Partou Natures Day Nursery & Pre-SchoolOfsted inspection, 10 Mar 2014

Natures Nursery (Ascot) The Meridian House, London Road, Sunninghill, ASCOT, Berkshire, SL5 0PL

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 10/03/2014 08/07/2013

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 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 4 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 4

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This provision is inadequate

 There are not always sufficient staff present in the baby room, which means children's individual needs are not met and supported consistently.  Children's health and well-being is compromised as there are insufficient measures to ensure they are protected from infection.  The nursery does not maintain a suitable record of the daily attendance of children, which does not safeguard them.  Self-evaluation systems are weak and are ineffective in identifying key priorities for improvement.

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It has the following strengths

 The nursery provides a welcoming environment, with suitable and appropriate resources, indoors and outside, which children enjoy.  The staff form suitable partnerships with parents and exchange daily information with them about their children's day and activities.

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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 within the nursery and interacted with the children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to staff at appropriate times throughout the inspection, during and after activities.  The inspector sampled policies and procedures.  The inspector spoke to available parents.  The inspector carried out a joint inspection with the manager.

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Information about the setting

Nature's Nursery (Ascot) was registered in 2010. It is one of four private nurseries and is owned by Nature's Nursery (Ascot) Limited. It operates from a converted two storey building in Sunninghill, near Ascot, Berkshire. The children have access to play rooms on the ground and first floor levels of the property. All children share access to an outdoor play area. The nursery is open from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday all year round, except for bank holidays and Christmas. Children attend for a variety of sessions. With prior arrangement the nursery offers care from 7.30am until 6.30pm. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. There are currently 118 children in the early years age range on roll. The nursery provides support to children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. There are 24 members of staff, of whom 21 hold appropriate early years qualifications. These staff include a

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Information about the setting

manager, two deputy managers and a quality control officer who is on site every week.

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must:

 ensure the staff are aware of and comply with health and hygiene routines with particular regard to the baby room

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must:

 ensure there are sufficient staff deployed especially within the baby and toddler rooms to meet the needs of the children

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must:

 ensure the daily record of the children being cared for on the premises includes their hours of attendance and the child's key person.

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

 foster a culture of continuous improvement by developing the self-evaluation system to monitor staff performance, identify and address key weaknesses.

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who attend

Overall, most children are happy and content at the nursery. They enjoy a suitable range of toys resources and activities, which staff use appropriately to promote and support children's learning and development. However, staff in the baby room are not effectively deployed to meet children's individual needs. This has a negative impact on the babies' sense of confidence and security. Consequently, their personal, social and emotional needs are not always being met. Generally the staff have a clear understanding of the learning and development requirements of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. However, staff in the baby room fail to maintain these requirements, which means that the children are left emotionally upset while staff call for assistance.

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who attend

Generally the staff plan appropriately for the children and provide a suitable range of activities for them to aid their learning and development. For example in the pre-school room the children enjoy singing and dancing to music, which aids their coordination and supports their muscle skills. This combined with conversations on why drinking water is good for us, suitability supports the children in developing their understanding of a healthy lifestyle. All children benefit from regular fresh air and exercise. They explore the resources in the outdoor areas and take advantage of the grounds where they gain experiences of forest school learning. Physical development is promoted well throughout the setting as children enjoy large scale equipment outside, such as riding bikes and trikes. Children enjoy a wide range of creative materials to enable them to develop their creativity, hand and eye coordination and their imaginations. For example, they participate

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who attend

in colouring, gluing and form letters. Children's experience mathematical language in everyday activities, in addition resources and equipment are available to promote the children awareness of size and colour. This contributes soundly to children's mathematical development.

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who attend

Staff support children's communication and language skills adequately by encouraging discussions. All children listen well and remain attentive throughout activities, group times and story sessions. Children in the toddler and two to three rooms have their listening and attention skills well supported through games and creative activities. The staff encourage children's speech through the use of questioning. This involves the children in the activities, such as making flowers, which encourages the children to contribute to discussions freely. Older children are developing good literacy skills as they engage in stories and freely access writing resources in the room and garden.

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who attend

Staff complete detailed observations and assessments on the children. These reflect how children are progressing and achieving throughout all areas of learning. The staff understand their role to share observations with parents and do this regularly. Assessment records are in place and methods are in place to involve parents in the completion of these. Parents are informed of their child's development in every area of learning, and when they may need additional support though extended activities or outside help. This partnership supports children's individual needs and continued learning. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities benefit from effective support.

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

Young children's well-being is not adequately supported. Despite the nursery operating a key person system, key staff are not always deployed with their key children. Consequently, care practices are variable, which reduces staff's ability to meet the needs of the children fully. For example, in the baby room, staff fail to respond swiftly to the children's cries when they wake from a sleep or become distressed in the room. This has a detrimental effect on the children's self-confidence and their feelings of security.

