Smarty Pants Private Day Nursery Ltd

Smarty Pants Private Day Nursery Ltd 212a Horseley Heath, TIPTON, West Midlands, DY4 7QP

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 28/11/2013 21/03/2013

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 Previous inspection: 4 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

 Teaching is good overall as practitioners promote children's learning by modelling skills, offering choice, promoting independence and following the children's interests and motivation for learning. As a result, children are making good progress in their learning.  The key person demonstrates availability, sensitivity and warmth towards children, this promotes a sense of security and belonging.  The manager is generally successful in leading the staffing team. She uses effective communication and inspires practitioners to ensure each child's individual learning needs are met overall.

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It is not yet good because

 Children's hours of attendance are not always recorded accurately or promptly at the start of the session, this would obstruct the evacuation process in an emergency and put children at risk.  Opportunities for children to build social skills at mealtimes are restricted as practitioners do not always sit with children to help support and guide them.  Practitioners do not always use open-ended questions effectively and as a result, children are hindered from fully expanding their vocabulary.

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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

 The inspector observed activities in the four play rooms, including the pre-school room, which operates in a separate building. The inspector also completed joint observations with the officer in charge.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents/carers included in the self- evaluation and those spoken to on the day of inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke with the staff and children about the daily routines, children's individual learning and self-evaluation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of risk assessments, suitability of the premises and equipment, suitability of the staff and the safe supervision of children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector discussed with staff and looked at a selection of policies and procedures, which included safeguarding and complaints, health and safety, record of staff and children's attendance, children's learning records, the settings self- evaluation and a range of other documentation.

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Information about the setting

Smarty Pants Private Day Nursery Ltd was registered in 2007 and is on the Early Years Register. It is situated in a detached property in the Tipton area of West Midlands and is managed by Smarty Pants Private Day Nursery Ltd. The nursery is one of two settings owned by the same provider. It operates from three main areas over two floors. There is level access to the ground floor but no lift to the first floor. The pre-school room operates from a newly built separate annexe. There is an enclosed area available for outdoor play. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 13 members of childcare staff. The owner, who is the officer in charge, holds an early years foundation degree and seven other members of staff hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3. 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 74 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 a number of children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The nursery receives support from the local authority.

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must:

 maintain a daily record of each child's hours of attendance to ensure the safe and efficient management of the setting and to make sure the needs of all children are met.

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

 make sure practitioners always sit close to the children at mealtimes to give extra value to this social experience by engaging children in conversation and supporting their independence skills

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

 use open-ended questions more effectively to encourage children to expand their vocabulary and to further aid practitioners in understanding what children are thinking and feeling.

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who attend

The manager's Foundation Degree in Early Years has given her a good understanding of the qualities of an enabling environment. As a result, the nursery provides stimulating resources and purposeful and developmentally appropriate learning opportunities that encompass the seven areas of learning and offer children challenge. Assessment of children's stage of development is accurate and is used to inform future learning experiences which match children's individual needs. Thorough progress checks for children aged two ensure detailed assessments are completed for all children at the appropriate time, in order to identify the child's strengths and identify any areas that may need additional support. Practitioners promote children's learning by modelling skills and behaviour, offering choice, promoting independence, following the child's interests and their motivation for learning and giving targeted praise. Practitioners encourage

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who attend

communication skills by listening to children, valuing their suggestions and using talk to describe actions. However, some practitioners occasionally use closed questions, which sometimes limits opportunities for children to give fuller answers that draw on a wider range of vocabulary. Children are making good progress within the Early Years Foundation Stage. Parent's comments support this as they say 'my child has definitely made progress in his communication and independence skills because of being at nursery'. Children participate in adult-guided and child-initiated activities to extend their learning. For example, practitioners support literacy development in the outdoor learning environment as they sit on the grass and read stories with the children, encourage making marks on the blackboard and make reference to the alphabet on the wall. Children benefit as practitioners organise resources to enable children to explore their own ideas creativity

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who attend

and move round freely between inside and outside. For example, a practitioner follows a child's lead as he digs in the bark and positively repeats the name of objects back to the child, providing a lovely running commentary to promote his next steps in communication development.

