Tops Day Nurseries - Portsmouth

Tops Day Nurseries Queen Alexandra Hospital, Southwick Hill Road, Cosham, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO6 3LY

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 04/11/2013 25/03/2009

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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

 The nursery management team is strongly organised with fully embedded systems to support staff in meeting children's welfare and learning needs.  A well-established programme of performance management and professional development helps to improve staff's daily practice and promote good teaching skills.  There are well-maintained systems in all nursery rooms to ensure a high ratio of staff to children and this consistently supports children's safety.  The nursery managers and staff competently promote partnerships with parents; they show an inclusive attitude and fully support family needs.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 During changes in the daily routines some staff caring for the two- and three-old-olds have less focus on fully supporting the individual needs of children, to enhance some younger children's emotional welfare.

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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 showed identification documents on arrival and toured the premises.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities and spoke with staff and children in all the nursery rooms and during outdoor play.  The inspector observed a planned activity with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector gained evidence through discussion and through viewing a range of documentation.  The inspector provided feedback and gave the inspection judgements.

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Information about the setting

Tops Day Nurseries registered in 2004. The nursery is privately owned and the company manages a chain of nurseries operating across the south coast. The nursery is situated in purpose-built ground floor accommodation in the grounds of Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham, Hampshire. The nursery accepts children of the employees of Queen Alexandra Hospital and also children from the surrounding areas. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It receives funding for the provision of free early years education for children aged two, three and four years. The nursery is open Monday to Friday from 6am until 8pm, all year round. Children are cared for in age-related groups, with fully secure outdoor play areas for each age group. The nursery also provides before and after school care and a holiday club for children up to the age of eleven years. There are currently 205

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Information about the setting

children on roll; of these, 127 are in the early years age group. The nursery employs 33 staff to work with the children; of these, 29 hold appropriate qualifications in early years child care and learning. In addition to this the organisation employs an on-site National Vocational Qualification assessor. The nursery supports children with special education needs and/or disabilities as well as children learning English as an additional language.

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

 review the organisation of staff during some daily routines, for example at lunch time, to prepare younger children for changes and in this way to support further their individual emotional needs.

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who attend

The nursery staff provide a wide range of planned and focused activities to interest and challenge children in each of the nursery rooms. Children also have ample opportunity to make decisions and follow their own ideas for play. In this way they learn to investigate and try activities for themselves. For example, older children use safety knives, learning to peel and cut vegetables and fruit. They practise this task often and return to further their skills during the session. Staff give advice and support children through skilful questioning, taking care not to tell them what to do. This encourages and extends older children's individual skills and promotes their sense of achievement. All older children in the nursery rooms can freely choose outdoor play during the sessions and they often develop their own ideas. For example, they spontaneously make mud to paint with, by mixing the soil with water from the water-butt tap. They are fully engrossed with the task they have set

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who attend

themselves and this includes using more water to wash away the mud. This shows their understanding of responsibility and their increasing skills of independence.Younger children also have ample freedom to take part in indoor or outdoor play. They learn to make ramps for the cars and they are encouraged to notice differences in size, shape and speed.

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who attend

Staff plan activities well to enhance children's learning across all areas. For example, children help to mix the powder paint and recognise and name colours. They learn to hold and use utensils and automatically make hand prints after painting their hands. Staff encourage children to count and repeat words, talking about size, shape and colour. Babies and toddlers have plenty of close support to enable them to develop their mobility skills. They show curiosity in their environment by climbing in and out of cardboard boxes, and competently learn to crawl and walk. Babies and toddlers experiment with sand and soil; they reach suitable equipment and learn to carry items. They spontaneously post boxes in the post box. Younger children are positively learning to communicate through making sounds and by making eye contact. Staff encourage children's responses very appropriately at all times, for example by offering choice at snack time to even the

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who attend

All staff have key person responsibilities and show a high level of awareness of individual children's development. They regularly observe and assess each child's level of progress across all areas of learning, focusing on the early learning skills for the youngest children. This system highlights any gaps in children's achievements and provides parents with a clear assessment of children's progress and their next planned steps in development. These reports competently meet the requirement for children's progress check at the age of two years.

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who attend

Staff show a focused attitude to supporting children's individual learning needs and they responsibly work with other agencies to effectively promote children's progress. They use group activities well to meet children's needs and to also enable children to learn from each other. For example, they use a game that involves matching sounds with pictures, to encourage children's listening and speaking skills. Children learning English as an additional language also benefit from group activities and staff often read stories in other languages or in dual languages to promote children's understanding.

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who attend

Staff encourage all parents to share information about children's starting point in development and they regularly provide parents with updated information about their child's progress. The nursery plans parent visits every term and many parents share information by email. There are ample displays and notices about children's learning and development and some parents have been involved in the on-site training courses linked with the nursery. Parents come into the nursery rooms daily to share verbal information with key person staff and staff provide written daily details about the routines for babies and toddlers. These frequent exchanges and the clearly recorded details of achievement for each child attending show that staff are preparing children well for moving on in their learning.

