Scallywags Day Nursery

Scallywags Day Nursery 48-54 Church Street, Bocking, BRAINTREE, Essex, CM7 5JY

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 16/04/2014 09/07/2009

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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's progress is very effectively supported by the high quality of teaching and the sharply focused assessments carried out by the staff.  Warm, nurturing relationships between the staff and children give children the confidence to play and explore their environments and become active learners.  Partnerships with parents are actively promoted, enabling parents to feel confident with the care their children are receiving and they are well informed about their child's progress.  The manager and her team monitor the nursery effectively through careful evaluations and ensuring the continuing professional development of staff.  Children's safety is very well supported through good policies and procedures and a wide range of daily and ongoing checks.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Creative activities are occasionally too focused on the end product and not the children's learning process.  Staff do not always make the very best use of interactions to extend children's language.

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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 carried out observations of activities in all areas of the nursery and the garden areas.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held a meeting with the manager and spoke to members of staff in each room.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's learning journeys, planning documentation in each room, a selection of children's records and the nursery policies and procedures.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of recruitment, suitability and qualifications of staff working with children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents through the results of parent questionnaires and parents spoken to on the day.  The inspector carried out a joint observation of practice with the manager.

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Information about the setting

Scallywags Day Nursery was registered in 1997 and is on the Early Years Register. It is situated in a purpose built premises, in the village of Bocking, in Essex. It is managed by the nursery manager and serves the local and wider area. It operates from a two-storey building and a single-storey building and there are two enclosed areas available for outdoor play. The nursery employs 19 members of childcare staff. Of these, three hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2 and 12 hold early years qualifications at level 3, including one with Early Years Professional Status. The nursery opens Monday to Friday all year round. Sessions are from 7am until 7pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 153 children attending who are in the early years age group. 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:

 strengthen the way in which staff make the best possible use of all opportunities to extend children's language

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

 extend skills to support children's self-expression that help staff focus on the learning process of creative activities, rather than on the finished end-product.

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who attend

Children thrive in this warm and welcoming environment. The staff's secure knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage and child development effectively supports them to ensure children progress well in all areas. The good monitoring and training for staff supports them to develop high quality teaching methods. The management team has taken time to carefully develop the systems used for observation, assessment and planning and to build the confidence of the staff team in using these. This ensures the children's learning journey records provide a clear picture of the child's learning and a sharp focus on their next steps. Staff provide a comfortable environment where children of all ages have activities and experiences that are carefully planned to extend individual learning. Children's learning journey files are consistently well kept and include photographs, observations and items of their work. The content of the records makes

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who attend

them highly accessible for parents and staff share these as part of their commitment to good partnerships. The well planned and careful support of children throughout the nursery ensures that they have both the skills and confidence that they need to be ready for school or their next stage of learning. Staff plan and provide a wide range of activities designed to match children's learning styles. To encourage them to play and explore, the toys and resources provided are of very good quality. The extensive enabling environment supports children to freely choose what they want to play with. Staff teach babies and toddlers to explore and investigate through play. For example, the babies are engaged with a ball run game in which they clearly take delight. The staff model how to post the balls into the run and the children are encouraged to collect the balls and post them themselves. The staff talk with the children,

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who attend

describing what they are doing and talking about the colour of the balls and how many they have. There is a lot of praise when the children post the balls and they all cheer when the ball appears at the bottom of the run. Children are clearly learning about how to share and take turns, they practice physical skills and begin to learn to solve problems and to develop language skills. The toddlers play freely with the careful support of the staff. As children play with sand, they bury shapes and then dig them out. This game is supported and extended by the staff and the children are engaged well, with high levels of concentration. Children's creative and critical thinking is well supported by staff who describe what they are doing and challenge them to continue and develop the play. The baby and toddler environments provide a wide range of sensory experiences for children and they can move freely to find different things to explore and discover.

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who attend

Pre-school children have a very good, well planned range of continuous provision, with appropriate areas for different types of play. Children have long sessions of free play with time and space to develop, explore and discover. The rooms are set out so that children can easily access activities and experiences across all areas of learning. Children play with dough. They have a good range of tools to use and the staff play with them, using lots of open questions to support and extend children's thinking. The children talk about the tools they use and the staff encourage them to think about the texture of the tools and the patterns they make in the dough. Children easily identify the different shapes they are using to cut the dough and talk about 'circles' and 'semi-circles'. Children help to set up the printing activity and freely choose what colours they want to use for their prints. They thoroughly enjoy exploring paint and printing materials. Children's creativity is sensitively

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who attend

supported through these activities. However, there are occasional inappropriate adult directions that may stifle creativity. This is because the adult is too intent on the child producing a finished end product rather than allowing the child to enjoy and benefit from the learning experience. Staff are effective in engaging children's interest in books and each room has books available. Children choose books freely and are confident to read to each other and to the adults. To support the younger children and engage them well, the staff use puppets during storytelling and singing activities.

