Mulberry Bush Nursery Walshaw

Mulberry Bush Nursery Walshaw Stewart Street, BURY, Lancashire, BL8 1SU

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 21/11/2013 30/08/2013

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 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 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 The nursery places the utmost priority on the safety of children through both its practical measures and its partnership working with other professionals and agencies to support children's welfare.  The nursery provides excellent opportunities to develop all aspects of children's learning. Consequently, all children are exceptionally well-prepared for their next steps and frequently demonstrate progress above that expected for their age and stage. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.  Staff show an outstanding commitment to providing vibrant learning experiences precisely tailored to children's needs and support this with observation, assessment and planning that is of exceptional high quality.  The owners, managers and staff are highly effective at using assessment of children's progress to make early interventions, which help to prevent future gaps in children's

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This provision is outstanding

learning.  Partnership with parents is outstanding because they are supported to play a central role in their children's learning, as well as contributing to the evaluation and further enhancement of the nursery.  The ways in which the owners and managers motivate, train and monitor the nursery staff are highly rigorous, and there are equally high expectations of the staff's practice to maintain an outstanding service for children and families.

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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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Inspection activities

 A range of information available about the nursery was reviewed, to prepare for the inspection and the inspector examined a selection of documentation on the day of inspection.  The inspector toured the premises.

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Inspection activities

 Observations of childcare staff and their interactions with children throughout the day were carried out by the inspector.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held a meeting with the owners and managers and spoke with staff, children and parents at appropriate times during the inspection.  A joint observation was completed by the inspector and the manager.

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Information about the setting

Mulberry Bush Nursery Walshaw was re-registered in 2010 on the Early Years Register. It is one of four settings privately owned and operated by the registered person. The nursery operates from two detached, single-storey buildings in Bury, Greater Manchester. There are six playrooms and an enclosed outdoor play area for each building. Two car parks and two dropping-off areas are available for use by parents.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is open from 7.30am until 6pm, Monday to Friday for 51 weeks of the year, excluding bank holidays. There are two full-time managers and there is also a senior manager for the four nurseries in the group. The senior manager has Early Years Professional Status, the manager holds a qualification at level 4 and the deputy manager holds a qualification at level 6. In addition there are 31 members of childcare staff of whom 26 hold relevant childcare qualifications at level 3 or above and three are working towards a qualification at level 3. Of the 26 qualified staff, three hold qualifications at level 6, three at level 5 and two at level 4. The nursery also employs a chef, three full-time maintenance staff, a supervisor and a painter and decorator to enhance the provision and service provided. In addition, two staff are employed to provide human resources and administrative support for the nurseries.

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Information about the setting

There are currently 166 children on roll in the early years age range, attending for a variety of sessions. Children are grouped according to age and stage of development and the nursery currently supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The nursery receives support from the local authority. It is a member of the National Day Nurseries Association and holds an award for inclusion from a national childcare magazine. The nursery also has achieved the 'gold' grade in the local authority healthy eating scheme.

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

 consider building on the existing excellent opportunities for children to enhance their enjoyment and progress in literacy through role play and making marks, including in the outdoor area.

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who attend

Children make excellent progress in their learning, as key persons have an exceptional knowledge of how individual children learn. Their progress is very comfortably within that expected for their age range, and frequently above this in one or more aspects of learning, including for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff make plans for inclusive activities based on their observations of what individual children can do. They use information about children's interests and experiences at home to help motivate them in their learning. The vast majority of parents make frequent contributions to observations of their children's learning or experiences at home, which enables staff to do this. As a result, staff have a broader range of sources on which to base their planning and assessment of children's progress, so that these have greater precision. Educational programmes have depth and breadth and are very precisely matched to children's ages,

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who attend

stages and resulting needs. Observations are made frequently on children's learning and these are compared to expected developmental norms for children's ages. These highly comprehensive assessments form records that track their progress in detail to enable staff to see if progress is as expected, above, or below for their age and stage. In addition to assessing children's starting points in learning when they join the nursery, staff also complete formative summaries of children's progress each time children change room. This means that the extent of their progress in each room can be monitored, informing managers about how well staff are contributing to children's progress. Consequently, staff rapidly address any gaps in learning that may emerge, so that early intervention can prevent greater future difficulties. Assessments, observations and planning for children's learning is discussed with key persons as part of the staff supervision process, so that

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who attend

there is an additional level of monitoring, to ensure that support for children's learning is rigorous. All children, therefore, receive outstanding preparation for their next steps in learning, including full-time school.

