Julia Durbin Day Nursery

Julia Durbin Day Nursery Old Road, Roosevelt Drive, Headington, Oxford, OX3 7JU

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 21/11/2013 25/08/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 Previous inspection: 1 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 3 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision requires improvement

 Staff plan a stimulating environment and a wide range of interesting activities for all age groups so that children engage well in their learning.  Staff use the observation, assessment and planning system well to reflect children's interests, involve parents and plan challenging activities.  Most children are settled in the nursery for most of the time, and enjoy warm relationships with staff.

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It is not yet good because

 There has been a recent breach of legal requirements, resulting in a child leaving the premises unsupervised.  Staff are not always consistent in carrying out their responsibilities effectively in relation to children's dietary requirements.  Babies do not always settle well as staff deployment in the baby room is not always fully effective.

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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 and routines in all age groups.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector talked to the management team, staff, parents and children at appropriate times throughout the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector completed a joint observation with the manager in the pre-school room.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of planning documentation and children's development profiles.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the nursery's self-evaluation document and sampled other documentation, including staff suitability records.

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Information about the setting

Julia Durbin Day Nursery was established in 1994 and is one of 47 provisions run by Child Base Limited. It is a private workplace nursery in the grounds of the Churchill Hospital in Headington, Oxford. It operates from a purpose built one storey building, comprising of five base rooms, associated facilities and enclosed outside play areas. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and is caring for 189 children in the early years age range. It is registered on both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The nursery supports children learning English as an additional language. The nursery is open each weekday from 7 am until 6.30 pm all year. It is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education for children ages three and four years. The nursery is part of the National Day Nurseries Association quality assurance scheme. The nursery employs 40 staff, of whom 29 hold relevant qualifications, including one member

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Information about the setting

of staff who has attained Early Years Professional Status.

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must:

 improve procedures for the supervision of staff to ensure that all staff fulfil their roles and responsibilities consistently and effectively with particular regard to: supervision of children to fully promote their safety, providing children with drinks, and the deployment of staff in the baby room to help children settle.

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who attend

Throughout the nursery staff make effective use of the observation, assessment and planning process to support children's progress. Key persons know children well and gain good information about their starting points in consultation with parents. They maintain clear weekly records of children's achievements, interests, next steps and information from parents. They use this information successfully to plan challenging and interesting activities that children find absorbing. Staff plan activities with clear learning intentions to help children make progress in specific areas and teaching is good. Staff caring for two- year-old children carry out the required progress checks effectively and provide comprehensive feedback for parents.

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who attend

The learning environment throughout the nursery is welcoming, stimulating and interesting. Children in the pre-school develop their personal skills well. They learn how to care for babies, for example by visiting the baby room with staff and bathing baby dolls. They learn about mathematical concepts through focused activities, such as exploring how heavy or light vegetables are and this is well supported by staff. Staff ask open questions to challenge children's thinking, which encourages them to think of solutions and ideas to problem solving tasks. Children engage well in imaginative play and staff join in enthusiastically to promote their creativity and communication skills. Staff promote children's early literacy skills by introducing early reading and encouraging parents to share books at home with their children. As a result of such activities, staff prepare children well for their future move to school.

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who attend

Staff caring for one and two-year-olds promote their communication skills well. They use lots of interaction throughout daily routines and activities to promote children's listening skills and understanding. They ask questions and read books with expression to model sentences and this helps to build up children's vocabulary. Staff plan stimulating activities to encourage children to develop their physical skills and to use their different senses. For example, children become engrossed mixing paint with food colouring, sand and sugar while using spoons and containers to scoop and pour. Staff support children well to share resources and help to resolve any conflicts quickly. This approach is effective in helping children to develop positive social skills.

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who attend

Babies enjoy exploring a welcoming and interesting environment with resources such as musical instruments, treasure baskets and sand. Staff encourage them to engage in 'messy' play to promote their physical skills and curiosity. Babies gain confidence in handling different textures, such as a corn flour and water mix, with good support from staff. Staff use ongoing, friendly interaction to maintain babies' interest and are sensitive to their learning needs, such as moving the activity from the table to the floor to make it more accessible. Babies enjoy warm relationships with staff although they do become unsettled at times.

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who attend

Staff work well with parents to maintain a two-way flow of information between the nursery and home about children's interests and achievements in learning. Staff provide daily feedback and regular parents' evenings so that parents can discuss their children's progress in detail. The nursery provides weekly newsletters to keep parents up-to-date with planned activities and to provide suggestions to support their children's learning at home. Staff work well with parents of children who are learning English as an additional language. They gain keywords in children's home languages and find out about their cultural preferences so that they can support children effectively in the nursery.

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

Most children are settled for most of their time in the nursery. They enjoy warm relationships with their key person and other staff, which overall, helps them to develop secure emotional attachments to feel confident in their environment. However, staff deployment in the baby room is not always fully effective in settling babies. There are times when babies are handed to different members of staff, other than their key person, which has an unsettling effect. In addition, there are times when various staff are entering or leaving the room, which can also have an unsettling impact. The nursery has effective procedures in place to help children transfer from one room to the next and older children show good levels of self-esteem and confidence. Effective procedures are in place to help children prepare for their move to school, such as having displays of their schools to refer to and to encourage discussion.