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

Each child has a key person, with a buddy key person for additional support. This increases children's well-being if staff are not present and also helps with the transition between nursery rooms. Staff show a strong knowledge and understanding about individual children and they recognise the importance of children settling in their care. For example, staff in the baby and toddler rooms show high levels of dedication to following the individual routines of younger children. This creates a thorough bonding process and establishes children's sense of belonging in the nursery. As children grow, their opportunities for developing independence increase and staff encourage this through enabling children to access a wider choice of activities and play resources. For example, children show a keen interest in completing tasks on their own and they often suggest ideas to staff, for example finding labels to make sure they name the 'shakers' they have

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

made. Children have a good range of resources and these are well-organised within the various nursery rooms to support children's all round development.

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

Older children have more opportunity to choose outdoor play provision and take part in activities with managed risks. They relish this freedom and also develop an awareness of managing their own safety. For example, they learn to hold on to the rope when swinging on the tyre and staff fully supervise and encourage children to follow instructions. Children show they are developing an understanding of the rules and boundaries; for example they know they must remain at the work table when using knives to cut fruit and vegetables and this clearly shows their growing understanding of responsibility.

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

Children's health is promoted well because staff encourage children to gradually manage their own personal care. Children learn to wash their hands and faces and this develops their understanding of cleanliness and being healthy. The continual freedom of movement and the ample opportunities for physical play also increase children's awareness of maintaining an active and healthy lifestyle. The nursery provides regular healthy meals, which are all cooked and prepared on the premises. Children learn to serve themselves and this develops their skills of independence and decision making.

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

Children behave well and staff are good role models. As children progress through the nursery they are encouraged to negotiate with each other and manage their differences. This supports children to understand each other's needs and helps to develop relationships. Children show they play well together in the pre-school room and they often follow each other's ideas for play. There are high ratios of staff to children throughout daily sessions and this mostly meets younger children's individual needs; however, at lunch time in the room for two- and three-year-olds, there is less focus on providing support for some children who do not fully understand the changes in routines.

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provision

The managementteam is strongly organised witha clear and focused attitude towards their responsibility for promoting children's learning and development. There is a high level of organisation and leadership involvement across the provision. The manager and area manager show consistent levels of support for staff in the nursery rooms and this promotes and develops the understanding of staff. The manager and room supervisors demonstrate a good understanding of the learning and development requirements. They have responsibility for reviewing children's learning records and they work with staff to plan for any gaps in children's progress. This also enables them to develop an overview of the provision and plan for future improvement.

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provision

There are full written policies and procedures for all areas of the provision and this enables staff and parents to understand the regulations. These include precise and up-to- date safeguarding procedures, and all staff follow these through the clear induction process. The induction process is monitored at regular intervals to ensure staff have opportunities to read and understand all nursery procedures. All staff have a good understanding and awareness of recognising the signs and symptoms of concern about children; they attend safeguarding training and know their responsibility to share any concerns. Staff also recognise their responsibility in managing children's safety and they know that they can raise concerns about any risks and hazards they identify during activities. This ensures that staff are aware of their responsibility in maintaining children's safety at all times. The nursery has regular risk assessment processes in place; these

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provision

include recorded daily room checks and annual full risk assessments. There are well- documented processes for managing complaints and parents have clear information at the start of children's care to ensure they know how to raise any concerns.

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provision

There are robust and well-documented tracking records in place for all staff working in the setting. The management team has developed a full and regular staff appraisal process to maintain and record staff suitability. A well-established programme of performance management and professional development helps to improve staff practice and benefits children's learning. The nursery has an on-site training representative who supports and mentors the development of staff on training courses. Staff show increased confidence and self-esteem from attending training. There are very regular staff meetings and room supervisor meetings, which provide opportunities for further training and staff supervision.

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provision

The management team hasused information from parents, staff and children to complete a self-evaluation and this shows the ongoing focus for driving improvements for children and families attending. There is clear evidence of working with other agencies to promote children's development and staff work with other providers who share children's care.

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provision

The nursery managers and staff competently promote partnership with parents; they show a very inclusive attitude, and clearly support families and meet their needs,for example by providing extended nursery care to meet the needs of hospital staff working on-site.

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provision

Key staff provide clear, daily information for parents and fully encourage them to participate during daily exchanges. Staff also show interest in new parents visiting the baby and toddler rooms, byproviding detailed information to reassure and enable parents to make decisions about their children's care.

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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 Requires improvement The provision is not giving children a good standard of early years education and/or there are minor breaches of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected within twelve months of the date of this inspection. 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

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Grade Judgement Description

the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected again within six months of the date of this inspection. 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 EY281231 Local authority Portsmouth Inspection number 938430

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 99 Number of children on roll 205 Name of provider Tops Day Nursery Limited Date of previous inspection 25/03/2009 Telephone number 02392 215786

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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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