Southernwood Nursery

Southernwood Nursery Greenway Road, TORQUAY, TQ2 6JE

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 17/04/2014 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: Not Applicable How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 Relationships between adults and children are very supportive and warm which promotes children's well-being particularly well.  Adults are very positive role models and are fully focused on the children, which leads to the children being well-settled and confident in the nursery.  Children are well-prepared for school, because staff plan activities that develop their ability to function as part of a group, to listen, respond to instructions and requests, and to share and take turns.  Staff interact well with children and extend their thinking and learning through interesting and challenging activities.  The manager has a clear vision for the nursery and a strong capacity to bring about development and improvement, identifying the most important areas to focus on.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Staff are not always clear about identifying the specific learning for individuals in particular activities, which results in some missed opportunities to extend learning.  Information for parents about children's learning is not always detailed and frequent enough to enable all parents to be fully involved in developing their child's learning.

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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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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed teaching in all rooms of the nursery and outdoors.  The inspector carried out a joint observation and discussion with the manager.  The inspector met with a number of parents and carers.  The inspector examined some records and documents.  The inspector questioned staff.

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Information about the setting

Southernwood Nursery re-registered by a new provider, Southernwood Nursery Ltd, in 2013. The nursery operates from a converted part of a Victorian house in Torquay, Devon. Children have access to varied outdoor play areas, with chickens and rabbits kept in runs in the garden. The nursery is open each weekday from 8.30am to 5.30pm for 51 weeks of the year, closing only at Christmas. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register. Southernwood accepts children from the age of two and there are currently 83 children in the early years age range on roll. Access to the nursery door is by a flight of five steps and the two main rooms of the nursery are separated by a short flight of steps. There are nine members of childcare staff including the manager, who is a qualified teacher. Five other staff have suitable qualifications, including four at level 3 and one at level 4. The manager is also one of the people making up the company registered as the provider. The nursery

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Information about the setting

cares for children for whom English is an additional language and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The nursery receives funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two, three and four.

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

 further improve staff awareness of the next steps required for individual children to help ensure opportunities for learning are maximised

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

 enhance opportunities for parents to understand and support their child's learning by developing a more frequent and detailed two-way flow of information.

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who attend

Teaching in the nursery is good overall, because skilled and experienced staff plan appropriately challenging activities across the seven areas of learning and respond to the children in sensitive and supportive ways. For example, a member of staff waits patiently while particular children arrange their thoughts and respond to questions, and then offers supportive comments and praise for their contributions. The children experience a wide range of activities and staff have high expectations of them, requiring them to pay attention and focus on group activities, and encouraging children to think and imagine. They make good use of skilful questioning, interesting stories and imaginative scenarios to promote learning. The children are confident and interested learners; they are happy to contribute to group discussions, approach adults for conversation or share something interesting. For example, one child approached the inspector during a drama

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who attend

activity to explain about the imaginary pink chocolate she had just bought at the imaginary shop. This shows children are confident that adults in the nursery focus fully on the children and value their comments and contributions. There are a generous number of staff employed by the provider which means that the children usually have very good access to responsive adults.

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who attend

The manager has introduced an appropriate record keeping system for all children involving quick observations and regular summaries of progress. Using the records collated by key staff, the manager is able to identify individuals requiring extra support and areas of the curriculum that require further attention across the nursery. Children with particular needs are identified quickly, supported well and are making good progress. The educational programme is relevant to the children in the nursery, ensuring that all children experience a good range of activities. Staff are sensitive to children's needs and reactions and respond well to individual children in the course of the activities. However, staff cannot always explain why activities are particularly relevant to the progress of individual children to show that they are aware of all opportunities to promote learning.

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who attend

Parents and carers are asked a good range of questions about their children on settling into the nursery, and this useful information is the starting point for the children's records. The manager has recently carried out a useful consultation questionnaire with parents and carers. As a result of this, she has identified a regular time when she is available for them to talk with her about their child's progress to promote communication. Parents are also able to talk to other staff when they drop and collect their children. Parents spoken to on the day of inspection were very happy with the nursery, the approachability of the staff and their access to verbal information about their child's progress. This shows that these verbal exchanges support the relationships between the families and the nursery well. However, parents have less frequent access to the children's learning records, which limits some parents' opportunities to keep

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who attend

abreast of the detail of their child's learning and development.

