Step by Step Day Nursery

Step by Step Day Nursery Monument Gardens, Benden House, Lewisham, London, SE13 6PY

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 10/12/2013 27/01/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 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 2

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This provision is good

 Excellent systems are in place to promote children's well-being. Staff show high regard to providing a broad range of activities that promote children's physical skills.  Staff support children's learning and development very well. They track children's progress and use a variety of methods to help prepare children for school.  Children are happy and settled. They have good relationships with staff and each other.  Communication is good at all levels between staff, managers, parents and other professionals and this ensure all relevant information about children's learning and development is shared.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Children have fewer opportunities to choose resources that help them to learn about technology.

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Information about this inspection

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

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Information about this inspection

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

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Information about this inspection

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

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities throughout the nursery.  The inspector had discussions with parents, staff and children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector undertook joint observations with staff and sampled children's assessment files.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled a range of documentation including children's records, safeguarding procedures and parental consent forms.

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Information about the setting

Step By Step Day Nursery opened in 1994. The nursery operates from a converted community hall in Lewisham near the town centre. Children mainly come from the local area. The nursery opens Monday to Friday from 8am to 5.45pm throughout the year, except one week at Christmas. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently 54 children in the early years age group on roll. The nursery receives funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two and three. The nursery employs 14 members of staff, 12 of whom hold an early years qualification and two members of staff are working towards a qualification.

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

 extend opportunities for children to use resources that promote their understanding of technology.

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who attend

Children are making good progress in all areas of learning as staff provide well planned activities that reflect children's learning needs. Effective systems of assessment are in place. As a result the observations made by staff of the children's development are clearly linked to the areas of learning. Staff then identify children's priorities for learning and clearly add this information to the activity plans. This means that children's individual learning needs are met well. Staff track children's progress to ascertain if they are reaching expected levels of development in all seven areas of learning. Staff share this information with parents on a regular basis during open evenings and via written reports. This enables parents to share information about children's learning at home and work together to cohesively support children's learning needs. In addition, staff use their assessments to complete the progress check for two-year-old children and share this with

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who attend

parents. They also work closely with parents and other professionals to support children who have additional learning needs.

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who attend

Staff provide a good balance of learning opportunities so that children enjoy free-play time as well as whole group and small group activities. Children benefit from frequent outings in the local community as well as indoor and outdoor play. Staff make good use of small group time, enabling them to tailor the activities to reflect the needs of the children in their key group. Staff know the children well and use effective systems to ensure that all children engage in meaningful interaction with staff. This supports children's language development very well as staff ensure children have time to engage in conversations specifically about their play, learning and interests. Children develop their independent learning skills well as they make choices of toys and books and follow their own interests during play.

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who attend

Staff develop children's mathematical skills effectively. Staff ask questions that make children think and allow children time to make choices and answer. For example, children explore and talk with staff about size, shape and weight as they use the weighing scales with a variety of objects. Children show good problem solving skills as they use a range of puzzles and construction sets. This includes younger children using large blocks and peg puzzles while older children sort through small bricks to find the pieces that they need to make things such as cars. Children develop their literacy skills as they enjoy frequent stories read by staff who use a range of props to aid children's interest. Older children re- enact well known stories, using props such as masks and a low level wooden bridge, showing an awareness of the storyline as they join in with familiar phrases. This brings the story to life and promotes children's speaking and listening skills effectively. Staff make

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who attend

good use of the small group times to further promote children's communication and language skills. For example, staff show children a variety of familiar objects which they talk about together. Children then cover their eyes and staff take one away and encourage children to take turns to guess which one is missing. Children in all group rooms enjoy looking at books independently and with staff. Babies are supported well in developing their language skills as staff point to pictures in books and clearly name objects to help them learn new words. Older children take home books from their library along with toy bags with games to play with their family and support their learning at home. Older children also develop their literacy skills while drawing and through adult-led activities, such as writing their letters to Santa. They use scissors well to cut out the pictures of toys they would like and stick these on their letters and then write their names and messages

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who attend

Children develop their creative skills as they use a variety of paint, collage and malleable materials to explore textures and colour. Staff plan lots of creative and cooking activities that relate to variety of different cultures. This enables children to develop their creative skills and use their senses as they make and taste different traditional foods. Staff read books and talk about the festivals, helping children to gain an awareness of different cultures and beliefs. Children use some operational toys with buttons and lights for example, although they have fewer opportunities to freely access resources that develop their awareness of technology. Children play imaginatively in the home corner and enjoy washing up the tea sets in the home corner sink as staff add water and bubbles. This enables children to re-enact real life experiences. In addition, children's imaginative play in the construction area is further enhanced through outings to a local building site to watch

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who attend

the workers and machines. Staff display the building and construction photos at low level and children put on their hard hats and draw their designs. This promotes children's creativity and literacy skills as they use their drawing and writing skills for a variety of purposes.

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who attend

Children develop their physical skills during indoor and outside activities. They use a variety of climbing equipment and enjoy music and movement sessions with staff. Babies are supported well by staff that encourage them to explore and handle a variety of toys. They benefit from lots of clear play space so that they can develop their crawling and walking skills in a safe environment. Overall, children benefit from a broad range of interesting activities in the nursery as well as frequent outings in the local community including parks and the library. As a result, children are making good progress as staff plan activities that reflect children's learning needs well.

