Basingstoke College of Technology

The BCoT Nursery Worting Road, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 8TN

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 24/02/2014 19/06/2012

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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 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 Well-trained staff make frequent observations and robust assessments of children's learning and development. This supports the planning and delivery of high quality teaching so that all children make the best possible progress given their starting points.  Clear systems for monitoring the delivery of the educational programmes mean children's needs are quickly identified and met through timely interventions.  Inspirational leadership, supported by experienced and capable managers, demonstrates an uncompromising, successful, well-documented drive to strongly improve achievement for all children over a sustained period of time.  Staff consistently give the highest priority to the safety of children and support their growing understanding of how to keep themselves safe and healthy.  Partnership working with parents is very strong and supports continuity in children's learning and well-being between the nursery and home.

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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 a wide range of activities across all areas of the nursery and talked with staff and children about what they were doing.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector reviewed documents and procedures relating to safeguarding, staffing, supervision, risk assessment, health and safety, and checked a selection of other policies.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled children's records maintained by each key person, and looked at the nursery's systems for planning, evaluating and sharing progress with parents.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day ,and reviewed responses to a parent questionnaire.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector met with the leadership team and observed practice with the manager.

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Information about the setting

The BCoT Nursery registered in 1996. It is part of the Basingstoke College of Technology and is self-funding. College staff and students use the nursery, as well as families who work in the surrounding urban area. The nursery has recently been extended and refurbished to include three main rooms, each catering for different ages of children, a large communal shared room and training facilities. The outdoor area is divided into two secure areas which are used flexibly to meet the needs of all age groups.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. There are currently 90 children on roll, all of whom are within the early years age range. The nursery is in receipt of funding for the provision of free education for two-, three- and four-year-olds. The nursery welcomes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who are learning English as an additional language.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is open 50 weeks of the year from 8am to 6pm on weekdays. Children may attend on a full-time or part-time basis. There are currently 15 permanent staff and four bank staff. All but the trainees hold appropriate early years qualifications, including Early Years Professional Status.

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

 strengthen measures to improve the listening environment in the room for two- year-old children.

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who attend

Children are making excellent progress in their learning and development in this lively and caring nursery. Highly reflective teaching, from a team of fun-loving and enterprising staff, results in exceptional education programmes for children of all ages. Staff meet with, and listen carefully to, parents prior to their children's start at the nursery. This helps them to establish a clear understanding of family routines, children's needs and current achievements. This knowledge provides a strong basis for the planning and delivery of interesting and challenging experiences. Attentive staff regularly observe children's responses to planned activities and reflect on children's spontaneous play. Observations are routinely linked to areas of learning and development and record how children learn best. Consequently, staff are continually 'raising the bar' by offering more thought- provoking activities that meet the needs and the interests of the children in their care.

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who attend

Children are inspired by this rich learning environment and are confident to try new activities as they know staff are on hand to support them. As children succeed their self- esteem grows and they become more willing to experiment, explore and investigate. Staff are quick to build on children's interests and use them to access all areas of learning so that children make very good progress towards all the early learning goals.

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who attend

With support and encouragement from a strong management team, all staff have very high expectations for themselves and for the children in their care. For example, staff keep a detailed record of babies' first words, as this enables them to keep modelling new words in different contexts. This also helps staff recognise when a baby first understands a word through listening alone. Staff, therefore, become much more in tune with babies' thinking. Staff notice and celebrate babies' first attempts of new words, which encourages them to practise making sounds. Babies learn that their speech sounds are meaningful because staff respond accordingly. Skilled teaching helps babies and toddlers develop good social skills and make excellent progress in their communication, language and speech.

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who attend

An exceptionally strong knowledge of children's individual achievements also forms the basis for high quality teaching in the room for two-year-old children. Staff know when children understand the terms for basic two-dimensional shapes. They naturally begin talking about more complex shapes in the environment and help children look out for them. When children begin to act out and share their own experiences, staff listen carefully, assess children's understanding and stretch their thinking to new heights. For example, children prepare dolls for the swimming pool and comment that they need to wear floats. Staff help children think through 'why' and 'what might happen' question formats. They encourage children to predict events based on their own prior knowledge. Children are motivated to search for new vocabulary to express their ideas and begin to experiment with using the correct tense. All the time children's play and imaginations are

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who attend

being gently nurtured and developed by their very skilled teachers. The only drawback is the poor listening environment in the room for two-year-olds. Refurbishment is incomplete as large walls and hard surfaces result in reverberation of sound and raised background noise levels, in an already busy room. This can make it hard for children to listen attentively.

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who attend

With both male and female members of staff of different ages, children act as though they are part of one large family group. Children are happy, excited by a highly stimulating learning environment and very well supported in all aspects of their learning. Consequently, any gaps in their knowledge are rapidly closed through timely interventions and children are exceptionally well prepared for the next steps in their learning.

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who attend

A very wide range of strategies help to engage parents in their children's learning and in nursery activities. Parent notice boards provide information on educational programmes, routine practices to keep children safe and updates on new initiatives to support families. Parents contribute to their children's learning journals by adding their own 'Golden Moments' from home. The older children particularly enjoy these records as they choose to read captions from their own special book with their teacher. These comprehensive and informative records also support children's moves to school. Parents and staff prepare progress checks for two-year-old children and final reports together. They are invited to attend parents evenings twice a year to add to their daily updates and sharing of information. Parents report they are greatly reassured that they have chosen the right setting to meet their own and their children's needs.

