Pumpkin Patch Nursery

Pumpkin Patch Nursery 37 Preston Drove, Brighton, BN1 6LA

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 31/10/2013 10/06/2013

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 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 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 Staff are warm, caring and supportive. This results in children forming strong bonds with adults and feeling secure and confident.  Staff interact well with children as they play and actively extend their language skills. As a result, children make good progress in relation to their starting points.  Staff are skilled at helping support children who have difficulty managing their feelings.  Children enjoy a wide range of fun and interesting learning experiences where they use their senses to explore.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Children enjoy choosing from a good range of resources and initiate their own play. However, there are slightly less resources for young children to choose from and develop their independence when they decide to play in the smaller Poppets room.

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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 in the playrooms and outside learning environment.  The inspector carried out a joint observation with the owner/manager.  The inspector held meetings with the owner/manager and Deputy manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled children's assessment records and other relevant documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day and from information included in the nursery's questionnaires.

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Information about the setting

Pumpkin Patch Nursery, Brighton opened at the current location in 2006. It operates from the ground and first floors of a converted house in Brighton, East Sussex. The nursery opens five days a week all year round. Opening times are from 8am to 6pm. All children share access to an enclosed outdoor play area.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and on the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently 93 children on roll in the early years age range. The nursery is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education for children aged four years. Children come from a wide catchment area. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who learn English as an additional language.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 17 staff. There are 15 staff, including the owner/manager, who hold appropriate early years qualifications. There are two staff who are working towards a recognised qualification. There is one member of staff with Early Years Professional Status.

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

 increase the opportunities for young children to make independent choices in the smaller Poppets room.

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who attend

Staff have effective systems for establishing children's starting points in their learning and development. They work closely with parents and find out helpful information from them about children's home routines and interests. Staff carefully plan and provide activities that meet children's needs and reflect their interests. As a result, children quickly settle and enjoy the learning experiences. They make good progress towards the early learning goals as staff challenge children and extend their learning as they play. Staff use good questioning techniques that help children confidently express their ideas. Younger children learn new words and start to form simple sentences. Older children develop a good awareness of letter sounds, and how they blend together to make words, because of the effective staff interaction. Staff give good support to children who learn English as an additional language and this helps narrow any gaps in their language skills.

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who attend

Children take part in a wide range of stimulating activities that cover all the areas of learning well. They readily explore and investigate the different materials provided by staff. For example, children thoroughly enjoy using their senses to explore materials such as foam and 'arctic snow'. Staff support children by asking them what they think will happen and actively promote their imaginary skills. Children love to mix paints with their hands and see what happens to the colours. They concentrate well at activities. Children show they are independent learners, for example, as they work out how to fit cars in the different doors on a shape box. Staff are nearby to step in to support children when needed but give them the space to try for themselves. This encourages children to work things out for themselves.

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who attend

Staff make good use of the on-line observation and assessment systems. They clearly track individual children's progress and successfully identify learning priorities for them. Parents also make significant contributions to this on-line assessment process. For example, they share what they know about their children's ongoing achievements. This enables staff to plan effectively for their key children. Key persons keep parents well informed about their children's progress through verbal feedback, formal meetings and the on-line assessment system.

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

Children show a strong sense of belonging as they move freely and safely around the different rooms and play outside. They help themselves to a good variety of stimulating and challenging resources from the low-level storage units. Overall, staff create child friendly spaces where children can safely and independently make decisions about their play and what resources they would like. However, the smaller Poppets room has fewer resources available. This slightly lessens the ease with which younger children can make choices when playing in this room because they have to go into one of the other rooms to make their choices. Children show they form good relationships as they sit with a friend on the cushions and settle down to look at a book together. As a result of planned activities and good use of resources, all children develop a strong awareness of the importance of valuing diversity.

