Upton Day Nursery Ltd

Upton Day Nursery Ltd Arley Drive, WIDNES, Cheshire, WA8 4XS

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 15/11/2013 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: Not Applicable 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 have a good understanding of how to promote children's learning and development. They respond to children's interests and provide challenging and imaginative activities. This ensures children are making good progress in their learning from their starting points.  Effective management means that staff have a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities. This means that children are protected well and kept safe and secure when in the nursery.  Children are happy and enjoy attending this warm and welcoming nursery. The key person system is effective and fosters a very positive working relationship with parents. This ensures that children settle well and their individual needs and development are met effectively.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Staff do not fully explore the possibilities open to them with regard to mentoring and sharing their skills and expertise across the nursery. This means that they are not always maximising opportunities to promote professional development.  Opportunities to stimulate children's interest in reading for a purpose are not consistent. There is scope to enhance some areas, so children can use reading materials in their imaginative play.

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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 compulsory part 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 spoke with the nominated person, manager, individual staff and with children at appropriate times during the inspection. A joint observation was conducted with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children's activities in the baby room, the older children's room and viewed the outdoor area.  The inspector looked at children's assessment records and planning documents.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at various documents, including policies and procedures, children's records, evidence of suitability and qualifications of staff and the recruitment and induction procedures.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day of the inspection.

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Information about the setting

Upton Day Nursery Ltd was registered in 2013 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. The nursery is one of four nurseries managed by a company. It operates from the ground floor of a detached building in Widnes, Cheshire. The nursery opens five days a week, from 7.30am until 6pm, all year round, except on bank holidays and for a week at Christmas. It serves the local area and children attend for a variety of sessions. Children are cared for in three rooms on the ground floor and have access to an enclosed outdoor play area.

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Information about the setting

There are currently 28 children in the early years age range. The nursery receives funding for the provision of free early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. There are currently six staff, including the manager, who works directly with the children, five of whom have an appropriate early years qualification and one staff working towards a level 2. Two of the staff hold qualifications at level 2, one at level 3 and one has a degree in Early Years Care and Education. The manager has a qualification at level 4 and is working towards a foundation degree. The nursery receives support from the local authority.

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

 strengthen the good professional development programme within the nursery by providing more opportunities for highly qualified staff to mentor and share their knowledge and expertise with others

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

 increase the availability of books and printed materials that contain information or instruction, so children can choose to use a range of reading materials in their imaginative play, for example, by providing magazines, telephone directories, recipe books and supply catalogues.

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who attend

Staff provide a welcoming and stimulating environment where children are settled, happy and ready to learn. They know that children learn through their play and ensure the daily routine has a good balance of child-led and adult-directed activities. Staff deliver an effective educational programme across both the prime and specific areas of learning. Consequently, children make good progress towards the early learning goals and are developing a 'have a go' positive attitude. This prepares them well for their next steps in learning and their move on to school. Staff gather information from parents about their children to support the development of the baseline assessment. This enables them to identify children's individual starting points. Ongoing observations and knowledge of children's current interests are used to plan activities that engage them as well as helping them to develop further. A summary is made available to parents on a regular basis

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who attend

throughout the year. Staff monitor the provision across all seven areas of learning to ensure it is balanced. This supports staff to ensure children are developing within a typical development band for their age and if they are ahead or behind in any aspects of their development. Children are progressing well and working within expected age bands. A detailed overview tracking sheet clearly tracks children's progress and highlights any areas for focused teaching. This ensures that any gaps in children's progress are addressed quickly and acted upon. Systems for undertaking the progress check at age two years are in place and fully understood by staff.

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who attend

Staff skilfully develop babies' communication and language, personal, social and emotional and physical skills. They talk with babies as they undertake routines, such as nappy changing, and enjoy a cosy time with a book on the large cushions in the quiet area. Babies have a variety of areas to move around in and develop their crawling and walking skills. They enjoy exploring a variety of textures, including dry pasta, gloop and making hand prints and marks in paint to produce a red wall display. Babies have plenty of opportunities to explore and investigate as they lift up flaps and press buttons to produce light and sounds on the activity centres. They enjoy watching the quacking toy duck during a song as well as banging two wooden blocks together to make their own sounds. Staff listen well, enabling children to develop the confidence to talk, ask questions and express themselves clearly. Older children enjoy and listen intently to favourite stories.

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who attend

They enthusiastically join in with the chorus of 'I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down'. Then readily contribute ideas as to what will happen to the pig's houses and the wolf. However, regular use is not made of opportunities for children to use books and printed material for a purpose or to find information. For instance, in the home area and construction area, there are no printed materials, such as recipe books or magazines or building supply catalogues for them to use in their play. Good progress is made by children in their early mathematical skills as they sing number songs and use the glove puppet to show how many bottles are still hanging on the wall. Staff use daily routines to effectively promote counting and matching, for example, when setting the lunch table with bowls and forks and fastening coat buttons. Children enjoy sitting together to draw, paint and build models with a range of materials, which are displayed around the rooms.

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who attend

Children are supported well to become active learners, because staff provide a variety of well-planned interesting activities, such as the dinosaur and fossil area. The introduction of the investigation area enables children to explore natural materials from the garden, including autumn leaves, through using their senses as well as viewing them up close with the large magnifying glasses. Children have good opportunities to play outdoors as they tend the garden, run, balance and manoeuvre on tricycles. In addition, they have visits to the local park to use the large equipment. This enables them to take risks and practise their physical skills.