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who attend

Children experience open-ended resources and benefit from activities which have no adult-defined learning objective, allowing them to explore freely. For example, children enjoy playing in the mud kitchen outside. This offers children unique tactile and sensory experiences that are vital to developing a child's critical thinking. As children run mud through their fingers, scoop mud from containers and create mud pies, they develop their hand and eye coordination and learn about cause and effect. When children participate in a painting activity outside, they experiment and explore the paint with their fingers or use paint brushes to make marks and so develop confidence and dexterity through this process. This supports both their physical and creative skills. Practitioners enhance this activity by making reference to the different colours to promote colour recognition. Practitioners support some children very well, for example, while children play with the

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who attend

large foam jigsaw puzzle outside on the floor. The practitioner listens to the children and values children's questions, conversations and suggestions as they complete the puzzle together. The practitioner weaves in mathematics as she models counting and develops children's literacy skills as she models oral blending. As a result, children demonstrate the characteristics of effective learning for a considerable length of time. All of this promotes children's readiness for school.

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who attend

Children's understanding of the world is developed as children have the opportunity to observe and show care and concern for living things. They observe and study their own giant African land snails and watch their own chicks hatch in the nursery, seeing first hand new life and all the awe and wonder that it brings. Children develop positive relationships with community members, such as, the local fire fighters and police officers who visit the nursery. Inside, the children use wooden blocks that inspire creativity, develop physical skills and encourage problem solving. The role play area in the pre-school room is decorated by staff to be Santa's grotto and previously it has been used as a space ship, pirate ship and a Chinese restaurant, in order to develop children's language, imagination and play. Children use the computer to develop their skills in the use of technology.

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who attend

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well overall. There is an effective special educational needs policy, which guides practitioners in supporting children through an individual learning plan and working alongside any professionals involved. The nursery's special educational needs coordinator advises and supports other practitioners in the setting. Children with English as a second language are also well supported. The nursery provides Polish and Punjabi labels alongside English labels throughout the nursery. The talking pen can be used to help communicate key phrases to parents and children. There are age appropriate dual language books available in a range of different languages and parents provide key words in their home language, enabling staff to help children to make links with the English vocabulary being taught. All of this supports children's language development and shows respect for the child's

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who attend

Children's prior skills are established with parents on admission to the nursery when they complete an 'All About me' form, recording what children can do and their likes and dislikes. The nursery uses the local authority's initial screening tool. which provides a complete speech and language toolkit that can be used by practitioners. This, along with verbal discussion with parents, helps practitioners identify where children are in their development pathway. Children's assessment folders are kept in their playrooms allowing easy access for parents and encouraging them to be involved in their child's learning. Parents are well informed of their child's progress through daily discussions, daily diaries and parent evenings. The home learning treasure boxes promote learning at home. The box contains activities with resources for the children to complete at home with their parents. It includes a book for parents to make notes in and a disposable camera to

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who attend

capture pictures of their child's achievements.

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

There is a relaxed and happy atmosphere within the nursery. Children receive a nice warm welcome, helping them to settle easily. Children forge trusting and caring relationships with key persons, promoting a sense of emotional security. Practitioners recognise the importance of children feeling secure and having a sense of belonging in the nursery. To promote this, the older children self-register, which gives children responsibility at the time of their arrival into nursery, developing their self-confidence and independence. The setting has good procedures for emotionally preparing children for their move into nursery. Practitioners encourage the child and the parent/carer to visit the nursery to meet staff and have a look around ahead of the planned start date and to discuss the nursery's settling-in procedure. A key person is assigned to the child and parents are asked to bring along any comfort objects. There are also procedures for emotionally preparing children

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

to move on to school. For example, the key person and their children visit their new school together helping them to familiarise themselves with the school environment and routine.

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

Each playroom is well organised and attractive, with natural hardwood furniture and activity stations fitted with stimulating resources. Children participate in daily outdoor energetic play. The older children have direct access to outdoor play and have long periods of free flow play throughout the day, encouraging children to get physically active. Children have the opportunity to risk assess things for themselves and experience challenge when they lift and manoeuvre car tyres and crates. Children learn about keeping themselves safe as they regularly practise the fire drill. However, children's safety is not fully supported as practitioners do not always accurately complete the room registers. As a result, children may not always be safely evacuated in an emergency. Practitioners use commentary as they describe the process for children to learn to wash and dry their hands independently. Snacks provided for the children are nutritious and consist of fresh fruit,

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

bread sticks or toast, with milk to drink. There is a four weekly menu provided of nutritious homemade meals, including such things as frittatas for lunch. Food is freshly prepared by the nursery's cook who holds a food safety certificate. All this promotes children's health and well-being. Children are encouraged to be independent as they hand out the serving trays and serve themselves. Practitioners are at hand to offer support if necessary and to praise children's efforts. However, practitioners do not always sit with children at mealtimes, limiting opportunities to socially interact and support children's independence skills.