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

Overall, the nursery is clean and overall procedures for maintaining good hygiene are suitable. However, children's health is put at risk as the staff in the various rooms of the nursery do not always ensure cutlery and cups that children use are suitably clean. For example, children in the toddler room eat from spoons they have tapped on the floor and drink from beakers, which have been on the floor. In addition, staff do not effectively promote babies' health. For instance, staff do not ensure babies' hands are washed before they eat after coming in from the garden. This has a detrimental impact on their well- being as they have been crawling on the ground and exploring resources. Coupled with this, babies eat biscuits that have been broken by staff members who have not washed their hands before handling food. The babies eat their snack on the carpet area, however staff do not always sit with them. This results in babies sharing and drinking from each

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

other's beakers and exchanging biscuits that have fallen on the carpet or between toys. Both the lack of cleanliness and staff's failure to follow nursery policies puts the children at serious risk of cross infection. Staff encourage older children to be independent in their personal care. They are on hand to help and promptly clean up and change any children who have toileting accidents, so they are comfortable.

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

Children gain a good sense of belonging as they have named pegs displayed throughout the nursery. Children use a good range of stimulating resources, such as modern technology equipment, role play toys and construction. Toys and resources are stored at a low level, which allows children to help themselves to items. In addition, toy boxes are labeled with print and a picture, which shows children what is available. This allows the children to gain an understanding that print carries meaning, while supporting them in making independent choices.

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

Children benefit from a well-balanced healthy diet at the nursery. The cook prepares healthy and nutritious meals for the children. Children enjoy a freshly prepared meal at lunchtime and have their dietary needs well catered for. Children in the older rooms have their independence fully supported at lunchtimes, and help serve salad, garlic bread and fruit salad. This aids their self-care skills in preparation for school. Staff throughout the nursery use clear and consistent strategies to promote children's understanding of acceptable behaviour. Children receive a suitable amount of praise and they behave well and show kindness to each other. Overall, staff adequately promote children's safety. For instance, most staff demonstrate a suitable understanding of how to assess and minimise risks to children's safety and suitable written risk assessments are in place.

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provision

This inspection was brought forward following a concern raised to Ofsted. These concerns raised issues regarding health, safety and well-being of the children. During the inspection, it was found that the nursery had taken prompt and effective action to deal with a rat problem. The provider minimised the risk to children by obtaining a regular contract with a local firm to ensure vermin are eradicated. This showed that the management team has acted accordingly to protect children's safety in this respect. In addition, the concern related to procedures where children take themselves unescorted from the forest school building to the main nursery building, when they need the bathroom. It was found that until recently that this used to be the procedure, which calls into question the deployment of staff. However this procedure has been re-evaluated and now staff use a walkie talkie to call for additional staff to escort the children, which means

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provision

In discussion with the manager she demonstrated a commitment to enhance the provision and has a variety of plans for future improvements at the nursery. However, despite evaluations of the provision being started, the current approach has failed to identify significant areas in need of improvement.

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provision

The leadership team has recently appointed a new manager to run the nursery. This manager, who was previously the deputy manager, has been in place for a short period of time and is currently reflecting on practice and documentation. There are poor systems in place to monitor the overall provision. Leadership is weak and as a result, management are unaware of the inadequate daily practices of staff and inconsistencies within the setting. Although the nursery has suitable levels of qualified staff, they are not deployed effectively to meet the health and safety needs of all the children attending. In addition, children's health is at risk due to the lack of hygiene practices within the setting, especially in relation to baby room.

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provision

Staff demonstrate a sufficient understanding of current child protection procedures and are aware of the reporting procedures to follow if they have a concern about a child. The safeguarding policy meets requirements and most staff have attended child protection training. This enables each member of staff to have an up-to-date knowledge of safeguarding issues. The nursery follows clear procedures for the recruitment and vetting of staff to ensure the suitability of those in regular contact with the children. However, documentation to safeguard children is not always maintained. For example, the attendance register in some rooms is not always up to date and does not show the hours of attendance or the names of each child's key person, which is a breach of requirements. Consequently, the provider does not meet the requirements of the Childcare Register.

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provision

Partnerships with parents and professionals are suitability maintained. The nursery works well with schools and other agencies involved in children's care. This provides continuity and consistency in the children's care. Parents comment that their children are happy and they are pleased with the care and service the nursery provides.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

 keep a daily record of the names of the children looked after on the premises which includes their hours of attendance (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)

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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 EY404137 Local authority Windsor & Maidenhead Inspection number 955186 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 92 Number of children on roll 118 Name of provider Nature's Nursery (Ascot) Limited Date of previous inspection 08/07/2013 Telephone number 01344 625070

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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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