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who attend

Staff plan first-hand experiences, such as making bread with children, to develop many areas of learning within one activity. They prepare resources for activities carefully, demonstrating excellent planning and organisation. For example, all children have a recipe card with the ingredients and amounts listed in large text with a photograph of a baked loaf to aid understanding. Staff ask children questions to help them recall previous experiences when baking at nursery and also at home. This enables children to make links between their experiences in both places, and provides the opportunity for them to talk at length about any baking they may have done at home. As a result, staff have helped children to practise speaking in full sentences to a group of their peers and also to practise their turn-taking skills in conversation. Staff ask children to name ingredients, further developing recall skills and also ask them to predict what colour ingredients will be. This

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who attend

supports development of children's thinking and memory. They check children's ability to count by asking them all to show fingers to match the six cups of flour needed, as part of assessing their progress in this area of learning. Staff deploy themselves exceptionally well around the group, to sustain children's attention and to ask them questions, as well as to support their well-being. For example, they are vigilant when children need to get drinking water for a cough or tissues for their noses. Staff make sure to involve all children in the stirring of the mixture. This is so that they can understand how the bread dough is different to baked bread, developing the basis for learning some early science about using heat to make changes. As children finish their turn to mix the dough, staff offer them the choice of staying to help further or to find another activity of their choosing. This supports

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who attend

children being able to make their own decisions about what to play with and their motivation to learn through this.

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who attend

Story times are exceptionally well-used by staff to promote children's enjoyment of books, with excellent active learning opportunities for role play. Staff in pre-school retell familiar stories to children, such as the 'three little pigs' with children taking part as the pigs and the wolf. Staff encourage children to develop critical thinking by letting them change the materials that the houses are made from in the story. This is so that children have to think of other materials for this that suit their part in the tale. For example, the first child to pretend to be a 'little piggy' says that their house is made of boxes, as these, like straw, would blow down easily. There is scope to enhance the already excellent opportunities for role play and mark making in the outdoor area. Children clearly enjoy this immensely and are absorbed by the story with its new twists. Consequently, this develops their ability to

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who attend

concentrate and listen in a group. Younger children enjoy simple but effective experiences to show them how their actions can effect change, such as by sweeping up leaves from a selection provided in a play table by staff. Outdoors, staff also encourage very young children to experiment with moving in different ways, such as jumping or 'being an aeroplane' and use this to develop their knowledge of words connected with movement. Staff search for unusual sensory activities for young children, such as exploratory play with shavings of scented soap, to supplement their experiences of playing in the nursery's calming sensory room. In here, children are soothed by soft lights and colours, as well as the use of scents, such as mint, to provide a broad sensory experience. They experiment with percussion instruments in the sensory room, learning about cause and effect, as well as being supported to use this as an accompaniment to singing, with help from staff.

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who attend

Children play simple games using desktop computers with adapted keyboards, in order to gain experience of controlling a cursor and a mouse. This helps to develop their manipulative skills, in addition to other opportunities for this indoors, such as painting, play with sand and drawing with chalks.

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who attend

Parents have excellent opportunities to contribute directly to their children's learning, irrespective of children's ages. These include borrowing books for shared reading and the use of 'take home toys' with diary books to encourage children to draw and write. Attendance at parent evenings is very high, as parents are so well engaged with their children's learning and how they can become further involved in this. Parents regularly contribute their time and knowledge to the nursery by coming in to talk to children about their workplaces, such as health or emergency service related ones. This helps to enrich the educational programme and make it more directly relevant to children, to further engage their interest. The nursery passes on highly comprehensive information about children's progress directly to their next settings, such as full-time school. This promotes continuity of planning for further learning. Staff provide detailed, daily verbal or written

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who attend

information about children's activities and learning in order to support parents' engagement with their child's learning. Parents and children participate in activities, such as charity fund-raising events with the nursery, to further extend their opportunities to engage with their children's learning. This also helps children to learn about other children across the world who are not as fortunate as themselves. The nursery celebrates a wide range of festivals and events that represent the families and children that attend and uses this to teach the importance of the acceptance of diversity. Overall, partnership with parents is a key strength of the nursery, which contributes to the excellent progress made by children in their learning and development.