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

Practitioners are suitable role models who put the children's needs and interests first and are approachable and friendly. Children's behaviour is good and their actions show they are aware of the setting's rules and behaviour boundaries. For example, the children do not run around indoors and know that they are expected to take turns and share. When needed, practitioners positively reinforce the rules and boundaries, ensuring a consistent approach. The nursery strengthens the positive impressions children have of their own cultures and faiths and those of others in their community, by sharing and celebrating a range of practices and special events, such as Eid. There is a wide range of resources in the setting that reflect children of ethnic minorities or children with diverse physical characteristics, including disabilities, such as, posters, books and small world figures. These help children to respect and value all individuals within our society.

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provision

The manager has a generally good knowledge of early years practice along with the skills to develop a team. She has a sound understanding of her responsibilities in meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. However, the daily record of each child's hours of attendance is not always completed promptly at the start of the session or in some cases accurately, to show which children are present. As a consequence, children's safety is compromised. There is a suitable safeguarding policy and practitioners are aware of the procedure they must follow if they have concerns that a child is suffering from abuse. As a result, arrangements for handling child protection issues are secure. Safer recruitment practice is orderly and ensures that those recruited are suitable to work with children. There is a programme of induction, ensuring new practitioners become effective and competent as

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provision

key persons. Practitioners are adequately and appropriately supervised and they have ready access to advice, coaching and management support in all matters. Since the last inspection by Ofsted, where the nursery received a number of actions to improve and two subsequent monitoring visits, the provider has installed a new commercial kitchen with a hand wash basin, appropriate toilet, hand washing and nappy changing facilities for children and a suitable toilet for adults. Furthermore, there are appropriate facilities for storing medication, adequate risk assessments are completed for all areas and children have adequate opportunities to develop their knowledge and understanding of using the toilet and develop good hand washing skills. As a result, arrangements for promoting some aspects of children's welfare has improved. Additionally, the provider has developed the educational programme by strengthening the positive impressions children have of all

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provision

people, including those with diverse physical characteristics, including disabilities and improving their understanding about their own cultures and faiths and those of others in their community. As a result, children's understanding of the world is promoted.

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provision

The manager has a clear understanding of how children learn and develop and she is able to successfully cascade this to her team. She understands her responsibilities for meeting the learning and development requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and as a result, children make good progress in their learning. Using her expertise she regularly checks each child's assessment folder, the continuous provision and the weekly planning to ensure planning and assessment is rigorous. The manager has implemented effective group cohort tracking, which enables her to easily monitor each child or groups of children and intervene if necessary. A self-evaluation system has been implemented, identifying strengths and some weaknesses. An improvement plan is in place, which means children's progress is well supported over time. The nursery takes advantage of the local authority training to provide staff with continued professional

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provision

development. As a result, detailed assessment of children's stage of development is accurate and is used to inform future learning experiences, which match children's individual needs and children with English as an additional language are supported.

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provision

Children and families benefit from the friendly relationships that exist between practitioners and parents. Practitioners and parents have regular daily discussions, ensuring a two-way flow of information. The nursery has a room character with a story book that children take turns in taking home each weekend. Parents are invited to write a note or take photographs of what they have done with their child and the character. This encourages information sharing between home and the setting. The visually pleasing nursery newsletter includes a wealth of information, such as, details of future events, articles about recent activities in the nursery and important dates. Parents are given a copy of the nursery's policies when their child starts at nursery and as a result, they are well informed about how the nursery operates. The nursery has developed links with other professionals, such as, the speech and language therapist, local authority workers, local

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provision

nurseries and schools to ensure children's needs 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 EY360664 Local authority Sandwell Inspection number 921380

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 43 Number of children on roll 74 Name of provider Smarty Pants Private Day Nursery Ltd Date of previous inspection 21/03/2013 Telephone number 0121 520 8777

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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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