Little Angels Nursery

Little Angels Nursery/Holiday Club St Michaels Church Hall, Blandford Road, Hamworthy, Poole, Dorset, BH15 4HP

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 25/11/2013 04/02/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: 3 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 show good understanding of how children learn through play and exploration, ensuring they offer well matched levels of support. Children are keen to take part in a wide range of stimulating activities.  Communication between staff and children is warm and expressive. This means children are able to use and extend their vocabulary with confidence, exploring activities and ideas more fully.  Children enjoy a creative range and use of resources. This means all children are able to make choices that challenge and interest them.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 While the planning is rich in creative learning opportunities, it does not clearly reflect individual children's next steps to more effectively support their specific learning needs.

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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 all areas of the hall and in the outdoor learning area.  The inspector had discussions with children, a parent and staff.  The inspector met with the manager and deputy manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled a range of documents, including the self-evaluation form, children's records, planning, policies and procedures, and staff records.  The inspector invited the manager to conduct a joint observation.

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Information about the setting

Little Angels Nursery/Holiday Club registered in 2004. It operates from the main hall of St Michaels Church in Hamworthy, near Poole, Dorset. It serves the local community and surrounding area. The nursery opens each weekday from 9am to 2:45pm. The nursery operates during school term times only. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently 35 children on roll in the early years age group. The nursery is in receipt of funding to provide free early education for two-, three-, and four-year-old children. The nursery employs five member of staff. One member of staff is completing a foundation degree in early years. The remaining four members of staff all hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3. The nursery supports children who speak English as an additional language and 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:

 further develop the planning to more sharply focus on children's specific and individual next steps for learning.

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who attend

All staff have a good understanding of the requirements for the Statutory Framework for Early Years Foundation Stage. They use this to inform the range and use of activities provided for children. Staff present resources creatively to provide an environment that is well thought out and inviting to children to stimulate their learning. There is a balanced mix of active and cosy areas with activities available to children that reflect a wide range of learning opportunities. For instance, the book corner has a net stretching across at head height and teddies on seats, giving a cosier feel to the space. There are also defined floor areas for more active exploration and a home corner. This means children are able to make choices that reflect their individual interests and will challenge them. Younger children move confidently within these areas, displaying confident levels of security and freedom. Staff work well as a team positioning themselves in places where they can offer

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who attend

best support to children. They communicate clearly to one another, for instance if they are escorting children to the toilet. This means that children receive full support and keep safe throughout the session.

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who attend

Children are confident and keen to communicate, seeking out staff members to talk to or ask questions. Staff respond positively displaying thoughtful listening skills. This means children feel valued and supported. As a result they are able to extend their vocabulary and communication skills through trial and repetition. For example, a number of children quickly join a member of staff when she takes a giant blank paper pad with crayons and opens it on the floor. The staff member explains that she would like to create a story and asks where she might start. The children immediately begin to give ideas, showing their keen interest. The staff member begins to draw one of the ideas as she talks through all the ideas so far and how they might use them as part of the story. Children are confident and expressive adding to the range of ideas already being woven into the story. At the same time children pick up crayons and make marks on different parts of the paper to

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who attend

draw the story. The staff member is careful to listen to each child's contribution and uses these to discuss such themes as the post office and the harbour. This means the activity is extended from storytelling to include making marks and understanding the world using children's own interests.

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who attend

Children display strong levels of freedom to explore all activities on offer. They are quick to find something of interest and show high levels of focus on their chosen activity. Staff offer good levels of support and tailored direction during activities. For instance, an activity using torches and a tent enables children to explore how the torches work and what happens to the light. When the children have explored turning the torches on and off and watched how the light from the torch changes as they move it around, the staff member nearby is able to extend the activity further. They tailor and use open-ended questions to ask older children about the shapes of the light shining from the torch. This is followed by concepts of big, bigger, small, smaller being introduced to explore what happens when the torches light is closer or further away. When supporting younger children the staff member asks them to see if they can shine the light on their toes. This

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who attend

encourages the younger children to explore concepts matching their level of development. This means staff use and expand children's interests to challenge them in their exploration and development of ideas.

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who attend

All children are able to make progress due to the range of activities and positive interactions by staff. Staff currently plan using themes and ideas for groups. The children are making good progress in their learning and development but staff do not always focus their planning on children's specific next steps for learning. The planning therefore does not comprehensively reflect children's differing developmental needs and has a small impact on the progress they make.