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

The nursery operates a key person system in order to support children's emotional welfare and key persons show a consistently thorough knowledge of children, their routines and their preferences. Key persons, therefore, provide excellent support for children's emotional well-being which, consequently, enhances children's learning. Room managers and their deputies act as secondary key persons to provide continuity of care and learning, if the key person is absent. This contributes to outstanding support for children's emotional well-being in order to facilitate their learning. Children and babies demonstrate superb confidence by exploring the space and resources thoroughly. For example, staff in the baby rooms place toys and resources to encourage babies to roll and crawl in order to strengthen muscles and develop coordination. Children develop a sense of responsibility and independence is a high priority in all areas of the nursery. For example, at mealtimes,

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

children in pre-school act as helpers by setting tables to develop their learning about responsibility. In the room for children aged twelve to eighteen months, staff encourage children to clean their own hands with wipes before completing this themselves to make sure their hands are thoroughly clean before eating. Children rising three years and above learn to manage their own needs for snacks and drinks by having independent access to fruit and drinking water through the day. This is because they can choose to take snacks and drinks based on their recognition of their own needs. They are provided with age- appropriate cutlery so that they can develop their manipulative skills by cutting and slicing. This also supports their learning about how to be safe when using these. The nursery provides a dynamic programme of visitors from the full range of emergency services across the year, to help children learn about how to stay safe at home and when outside.

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

Staff demonstrate exemplary knowledge of management of children's behaviour by both practice and discussion. There is a wide variety of strategies in place to support all children to learn how to manage their feelings and behaviour. This includes forming plans for managing individual children's unwanted behaviours, such as biting. These are drawn up in partnership with parents and the nursery also has detailed information about issues such as biting, which parents can take and read. This means that parents are supported to understand why children sometimes do this and how strategies can be put in place to help them stop. Resources and toys are highly accessible indoors and out and consequently, children develop independence and creativity because they can make decisions about what to play with. Children's welfare is exceptionally well protected by a highly comprehensive range of policies and parental permissions. The nursery provides vibrant

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

outdoor play environments, especially for children over two years, which give children opportunities to take reasonable risk in their play, with careful supervision. Plans are displayed by the doors to outdoor areas detailing where staff must stand and remain, such as by the slides, in order to protect children's welfare through close supervision. Consequently, children are able to enjoy exercise safely using equipment for climbing and balancing as part of understanding of what makes a healthy lifestyle. Staff talk to children about how they use their muscles to move, and that this uses energy which is from food to help them learn about their needs, such as for food. Meals are prepared on the premises and children can make choices from a healthy range of options, supporting their enjoyment of a balanced diet. Children have ample opportunities to grow vegetables and help to tend these and then pick, prepare and cook them for meals. This helps them to

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

learn about the basis for a healthy diet, through discussion with staff. Staff take care to inform children and babies about care routines that are required, such as nappy changes, in order to maintain their emotional well-being and dignity. They talk to children during nappy changes to make excellent use of these times for one-to-one development of communication skills. Overall, the use of everyday routines by staff across the nursery actively contributes to helping children in their social, communicative and physical development. Children show a very good level of self-care and are able to manage a variety of aspects of personal hygiene appropriate to their age and stage. For example, staff talk to children about the importance of washing their hands thoroughly after handling the nursery pets or playing outside. As a result, children have opportunities to learn effective hygiene routines. All areas of the nursery are very clean and well-

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

maintained to help prevent the spread of any germs and to minimise accidents. Robust practical safety measures include the use of door hinge covers on all doors and the use of key codes on all internal doors to the playrooms. This helps to prevent unauthorised access to children or children leaving rooms unsupervised. In addition, the main doors for each building are controlled by a biometric system so that only parents and nursery staff can enter or exit through these independently, which further enhances security of children. Staff deployment is observed to be highly effective in supporting children's welfare and learning. This is because the nursery always works with more childcare staff on the premises than is legally required, so that children receive a very high level of attention for their care and learning.

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

The times when children change room within the nursery are smoothly managed, with plenty of discussion with parents to support children during this. A highly flexible approach, which is based on the needs of the individual child, is taken at all times, to maintain children's emotional well-being. Children's moves to full-time school are incorporated into enjoyable learning experiences for children and they receive exceptional preparation in terms of independence skills and confidence for their next steps in education. The nursery requests information from any previous settings attended by children in order to inform their initial planning, and also seeks highly detailed information from parents to supplement this. It is also conscientious about finding where children move to, in order to pass on information to support continuity of care and learning. Highly comprehensive information to support children's good health and well-being is kept from

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

when children join the nursery, in order to meet their needs, such as dietary requirements. This is regularly updated in order to continue to meet children's needs effectively. The highly detailed care plans for children with additional health needs are regularly reviewed as information is received from parents or other professionals, in order to take account of any changes to meet their needs. Care plans are displayed in rooms for all staff to read, in order to ensure that any member of staff in a room can take correct action if a child becomes ill. Partnership working with parents when there are concerns over children's well-being is outstanding in the level of support provided for families. This is because the owners and managers offer an 'open door' policy for any parent who needs to talk about their child. Parents are also offered the opportunity to develop their own skills by the nursery organising courses on first aid and behaviour management. This

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

contributes to raising parenting skills and promotes consistency of approach with the nursery.

