Bears Hideaway Nursery

Bears Hideaway Nursery 6a Stourwood Avenue, Southbourne, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH6 3PN

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 20/01/2014 20/07/2009

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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

 Children have warm, positive relationships with staff and enjoy their time at the nursery.  Staff motivate and encourage children's learning through open ended questions.  Children enjoy exploring in the creative and well-used outdoor areas.  Staff and management are motivated and keen to make improvements to the nursery to support children more effectively in their learning.

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It is not yet good because

 Children are not always fully supported through the routine of the day resulting in long delays between some activities.  Observations, assessments and the use of resources to ensure that children's progress is consistent across all areas of learning are not sufficiently monitored. This means planning is inconsistent and does not always provide sufficient challenge for older children.  Opportunities for older children to enjoy books, to enhance their interest in early reading are not extensive.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections of registered early years provision are:  scheduled at least once in every inspection cycle – the current cycle ends on 31 July

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Information about this inspection

 scheduled more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged inadequate  brought forward in the inspection cycle where Ofsted has received information that suggests the provision may not be meeting the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage or where assessment of the provision identifies a need for early inspection  prioritised where we have received information that the provision is not meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and which suggests children may not be safe  scheduled at the completion of an investigation into failure to comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Information about this inspection

The provision is also registered on the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. This report includes a judgment about compliance with the requirements of that register.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed all children taking part in activities indoors and outdoors.  The inspector held discussions with the manager, leaders and other staff.  The inspector sampled records including children's files, staff records and planning.  The inspector spoke to parents at the nursery and took account of their views.

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Information about the setting

Bears Hideaway Day Nursery registered in 2006 and is privately owned. The nursery operates from a converted house in Southbourne, Bournemouth. All children have use of the ground floor and share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register with 40 children being cared for at any one time. Bears Hideaway is open each weekday from 8am to 6pm for 50 weeks of the year. There are currently 96 children on roll, who are all in the early years age range. The nursery receives funding for two-, three- and four-year old children.

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Information about the setting

There are 15 members of staff who work directly with the children, including the manager and owner. The owner holds a Level 4 qualification in childcare, there are 11 staff who hold a relevant level 3 qualification, two staff hold relevant level 2 qualifications and one staff member is currently unqualified.

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must:

 improve organisation of routines during lunchtime period so that children's waiting times between activities are reduced to ensure learning opportunities are not lost and children's individual needs are met

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must:

 improve systems to monitor observations, assessment and the use of resources to ensure that children's progress is consistent across all areas of learning, and that planning provides sufficient challenge for all children attending.

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

 encourage children's growing interest in literature using books as resources to enhance activities and stories to engage their interests, particularly in the pre-school room.

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who attend

Staff have a suitable understanding of the key characteristics needed for children to learn effectively. Through their planning for children's next steps they provide enjoyable activities to support most children's styles of learning. For instance staff recognise the importance of children becoming expressive communicators and use language and gesture to reinforce and expand children's ability to communicate and be understood. Children respond positively, seeking staff out to tell them their news and share play experiences. Staff promote children's, personal, social and emotional development well. Consequently younger children, in particular, explore their environment with confidence. For instance a child flattens out his play-dough and manages to create a perfect hand print. He is proud of his achievement and takes it to a staff member to show them his accomplishment. The staff member listens carefully as the child expresses what they have created and then

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who attend

affirms this through the use of positive praise and descriptive words. The child returns to the table clearly delighted and ready to try some further exploration of the play-dough. Through supportive listening and open ended questions the child's learning experience is gently extended. Staff support children positively using lots of praise and affirmation of children's achievements.

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who attend

Staff feed ideas into child-led play meaning that children are encouraged to think for themselves and begin to solve problems independently. This is particularly seen in the outdoor area where children are free to explore a range of activities. As older children show interest in a pulley system the staff member draws near. Through sensitively tailored support and discussion the staff member channels and develops children's knowledge and understanding of how the pulley works. Children are invited to fill a metal basket and attach it to the pulley. As a child hoists the pulley up children are asked whether the dinosaur within is heavy or light. A discussion is had by the children and steered by the staff member about dinosaurs, how much they weigh, what they eat, big dinosaurs and little dinosaurs. Children are invited to change what is in the basket. They set the dinosaur on the floor and pick up heavy rocks. Children are free to explore the experience of a

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who attend

change in weight and how they deal with a clearly heavy weight. As a result children remain fully focused and engaged on the activity and their learning experience and level of challenge is deepened. These activities help children prepare for their eventual move to school.

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who attend

In some areas of the nursery, resources are used creatively and staff deploy themselves well in order to support the children. However resources in the pre-school room are not as available or well thought out and as a result children are provided with less challenge. This means whilst children enjoy their time and make happy conversation they are not sufficiently challenged by the activities on offer to them to make good progress in all areas of learning. Although books are available, there is not an extensive range to enhance children's interest in literature.

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who attend

Using the key-person system some observations of children are gathered. However due to the method used these do not always fully support each child's learning across all area of development. Staff are well motivated and quick to respond to the support needs and care of children and this results in children making good attachments to key staff. As a result children are confident and secure.