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

The key person and buddy system works effectively as children and babies build strong relationships with special adults who give them the care and emotional support they need. This results in children and babies feeling safe and content. Very young children are comforted when they are feeling unwell. Staff consistently build children's self-esteem as they praise them and value their contributions. Staff sensitively support children who have difficulty managing their emotions. For example, they provide quiet safe spaces where individual children can go to calm down when they need to. Children behave well and happily share resources. They take part in purposeful play where they develop the skills they need to move on successfully to school.

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

Children show good levels of independence as staff involve them in tasks such as laying the tables for lunch. Children develop good self-care skills as they help themselves to tissues to blow their noses at the 'monkey mirror' table. They know they need to wash their hands after taking part in messy activities. Staff maintain a clean environment and this helps to promote children's health well. They implement good hygiene practices such as when changing nappies. Staff produce and use effective care plans that meet the needs of children with health concerns. Children enjoy a healthy, balanced diet and have easy access to drinks. They enjoy plenty of exercise and outdoor play. Staff create a stimulating outdoor learning environment that attracts children's interest. Children learn to manage risks as they play on the physically challenging outdoor play equipment and climb up and down the ramp. They learn how to keep themselves safe, for example, when they practise

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provision

The management team has a good knowledge and understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements. They implement them effectively and this helps promote children's safety and welfare. For example, all the required documentation is in place and this helps to safeguard children's welfare and keep parents informed. Robust recruitment and induction procedures help ensure staff are suitable to work with children. There are good arrangements for reporting any child protection concerns to the relevant agencies. Staff have a good understanding of their role and responsibilities with regard to child protection. The management team makes sure that the premises remain safe and secure for children. Thorough daily safety checks and ongoing risk assessment help staff to competently identify and minimise hazards to children. The necessary safety precautions are in place such as safety gates at the top and bottom of flights of stairs.

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provision

There is a high level of qualified and experienced staff in the nursery. They work effectively as a team to meet the needs of children. The management and staff use the assessment system successfully to monitor the educational programme and identify where there are gaps in children's learning. This enables staff to effectively plan activities to help narrow those gaps for individuals and groups of children. For example, they identified that some boys were not achieving as well in mathematics. This resulted in staff providing more fun activities outside for boys to extend their mathematical skills.

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provision

The staff and management team shows a strong capacity to maintain continuous improvement to the provision. The management team has made significant improvements to the nursery since the last inspection. These include the carrying out of more consistent and thorough staff supervision and appraisals. The management team actively encourages staff to continue to develop their knowledge and skills in order to help improve outcomes for children. There are robust systems for reflection and evaluation of staff practices and the provision as a whole. These include making use of quality assurance schemes and accessing support and advice from local authority workers. Staff also visit other settings to gain ideas of how to continue to improve the quality of their provision. The management team actively seeks the views of parents and uses their input well to make improvements, such as providing more time for feedback at the end of a day. This helps contribute to

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provision

consistency of care, as there is an effective two-way sharing of information with parents. The staff also work closely with agencies and support workers as needed to meet children's individual needs and help every child make good progress in relation to their starting points.

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provision

Parents give very positive comments about the nursery. They say they like the friendly staff, 'fantastic garden' and the open space. Parents feel strongly that they are able to share their concerns with staff and that they are listened to. They say they feel well supported as parents and well informed about their children's progress. Staff actively encourage parents to be involved in the nursery and the activities. This is particularly evident for parents of children who have a different home language or background. Staff take considerable effort to work with parents to provide an inclusive environment where children's cultures, traditions and languages are represented in the nursery. For example, staff and children made a recent exciting trip to a Polish shop. The Polish children were able to demonstrate their home language to their friends in a familiar setting. Parents contribute different foods and share stories from their home country. This helps children

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provision

and families feel involved and valued in the nursery.

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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 EY334466 Local authority Brighton & Hove Inspection number 930522 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 60 Number of children on roll 93 Name of provider Anita Dawn O'Hara Date of previous inspection 10/06/2013 Telephone number 01273 554484

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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

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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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