The Clapham Day Nursery & Pre-School

Clapham Day Nursery 3 Peardon Street, Battersea, London, SW8 3BW

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 03/03/2014 20/07/2011

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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 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 Children can be independent active learners because staff give good support for their ideas, imagination and thinking skills.  Children make good progress in their learning because staff plan for their interests as well as their next steps.  Staff support children's imaginative role play very skilfully, so children know how to play safely and have fun.  Parents value the strong partnership that the manager and staff have built with them. This helps to provide good consistent support for the individual needs of children.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Although it is clear that children are making good progress, tracking methods are not as detailed as possible to fully support the ongoing assessment of children's achievements.  The manager does not observe staff and their practice in the playrooms as often as she might in order to fully support the continuous development of the provision.

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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 children at play in each of the playrooms and outdoors.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector met with the manager and operations manager to discuss safeguarding and evaluation.  The inspector and manager carried out a joint observation.  The inspector spoke to parents to gather their views.

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Information about the setting

Clapham Day Nursery is one of four nurseries owned by Bringing up Baby Limited. It is situated in a three-storey building on the borders of Battersea and Clapham, and is within the London Borough of Lambeth. There are three children's playrooms spread over three floors. Each room has integral nappy changing and toilet facilities, and the baby room is equipped with a milk kitchen. The front fenced area provides secure outdoor play for the children. The nursery opens between the hours of 7.30am to 6.30pm, Monday to Friday throughout the year, except for bank holidays and five working days closure at Christmas and Easter. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. There are currently 35 children on roll, all of who are in the early years age group. The nursery receives funding for nursery education for children aged two, three and four years. The children attend for a variety of sessions. The nursery

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Information about the setting

supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who are learning English as an additional language. A total of nine staff are employed to work with the children. One member of staff has Early Years Professional status and all others hold appropriate early years childcare qualifications.

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

 develop the methods used to track the detail of children's learning further, in order to enhance the ongoing assessment of children

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

 develop the systems for monitoring the curriculum and teaching methods further, by increasing observations of practice in the playrooms.

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who attend

Staff have a strong knowledge and understanding of how to meet the learning and development requirements. They provide a broad range of interesting activities to cover all aspects of the seven areas of learning. Staff support children's independence very well, with a wide choice of good quality resources and the freedom for children to use them in open-ended, child-initiated play. Staff plan activities and themes to facilitate children's interests and skilfully incorporate children's next steps. This means that children enjoy learning and make good progress in their learning and development.

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who attend

Staff have good teaching skills. Staff working with children aged under two foster their communication skills by playing at children's level and sharing their excitement and pleasure. Staff use key vocabulary very clearly so that children hear and repeat the words. For example, when children play with an aeroplane, staff read a story about a plane and repeat the words 'sky' and 'plane', pointing at the sky as they do so. As a result children repeat the words and consolidate their learning. The younger children enjoy singing the greeting song which mentions them all by name and they join in with action songs. This helps to build their confidence in group times. Older children spontaneously sing in groups and are confident to lead their friends in action songs and in telling stories. They extend this into role play, dressing up and acting out a shared story about fire fighters. It is clear from their independent play that staff have embedded a wide vocabulary about rescue,

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who attend

danger and fire fighting. This supports children to play for lengthy periods using their imagination and cooperative skills. Children of all ages benefit from open-ended messy and exploratory play. Babies explore paint, foam, beans and other natural materials and become skilled in early writing and mark making as a result. They are fascinated by the shapes and ripples they can see when using a roller with paint, and immediately use their fingers to make other patterns. Older children talk excitedly about what they will make with paper and glue, or out of the dough they have made. Staff are alongside, facilitating children's ideas and using a wide range of open questions and comments to promote children's creative and critical thinking. Staff also skilfully weave in other aspects of learning, so that children are talking about shapes, number and measurement as they create. Children show great pride in the things they make and make their own toys such

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who attend

as paper planes. If they encounter problems, staff make suggestions but give the child time to decide which solution they prefer, building their confidence in problem-solving. Children of all ages enjoy using technological toys such as push-button toys for babies and the computer for older children. Staff teach specific skills such as how to use a computer mouse and build in time for children to practise.

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who attend

Staff work closely with parents to gather information about children's starting points. They note children's interests and favourite toys so that they can support the child to settle in their first sessions. Staff then build on this by including children's favourite play regularly and recording their achievements. Staff meet each week to plan activities and themes which will facilitate children's next steps in engaging, interesting play. Staff adapt the resources and play ideas to ensure children are consistently engaged in purposeful, independent play. Staff make regular summaries of children's progress in each area of learning and share this information with parents, who then add their own comments. Parents share their ideas for children's learning via 'Wow' sheets and staff respond by adding parents' ideas to the planning. Staff complete the progress check at age two and the forms for school with their detailed personal knowledge of the child's progress in each

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who attend

area of learning. However, staff track children's learning to their expected stage of development in very broad terms, which does not support them fully in assessing the precise detail of children's progress.