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who attend

Younger children in the baby and toddler rooms are particularly well supported through a routine rich in supported free play both indoors and outdoors. As a result children explore their physical bodies developing new skills, and expand their exploratory skills and imagination. Through reinforcing of early speech and tailored use of additional words children emerge as confident speakers. For instance as children paint the wheels of their cars with different colours the staff member reinforces the colours used, 'you've used green, blue and red, which colour do you like best?' Children respond happily to the staff member's genuine interest. When one child goes on to create a circle on the page with the painted wheels of their car they are clearly very proud of their achievement and delighted that it is a circle. The staff member praises their efforts and offers words to describe their achievement. As a result concentration and focus is extended and another car with smaller

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who attend

wheels is selected to repeat the activity. Children are encouraged to learn as they make choices following their interests.

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

Children are confident and settled at the nursery. Staff are good role models providing clear and consistent guidance to children as they play together. Staff are well deployed and available to support children. For instance during children's free play staff position themselves in different parts of the environment. As children choose activities of interest staff are there to support them as they play. Staff show sensitivity in the type and level of support offered allowing children freedom to explore as well as engaging with children in their play. However, there are times within the routine when children are not as fully supported as their needs require. This results in long waiting times for some children meaning they lose focus and become restless. This was an issue at the last inspection, but has not been sufficiently addressed.

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

Each child has a key person with whom they are able to build a good relationship and the nursery has clear procedures as to the role of the key-person. Most staff show a strong commitment to knowing their children and meeting their needs. Through the key-person approach children's interests are identified and planned for. Staff and management reflect regularly on their practice and adjust the children's environment in order to improve it. This has resulted in some key people changing rooms away from their key children temporarily. However children continue to show good levels of confidence and security as other familiar staff look after them.

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

Staff teach children about the importance of a healthy lifestyle providing children with plenty of opportunities to enjoy the fresh air of outdoors whilst engaging in meaningful activity. Children spontaneously go to wash their hands before lunch arrives and one child initiates a song about germs which children enthusiastically join in. A discussion with the children following this song deepens their knowledge of how to stay healthy.

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

Most areas of the nursery are well organised, welcoming and adequately resourced. Staff use resources well to provide interesting experiences for the children in some areas. Younger children have space to play and easy access to a variety of age-appropriate resources. The pre-school room, however, is not currently as well organised. This means older children are not always fully supported through the resources available to them to explore at a deep and challenging level. This affects children's choice and independence in this room and means some opportunities for children to make good progress are lost.

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

Children are encouraged to participate in some independence skills, for instance serving themselves portions of pasta at lunchtime and selecting fruit. However long waiting times before and after the meal results in children losing focus and growing restless. During meal times children are encouraged as they hold meaningful conversations with friends meaning that during the meal itself children share a positive social time with one another.

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provision

Effective arrangements are in place to safeguard children. Staff have an appropriate knowledge of what is needed to keep children safe during their time at the nursery and follow clear guidelines throughout the day to ensure the safety of all the children. A secure entrance system and procedure has been introduced to ensure adequate security measures are consistently followed. A robust system for the recruitment of staff ensures that all staff are appropriately vetted and suitable to work with children. There are clear systems for the induction of staff and arrangements are in place for the monitoring and support of staff. The management team show a clear commitment to continue learning and improving on their practice through training and private study and encourage other staff to pursue the same.

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provision

Staff show an appropriate understanding of the learning and development requirements. Child initiated play is supported particularly well for the younger children and in the outdoor environment. Through staff involvement in play, open ended questions and the provision of meaningful activities, some children are encouraged to make good progress. However systems to monitor the educational programme are not sufficiently effective. Consequently, resources and planned activities in the pre-school room do not yet fully challenge the children throughout the day. Systems are used to observe and assess each child's developmental achievements but are not yet sufficient to monitor the effectiveness of children making consistently good progress across all areas of development. This means some areas of development are focused on more intensively than others. The management team understand the characteristics needed for effective learning to take

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provision

place. For instance by igniting children's curiosity and enabling children to express themselves. The need for children to be fully supported in the prime areas of learning is at the heart of the nursery's philosophy.

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provision

The management team regularly reflect upon day to day practice with the result that, overall, changes and improvements are made responsively to the environment and also to the way in which children's learning is planned for. Most recently changes have been made to the pre-school rooms creating younger and older pre-school groups.

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provision

The nursery has a small proportion of children with additional needs and works with external agencies ensuring intervention and support for children and their families takes place in a timely manner. This means children's additional needs are supported within the nursery.

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provision

Staff talk to parents at the start and finish of each session, gathering information and offering a feedback form. Parents are invited to share information from home to support their child's learning at the nursery. Parents also receive regular reports reflecting some of their child's achievements.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 Requires improvement The provision is not giving children a good standard of early years education and/or there are minor breaches of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected within twelve months of the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate Provision that is inadequate requires significant improvement and/or enforcement action. The provision is failing to give children an acceptable standard of early years education and/or is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of

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Grade Judgement Description

the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected again within six months of the date of this inspection. Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider does not meet the requirements for registration.

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Inspection

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY335199 Local authority Bournemouth Inspection number 843977 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 40 Number of children on roll 96 Name of provider Bears Hideaway Nursery Partnership Date of previous inspection 20/07/2009 Telephone number 01202 422 987

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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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