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

Excellent systems are in place to promote children's well-being. Babies show strong bonds to staff. They benefit from a gradual settling in programme so that they are happy and settled when their parents leave. Babies freely climb on staff and enjoy lots of hugs and cuddles. They snuggle in for cuddles while being bottle fed and seek comfort from staff if they are upset. This shows that they have developed secure attachments and feel safe in the staff care. Children are happy and settled. They move freely making choices during their play. Staff give high levels of support. They encourage children to explore during play and talk to children about what they are doing to extend their interests and learning effectively. Staff give lots of praise for children's efforts and achievements. Older children take responsibility for being 'helper of the day' and all children show a positive contribution to their learning environment as they help to tidy up and put away toys after

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

use. Children are very well behaved and respond cooperatively to the daily routines. Children share and take turns well and staff encourage older children to talk and negotiate with each other, for example over the use of toys. Children's sense of belonging is positively enhanced as they take turns to take home the nursery toy mascot and add their notes and photos to the book. They then share the information about their adventures with the mascot toy with the other children during group times.

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

High regard is given to helping children to learn about safety. They wear high visibility jackets while on outings and staff help them to learn about road safety. Children also participate in regular fire evacuation drills and play games with staff, such as finding the hazard signs that staff hide around the nursery. Good routines and consistent support from staff help children to learn about expectations of their behaviour well. Excellent systems are in place to promote children's good health. Staff engage children in frequent physical play activities, both indoors and outdoors. Children enjoy being active, playing games and joining in music and movement sessions. They enjoy football and sports sessions with an additional teacher, enabling them to develop their physical control. Children also use a variety of wheeled toys and climbing apparatus which further promote their physical skills. In addition, staff provide physical activity sessions with older children,

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

enabling children to participate in adult-led games. For example, each child has a physical education (PE) bag and they take time to undress and put on their own PE kit, developing their self-care skills effectively. They then play games with balls, hoops, do exercises and take turns to count as they play, for example during hopscotch . These structured activities help children to gain a sense of space and be aware of their own movements. It also helps to prepare them for school style activities.

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

Staff promote children's good health extremely well. Children enjoy a healthy diet of meals that are freshly cooked on the premises. Children help themselves to water when they are thirsty and make choices of foods they like to eat at mealtimes. They benefit from lots of fresh fruit and vegetables in their diet, promoting healthy eating habits. Children's individual dietary needs are known and respected. Children learn good hygiene practice through daily routines, such as appropriate hand washing procedures and putting tissues in the bin after they use them.

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

Staff work closely with parents and local schools to help children to prepare to move on. They talk to children about going to school and take them on visits to the schools with their parents. Staff highly promote children's self-care skills and learning independence. They help children to be ready for school through activities that effectively support their learning and development. This includes highly effective support in developing children's language and communication skills as staff use the strategies of the 'every child's a talker' guidance.

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provision

This inspection was brought forward following an investigation by Ofsted in March 2013 about a concern that the nursery was not meeting the safeguarding requirements. The nursery was set an action to ensure their safeguarding policies and procedures were implemented at all times. This inspection found that there are now good systems in place to help safeguard children and promote their welfare. Staff have recently updated the range of policies and procedures aimed at keeping children safe. Staff have attend safeguarding training so that they know what action to take if they have any concerns regarding children's welfare. In addition, all staff complete questionnaires regarding safeguarding and children's health and safety. This enables the manager to assess staffs understanding of safeguarding and promote consistently regarding the implementation of the safeguarding procedures. The managers now implement a more rigorous system of

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provision

supervision and appraisals to monitor the performance of staff and identify their personal development needs. As a result staff have attended a variety of training courses and they then take responsibility for sharing their updated knowledge and information during staff meetings. The managers have attended safer recruitment training and ensure all staff complete vetting checks and an induction programme when they begin at the nursery. In addition, staff have recently adopted a peer mentoring system to further identify their individual strengths and areas for development.

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provision

Management and staff use a variety of methods to evaluate their service. They regularly seek information from parents during parents' evenings and via questionnaires. Staff conduct audits of their provision to track children's engagement in activities and levels of interaction with staff. They take positive steps to make any improvements needed, for example, reorganising resources to further promote interest in activities that are less well used, hence further promoting all areas of learning. They have also introduced initiates that show regard to the guidance of 'every child's a talker'; this shows a strong commitment to promoting children's language and communication skills. Staff show a strong commitment to driving improvement. They have successfully met all the recommendations and actions raised at their last inspections.

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provision

Staff show high regard to promoting children's safety. They complete regular risk assessments regarding the nursery and any outings. Staff ensure all required documentation is used effectively, such as the records of attendance for children, staff and visitors and records of any accidents or medication administered. They seek information from parents regarding children's individual needs and share information about all events of the day through conversations when children are collected and home contact books for younger children. Staff offer regular news letters to keep parents updated about all events and parents join in the nursery celebrations and outings. Parents spoken to on the day of inspection report that their children are happy at the nursery and they feel that they are making good progress. Parents explain that their children have 'come on leaps and bounds' since they began. They feel that staff share lots of information about their

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provision

children and parents value their advice.

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provision

Staff promote equality through their practice in actively supporting children's individual needs and daily routines of younger children. They help children learn about cultures, beliefs and people in the community through regular outings and engaging in activities that reflect a variety of festivals. Staff have established good partnerships with other professionals. As a result they are able to share information effectively regarding children's additional needs so that all staff work consistently to help children make progress. They have developed good links with local schools and successfully guide children's move on to school. Staff have attended specific training to enable them to support children who have additional needs effectively. Staff provide a well balanced educational programme that reflects the needs of the children attending. Children benefit from a well organised learning environment in which staff are creative in making resources and providing

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provision

activities that link to children's interests and learning needs. As a result, children are happy and are making good progress in their learning and development.

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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 129055 Local authority Lewisham Inspection number 944041

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 54 Number of children on roll 54 Name of provider Joyce Hendle & Nicola Richardson Partnership Date of previous inspection 27/01/2011 Telephone number 0208 297 5070

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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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