Brookvale Nursery

Brookvale Nursery Brookvale Childrens Centre, Woodhatch Road, Brookvale, RUNCORN, Cheshire, WA7 6BJ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 21/10/2013 29/07/2013

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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 interact well with children, extending their vocabulary and supporting them to think and participate in discussions. Children, therefore, develop good language, social and communication skills, which support their future learning.  The key person system is effectively tailored to meet the individual needs of all children, to help them become familiar with the setting and to offer a settled relationship for every child.  Children benefit from strong continuity of care between home and nursery due to the effective partnerships and communications between parents and nursery.  Previous recommendations have all been addressed and the nursery has benefitted from the process. Staff monitor and evaluate the setting well.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Information from observations of what children can do and like to do, are not always used to enhance the group environment to stimulate learning through children's interests.

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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 spent time observing children's play in all areas of the nursery.  The inspector carried out a joint observation of staff and children with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector talked with staff about the setting's procedures and children's learning and development and sampled supporting documents.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held meetings with the manager of the provision and with members of the staff team.

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Information about the setting

Brookvale Nursery was registered in 2004 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is managed by the Pre-school Learning Alliance. It operates from Brookvale Children's Centre in Runcorn, Cheshire. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children. There are enclosed areas for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 15 members of childcare staff. Of these, all have appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 or above and the manager and deputy manager have level 6 qualifications. In addition, the company employs additional bank staff to work specifically for the nursery as required.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is open Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm, 51 weeks of the year. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 101 children attending, all of whom are within 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 with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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

 use information collected from observation and/or parents to provide an even more stimulating learning environment based on children's current interests to help maximise their learning.

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who attend

Children progress well as knowledgeable, motivated staff observe their ongoing development needs and use this information to plan the next steps in their learning. Planned activities are closely linked to children's individual needs. Staff know children very well and use this knowledge to complete children's records of achievement. Staff understand the different assessment processes, such as the progress check at age two. This ensures any need for additional support for children can be identified at this early age and acted upon in a timely way. The new planning system has been developed in consultation with staff and is currently being evaluated. Planning is individual for every child and meets their needs well. However, this new method focusses less on children's interests. Consequently, children are not fully stimulated by an environment, which has not been tailored to spark their curiosity and independent learning.

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who attend

Children are happy and busily involved in purposeful activities. They are keen learners, who are actively involved in exploring and investigating through play. Staff provide rich and varied experiences based on their knowledge of children, sparking their curiosity and extending their learning through quality teaching. Communication skills are developing well due to the very good quality interactions between children and staff and they learn to express themselves through music and movement. Children show a keen interest in books, which are freely available to them. They enjoy listening to stories in group times and interact with familiar lines, fostering a continued love of reading.

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who attend

Babies develop well physically and display a good sense of spatial awareness as they steer around obstacles and other children while they are still learning walk. Staff are generally good teachers, who immerse themselves in children's play and extend their learning and curiosity. They learn about the world they live in and a sense of order as they use a visual timetable to understand what activity they are doing now and what comes next. This is particularly helpful for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Building a 'tree house' from bricks gives children opportunities to learn how thing are made and provide a central point for conversation to give children reasons to speak.

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who attend

Parents use their daily discussions with key persons to communicate children's special interests and achievements from home, which key persons incorporate into planning or use the knowledge to stimulate children's communication skills. For example, as children remove the lid from their yoghurt, they are encouraged to identify which supermarket they came from. Children recognise the logo and spark the key person to discuss where children shop with their parents. This helps them to better understand and reinforce their own life experiences. Parents are also consulted to ease transitions as children approach these important times. Therefore, children benefit from continuity of learning between home and nursery. This all means that children are being well prepared for their next stage of learning within the nursery or at school.

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

Parents have discussions with their child's key person on a daily basis and gain confidence in staff's knowledge of their individual children. Staff are particularly reassuring with new parents, who are nervous about leaving children for the first time. This helps staff to understand and meet all children's individual needs highly effectively. Staff are very caring and attentive towards children and get to know them very well as individuals. Consequently, children's well-being is enhanced as they form strong, comforting bonds with their key person.

