The Little Green Frog

The Little Green Frog Ashfield Primary School, Weston Lane, OTLEY, West Yorkshire, LS21 2DF

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 11/12/2013 28/01/2010

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 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 3 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision requires improvement

 Partnerships with parents are positive because parents feel staff are approachable and keep them up-to-date with what their child has been doing during the day in the nursery.  Induction of new staff is robust to ensure accountability arrangements are clear and they have a thorough understanding of their responsibilities for keeping children safe.  Older children have enthusiasm for learning because staff plan purposeful activities that extend children's learning thorough active learning.

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It is not yet good because

 Staff working with the youngest children do not consistently demonstrate understanding of their role in ensuring children's care and learning is tailored to meet their individual needs.  Monitoring of staff practice is not sufficient to identify all areas for improvement. As a result, not all weaknesses in teaching practice have been successfully identified and addressed.  Opportunities for the youngest children to develop their independence skills are not always maximised.

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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 play and learning activities and spoke to staff and children in the indoor and outdoor environments.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at a selection of children's learning journals and progress tracking information.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector carried out a meeting with the manager and looked at and discussed a range of policies and procedures.  The inspector met with parents to seek their views.

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Information about the setting

The Little Green Frog was registered in 2005 and is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is situated in purpose built premises in the Otley area of Leeds. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children. There is an enclosed area available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 13 members of childcare staff. Of these, eight hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 or above, including one member of staff with Early Years Professional Status. The nursery opens Monday to Friday all year round. Sessions are from 7.30am until 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 53 children attending who are in the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It supports children who speak English as an additional language.

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must:

 ensure the emotional and physical needs of younger children are met, with regard to nappy changing and sleep routines

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must:

 use information obtained from observing younger children to understand their level of achievement, interests and learning styles. Shape learning experiences for each younger child reflecting those observations to help them make the best possible progress in their learning and development.

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

 improve the monitoring of staff performance to ensure all areas of weakness in practice are accurately identified and effectively addressed so that younger children's care and learning needs are met

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

 provide more opportunities to develop the independence skills of children in the younger age group by, for example, encouraging them to pour their own drinks or feed themselves.

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who attend

Staff generally have an understanding of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and use this to support children's learning and development. They observe and assess children and plan adult-led and child-initiated learning opportunities, which are mostly based on children's interests and their identified next steps in learning. However, practice in the toddler and baby room is variable. Staff do not fully understand how young children learn. For example, whole group activities with younger children are mundane and uninteresting and are not developmentally appropriate to meet their needs. As a result, younger children sometimes become disengaged and uninterested in their learning.

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who attend

Staff support all children's love of books and stories. They provide a good range of books for children to select from and cosy areas in both rooms to read them. Staff read stories to children asking appropriate questions and encourage the children to participate in the story. As a result, children are beginning to develop their early literacy skills. Staff with the older children extend their mathematical development well. For example, a staff member supports a child when playing with the train and track to develop their mathematical language by modelling appropriately terminology. Older children are supported to count accurately in everyday contexts, for example, when setting the table for lunch. As a result, older children are beginning understand and use the mathematical language of position and shape, how to count reliably and recognise numbers. There is a sufficient range of mark making opportunities indoors and outdoors for all children. Older children are given

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who attend

opportunities to develop their literacy skills in the learning environment, such as writing shopping lists and telephone numbers in the role-play area. Younger children enjoy making marks in shaving foam. As a result, children are beginning to ascribe meaning to the marks they make. Older children are excited and enthusiastic at group activities when staff play games to develop their listening skills by singing and clapping out beats. As a result, older children's enthusiasm for learning is ignited. However, staff do not interact with younger children as effectively to support their learning. As a result, not all younger children are supported in their acquisition of their communication and language skills. Children are provided with a range of resources and activities in the indoor and outdoor environment. Resources are labelled with photographs and labels and accessible for children to select. As a result, all children develop their independence skills in finding and

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who attend

There are good partnerships with parents who contribute to their children's learning by sharing achievements and interests from home. Staff gather key words in children's home languages to support children who have English as an additional language. This partnership working enhances the planning and assessment cycle. As a result, parents feel involved in their child's learning. The progress check at age two is completed and a written summary is shared with parents. Parents feel that they are well informed on a daily basis of their children's achievement. Overall, children are satisfactorily gaining the necessary skills to support their future learning.

