Growing Places @ Mill Hill

Community Childcare Centres Waite End Day Nursery, Mill Road, Waterlooville, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO7 7DB

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 22/04/2014 07/02/2013

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: 4 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

 Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities effectively and good interagency partnerships ensure they meet children's individual needs successfully.  The safeguarding procedures are robust and effective to promote the welfare of all children.  Staff know and understand children's individual needs and interests and they promote children's independence effectively.  Staff implement targeted strategies effectively to improve outcomes for specific groups of children.  All children benefit from the strong partnerships between the nursery and pre-school staff and their parents.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 The learning environment does not fully extend children's home languages.  Staff do not always fully stock resource trolleys outside to enable children to extend their own 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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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 inspectors observed activities inside and outside the nursery and pre-school.

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Inspection activities

 The inspectors spent time talking with the group manager, managers, parents, staff and children.  The inspectors both carried out joint observations with the managers.

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Inspection activities

 The inspectors sampled a range of documentation including children's records, safeguarding procedures, risk assessments, policies and procedures.

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Information about the setting

Waite End Day Nursery opened in 2001. It now occupies two separate buildings, housing Growing Places at Mill Hill Nursery and Growing Places at Mill Hill Pre-school. These are situated within the premises of Mill Hill Primary School in Waterlooville, Hampshire. Both premises have fully enclosed outside learning areas. The out-of-school care operates from the same site and also uses the school outside facilities for sporting activities. The out-of- school care opened in July 2003. Both parts of the provision operate under the umbrella of The Community Childcare Centres and are managed by a board of trustees, with a group manager who is responsible for overseeing all the centres.

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Information about the setting

The centres are registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are links with the school on site and the setting receives advice from the local authority children's centre support teacher. The setting is open for 51 weeks of the year from 8am to 6pm. Breakfast and lunch are available and are cooked on the premises. The pre-school is open from 9am to 3pm, term time only. The after-school club is open every afternoon during the school term from 3.15pm to 6pm. Children attend from several schools nearby, as well as the school on site. Holiday play schemes operate during school holidays, with care offered from 8am to 6pm. There are currently 133 children on roll altogether. The provision receives funding to provide free early education to children aged two, three and four years. The setting welcomes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak

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Information about the setting

There are 28 members of staff employed altogether. All staff hold relevant early years qualifications, ranging from level 3 to Qualified Teacher Status.

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

 strengthen the learning environment further to support and value children's home languages more fully

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

 review children's access to resources outdoors so that children can fully extend their own learning.

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who attend

Staff have a good understanding of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and the legal requirements. They implement the educational programmes successfully to promote the children's learning in all areas. Consequently, children are making good progress in their learning in relation to their starting points on entry. Staff spend time observing what the children can do and record the information clearly in the children's records. Staff effectively use the information alongside the children's interests and plan for the children's next learning steps. Key people monitor this information monthly to track children's individual learning. All staff know what children are working towards, ensuring children's learning is extended most of the time. However, staff do not always make sure they stock the outside resource trolleys routinely to fully enable children to extend their own learning. For example, children hunt for mini beasts in the

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who attend

natural garden, but they lose interest when they cannot find the magnifying glasses or bug boxes. The children's key people gather a wealth of information about the children's welfare, and learning requirements from parents before the children attend. This ensures staff plan targeted and focused activities to meet the children's individual needs as soon as the children arrive.

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who attend

All staff demonstrate good quality teaching skills. They sit with the children at their level, engaging them in purposeful conversation. Children recall past events and share personal experiences, such as talking about their families and social events during school holidays. Staff are interested in what the children say and respond well, extending their vocabulary at every opportunity. Staff also encourage children to complete tasks they have started. As a result, children maintain their focus on activities for an extended time, which develops their concentration skills in preparation for future learning. For example, children are actively encouraged to complete the jigsaw puzzles they have started before going outside. Staff support the children to solve problems independently by encouraging them to think about different ways to achieve their own goals. For example, children work out how to join track pieces together as they build the train set.

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who attend

Staff plan a range of adult-led activities alongside the continuous provision, which means children enjoy a good selection of learning opportunities throughout the day. They work in small and large groups and benefit from one-to-one activities with staff. This promotes the children's social skills effectively, building their confidence and self-esteem successfully. Children are actively encouraged to lead the activities, increasing and promoting their independence in a variety of ways. For example, children take responsibility for tasks, such as leading physical games, suggesting role play ideas and negotiating roles. Staff introduce targeted strategies to support less confident children, such as small group sharing games, and one-to-one adult support. Consequently, children are confident in all situations and openly share their ideas and thoughts. Staff ensure the learning environment is rich with text and numerals, both inside and outside. As a result, children

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who attend

count at every opportunity and recognise numerals during activities, such as identifying the numerals during a ladybird counting game and playing number jacks. They make marks for a variety of purposes as they practise their early writing skills in different situations. Staff have attended communication and language training to promote children's spoken language and literacy skills. Children are beginning to link letters to sounds as they start to learn about phonics. This consolidates the children's learning through repetition as they begin to recognise letters and numerals during activities. Children recognise different sounds as they use instruments and 'beat out' sound patterns. This helps children's communication and language skills as they begin to identify sound patterns in music and speech. Babies and young children use a range of instruments and electronic toys as they learn how to make different sounds with the resources.