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

Children clearly feel safe and self-assured with staff, freely and confidently approaching them with their comments and requests to join in and hugging them spontaneously. The nursery is well resourced and offers children a good range of play and learning experiences, indoors and outdoors. Resources are readily accessible. This teaches children to be very confident in their ability to make decisions by enabling them to make their own choices and selections, which heightens their sense of belonging and independence. Staff are good role models of behaviour and treat children with kindness and respect. They deploy themselves very well and ensure children's needs are always met and they are fully supervised. They support children to learn how to manage their own behaviour and emotions. Children are consistently well behaved as staff use positive strategies to help children learn right from wrong and manage minor behavioural issues.

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

Meals are varied, healthy and nutritious, encouraging children to make positive food choices. They are learning to care for themselves and develop their independence as children serve their own food and control their own portion sizes, with varying levels of help as required. Mealtimes are a familiar social routine where staff sit and eat the same meals with children and encourage conversation. Discussions about portion size as they are serving helps children learn they can always have more when they finish. Children learn good hygiene habits through regular routines and reminders, for example, washing their hands before handling food, made all the more interesting with a fun song to send them off to the bathroom. Children understand how to keep themselves safe as staff prompt children to think about the possible consequences of their actions, such as climbing onto the back of the chair. This means that children learn to assess risks.

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

Children have daily opportunities for fresh air, daylight and exercise in the inviting and stimulating outdoor area. Communication skills grow as staff interact very well and follow children's lead, extending vocabulary and introducing new words, such as 'pouring' and 'wet', to help them describe the things they see and feel. This, combined with children's growing confidence and social skills, actively contributes to them being well prepared socially, emotionally and physically for their future transitions to school. Transitions are well supported as teachers receive records of children's progress, so they can continue their care and learning.

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provision

Arrangements for safeguarding children are effective and staff have a secure knowledge of what to do should they have any concerns about a child or the conduct of a colleague. All staff have received safeguarding training, which is evident in staff's knowledge and understanding of protecting children and more specifically, their safeguarding policy. This contributes well to maintaining children's safety and protects their well-being. Staff ratios are met, which further contributes to children's safety.

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provision

The inspection took place after notification to Ofsted of a child getting through the nursery door into the children's centre corridor for approximately one minute, before being return to the nursery by the site manager. The inspection found the staff took immediate action to investigate the incident and took all necessary steps to notify the parents and relevant authorities. The security was immediately reviewed and all possible steps taken to prevent any recurrence, including improved procedures for handing over responsibility between staff and physical improvements to the building by re-siting the exit button. The manger conducts regular reviews of risk assessments and all staff are involved to ensure risks to children are minimised. Required documents are in place for the safe and efficient running of the setting. These include necessary policies and procedures, accurate registers and complete records of

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provision

children's details. Personal details are kept confidential at all times. Children's health and safety is prioritised as medical and accident forms are completed, discussed and signed by parents, ensuring they are fully informed of any incidents and illnesses.

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provision

Induction and vetting procedures ensure that everyone working with children is suitable to do so. The management team monitor the ongoing suitability of all staff effectively through regular meetings, observations and appraisals. These procedures promote children's safety and the quality of the provision well. Staff work well as a team. They are knowledgeable and enthusiastic, demonstrating a high level of commitment to further training.

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provision

Parents and carers have high levels of regard for the service provided. They are kept well informed of their children's progress through daily handover procedures and daily record sheets, which focus on children's care routines. Key persons form close relationships with parents and make time to discuss children's progress more fully. Parents are asked to contribute to children's learning by sharing information with their key person. Staff are aware of the importance of working with others, who share care of the children. For example, they have strong bonds with the local school and work closely during transition times. School teachers are invited in and staff pass on tracking information and their knowledge of children to help them settle and move forward quickly with their learning. The host children's centre works in very close partnership with the nursery as they refer children to each other as they assess children's needs and tailor the services to their

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provision

The staff team are committed to the continuous evaluation and improvement of their practice. Since the very recent inspection, the management have already taken action on all three recommendations. All of the staff team actively contribute their views and opinions and they monitor and evaluate the provision well. The manager has a strong understanding of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and her responsibilities to ensure the learning and welfare requirements are met. This is then implemented in practice by knowledgeable, enthusiastic staff. Information on children's progress is evaluated to ensure that they have a full range of opportunities across all the areas of learning and make very good progress.

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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 EY280215 Local authority Halton Inspection number 939591

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 60 Number of children on roll 101 Name of provider Pre-School Learning Alliance Date of previous inspection 29/07/2013 Telephone number 01928 790144

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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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