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

Children's behaviour illustrates how safe, secure and content they feel in the presence of their key person and room team staff. Parents recall the wrench of leaving babies behind as they return to work and express their thanks to staff for their care and understanding. They comment on how reassured they are by the quality of information detailed in their children's daily updates. The additional text messages and photographs help both parent and child to settle into the new routines. Parents particularly value tea parties and celebrations where family, children and staff socialise together. These not only help the development of family support networks, but also foster continuity of friendships between nursery and home. Children and families regard the nursery as a comfortable extension of home.

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

The thoughtful mixing together of children of different ages at times throughout the day seems to work to everyone's advantage. Older children display tenderness and self-control as they learn to moderate their play near babies and toddlers. Siblings enjoy a cuddle in the outdoor play area and older friends greet toddlers through the big indoor windows. Staff gently reason with children why younger children behave differently and suggest ways they can support them. This results in older children watching out for toddler's needs, assessing and managing potential risks in the play area. Staff are deployed well throughout the day and work as strong team, keeping all children safe and actively engaged when they are out together. For example, there is always a member of staff at the top and the bottom of the stairs linking the outdoor play areas. Staff support children's needs relative to their ages as they negotiate the steps and become brave enough to use

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

the exciting new slide that also runs from top to bottom.

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

Boys and girls greatly enjoy dressing in construction hats and manoeuvring small wheelbarrow loads of materials around. They sweep, learn to build brick walls or add notes to their list of required tools. On the upper level a large sandpit provides a focus for group activity when it is too wet to gather on the lawn for a story. Long gentle paved slopes are ideal for rolling tyres and balls or learning to peddle or scoot on different gradients. Extensive raised planting beds are well stocked with sensory plants and herbs the children have grown. Children learn to sow seeds and plant out strawberries and vegetable plants when the weather is warmer. Children of all ages are encouraged to drink water in preference to juice, and have access to water throughout the day. Staff consistently implement the 'house rules' which include sitting down to drink, whether inside or outdoors. From an early age, children learn that independence and choice comes

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

with the responsibility of following rules to keep everyone safe.

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

The management team and staff place the highest priority on teaching children how to be healthy through a keen focus on nutrition and physical exercise. Managers researched the nutritional content of the food children eat and developed new, more balanced menus through their close links with caterers employed by the college. Details and examples of suitable proportions and meals are shared with families at parent's evenings. This helps transfer the benefits of healthier and more diverse eating habits from nursery to home, nurturing lifelong trends towards a healthier lifestyle. Similarly, families can choose to enrol their children in a fitness and health programme. Four-year-old children explain clearly how different moves strengthen different parts of the body and name muscles that many adults would be hard pressed to locate accurately.

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

Staff ensure that children's moves from one room to the next within the nursery are smooth and successful. Staff working with the older groups already know the younger children, and young children already play with and watch the older children in action. A highly effective key person system means that staff with the personal knowledge of each child and their family can liaise between family and the new location. This system works well both within the nursery and when children move on to school. Parents record how readily their older children have moved from the nursery to local schools, and know their younger children will do so too. They believe their children are both emotionally and socially well prepared for their next steps in learning, following an excellent start at the nursery.

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provision

Leadership and management of the nursery are inspirational and highly effective. The manger's long term vision and drive for improvement across all areas of the nursery have clearly been met in the recent refurbishment and extension of the premises. She is extremely well supported by representatives from the college leadership team. This opens up exciting possibilities to enhance children's experiences and learning in many ways. The nursery now includes on-site teacher training facilities, attracting a wide range of expertise from the lecturing staff and a resource of high quality student teachers and carers to draw from. Nursery staff share their own expertise and run innovative training programmes such as 'Parents with prospects'. This initiative aims to support parents who may have given up work to look after children and who need a bridge to new ventures and training. Children benefit directly from the fresh new ideas that students bring to activities.

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provision

Children also enjoy trips to the college hairdressing salon, the animal house, and the observation windows in the engineering block. The college librarian keeps some children's books and welcomes them for a story time in the college library. Children experience something of the environment where many of the parents work or study and enthuse about their exciting adventures beyond the nursery. Links with local schools and other outside agencies are also strong. This leads to a rapid and effective response when support is needed to meet the specific needs of individual children.

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provision

Staff work very effectively as a team with managers clearly identifying individual strengths and developing staff confidence in new areas of expertise. High-quality professional supervision across the management team is based on consistent and sharply focused evaluations of the impact of staff's practice. Children's care, welfare and learning are significantly enhanced by the highly effective way in which the nursery evaluates all that it does. Systems for vetting and recruiting staff are robust and follow systems monitored by the college's Human Resource team. There are clear procedures for ensuring the suitability of those who work at the nursery and to ensure they remain fit to do so through a thorough system of induction training, appraisals and supervision. Staff regularly update their training in safeguarding children and the subject is included on the agenda of every staff meeting. This keeps all staff clearly focused on making every effort to keep children

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provision

safe and feeling secure at all times. The nursery has clear and well-understood policy and procedures for assessing any risks to children's safety. Routine procedures for risk assessments for all rooms, outside areas and outings are regularly updated and completed. All mandatory documentation on the safe management of the nursery is in place and is accurately maintained. For example, discussions have recently taken place with Ofsted regarding the addition of a new holiday club on the premises.

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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 509563 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 952602 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 52 Number of children on roll 90 Name of provider The Corporation of Basingstoke College of Technology Date of previous inspection 19/06/2012 Telephone number 01256 306213

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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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