The Sunshine Day Nursery @ Seascape Children's Centre

Seascape Sure Start Children's Centre Ellison Road, PETERLEE, Co Durham, SR8 5NJ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 15/04/2014 08/05/2009

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early years provision

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

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This provision is outstanding

 Teaching is excellent and children are motivated to learn as staff offer them challenging, varied and stimulating activities resulting from accurate and precise assessment and planning. As a result, children make rapid progress in their learning.  The excellent range of accessible resources and equipment offer a highly stimulating and rich environment for the children. This successfully captures children's ongoing interests, inspiring them to explore, investigate and become active learners.  Children are kept safeguarded at all times because staff have an excellent knowledge and understanding of how to protect the children in their care.  Leadership is inspirational with a strong drive to continuously improve. All staff embrace reflective practice and work closely together to constantly monitor and evaluate the provision.  Partnership working with parents and other professionals is highly valued. As a result,

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This provision is outstanding

all children's learning and care needs are exceptionally well met.

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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 talked to the owner, manager, staff, children, parents and the family worker.  The inspector observed the quality of teaching and adult and child interactions.  The inspector looked at observation, planning, and assessment documentation.  The inspector looked at a sample of children's developmental records.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked staff records including suitability checks, qualifications and training.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at a range of documentation, including policies and procedures and risk assessments.

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Information about the setting

Seascape Sure Start Children's Centre was registered in 2008 and is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. It is one of three provisions operated by this individual provider. It is situated in purpose-built premises in the Eden Hill area of Peterlee, and is managed by a partnership. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children. It operates from Seascape Children's Centre and there is an enclosed area available for outdoor play. The nursery employs 16 members of childcare staff. Of these, 13 hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 and two hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2. The manager holds an appropriate early years qualification at level 5. The nursery opens Monday to Friday all year round for 51 weeks of the year. Sessions are from 8am until 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 81 children attending who are in the early years age group.

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Information about the setting

The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It supports a number of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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

 continue to build upon opportunities for children to develop greater independence skills at mealtimes.

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who attend

Staff have an excellent knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage and how young children learn. They work very well with parents from the outset to gather information about their children before they start at the nursery. Staff skilfully observe, record and take photographs of children's activities. Staff use this information to plan exciting, highly stimulating activities that meet children's needs and engage their interests exceptionally well. This information is shared with parents to explain how they can support their child at home and how it links to learning and development. This promotes children's all round learning exceptionally well. Planning is extremely flexible and is based on children's interests and individual needs. Staff successfully incorporate individual planning for their key children into the daily programme. Staff carry out regular, detailed progress reports, including the progress check at age two, which they share with parents. They consistently

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who attend

assess children's progress to highlight any gaps in learning so early interventions can be quickly sought. As a result, gaps are rapidly closing and all children make excellent progress given their varying starting points.

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who attend

The quality of teaching is consistently of a very high standard across the nursery. There is a strong focus on communication and language, physical and personal, social and emotional development. This means children are exceptionally well prepared for their next steps in learning and are emotionally ready for school. Children with identified special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported very effectively because staff meet regularly with parents and outside professionals. They use the information gained from these meetings to plan appropriate steps in children's learning and development that will help them make as much progress as they can.

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who attend

Staff support children to be curious and active learners from the very start. This is because the nursery is highly stimulating indoors and out and staff plan exciting activities in response to children's interests. For example, children relish stomping in a 'homemade' puddle and become highly engaged as they explore mixing the paint and bubbles. Staff challenge children's thinking skills by asking highly effective open-ended questions, such as 'I wonder what will happen if...' This helps children to engage in deeper level thinking, which results in deeper level learning. Babies and toddlers have many opportunities to learn using all their senses. For example, they delight in exploring the different textures and tastes of melted chocolate and crunchy flakes during a cooking activity. Staff are highly skilled at modelling language by using one and two word phrases such 'stir' and 'scoop' as they mix the ingredients in the bowl. They skilfully use everyday play

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who attend

opportunities for children to notice sounds around them. For example, they encourage them to listen to the sound the water makes when it is sprayed on the metal pan. As a result, children's language, listening and attention skills are very well promoted. Older children develop excellent listening and attention skills as they follow instructions as they excitedly take part in an Easter egg hunt. Staff skilfully promote children's understanding of positional language, such as 'behind', 'under' and 'over there' as they hunt for the chocolate eggs. Children thoroughly enjoy moving their bodies in a number of ways. For example, they stretch, march, clap hands and swing their arms in time to the music. This helps them to learn to control movements and become aware of what their bodies can do. Staff successfully promote children's use of number as they count the eggs they find and recognise numbers in the environment. Staff provide very good opportunities for children

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who attend

to make marks, promoting early writing skills. As a result, they gain skills they need to be ready for school and the next stage in their learning.