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

Relationships between children and staff are very positive. The staff team have worked hard to ensure all children settle quickly into the nursery. The effective key person system builds secure bonds with both children and parents and effectively supports their personal and social development. This is because staff gather good information from parents, when children start in the nursery, to ensure their child's needs are met. The good key person arrangements also contribute to effectively supporting children's transitions through the nursery. For example, when children move rooms, key persons go with them on visits and they ensure they share any relevant information with new carers. Consequently, children's progress, their likes and routines are effectively promoted as they move around the nursery. Staff give high priority to the well-being of children, praising them for their achievements and good behaviour, this promotes their emotional well-being very well.

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

Staff provide good role models to enable children to know that it is kind to share and take turns. This results in them having cooperative and harmonious relationships with their peers. Children are helped to value and respect differences. This is supported through the resources in the nursery, the celebration of festivals throughout the year as well as links with local groups, for example, the African Church. Staff ensure that children are learning to stay safe through play, routines and discussions. Children know that they must not run inside as they might bump into each other, showing their awareness that some activities are only safe in appropriate areas. They are careful and considerate of other children in the group as they excitedly jump up after pretending to be sleeping bunnies. Children take part in fire evacuations to ensure that they are fully aware of what to do in an emergency.

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

The continual sharing of information between home and the nursery means that children's welfare needs are met well. Procedures for promoting children's good health are followed well with medication and accident records maintained in an effective and orderly manner. Children are learning how to adopt healthy lifestyles. Drinking water is available for children to access during the day, which helps the children to be independent in meeting their own needs. Children wash their hands before they have a snack and know they have to do this because they might be dirty and have germs. Children also benefit from eating a healthy and nutritious diet. For example, the nursery menus incorporate all food groups, including plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, so that children have good opportunities to make healthy choices. Staff ensure mealtimes are sociable and children talk to each other about what they have done while being encouraged to use good table manners. This helps

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

children to develop good communication and social skills. Babies are provided with plenty of time to develop their independence as they begin to use spoons to feed themselves and successfully hold their feeder cups for drinks when they wish. The older children enjoy wearing their pyjamas to nursery to support a national charity event and are delighted to have a party picnic with their teddy bears.

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provision

The manager has a good understanding of his responsibility in meeting all the requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and has worked hard to implement these since the nursery opened. The whole staff team work very well together, which creates an enjoyable and pleasant place for children to be. Staff have a good understanding of the learning and development requirements. They demonstrate this very well as they talk about individual children and how they are supporting their progress. This ensures that children are effectively supported to make good progress towards the early learning goals through their play. The nursery maintains a wide range of detailed documentation, policies and procedures. These are effectively implemented by staff and results in keeping children safe. For example, staff fully understand why they cannot use their mobile telephones in the nursery. Staff have a good

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provision

understanding of what to do if they had a concern about a child in their care and ongoing safeguarding training is arranged. There are robust recruitment, induction and appraisal systems in place, which ensures that staff are suitable to work with children. Two staff hold current first aid training certificates and a well-stocked first aid drawer ensures they are appropriately equipped to deal with minor accidents. Risk assessments are detailed. Staff check the premises daily to ensure they are free from hazards and that equipment is suitable for children to use. There are secure and vigilant procedures for monitoring the entry to the nursery. Staff are well deployed around the nursery, which contributes to maintaining adult to child ratios. This ensures that children are supervised well in their play.

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provision

Accurate self-evaluation, along with support from the local authority advisor team, helps to effectively identify strengths and prioritise areas for improvement. Realistic and achievable plans have been drawn up for the future, which include the views of staff and some parents. Plans include training in speech and language for staff and the continued development of the outdoor play area. This demonstrates that the nursery has a strong commitment to maintain improvement. A strength of leadership and management is that staff are encouraged to undertake ongoing professional development, including study at degree level. This means that staff are well qualified and through their research have gained a wealth of knowledge about young children's learning and development. This has resulted in a greater emphasis on observing and implementing the characteristics of effective learning. The manager recognises this knowledge is invaluable and very

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provision

beneficial in supporting less experienced staff. However, ways to disseminate and share this knowledge to support others, through mentoring and peer reviews are not yet fully embedded in practice, in order to further enhance learning opportunities for children.

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provision

Staff access external agencies when children require additional support in their learning and development to promote their inclusion and meet their specific needs. Links have been formed with the local health visitors and the speech and language team to ensure a consistent approach and support is available for children. Information is available for parents in a number of ways, for example, on display boards, newsletters, an initial introductory pack and on a developing website. Their views are sought through discussions, meetings and a comments box. Parents spoken to were all very supportive of the nursery's work. They praise the warm and welcoming relationship they have with the staff and have happily recommended the nursery to others. They state that staff are caring, good at communicating with them and they feel that their children are safe and happy at the nursery. They are very pleased with the progress their children have made in

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provision

their learning since starting the nursery, especially in their speech.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory 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 EY463242 Local authority Halton Inspection number 922368 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 80 Number of children on roll 28 Name of provider Upton Day Nursery Ltd Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 0151 4249831

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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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