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who attend

Children have many opportunities to be out in the fresh air in all weathers as the nursery provide wet weather clothes. The babies and toddlers have their own garden where there is a good range of age-appropriate equipment and children can be free to explore. The pre-school garden is well equipped and well used as an outdoor classroom. The children are invited to take part in play with the parachute. They have to keep the bean bag in the middle of the parachute, while moving it up and down. All children are actively included and the younger children are sensitively supported. Staff skilfully encourage children to help each other and work together as a team. The staff's interactions with the children are, on the whole, very well used. However, on occasion, staff miss opportunities to extend the children's language.

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who attend

Children's work is attractively displayed around the nursery, showing that what they create is valued. Staff skilfully teach children about the community and the wider world. For example, children visit the local residential home for the elderly where they are helping to plant and grow flowers. They have an area in the pre-school garden to grow vegetables and flowers, helping them to learn about nature's life cycles. Overall, children play and learn in an environment that encourages them to become active learners and to develop very good attitudes to learning. Children's transitions and preparations for the next stage in their learning are exceptionally well supported. At each stage children are provided with a settling-in process as they move up through the nursery. The children's learning journey records are successfully shared by key persons and the nursery has good links with local schools to support children who are moving on.

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

Children's personal, social and emotional development is a very positive strength of the nursery. Staff help children feel very secure and at home as they are greeted with enthusiasm and smiles. The effectiveness of the practice supports children to become independent learners and to feel welcome and valued. Children demonstrate the confidence they feel as they move freely around the nursery and choose what to play with. Children are actively encouraged to take responsibility for their own safety. For example, in the pre-school room children carry out daily risk assessments with a tick sheet to complete. Staff clearly know children well, through the detailed information gathered from parents and the ongoing key person assessments. Good systems are in place for supporting positive behaviour management. Staff are consistent and give children lots of praise and encouragement to support them to develop skills for self-control. Children

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

participate in regular fire evacuation drills to teach them how to follow important instructions and to help them become confident in the event of an emergency.

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

Staff understand the importance of good hygiene practices and ensure children are made aware of these. Babies and toddlers receive very good care and staff follow their individual routines, which helps them to settle well into the nursery. This is demonstrated when children come into the nursery and show they are comfortable and secure as they excitedly explore the toys. Babies are changed regularly and toddlers are well supported in potty training by effective procedures. From an early age staff encourage the children in the nursery to make healthy choices, this includes hand washing before all meals and after toileting. A healthy and balanced diet is provided to meet children's individual needs at all times. All food is prepared and cooked on the premises and the weekly menu is displayed for parents. The cook takes care to ensure she has all the necessary information required to provide for all children. She is always on hand and happy to talk to parents about

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

children's diets and adds tips to the newsletter to support parents at home. Staff support children to make mealtimes and snacks a sociable and enjoyable time for them. For example, children are not rushed and are encouraged to eat at their own pace. They engage in conversations with friends and adults. Drinks are readily available throughout the day. Children build excellent and trusting relationships with the staff, who are dedicated to ensuring that children's time at the nursery is a positive experience.

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provision

The manager and staff team have a comprehensive understanding of their responsibility in safeguarding children. They have all attended safeguarding training or are booked to attend. The manager and her deputies ensure all staff understand and implement the extensive and detailed range of policies and procedures. This helps them to support the staff team's practice and promote the welfare of the children who attend. Staff carry out thorough risk assessments at the beginning of each day to ensure that all areas of the environment, including equipment and resources, are safe, both indoors and outdoors. Staff carefully supervise and observe children and good ratios are maintained at all times, ensuring children's safety. Robust recruitment procedures and the effective staff supervision and appraisal system mean that staff remain suitable to work with the children.

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provision

The nursery manager and her management team provide strong leadership to this close- knit and well motivated staff team. A clear lead is shown in driving improvement, promoting an effective team approach with all staff. The systems for continuous evaluation of the setting include the views of all staff, parents and children. This ensures improvements are continually made to nurture and improve children's care, learning and development. There are robust procedures in place for the induction of new members of staff and for further professional development. Regular supervision and staff meetings, as well as informal discussions with the management team, ensure staff are able to bring forward ideas and discuss any issues they have with confidence.

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provision

There is very good partnership working with parents and external professionals. Ongoing communication between parents and staff keeps them fully informed and included in the nursery. The nursery team use a detailed notice board, daily information on white boards outside the rooms and communication books to exchange information. The management team use emails, regular newsletters and parent's evenings to support parents to feel part of nursery life. Parents have regular opportunities to discuss their children's progress and staff encourage them to play an active role in their children's learning and development, for example, by adding information about children's achievements to the daily diaries.

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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 650124 Local authority Essex Inspection number 869514

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 87 Number of children on roll 153 Name of provider Scallywags Day Nursery Ltd Date of previous inspection 09/07/2009 Telephone number 01376 331770

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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

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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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