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who attend

Highly effective partnerships with parents ensure that they are fully informed and are included in their children's care and learning. Staff carry out home visits which help them to gain extensive information about the children's background before they start at the nursery. Parents provide staff with details of what their children can already do and about their care routines. This includes information about their communication and language skills. The nursery takes a proactive interest in children's learning at home. Detailed daily diaries and ongoing daily dialogue with parents ensures a two-way flow of information to ensure children's learning and care needs are consistently very well met. Staff encourage parents to complete observations of their children's achievements at home and use these to inform planning and tracking of their progress. This gives a clear and precise picture of children's learning journey. Staff create highly attractive learning journals for each child

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who attend

that clearly shows what they are able to do and the progress that they are making. This information is continuously shared with parents. As a result, parents feel valued and fully involved in their children's learning.

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

Staff create extremely warm and secure emotional attachments with their key children, and this is clear in the caring relationships observed. The importance of the key person role is recognised by staff who sensitively support children's emotional welfare. Together with the comprehensive knowledge each key person has of children and their families, children flourish and grow in confidence. Staff have developed a 'buddy system' where a named second key person for each child ensures children's emotional and learning needs are equally well met in the key person's absence. This offers them excellent consistency in their learning. Children benefit from a gradual introduction to the setting based around their individual needs. As a result, children are very happy and settle quickly. Babies and toddlers have times of calm, comfort and relaxing sensory experiences. They show their curiosity as they explore and investigate a wide variety of open-ended natural resources

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

and materials, using all of their senses. They show excitement and have great fun joining in with singing and action rhymes. This helps to support early language development. Babies sleep and rest when they are tired and staff follow their home routines. This meets children's individual needs and supports their well-being extremely well. Key persons have an excellent understanding of the level of support needed by individual children for self- care and personal hygiene, providing a consistently high standard of care. Children demonstrate extremely good manners and are polite to adults and one another. This is because they learn from the excellent role models they have in the staff working at the nursery. Staff use continuous praise and highly innovative ways to celebrate children's good behaviour. For example, they display children's positive efforts and achievements on a special tree to share with parents and children can chose a 'special reward' at the end of

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

the day. As a result, children are extremely confident, self-assured and are eager to learn.

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

Children serve their own food, pour their own drinks and clear away after they have eaten. This develops their self-care and independence skills, although there is scope to further expand upon opportunities for children to serve themselves accompanying dishes at lunchtime. Children's good health is comprehensively promoted through the provision of nutritious meals and snacks that are cooked on the premises. This helps children to make healthy choices and promotes children's awareness of how to keep themselves healthy. Staff sit with children as they eat their healthy lunch of homemade fish cakes and fresh vegetables and encourage them to enjoy such occasions as a sociable experience. Information regarding food allergies is clearly available to all staff to protect children's health and well-being. There are many opportunities for children to develop independence and self-help skills, such as washing hands before lunch and brushing their teeth and

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

washing their faces after lunch. Staff keep children very safe and effectively help them to understand how to keep themselves safe. For example, they remind children not to swing on the chairs in case they fall.

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

The highly-stimulating environment is methodically and thoughtfully planned with young children's needs in mind. Babies and toddlers have open access their own dedicated play space indoors and outdoors so they can enjoy learning in a safe environment that effectively meets their needs. The indoor and outdoor areas have an excellent range of natural and commercially produced resources which cover all areas of learning. Resources are easily accessible so children can make independent choices in their play. Staff are highly skilled at observing children's interest and add exciting enhancements to the continuous environment in response. For example, children learn to care for the chickens in the nursery. Children have very good opportunities to learn about nature and the world around them. For example, they hunt for bugs and walk to the local woods to collect leaves and sticks. Children are exceptionally well prepared for the next stage in their

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

learning. The nursery provides first-class support for children's move from home into the nursery, and between the rooms. Key persons support these moves by attending visits with the children to their new room to prepare them for their next stage in their learning and development. The nursery invites local schools to visit and requests visits to the school to share and discuss the changes and differences. Progress and transition documents are completed by staff as children move between rooms in the nursery. This ensures that children are confident and fully prepared in times of change to make a good start in the next stage of their learning.