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

Staff support children's understanding of safety appropriately, such as reminding them not to climb on furniture and explaining what might happen if they do. Overall, staff follow appropriate safety procedures although there has been a recent breach of legal requirements, resulting in a child leaving the premises unsupervised.

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

Children throughout the nursery enjoy daily opportunities to play in the garden areas, which offer plenty of space and interesting activities. These experiences encourage children to develop their physical skills as well as supporting other areas of learning.

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

The nursery provides healthy meals for children, including breakfast, lunch and tea. Children learn good skills for independence during meal times, such as serving their own food. The nursery does not routinely provide snacks as staff feel that these prevent children from eating their main meals. Staff state that they provide snacks for individual children in consultation with parents and that they offer additional food if they feel children need it. Drinking water is easily accessible in all rooms except the baby room, where staff state that they offer water to babies every half an hour. However, this does not always happen in practice. Staff sometimes forget to follow this process and need to be reminded by other staff. Some parents express concerns that their children are not receiving enough food or drink during their day at nursery. These inconsistencies mean that staff are not fully meeting the food and drink requirements of all children.

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

Children are able to sleep comfortably throughout the nursery, either in cots or on mats with individual bed linen. Staff prepare rooms well to allow children to rest and sleep according to their individual needs. Nappy changing takes place routinely to keep children comfortable and dry. Staff are diligent in keeping records regarding nappy changes so that they are able to share information with parents at the end of the day. Staff work with parents appropriately to meet individual needs regarding nappy changing routines. Since the last inspection, the nursery has reviewed procedures for applying sun cream so that staff are more aware of the importance of this.

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provision

The inspection took place following a visit by Ofsted earlier in the year in response to a notification from the nursery of a significant accident. Ofsted found that the nursery was not compliant at the time of the accident but had subsequently taken appropriate steps to improve practice. Evidence at the inspection found that the nursery continues to meet requirements with regard to accidents.

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provision

Prior to the inspection, the nursery notified Ofsted of a significant incident involving a child leaving the building unsupervised by staff. While staff immediately became aware of the situation and took appropriate action, this is a serious breach of the legal requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage which put children at risk. Evidence gathered at the inspection found that the nursery had improved practice and was meeting related legal requirements on the day. Following the incident, the nursery carried out a full investigation and implemented some additional procedures. The nursery has erected additional fencing at the entrance and has reminded parents to be more vigilant when they are entering and leaving playrooms and the building. The management team are encouraging staff to be more vigilant too. The management team realise that a child has been able to leave the premises unsupervised, but has concluded that staff have

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provision

not breached nursery policy. This conclusion was inconsistent with the fact that this was a significant safeguarding incident; the management team has failed to fully consider the seriousness of the situation. As such, there is no assurance that the incident has been fully risk assessed so that the likelihood of such an incident happening again has been minimised. The inconsistent practice observed during the inspection and the attitude of the management towards the incident does not ensure that rigorous procedures to monitor staff practice over time are in place, and are effective.

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provision

Also prior to the inspection, Ofsted received concerns about children's welfare, including their food and drink requirements. Evidence gathered at the inspection found that, overall, staff meet children's welfare requirements appropriately, although there are inconsistencies in practice.

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provision

The staff and management teams demonstrate an appropriate understanding of their responsibilities in meeting the legal requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. The management is quick to respond to any breaches of legal requirements in order to improve safety and to reassure parents. Effective procedures are in place to assess the suitability of staff to care for children, such as obtaining appropriate background checks. Staff turnover is acceptable and new staff receive good support during their induction period to help them become familiar with the nursery's policies and practice. All staff receive ongoing training as well as regular appraisals to promote their professional development. Training routinely includes first aid and safeguarding so that staff can support children appropriately. Clear procedures are in place to help staff recognise and respond to children at risk of harm. Comprehensive risk assessments help

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provision

to promote children's safety and mostly work well in practice. Monitoring procedures of staff by the management team are effective in promoting good quality learning experiences but are not always rigorous in ensuring consistency regarding children's welfare. The nursery maintains appropriate staff to child ratios and the deployment of staff is generally effective.

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provision

The management team monitors children's progress effectively as senior staff check planned activities on a daily basis to ensure they are meeting children's learning needs. They routinely monitor children's development profiles and challenge staff to ensure evidence of progress is rigorous. Clear procedures are in place to meet the learning requirements of children who require additional support. The nursery develops good links with other providers and outside agencies as necessary to promote consistency in children's learning and development.

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provision

The nursery has good partnerships in place with parents overall and staff encourage parents to contribute to their children's learning. The nursery actively welcomes feedback from parents through surveys, a parent forum and through discussion in order to inform the self-evaluation process and to make further improvement. Parents are generally complimentary about the nursery although some express some concerns. Self-evaluation procedures are generally effective in identifying areas for development and in informing subsequent action plans.

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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 134013 Local authority Oxfordshire Inspection number 909055 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 125 Number of children on roll 189 Name of provider Childbase Partnership Limited Date of previous inspection 25/08/2011 Telephone number 01865 744448

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Setting details

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

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

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

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Type of provision

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

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Type of provision

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

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Type of provision

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

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Type of provision

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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Type of provision

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

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