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

The nursery has a very effective key person system for children. Each child has their main key person, and a buddy is allocated for the times when the key person may be absent such as when they are on leave. Staff talk about all the children in their planning meetings so all staff know the individual needs of children, including their care routines. Parents can children have at least three settling-in visits to ensure that the children are confident to separate. This helps them to have secure attachments in the nursery. Staff keep a book of photographs of the child doing a variety of activities for parents to take home. Parents can use it to prompt conversations with their child about what they were doing, and helps to reinforce the link between nursery and home. When children move onto the next age grouping, they have several visits with their key person, and the parents also visit. This helps families to make a smooth transition. The learning environment in each playroom is

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

well-planned to maximise children's independent play. Good quality resources are stored at child-height in well-labelled drawers and boxes. This helps children to find what they want, and they have space to organise their own play areas. Children play outdoors twice a day and have the same freedom to explore across the curriculum.

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

Children have good opportunities to learn about healthy lifestyles. The meals and snacks are freshly prepared at the nursery and children benefit from balanced diet, which includes a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables. Children have drinks of water available all day so they do not go thirsty. Staff chat with children about which foods are good for them, which helps children to make healthy choices. Children adopt good hygiene habits because staff have well-established routines. Staff encourage children's physical development well. Children's small muscle development is supported with regular use of pens, paint brushes and other small objects as well as using scissors regularly. Staff teach children's self-care skills as they encourage children to change into dressing-up clothes and manage their own shoes and coats. Children also enjoy regular opportunities to dance and play active games with an external teacher. They also enjoy using the simple climbing frames and ride-on

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

toys in the outdoor area. Children are skilled at playing safely, because staff take time to teach safe play. For example, when children engage in superhero play, they play-fight in slow movements without touching each other, still retaining all the fun of the game. Staff teach children to use tools such as scissors in safe ways.

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

Children's behaviour is good. They are skilled at playing cooperatively in role play, creating stories together. They understand that resources must be shared, such as only having three children at a time at the computer. Younger children learn how to share when staff give clear guidance and are consistent in following through what they have said. Younger children enjoy helping in tasks such as handing out bibs to their friends. Older children help to tidy up and get things out, and show empathy when they are they are careful to play away from their friends who are sleeping. Children see their photographs on the displays and staff write children's comments next to the picture. This helps children to have strong self-esteem as they know their words and opinions are valued. Overall, children acquire a strong range of skills to help them in their future learning.

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provision

Leaders and managers have a good understanding of how to meet the safeguarding and welfare requirements. The inspection took place to check ongoing compliance after meeting the actions set out in a welfare requirements notice and notice to improve. The senior management team have worked very effectively to address the actions set and put into place robust systems to prevent recurrence of the issues raised. For example, the manager reviewed the risk assessment process and changed the layout of the over-two's room to minimise the potential for accidents. She also added a formal procedure for staff, visitors or parents to report any hazards. Robust action plans for all the issues raised include deadlines and regular review periods, which demonstrates that actions are clearly followed up. Recruitment procedures are robust which means that all staff are checked as to their suitability to work with children. Staff understand the safeguarding procedures and

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provision

have undergone training in child protection. They demonstrate a good understanding of how to take action should they have concerns about the welfare of a child. Registers include the detail of children's times of arrival and departure and other records, such as the complaints record and children's records, are accurately maintained and updated. Staff supervision of children and staff deployment is good. The nursery meets the staff: child ratios at all times, and staff deploy themselves well to supervise the children.

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provision

The manager knows her staff well and has regular supervision meetings with them to discuss their achievements and areas for improvement. Staff appreciate the support they receive and the training opportunities the nursery provides. Regular staff meetings and planning meetings mean that staff can discuss children's progress and share ideas on how to improve the provision. For example, staff changed the sleeping arrangements for the over-twos so that other children's play is not inhibited. The manager also includes parents' views in the self-evaluation process, taking ideas for the menu, or organising first aid training for parents on site. The manager is frequently in the playrooms working alongside staff. She is skilled at evaluating their activities to identify their strengths and any ideas for improvement. However, recently, her time in the rooms has mainly been as a practitioner rather than a manager. This has hampered her ability to monitor and evaluate overall staff

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provision

performance and the provision in general. The manager works with staff to review the learning journals and set targets for their enhancement. For example, staff will track children's development more frequently. The manager also has plans to improve the outdoor area. This demonstrates that the manager is making changes for the direct benefit of children.

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provision

The partnership with parents is strong. Staff give a detailed verbal handover and make notes of children's sleeping and eating so that parents are aware of their child's day. Parents attend social occasions such as family breakfasts and coffee mornings, which give informal opportunities for parents to play with their children and talk to staff. Regular parents' evenings enable the parent and key person to discuss the child's development and agree next steps. Parents value this partnership greatly and comment on how flexible and understanding staff are in meeting the needs of the whole family. Parents receive regular newsletters and say they feel they can approach staff at any time to discuss anything. The nursery has strong links with the local community and other professionals. Staff have built good links with the local children's centre and local authority early years team to meet the needs of children and families. Staff have a good awareness of the

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provision

importance of working with other day care settings who may have care of the children in order to provide consistent, coherent care.

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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 EY304965 Local authority Lambeth Inspection number 952492 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 72 Number of children on roll 35 Name of provider Bringing Up Baby Limited Date of previous inspection 20/07/2011 Telephone number 020 7498 3165 0207 622 5552

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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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