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provision

Safeguarding procedures are extremely effective, which ensures children are kept safe at all times. Robust recruitment and vetting systems ensure all adults working with children are suitable to do so. Staff complete up to date safeguarding training and are extremely competent in the procedures to follow and who to contact in the event of any concerns about children, or adults working with the children. An extensive range of policies and procedures successfully underpin daily practice and regular reviews are carried out. All children enjoy an extremely safe and secure play and learning environment because staff complete comprehensive daily checks. The premises are very secure and no unauthorised person is able to gain entry. Extensive risk assessments for all areas of the building, the outdoor area and resources, together with accurate accident records and procedures for reviewing these ensure that children's safety remains paramount. The manager ensures

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provision

that staff are deployed effectively according to qualifications and experience with specific age groups of children. Staff are highly conscientious in ensuring the safety and supervision of children. Highly effective organisation and deployment of staff ensure ratios are maintained. Excellent procedures and systems are in place and are followed implicitly, which enhances safeguarding practice. This means that children are well protected in the nursery.

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provision

The leadership and management of the nursery are exemplary. The nursery is extremely well run by a knowledgeable, dedicated and reflective manager. Children are cared for by highly qualified, motivated and experienced staff. Photographs and information about staff and their roles are displayed. This means that parents are fully aware that their children are cared for by suitable people. Management implement a thorough induction programme, which provides excellent support for all staff and sets out the very high standards. The performance of all staff is closely monitored and their ongoing professional development is actively promoted through many training opportunities. The qualifications of staff and continual professional development has an extremely positive impact on outcomes for children's learning and development. For example, recent training on outdoor environments has had a positive impact on the learning experiences offered to

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provision

children when playing outside. The management team oversee the planning and implementation of the stimulating educational programme and consistency of assessments. Through observing staff practice, the manager monitors the effectiveness of the quality of teaching. Staff performance is monitored through staff supervision and appraisals. Leadership and management successfully monitor and review the educational programme to continually drive improvement for children. Self-evaluation is at the core of the nursery's operation. Both management and staff are highly skilled at recognising areas for improvement and addressing them successfully, including the recommendation raised at the last inspection. The manager and her team have highly effective procedures to monitor the overall educational programme for each child. This involves tracking children from their starting points to when they leave, monitoring their progress over time and

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provision

ensuring any delayed development or gaps in progress can be quickly and effectively addressed.

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provision

Excellent partnerships between parents, external agencies and other providers are evident and well established. These contribute to meeting children's individual needs highly effectively. Interventions are sought at an early stage to identify any group falling behind their peers or below their expected achievements. This results in children's needs being effectively met and relevant support services, such as occupational therapists and speech therapists being involved. The nursery have worked hard to build excellent relationships with local schools. The manager and her deputy manager visit local schools prior to children starting the next stage in their learning to share information. Teachers from local schools also visit the nursery so their prospective children to get to know them. As a result, transitions are smooth and children's individual learning and care needs are very well supported. The nursery work very closely with the local early years team and the

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provision

children's centre family worker, who provides training and support. The nursery is highly valued and provides training for other providers and is used as a best practice model. Highly effective communication systems ensure that parents are kept fully informed of their children's progress. Photographs and informative displays cover the walls. These illustrate the breadth of activities that children are actively involved in during their time at the nursery, accompanied by explanations relating to how children learn. An abundance of informative leaflets, newsletters, policies and procedures are readily available. This helps ensure parents are aware of how the nursery operates and know how to raise any concerns. The view of parents, children and staff are readily sought and responded to. For example, the nursery has recently purchased tablet computers with funding raised from parents. As a result, parents and children feel listened to and valued. Parents written

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provision

comments include how the nursery has 'enriched' their child's life 'on so many positive levels'. Parents spoken to on the day talk about the support of the 'fantastic staff' and of the superb progress their children have made since starting the nursery.

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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 EY386626 Local authority Durham Inspection number 858993

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 30 Number of children on roll 81 Name of provider Katherine Hardman & Anne Arrowsmith Partnership Date of previous inspection 08/05/2009 Telephone number 01915867767

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Type of provision

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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