Doo Dar Days Ltd t/a Westside

Westside West Faversham Community Centre, Bysing Wood Road, Faversham, ME13 7RH

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 26/02/2014 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: Not Applicable 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 2

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This provision is good

 Key persons know the children they are caring for very well and the observation and assessment system helps staff to provide learning opportunities for each individual.  Very good relationships between the pre-school and parents are effective in involving them in ideas and activities to promote children's learning.  Children with additional needs are well supported by knowledgeable staff who actively seek advice from outside professionals.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 There are few opportunities for children to explore natural open-ended play resources to develop their senses and extend their imaginative play as well as limited range of creative material is available to extend their artwork.  The book area, though comfortable and cosy, is rarely used by children and in need of review to extend children's interest in stories and the printed word.

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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

 A range of documents and policies relating to safeguarding, recruitment processes, children's registration and development records, self-evaluation and improvement plans and attendance records were scrutinised during the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke with children, their key persons and special educational needs coordinator at appropriate times during the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector conducted a joint observation with manager of adult interactions in the outdoor area.  The inspector spoke with parents to take their views into account.  The inspector observed children's play and staff interactions, indoors and outside.  The inspector held a meeting with the Manager and joint owner of the pre-school.

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Information about the setting

Doo..Dar..Days..Ltd operating as Westside Pre-school registered in 2013. It operates from Westside Community Centre, Faversham, Kent. The pre-school serves families from the local community. The pre-school has use of a main room, office, kitchen, cloakroom, toilets and an outdoor play space. They have sole use of the premises during the hours of operation, although the premises are used by other groups at other times. The pre-school is open from 9am to 3pm term time only. The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the childcare register.

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Information about the setting

A team of seven staff work directly with the children, six of which have relevant childcare qualifications at National Vocational Qualification levels two, three and four. The manager and deputy are both studying for an Early Years Foundation Degree. There are currently 37 children on roll, all are in the early year's age group. The pre-school has experience of supporting children with special educational needs and receives free early education funding for two, three and four year olds.

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

 provide natural open-ended play resources indoors to stimulate children' imagination and extend further the use of paper in a variety of sizes and colour to use for children's artwork

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

 actively promote the use of the book area, by deploying an adult in this area during the session to promote children's interest in stories and books.

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who attend

The pre-school is effective in meeting the need of the children who attend. As children start, parents provide their child's key person with a detailed pen portrait of their child. Settling in procedures follows the needs of each child, with parents staying as often and as long as needed until children are feeling secure. This ensures the pre-school has a sound starting point to successfully meet children's varying needs. The pre-school meets the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage learning and development requirements as all staff members have a good understanding of how children learn through play and meaningful experiences.

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who attend

The key person knows the children that they are caring for well, supporting them emotionally and developmentally. They make regular observations and assess these to monitor progress against developmental milestones and then plan activities to extend children learning to suit their emerging interests. The special educational needs coordinator who is experienced and knowledgeable, ensures a joined-up approach for supporting children, by using the expertise of specialist services. Parents are kept regularly informed of their child's progress, they meet with their child's key person three times each year to discuss the progress report and to contribute to their child's learning journal.

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who attend

Adult-led group activities and child-initiated free explorative play are well balanced, giving children the time and freedom to become involved instigators of their play and learning. For example, the creative area is presented in such a way that children can help themselves to a variety of easily accessible resources, including recycled resources, presented in clear plastic containers for children to choose from.

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who attend

Outdoor play is available to children at all times during the pre-school sessions, giving children that are more active learners, the freedom to run around and enjoy greater space for movement. Tending herb planters and real vegetables provided in a digging area, help children to understand about growing food.

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

Children play in a welcoming, bright environment with a wide range of toys and resources, suitable for their ages and stages of development. Easy accessible low-level units for storage boxes, which have pictorial labels, ensure children are free to make choices of what they play with. They are also encouraged to be independent learners, by putting on their own coats on to play outside and aprons on when painting or gluing.

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

Children have formed close bonds with their key person and an effective buddy system is in place, providing a secure back-up person. Key group or 'island time' is being introduced to further strengthen these bonds as each group will have special time together or take on specific tasks. This gives the children a strong sense of belonging and responsibility within the pre-school group.

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

Children are generally very well behaved, confident and happy, having formed strong relationships with their friends and the adults that care for them. They show a good sense of fairness, taking turns and sharing by asking to use timers to make sure everyone gets a turn with popular toys and resources. This supports those children who have some difficultly sharing as the rules are consistently applied and all children benefit from well- defined boundaries of expected behaviour at pre-school.

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

The pre-school manager, deputy manager and staff have experience of preparing children for the move to reception class and have secure procedures in place. For example, they have built on the local authority 'unique child' template form, to pass on information to teachers. They have held conversations with the teacher in readiness for exchanging visits in the summer term. These measures will benefit children in preparing them for their next learning experiences.

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provision

The pre-school owner/manager has a strong commitment towards providing high standards of care and education for the children. She demonstrates a good understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. A robust recruitment process, complemented by a staff supervision cycle, ensures child protection and safeguarding take a high priority. The manager has attended designated person safeguarding training provided by the local authority. Staff can identify the signs and symptoms that might cause concern about children's well-being. They demonstrate a sound knowledge of the procedures to be followed to maintain the welfare of children attending the pre-school.

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provision

Emergency evacuations are practised once each term, with a secure place of safety identified, should a real emergency occur. The building has a smoke and heat detection system in place, fire doors which are kept closed to prevent fire spreading and the alarm is tested weekly. The identity of visitors is checked and the purpose of their visit is recorded in a visitor book. The pre-school is well maintained and risk assessments are in place, which take the shared used of the community centre into consideration, ensuring children are kept safe from harm.

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provision

Comprehensive policies and procedures are in place. These have been devised by the owner/manager using generic templates, which she has adapted to suit the pre-school, drawing on her twenty five years' experience working in other settings. These are shared with staff and parents, together with consents from parents to administer emergency first aid, to seek medical advice if needed or for the administration of medicine. This demonstrates that managing children's safety is a priority of the pre-school.

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provision

During regular staff supervisions, the manager discusses and monitors children's progress to ensure all children are achieving to their full potential. She also discusses relationships with colleagues, which would bring any concerns about inappropriate behaviour to the attention of the manager. Supervisions are used to identify any training needs or additional support needed by individual staff members or any collective training required by the pre-school.

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provision

As a relatively new provider, the manager is utilising the regular support provided by the local authority improvement partner, to develop a realistic but challenging improvement plan. The current focus is on using audit tools to review daily routines and assess the resources and activities provided. She is planning to use a computerised observation and assessment system as she feels this will benefit the pre-school and the children, as it will provide a more robust means of monitoring children's progress.

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provision

Parents spoken to during the inspection feel that they are fully involved and informed about their children' progress. Parents fully appreciate the involvement of outside agencies working with the nursery to support their children.

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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 EY467933 Local authority Kent Inspection number 934037 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 8 Total number of places 30 Number of children on roll 37 Name of provider Doo..Dar..Days..Ltd Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 01795 533743

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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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