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

Children are supported appropriately when they start at the nursery and they come for introductory visits to meet staff and familiarise themselves with the environment. This means the settling-in process meets the needs of individual children. Short planned visits with the child's key person supports children as they move between rooms in the nursery and information is shared between rooms. As a result, children make seamless transitions from home and within the nursery. Staff gather good information from parents about their child's needs; however, staff do not always follow care routines for younger children. Older children demonstrate good social skills and cope well emotionally with being separated from their parents. They demonstrate their independence skills, for example, when putting their own coat on to go out to play and manage their own personal care when preparing for lunch.

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

There is a key person system in place and groups are clearly displayed on the walls in the rooms. Most staff understand their role, but this is not demonstrated consistently with younger children and on occasions their care is not fully tailored to meet their needs. For example, at sleep times some children are not promptly comforted. Support for younger children to develop self-help and independence skills is variable as staff wash children's faces, wipe their noses and put on coats with limited encouragement for children to do this for themselves. As a result, younger children's opportunities to develop their independence skills are not maximised. Older children are encouraged to serve themselves at mealtimes using appropriately sizes tools. Staff sit with them at this time and engage in conversations about healthy foods. As a result, children develop their fine motor and coordination skills and their knowledge of how to keep healthy. Younger children are given

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

bowls with fruit for breakfast, but adult interactions are limited.

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

Children's behaviour is managed well and they understand the rules and boundaries of the nursery. Staff use behaviour strategies consistently, which are displayed on the walls in the room. As a result, children are aware of the boundaries set and of behavioural expectations. Healthy snacks are offered to children and drinking water is available throughout the sessions and at lunchtime. Lunches are prepared in the nursery kitchen and a wide range of healthy meals are offered. Children's individual dietary requirements are noted on their registration form and all staff are aware of these. As a result, children eat a healthy range of foods and older children are beginning to developing their understanding of their need to do this. The environment both indoors and outdoors is well resourced, which supports children's all round development. Children are provided with daily opportunities to develop their physical skills and enjoy energetic play outside. They

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

have access to enclosed play areas, which has a variety of different surfaces and resources with opportunities to develop a range of skills including climbing, balancing and jumping. Children jump confidently from one stack of tyres to another. As a result, children learn to manage their own risks and develop an awareness of safety.

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provision

The manager and staff understand their responsibility in safeguarding children and have effective policies and procedures in place, which are implemented to ensure children are kept safe at all times. All staff know and understand procedures to follow should they have any concerns and know who to contact. There are clear procedures in place for the use of cameras and mobile phones. Permission is obtained from parents for the staff to take photographs of children. As a result, staff are fully aware of their roles and responsibilities in keeping children safe. There is an effective recruitment and induction procedure. The induction process is thorough and robust to ensure that all staff understand how to keep children safe. There is a daily record of risk assessment checks which is carried out in both the indoor and outdoor environment.

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provision

Leadership and management are generally good. This is because the manager has an overview of the curriculum and the educational programmes. However, the systems to monitor the quality of teaching and learning are not thorough enough and, as a result, the quality of teaching is variable. This means younger children do not benefit from staff who have a good understanding of their care and learning needs. The manager has knowledge of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and uses this to support her staff. As a result, there is a stable management and staff team who clearly enjoy working in the nursery. New staff are given a mentor in the room to support and guide them. An annual training day ensures that staff essential training, such as safeguarding, is kept up-to-date and changes with policies, procedures and practice are understood. Training needs are identified through monthly one-to-one meetings and, if appropriate,

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provision

staff access relevant external training. Staff are encouraged to feedback from training at weekly room meetings. As a result, knowledge from training is shared with team members. The manager carries out formal observations of practice on a six monthly basis, which helps to enhance practice, but is not sufficiently focused on improving the quality of teaching for the younger children.

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provision

Partnerships with parents are positive and support children's learning and development. Parents are complimentary about the nursery and say they find staff approachable and friendly. Parents are encouraged to spend time in the nursery and always feel welcome. They receive a range of information about their children's progress as well as about the operation of the nursery in general. Regular parent evenings enable parents to discuss the children's learning and development with their child's key person. Partnerships with external agencies involved in supporting children's care and education are good. There are well established links with other external agencies in particular the children's centre who they have worked collaboratively with to support specific families. Links have been strengthened with other local childcare providers as staff have visited for ideas on how to develop their two-year-old provision. Local authority quality assurance audits are used as

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provision

a basis for the self-evaluation process. These provide an overview of the nursery's strengths and weaknesses. Parents contribute to the process by completing questionnaires.

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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 EY287150 Local authority Leeds Inspection number 820051

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 58 Number of children on roll 53 Name of provider Ruth Joy Johnson Date of previous inspection 28/01/2010 Telephone number 07947 889524

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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

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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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