Young Friends Kindergarten

Young Friends Nursery 89 Holland Road, HOVE, East Sussex, BN3 1JP

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 11/12/2013 15/04/2013

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 Previous inspection: 1 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 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 Extremely high quality teaching in all rooms means that children want to learn and are interested in the activities on offer.  All staff have very high expectations of children's behaviour which means that children know what they can and cannot do and so the nursery is calm and children are able to play without interruption.  Exceptional partnerships between parents, carers and the nursery mean that everyone supports children to do their best at all times.  Staff have a comprehensive and detailed knowledge of their safeguarding responsibilities which means that they protect children very well.  The manager is an inspirational leader who motivates and supports her team extremely effectively to provide the best care possible for children at the nursery.

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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 activities in the four playrooms and in the garden.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector examined staff files including recruitment records, suitability records and staff training records.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to staff in every room about their understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities.  The inspector carried out a joint observation of practice with the nursery manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to several parents both in person and on the telephone and looked at testimonials provided on the nursery website and took these points of view into consideration.

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Information about the setting

Young Friends Nursery first registered in 2010 but re-registered in 2012 as a full day care provider. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. It is privately owned and operates from a converted house in Hove, East Sussex. All children have access to an enclosed outdoor play area. The nursery is open each weekday from 8am to 5.45pm, all year round. There are currently 82 children aged from six months to five years on roll, all are within the early years age range. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who learn English as an additional language. The nursery receives funding for the provision of free early education for three- and four-year-olds. The provision employs 19 members of staff. Of these, 11 have appropriate early years qualifications including one qualified teacher and one with Early Years Professional status. Six staff are apprentices

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Information about the setting

and are working towards an appropriate childcare qualification. The nursery also employs a cook and a kitchen assistant.

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

 use all spaces available to children when they are playing so that they can develop their games and spread out into other areas if they wish to.

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who attend

The highly stimulating nursery environment provides children with a wealth of ideas, resources and opportunities and they immerse themselves in their play eagerly. Staff in all rooms demonstrate excellent teaching skills and use questions and challenges exceptionally well to motivate and enthuse children. Skilful staff watch play carefully and involve themselves in children's games very readily. Staff are sensitive to when they should play alongside, when they should lead games and when they should let children play together without adult support. For example, during garden play staff notice that children are making space helmets out of construction materials. They then develop this idea with the children to encourage them to use more construction equipment to build a space rocket. This exciting game motivates children to work as a team together to build a big rocket and leads to thought provoking discussions about who should be 'the driver'

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who attend

and how they might share this role out fairly. Staff challenge children to think for themselves and to find solutions to problems such as when there is only room for one child at a time in the rocket.

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who attend

Children are very considerate and caring towards one another. Children playing in the garden stop a chasing game when a friend falls over and go to check to see if they are hurt; they continue the game only when they are satisfied that their friend is alright. Children have excellent listening skills because all staff have high expectations. Staff use eye contact with the youngest children to ensure that they involve every child. As a result, the levels of concentration that the youngest children display are exceptional. Staff carefully model conversation skills with older children as they draw together round a table, which teaches children to be confident contributors and considerate listeners in discussions.

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who attend

Staff in all rooms use visual timetables to teach children the routine for the day. Children respond eagerly and feel confident knowing what is going to happen next. This fully embedded system gives children a great sense of continuity for each day. The shared use of visual timetables means that transitions between rooms are smooth and predictable for the children, which enables them to feel secure. All children have extensive opportunities to develop their physical skills. Resources for throwing, catching, riding and climbing are available and children use the garden area eagerly. Staff plan exciting and innovative activities for children inside the nursery that enable them to develop their hand and finger muscles. For example, older children cooperate together to make a huge, shared Christmas tree and use hands, fingers and knuckles to print decorations. Staff working with babies demonstrate an excellent understanding of how to develop and encourage

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who attend

physical skills for very young children. Staff use hanging toys, attached with velcro, to encourage children to reach and pull and staff position themselves at eye-level to give children confidence to tackle the challenges. Staff give verbal encouragement to children and smile and laugh with them as they try to develop their core strength.

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who attend

Highly stimulating activities encourage children to become confident mathematicians. For example, staff in the toddler room challenge children to wrap 'presents' using different sizes of wrapping paper. Staff provide outstanding support for children as they discuss the limitations of each piece of paper. This means that children learn mathematical phrases such as 'too big', 'not enough' and 'big enough' in a situation that makes sense to them. Children count confidently and an abundance of resources around the nursery supports them to remember number order. Staff encourage younger children to count out plates and cups at snack times and so counting becomes part of their everyday lives. Older children count naturally as they play; they demonstrate their interest in numbers as they count out how many pegs of particular colours they have as they make patterns on a peg board.

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who attend

Staff plan regular trips out to local places and complement these trips with a range of visitors coming into the nursery such as local firefighters and a parent who is a pilot. These enrichment activities broaden the children's minds about the world around them and prepare them exceptionally well for their future lives.

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who attend

Staff working with toddlers create an exciting game using flour as snow. They create a shared game making snow tracks with cars and trucks and pretending to be snow ploughs. All children completely engage with the play and the staff expertly introduce new vocabulary to the children as part of the game. Children learn exceptionally well through such activities and the shared play with staff reinforces the bonds that they have with the adults that look after them. Staff working with the younger toddlers demonstrate exemplary teaching skills. Children benefit from the innovative activities that the staff plan. An activity telling a story through a shadow box captivates children's imaginations and they show high levels of concentration. Staff use imaginative questioning to encourage children to participate in the story and children are excited to join in recognising animals that they know.

