication and language development to encourage young children to engage and communicate with others

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must:

 give children choice in their play: improve the way resources are stored, so that children have greater independence to choose materials, especially in their creative play

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must:

 make sure that older and more able children are suitably challenged in their learning, with particular regard to their mathematical development.

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who attend

Children's learning and development is not adequately promoted. Children are not sufficiently challenged by the activities provided and staff fail to use their knowledge and skills effectively to support children's learning. As a result, children do not make sufficient progress towards the early learning goals.

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who attend

Children play happily with their friends and many enjoy water and sand play. Staff set out a choice of activities but these do not interest all children. This is because they offer insufficient challenge and more able children quickly become bored. As a result children visit the activities to see what is on offer but spend little time at any of them. Resources not in use for planned activities are stored away. This means that children cannot initiate play or extend activities using their own ideas. Consequently fo some children there is little opportunity for them to develop the characteristics of effective learners. This is because they lack motivation, do not learn to concentrate, cannot choose the way to do things and their keenness to explore is not nurtured.

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who attend

There are some positive opportunities for children to take part in cooperative games and play to support their personal, social and emotional development. For example, children ride tricycles and race each other, enjoying playing together as well as the competitive aspect of the game. They play 'What's the Time Mr Wolf' and count the steps they take as they creep up behind the child who plays the wolf. The members of staff join in and are supportive of children in their games. Adults guide children in playing 'traffic' games with their tricycles, calling out 'red' and 'green'. The children stop or go accordingly, which shows that they understand the game and listen well. Activities such as these enable children to learn to follow instructions and play cooperatively with others, skills that will support them at school.

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who attend

Some children have positive experiences as they join in the planned activities. For example, children play in the home corner pretending to cook and prepare a plastic birthday cake for a party. Children set out the pretend candles into the cake and enjoy the role play based on their first-hand experiences. Some children take part in a painting activity. They paint and stick glitter onto cardboard rolls. However, the adults supervising the activity fail to provide a wide range of materials for children to use so as to encourage children's imagination and creativity.

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who attend

Adults generally have a suitable understanding of how children learn but do not always use this knowledge successfully. Young children play with water and explore the bubbles, learning about the feel of water. Staff who play with them talk gently about this game, so that the babies can hear language and get accustomed to the sounds and the meaning of words. However, staff do not give babies sufficient opportunities to practise their speech sounds. For example, adults sometimes sing songs too quickly to enable the youngest children to join in. Adults who join in younger children's games talk with the children about the games but do not engage children in two-way conversations. This means that staff do not fully promote young children's language development. Older children talk with adults and with each other explaining events and telling stories. They use numbers in their games, reciting number lines with confidence. However, staff do not readily build this, for

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who attend

example, challenging them in their mathematical development by introducing the concept of simple calculations. Adults monitor children's progress with some success and involve parents in this process. Each child is assigned a key person who takes responsibly for children's individual progress and they regularly share information with parents. Parents are encouraged to look at written activity plans and their children's progress folders which are stored in an accessible manner, by the door. In this way parents know about their children's activities and general progress and can complement this at home. The management, however fail to monitor staff practice. Therefore, they overlook weaknesses that remain in the provision for children's learning and development.

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

The weaknesses in the nursery's educational provision also affect children's well-being. Although children are generally happy and show they feel safe, not all children are motivated in their play. This is particularly evident with older and more able children who are seen wandering around without engaging in any worthwhile play and learning, at times. Group activities result in much better engagement but the children's key persons fail to identify that children do not always choose to take part in activities set out by staff. Consequently, staff do not promote children's needs sufficiently.

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

Children form secure attachments with their key persons. Staff are good role models and provide clear guidance for children's behaviour and what is expected of them. As a result, children are friendly towards one another and learn to wait their turn and share toys and equipment.

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

There are some opportunities for children to gain independence skills that will help them in future. At meal times children help themselves from larger dishes placed in the middle of the tables. Their personal water drinking bottles are well labelled and set on the sideboard so children can reach them independently. The bathroom is arranged so that hand-washing and toileting facilities are accessible to children, promoting their independence in their self-care. All the children learn to wash their hands before meals and older children are completely independent in both washing and drying their hands.

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

Staff plan opportunities for children to learn about healthy lifestyles. Children learn to appreciate healthy foods. For example, morning snacks consist of fruits and bread sticks so that children can make healthy choices. Children have daily exercise in the fresh air in the nursery's outdoor play space. They ride tricycles and play on the swings, while staff supervise them to promote their safety. This means that children are able to develop their physical skills in the healthy fresh air.

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

Staff have a suitable understanding of, and give appropriate priority to the safety of the children. For example staff inspect the play environment twice a day to ensure that it is safe for the children. Medicines are stored safely away in a labelled fridge in the staff room to promote children's ongoing safety.

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

Staff organise relaxing areas for the children to rest and have quiet time, to promote their emotional well-being. There is a separate 'reading' room with soft cushions and mats, where children are able to sit and explore books. Adults gather children here before and after lunch to sing songs together, chat and listen to stories. This creates a calm and welcoming atmosphere, where children feel valued and safe.

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

The nursery staff build and maintain positive relationships with children's families. Parents are welcome to stay and talk with the staff about their children at any time and participate in nursery events. As a result, children benefit from this continuity of care, and recognise that their families are valued in the nursery. This supports their personal, social and emotional well-being.

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provision

This inspection was brought forward to monitor the provision. In the past concerns have been raised and significant weaknesses identified. The last inspection judged the provision to be inadequate and following this further concerns were raised about the suitability of food served to children. Many positive steps have been taken by the new manager to improve outcomes for children. However, the quality of the provision for children's learning and development still requires improvement. Staff do not provide effective teaching and fail to plan activities that are tailored to meet children's individual learning needs.

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provision

The manager and her staff make safeguarding a priority. Staff attend training to keep their knowledge of safeguarding matters up to date and there is a clear safeguarding policy. As a result, the manager and staff have a secure knowledge of child protection issues and know what to do if they have a concern about a child's welfare. The manager monitors regular checks of the play environment to minimise risks of accidents, which supports children's safety in the nursery. Staff use preventative measures to prevent spread of infection. For example, they support children in learning to wash their hands thoroughly and children use swing bins to dispense with used tissues. There are suitable measures in place to protect children who have specific nutritional needs such as food allergies. The cook demonstrates a sound awareness of foods that can be safely consumed by the children she is catering for. These practices support children's ongoing

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provision

The manager has initiated regular one to one supervision for all staff. This gives staff the opportunity to reflect on their work with the children and plan further professional development training. Both the manager and the staff team are upgrading their professional qualifications by continuing their studies in relevant early years education and care courses.

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provision

The manager is building collaborations with outside agencies, such as, the local authority early years team and neighbouring early years settings. Parents are encouraged to keep up to date with what their children do and learn in the nursery. Parents regularly discuss children's progress in meetings with the child's key person. The manager joins in these meetings so that she can have full knowledge of the plans staff and parents make for children's next steps in learning. This means that the manager is well-placed to start to monitor the effectiveness of the programmes for children's learning.

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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 137805 Local authority Brent Inspection number 931017 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 60 Number of children on roll 12 Name of provider The Heritage Family Centre Limited Date of previous inspection 20/03/2013 Telephone number 020 8830 1993

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Setting details

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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