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who attend

Children in the nursery are being well-prepared for school. The staff have established formal routines, such as finding name cards and posting them in a box on arrival, and practical routines which include how to move as a group from room to room. The staff provide useful and relevant pencil and paper exercises for the older children, as part of their preparation for their move into Reception class. Some of the older children have particularly good writing skills. The children enjoy books and stories individually. As a group, they count regularly, are all able to sit and listen for an appropriate time and they are able to attend to instructions. During outdoor play staff support the children to develop their skills and enjoyment in climbing and balancing. The children are also able to manipulate small items such as pencils, chalks and brushes which helps them to improve their finer physical skills. They enthusiastically engage in adult-led group

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who attend

activities and in helping the adults to care for the rabbits and chickens in the garden. The nursery is providing a good foundation for the next stage in the children's learning because the programme planned by staff is relevant, varied and interesting.

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

The nursery provides good support for children's emotional well-being. Staff greet children and parents warmly and children come into nursery very happily and settle immediately. Relationships throughout the nursery are warm and supportive and children are clearly very comfortable with all of the adults. The flexible key person system has been recently re-organised, but in this small nursery all of the staff are well known to the children. Staff offer children who are less confident or unwell sensitive support. For example, if a child becomes unwell they are comforted by a member of staff, which reassures the child and manages the situation efficiently to ensure the child's well-being. Overall staff demonstrate a thoughtful and effective approach to supporting children's emotional well-being and confidence.

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

Adults have high expectations of the children's behaviour and have established sensible and supportive routines. For example, the children line up to wait to move from space to space, which enables them to move safely and calmly from free play to adult-led activities. The nursery environment includes a good range of resources that staff help the children to choose and access. The children confidently interact with any of the staff as they wish during free play times. At other times, they participate enthusiastically in interesting and varied group sessions. Children are being taught to be members of a group, to share and to wait their turn in a supportive and sensitive environment. The adults ensure that the children develop their ability to participate in a group well. They achieve this by making the sessions relevant and interesting and by grouping the children carefully so that an appropriate level of challenge or support can be offered at

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

Behaviour in the nursery is good, because staff are observant. They notice when individual children need to be given reminders about how they should behave and this minimises instances of less acceptable behaviour. This means that the nursery is a calm and positive place for the children and this in turn helps maximise their opportunities to learn from the interesting experiences and activities provided.

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provision

The newly registered provider and directors of the nursery are a husband and wife team, with the wife also being the nursery manager. They lead and manage the nursery well. The manager has a clear vision for the nursery. She has adopted a highly professional approach to obtaining and following advice and guidance from consultants and from the previous owners. She has evaluated the work of the nursery and correctly identified a number of areas for improvement. During her short time at the nursery, the manager has developed an effective system for recording children's progress, so that it now includes a regular summary of progress across all seven areas of learning. This means that this information can be used well to identify areas for development for individuals and for the nursery as a whole. She has also made a number of sensible changes to the environment to improve the experience for the children, such as re-arranging some storage of

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provision

resources so that the nursery is less crowded for children. The manager is clearly aware of the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and is personally involved with the children every day. This means she is acting as a good role model to colleagues, as well as observing their work and feeding back her comments and suggestions.

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provision

The manager has established a regular timetable for individual staff supervisions and appraisals and has started to carry these out. Since arriving at the nursery, she has correctly prioritised working with the children and has identified some children as requiring additional support. Records for individual children show that the manager works effectively with parents and carers, as well as outside agencies, to obtain relevant diagnoses and specialist support to promote children's individual progress.

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provision

The manager implements thorough recruitment processes and has obtained new checks for most of the existing staff and new staff since taking over. This shows a good commitment to ensuring children's safety. Newly appointed staff have been required to familiarise themselves with nursery policies and they are made aware of the correct procedure to follow if they have any concerns about children or colleagues. The manager has established good induction processes that help to ensure children are safeguarded well. Since carrying out a parental questionnaire, the manager has identified and publicised to parents a regular time when she is available to speak with them. She is conscientious in consulting parents and makes positive changes to meet their needs and those of their children.

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provision

Overall, the leadership and management are good. The manager has driven forward a number of developments since taking over and this demonstrates a good ability to evaluate the provision and a clear capacity for bringing about improvement.

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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 EY468344 Local authority Torbay Inspection number 942968 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 5 Total number of places 32 Number of children on roll 83 Name of provider Southernwood Nursery Ltd Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 01803607640

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Setting details

set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

Full-time provision is that which operates for more than three hours. These are usually known as nurseries, nursery schools and pre-schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the higher fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Sessional provision operates for more than two hours but does not exceed three hours in any one day. These are usually known as pre-schools, kindergartens or nursery schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the lower fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Childminders care for one or more children where individual children attend for a period of more than two hours in any one day. They operate from domestic premises, which are usually the childminder’s own home. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Type of provision

Out of school provision may be sessional or full-time provision and is delivered before or after school and/or in the summer holidays. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Where children receive their Early Years Foundation Stage in school these providers do not have to deliver the learning and development requirements in full but should complement the experiences children receive in school. achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children,

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Type of provision

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Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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