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who attend

Staff understand the individual needs of each child and are thoughtful and meticulous in planning activities to support the next stage of their development. Staff carry out regular reviews of progress which they share with parents which means that there is agreement about what to do next for each child. The nursery website is a useful source of information for parents regarding possible activities for them to do with their child and parents report that they find it very helpful. Staff provide exceptional verbal feedback to parents on a daily basis which means that there is a continuity of support for every child attending. Children are extremely well prepared for the next stages in their learning because staff encourage them to be inquisitive, enthusiastic and open-minded learners.

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

The key person system is well established and this means that parents feel confident about the staff caring for their children. Staff and children get on with each other very well and enjoy the time that they spend together. Children benefit from these warm relationships and feel confident to tackle challenges as a result. Parents praise the relationships that their children have with the staff and comment that their children "talk about them all the time and sometimes they don't want to come home!"

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

Staff demonstrate consistent behaviour management strategies with the children in all rooms. Staff use Makaton sign language to indicate 'Stop!' and children respond quickly to this. Staff use calm and gentle voices to remind children how to behave which means that the atmosphere is supportive and children can concentrate on their play.

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

Babies are very well supported by staff who fully understand their individual needs. Staff soothe restless babies with favourite toys and speak gently to them which makes them feel safe. Staff play games with the babies that they enjoy such as fishing for ducks in the water play and such shared activities help to boost the babies' self-confidence. Staff praise toddlers as they help with tidying up resources and this encourages them to cooperate. Staff notice when children have achieved something for the first time, such as separating well from parents, and children are given stickers and praise to further emphasise their success. This helps children to feel good about themselves. Older children play games happily with staff showing that they have been taught to share and cooperate with one another.

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

Staff are fully aware of their safeguarding responsibilities and explain in detail how they would manage any concerns. This understanding helps to keep children safe. Children move around their rooms with purpose and confidence demonstrating high levels of independence as they choose and use resources. Children are usually able to choose whether they play their games indoors or outside. However in one of the rooms this is not consistently the case, which slightly limits children's independence.

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

Staff prepare children thoughtfully for the next stage of their learning by ensuring that they are familiar with the local schools around them. Staff organise trips to watch end of term plays at one of the schools and invite teachers to visit the children at nursery as part of the transition process. Role play activities that mirror the school environment further help children to prepare for school. Staff discuss with the schools what the needs of the children are and then introduce structured phonics and numeracy sessions as necessary to support children as they move to reception classes.

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provision

The manager is passionate about her nursery and leads her staff by example. Parents praise the manager and her team saying 'the staff are exceptional, they are so creative and inventive!' The manager encourages all staff to continue with their professional development and a rigorous in-house training programme is in place. The manager ensures that staff keep up to date with new initiatives and is confident to access support from the Local Authority when she needs to. The manager is an Early Years Professional, and leads training at staff meetings and is available in the nursery to support her staff whenever necessary. Recent staff changes have meant that the manager is currently providing particular support to staff in the baby room. On inspection there was no evidence to suggest that the babies were receiving anything other than an outstanding level of care and attention. The manager knows the strengths and weaknesses of her staff

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provision

and is highly reflective about how to move their practice forward. This means that the quality of staff is always improving and the manager leads these improvements extremely well. The manager expects all unqualified staff to be working towards a recognised qualification which means that children benefit from new ideas. Staff are appropriately qualified and adult to child ratios met at all times.

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provision

The manager and the room leaders monitor the curriculum provided for children closely and so they know extremely well what is going on in each nursery room. Observations and assessments made by all staff demonstrate a highly impressive level of understanding about each individual child. Parents appreciate this personal knowledge and comment that this level of understanding makes them feel 'that they (the staff) know my child so well 'that they notice these things', 'that he twizzles his hair when he's tired', 'I love it'. Staff collect information from parents as part of the settling process and use this information for their starting plans. The required progress check at the age of two years is fully embedded into the assessment programme and staff discuss and share all information at length with parents. This outstanding partnership working with parents continues throughout the nursery and enables children to make the best possible progress. The management team

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provision

work together to ensure that every child's needs are included in planning and that all activities are individualised to provide support for particular children when necessary. The manager works extensively with other professionals to ensure that children who need additional support are not disadvantaged. This means that staff are able to include all children exceptionally well, and cater for their individual needs highly effectively. The manager is a highly reflective practitioner who is constantly looking to improve the nursery to make it better for the children who attend. She welcomes ideas and suggestions from staff, parents and children about what the nursery could do better and so the nursery is constantly evolving.

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provision

New staff benefit from an in-depth induction day and the manager explains their role and responsibilities to them very clearly. New staff work under constant supervision until the manager obtains full safeguarding clearances for them. These measures protect children extremely well. Staff take time to explain to parents if their child has had an accident during the day and ensure that they pass all information to parents promptly. The manager reviews all accident forms and carries out further risk assessments of nursery areas and makes changes if patterns of accidents occur. This has significant benefits for the safety of children at nursery. Staff who are qualified in paediatric first aid are always on site and this means that children receive any appropriate treatment very promptly. Risk assessments for all nursery areas and for visits off site are up to date and the manager reviews them regularly. Careful attention to detail means that staff protect children well

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provision

both at nursery and when they go out for an off-site visit.

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provision

Staff plan transitions to other providers and to school very carefully to ensure that they prepare children well. Children feel confident about moving on to the next stage of their learning and show this as they talk about the children that they can hear playing in the playground of the adjoining school.

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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 EY455240 Local authority Brighton & Hove Inspection number 945547 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 48 Number of children on roll 82 Name of provider Young Friends Nursery Ltd Date of previous inspection 15/04/2013 Telephone number 01273735100

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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

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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