Kiddie Kapers Neighbourhood Nursery

Kiddie Kapers Neighbourhood Nursery The Willow Centre, Brookfield Road, ASHFORD, Kent, TN23 4EY

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 02/04/2014 03/11/2010

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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

 The strong relationships between parents and staff ensure relevant detail is shared to support individual needs.  There is a very good range of good quality resources and equipment throughout the nursery that supports children's learning and enables play choices.  The use of the outdoor play areas throughout most of the day for all children supports their physical development well, promoting a healthy lifestyle.  Children benefit from the provision of nutritiously balanced, freshly cooked lunches and healthy snacks.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 The staff are not routinely encouraging children to make marks or practise their early writing outside in a range of play situations.  The play environments do not fully reflect all children's cultures and home languages to strengthen their understanding of diversity.

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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 voluntary and compulsory parts 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 in the play rooms and the outside play areas.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held meetings with the provider, the manager and deputy of the nursery and completed joint observations with the manager in the nursery.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at some children's records, including their learning assessments.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to parents during the inspection and took account of their views.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of safeguarding practices, staff recruitment, ongoing professional development and self-evaluation processes.

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Information about the setting

Kiddie Kapers Neighbourhood Nursery registered in 2004 and is managed by The Beaver Community Trust Committee. The nursery operates from the ground floor of the Willow Children's Centre in the area of South Ashford. Children have access to outdoor play areas. The nursery is open each weekday from 8am to 6pm, for 50 weeks of the year.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently 134 childrenaged from 3 months on roll and all are in early years age range.

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Information about the setting

The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language.

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Information about the setting

There are 21 members of staff, including bank staff, of these 19 hold appropriate early years qualifications ranging from level 2 to level 7. The nursery receives funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two, three and four years. The nursery has strong links with the children's centre.

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

 strengthen the outdoor learning experiences to routinely cover mark making and writing for different purposes

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

 improve the use of children's home languages and culture across the environment and in children's play, to promote diversity fully and help develop all children's awareness of differences amongst people.

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who attend

The staff promote children's learning and development effectively. The key person makes good use of the observations they make as children play to assess their stage of development. Staff track children's progress every term to ensure progress occurs and this feeds into the main nursery monitoring process. This means that key staff are able to note any learning gaps to be narrowed with some focused planning. The key person identifies appropriate next steps for each of their key children and the planning reflects these. They share the next steps with parents and make some activity suggestions so parents can support their child's learning at home. Children's learning records are readily available to parents to look at and they can take them home weekly. Therefore, they are very aware of the progress their child is making and can contribute to the record. Parents speak very positively of the support they and their child receives. The staff provide 'excellent care'

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who attend

and are 'responsive to parent and children's needs'. The staff produce informative progress checks for parents of the two-year-old children. These reports include the required detail on children's personal, social, emotional and physical progress, as well as their communication and language development.

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who attend

The staff are good at engaging with the children and this motivates them to join in with adult-led activities. Younger children learn about mark making as they use tools, hands and feet in a tray of powder. Babies have cuddles with staff and enjoy looking at themselves in the mirror. Older children concentrate well as staff read stories, gaining good listening skills and enjoy looking at books in the outside area. There are varied writing and mark-making materials across the nursery, but staff are not always routinely encouraging the use of these during outdoor play activities. All children enjoy having easy access to outdoor play and resources, for example, using the ride on toys and climbing equipment that helps develop physical skills. The staff use games, such as 'What's the time Mr Wolf' to teach children in a fun way. Babies and children are able to be creative as they use art and craft materials or use their imagination.

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who attend

Children are gaining the skills they need for going to school. They are confident and keen to interact with the staff. They are learning to play cooperatively with others and gain independence skills as they make choices about their play. Overall, the staff promote babies and children's developing communication and language skills well. Staff working with the younger children speak expressively to children and talk about what they are doing. They respond to toddlers' 'babble' and introduce new language. Singing is used effectively throughout the nursery to encourage language development. On the whole, staff ask questions of children that need them to think of an answer, valuing their ideas and thoughts.