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provision

This inspection was brought forward as a result of concerns raised about children's safety in the outdoor area and incidents of biting. The arrangements for managing incidents for both of these were found to be highly robust. Risk assessments and safety checks are meticulous and reviewed as an ongoing process so children can safely access a wealth of learning experiences. Staff have a highly comprehensive understanding of how to manage any concerns they may have about a child's welfare due to excellent knowledge of safeguarding procedures. Staff and managers' knowledge of safeguarding is checked regularly in order to keep their knowledge up-to-date. All staff have yearly refresher courses to ensure that their knowledge of paediatric first aid is maintained, in addition to the requirement for this training to be renewed every three years to remain valid. This means that their understanding of how to deal with any emergencies of this type is

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provision

exceptionally well supported. All adults who live or work on the premises are checked and vetted for working with children and staff make regular declarations regarding their ongoing suitability to work with children. This means that all adults employed on the premises have had rigorous checks to ensure that they are highly suitable for their role in a childcare setting. All documentation related to statutory requirements is completed to a meticulously high standard to support the safe and effective running of the nursery. For example, accident records contain detailed descriptions so that parents have information regarding what has happened to their child. The nursery's highly comprehensive policies and procedures underpin an outstanding level of care and learning for all children in the nursery, when combined with the owners' continual drive to review these. This means that policies and procedures are always being enhanced to better support children's learning

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provision

and care, as demonstrated by the recent review for record keeping for the administration of medicines. Staff and managers demonstrate an excellent understanding of how to carry out their roles and responsibilities. This is because these are clearly defined and frequently reviewed with them in order to continually emphasise the very high expectations for their practice.

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provision

Procedures for recruitment, induction and staff performance management are exemplary. Strength of the nursery is the commitment to training staff and enabling them to broaden their professional knowledge and obtain higher qualifications. As a result, the nursery has a highly dynamic and motivated staff team to maintain outstanding care and learning for children. The appraisal and supervision process is exceptionally rigorous, so that staff receive highly frequent feedback in order to enhance their practice. A highly comprehensive reward system for staff helps them to remain motivated and enthusiastic. For example, as part of this, parents are asked to vote for their 'key person of the year' at parents' evenings. Staff plan educational programmes based on the needs and experiences of individual children which provide precise and challenging learning opportunities to further their progress. There are multiple systems in place to monitor the

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provision

quality and consistency of observations, planning and assessment of children's learning. The quality of staff teaching is monitored through continual observation by room managers, along with regular formal observations by managers as part of the staff performance management process. As a result, management to support children's learning is outstanding throughout the nursery because all aspects of staff practice are robustly evaluated to ensure staff deliver the exceptional standards expected of them. Partnership working is given immense priority. The owners, managers and staff work tirelessly to ensure that all children receive the help and support they need in and out of the nursery. Partnership with the local authority, through the highly effective links forged by the owners and manager, are excellent. This ensures that the nursery plays an exemplary role in multi-agency working, to ensure that all children and families receive the

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provision

support they need. The nursery owners are also involved in partnership with the local authority in order to evaluate and improve wider practice and procedures in the borough. This means that children benefit from sharing of excellent practice. Parents' and children's views are constantly sought in order to tailor the nursery's provision to the needs of children and families. Parents praise the flexibility to accommodate the needs of children and parents, and the individual attention each family receives in order to better support children's welfare and learning. The nursery works almost continuously at full place occupancy, demonstrating an exceptionally high level of satisfaction with its service on the part of parents. For example, some parents accept part-time places for their children at more than one of the group's settings, in order to make sure their child receives consistently excellent care and teaching, if they cannot have all the time they need at one

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provision

nursery. Self-evaluation is relentless because the owners work continuously to enhance the nursery's support for children's learning and welfare. Strength of the evaluation process is the frequent cross-discussion between the staff and managers across the four nurseries in the group, in order to share strong practice and develop ideas. Views from other professionals, agencies and settings are used continually to inform the evaluation of the nursery's practice. This means that the owners can implement precise and highly effective strategies for enhancing the existing excellent care and education provided for children. As a result, the nursery provides outstanding early years care and learning for all children attending, no matter what their needs.

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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 EY415343 Local authority Bury Inspection number 939280

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 104 Number of children on roll 166 Name of provider Mulberry Bush Nursery Group Ltd Date of previous inspection 30/08/2013 Telephone number 01617973788

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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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