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who attend

Key person systems are well established. This helps children form secure attachments and promotes their well-being and independence. Staff work closely with parents, as children settle, to establish children's starting points on entry to the nursery. Through discussions with parents at collection time and homework bags parents are invited to get involved in their child's learning. The key persons track children's progress effectively by carrying out observations and assessing the progress they are making.

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

Staff greet children warmly and sensitively on their arrival to the nursery. Children are able to form secure emotional attachments due to well-established key person system. Staff are effective in drawing children into activities and ensuring each child feels confident and welcome.

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

Staff promote children's communication and language well through their skilful modelling of language throughout the session. Children are spoken to and heard respectfully and with plenty of praise and affirmation. This enables children to speak with confidence and to explore ideas. Staff position themselves at new activities and through sensitive listening to children are able to respond and extend individual children's specific areas of interests. For instance, when children request to make playdough staff quickly respond and provide a purposeful learning experience for a number of children. Staff make sure there is a good range of resources, such as cutters, cups and scoops on the table meaning that all the children are able to join in. Staff support the children to take turns and share with other children as they play so they learn good behaviour. Staff use calm and consistent methods, modelling and explaining, to ensure all children understand what is expected of

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

them. This means all children, and especially younger children, are able to play confidently alongside one another and develop good personal and social skills.

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

Staff are well deployed and provide a high level of active supervision to the children during indoor and outside activities. This provides extended focus to activities and allows children to take acceptable risks while ensuring their safety. For instance, staff closely support younger children accessing the high slide to assist if needed so the children keep safe. Staff show good knowledge and understanding of risk assessments and safeguarding children through their knowledge and implementation of policies and procedures.

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

Children learn how to follow a healthy lifestyle through routine practices and by getting fresh air and physical exercise each day. They bring packed lunches from home and are able to independently access drinks of water so they do not get thirsty and learn to take care of their own personal needs.

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

Staff work in partnership with the local school to help children become well prepared for their eventual move to school. Consequently children enter school as confident learners.

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provision

The manager acts as a strong role model to the staff team, as she engages children, making good use of observational skills and verbal support to fully engage each child in their learning experiences. The manager monitors the educational programmes, and is continuing to develop how she evaluates staff practice and the impact on the learning outcomes for children. The manager is reflective of her practice and the nursery's progress, especially since she began studying for her foundation degree in early years. She uses focused observation as a means to identify any aspects of care requiring improvement to raise the standards of the provision for children. For instance, the staff have adjusted the layout of the hall to better accommodate the unique needs of two-year- olds now attending the nursery. This involved dividing the room and adjusting where they placed resources. This has enabled older children to focus on more challenging activities

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provision

and younger children to enjoy cosier spaces and age appropriate activities. Consequently, younger children enjoy greater levels of well-being and older children access greater learning challenges.

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provision

The staff team is friendly, well motivated and deployed efficiently to supervise and support children effectively in their learning and development. Clear procedures are in place for the recruitment of suitable staff to ensure only vetted adults work with the children so they keep safe. The manager ensures all new staff undertake an induction programme, which includes going through policies and procedures. This makes sure that staff have a secure understanding of their role and responsibilities, particularly in relation to safeguarding children. Regular meetings between the manager and new members of staff take place during which they identify any areas for development. Management carry out appraisals once a year with an additional one forming part of the first three months of employment. This enables the manager and staff to identify any performance issues or training needs to drive improvement in the quality of the nursery provision. Staff are all

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provision

aware of their responsibilities relating to safeguarding and have participated in a number of training courses to further develop theirs professional skills. All required documentation for the safe management of the provision is in place and is well maintained. This contributes to the good levels of safety and welfare provided for children.

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provision

Staff seek to support children's specific needs such as speaking English as an additional language. For example, they use language pens so that children hear their home languages being used within the nursery. This helps them feel a sense of belonging. The deputy manager, as special educational needs coordinator for the nursery, works closely with each child's key person and family to ensure they offer full support to meet children's additional needs. For instance, staff offer parents a mathematics homework bag to use at home to support their child if they are not showing very much interest in this area of learning. Parents are then able to use the bag to have fun with the child through play, in this instance using a game of lotto to stimulate an interest in number and counting. Parents feel welcomed into the nursery by staff and feel confident about their children' 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 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 EY292304 Local authority Poole Inspection number 843690 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 8 Total number of places 30 Number of children on roll 35 Name of provider Lynn Emery Date of previous inspection 04/02/2009 Telephone number 07837303294 mob

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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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