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

Each child has a named key person and their photograph is in the child's 'Unique Story' that parents have easy access to. The key person works alongside parents to get to know their key children well so they can ably support their care and learning needs. The home visits and 'All about Me' detail that parents provide when children start helps the key person build a positive relationship with their key children. This helps support children's emotional security as key staff routinely monitor children's well-being. The key person knows where children are in their learning and plans appropriate activities to help them develop. As far as possible, key persons deal with children's personal care needs, particularly with the younger babies and toddlers.

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

Children demonstrate good levels of confidence and gain suitable independence skills. This will help them when they go to school. For example, children can access toilets when they need to or pour themselves a drink of water. Children interact very positively with the staff and enjoy joining in with the planned activities. The staff encourage children to make choices about their play or decide if they want to play outside or indoors. The staff manage children's behaviour well and as a result, they behave well. Staff teach them to take turns and share resources from an early age so this becomes common practise by the time they are ready for the move to school. Children learn to keep themselves safe, for example by practising the regular fire drill evacuations and being taught to use scissors sensibly.

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

Children are gaining a positive awareness about the need for a healthy lifestyle. The nursery provides varied healthy snacks during the day, such as fresh fruits and toast. Children benefit from the nutritiously balanced cooked lunches from the caf in the Children Centre. Children develop good skills for the future as they use proper cutlery and clear their plate away at the end of the meal. The use of outdoor play throughout the day means that children benefit from physical play and learning in the fresh air. The nursery environment both indoors and outside is welcoming and child-centred. The furniture and equipment is very good quality and there is a broad range of appropriate resources. Children are able to make their own choices as most resources are on tables, the floor or on low-level shelves. Staff gain good information from parents about children's backgrounds to help support them as individuals. However, the environment, activities and

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

resources do not fully reflect the home languages and cultural backgrounds of all children who attend, to help all children understand and value differences.

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provision

The management team demonstrate a confident knowledge of the safeguarding and welfare requirements. They ensure the staff have safeguarding training so they know about possible child protection concerns and of the processes to follow. The premises are secure and safe for children. There are effective systems in place to ensure children's safety as they arrive and leave, as staff check that they only go with authorised persons. Risks to children are minimised with good supervision from the staff, easy view door panels and additional safety gates in the younger children's rooms. The required documentation is in place, such as recording systems for complaints. There is a robust recruitment process in place and appropriate checks are in place to help ensure staff suitability. The clear induction process helps inform new staff of the nursery practices. The staff receive good support for their professional development with training, supervision

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provision

sessions and annual appraisals. The management staff and room leaders monitor staff practice and there are regular staff meetings or training sessions. The staff ably encourage children's progress. Key persons observe and assess children's progress so they can quickly note any gaps in a child's learning that they need to plan for. There is an effective management monitoring system that allows the managers to compare groups of children. This detail enables them to make changes to the environment or planning to ensure learning gaps narrow. For example, they recently found that overall boys were performing better at mathematics, so strategies are in place to encourage the girls' learning in this area. The special needs coordinator provides support for staff and helps devise individual education plans for those children who need extra support. There are strong partnerships with parents and others, helping to support children's care,

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provision

learning and development. Parents engage well with staff and they routinely share information about their children, so there is an effective two-way communication. Parents make positive comments, such as the staff 'see needs and address them'. There are established relationships with others, such as speech and language specialists or health visitors. This helps the staff meet children's individual needs well. Discussions and questionnaires help gain the views and ideas of parents. The parent forum supports good partnership working. Recent management changes at the nursery caused some parents and staff to be unsettled. However, this has had a minimal impact on children's care and learning. There were no changes to key staff other than routine staff changes, such as promotions. Staff routinely evaluate children's well-being and involvement during their observations as children play. The management and staff team are reviewing and

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provision

updating the nursery self-evaluation. The current detail is informative and describes a secure awareness of the nursery's strengths and areas for improvement. There are development plans in place, such as developing the outside area to ensure they include all areas of learning with interesting and stimulating resources. The staff are creating resources boxes for different weathers and those to support children's use of technology. There is a secure capacity for the management and staff to develop the nursery and improve outcomes for children.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met The requirements for the voluntary 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 EY295433 Local authority Kent Inspection number 966584

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 69 Number of children on roll 134 Name of provider Beaver Community Trust Ltd Date of previous inspection 03/11/2010 Telephone number 01233 641 156

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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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