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who attend

Children are developing a good understanding of the world around them. They celebrate a range of international festivals and enjoy creating artwork and listening to stories. Overall, children with English as an additional language are supported well. Staff use a wide range of communication aids, such as pictorial timelines and flash cards to show children what is going to happen next. Key people share information with parents and learn how to pronounce key words in the children's home languages. There are a few posters in different languages around the setting. However, the learning environment does not fully reflect or value the children's home languages to extend their learning. Staff plan a wide range of outside activities and they ensure all areas of learning are covered outside. The settings are particularly good at focusing on specific groups of children to improve their outcomes. For example, the nursery and pre-school have embraced a research project to

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who attend

promote and develop boy's physical skills, with the aim of enhancing their concentration skills, teamwork and listening skills. This has resulted in the group of boys improving their learning across all areas. Children practise climbing and balancing as they organise old car tyres and planks of wood to make bridges and walkways in the garden.

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who attend

Children enjoy listening to stories and recall their favourite parts. Staff are skilled at bringing the books to life, using character voices, props and acting out the stories with the children. Babies and young children babble and repeat new words as staff read to them. Staff organise the home corner well to attract the children's attention. As a result, this area is used frequently and children are able to express themselves freely as they act out personal experiences. For example, children 'bake cakes' and they tell staff what ingredients they are using and what equipment they will need. Babies and young children have many opportunities to explore their learning environment. They investigate resources in treasure baskets as they begin to make associations, laughing and smiling at their own reflections in mirrors. Staff encourage children to point to their noses, eyes and ears as they learn about their own bodies. Staff support children's understanding of colours by

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who attend

introducing a colour of the month. The staff and children decorate the playrooms and bring in items from home, developing the children's recognition of colours from an early age.

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who attend

Staff have established good procedures to support children during the move to their next stage of learning. The nursery has very good procedures in place to support young children and their families as they move to the next age group. Staff plan settling-in visits and key people accompany the children for the first few visits. Children's records and all information is shared openly with the next key person to ensure everyone is aware of children's individual needs. Children are introduced to their teachers and visit the local schools. Staff meet with local reception class staff and, with parental consent, they share key information to ensure the children's move to school goes smoothly. Consequently, all children gain the skills they need to be ready for school or their next stage of learning.

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

All children are happy and settled during their time at the nursery and the pre-school. The settings are organised into 'family pods', with two allocated key people. This means all children have two key people and one or the other is on duty at all times. This enables parents to communicate freely with the same people and provides continuity of care, play and learning for the children. The staff teams spend time getting to know the children very well. Consequently, children's individual welfare, learning and developmental needs are being met successfully. Children chat openly with staff and visitors as they share their ideas. This demonstrates that children feel safe and secure and are relaxed in their learning environment. Staff and parents share information openly and as an ongoing part of communication, building positive and trusting relationships. As a result, this effectively meets children's individual needs, including their health, dietary and cultural requirements,

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

and preferences. The organisation of the sessions runs smoothly and children know the daily routines well. All children learn about the importance of keeping themselves safe through daily discussions and routines. Children often remind others of the safety rules, such as not running inside the building, holding scissors safely and picking up toys and resources that have fallen on the floor. All children and staff practise regular fire drills to ensure everybody knows how to evacuate the building safely in an emergency. Staff record any accidents and/or incidents that occur and themanagers collate the information to minimise any potential risks to children.

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

The settings provide a wide range of healthy and nutritious snacks and meals, which are cooked in the nursery kitchen. Meal times are a social event and staff sit with the children. They chat with each other and staff about the types of food that are good for them. Parents are able to purchase hot meals or provide healthy packed lunches for their children. All children have access to the enclosed outside learning areas, where they experience an extensive range of activities. Outside play covers all areas of learning. Children have many opportunities to practise their physical skills, both inside and outside as they learn about the importance of regular exercise. All children behave well because staff implement the clear rules and boundaries consistently. Staff actively recognise the children's efforts and achievements and take time to praise and encourage them. This builds the children's confidence effectively and helps them to develop a strong sense of

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

right and wrong from an early age. Staff are all positive role models and consequently, children know what is expected of them and they are polite and well mannered. Children are beginning to show consideration for each other during activities. For example, children share and take turns with ease and they work together to achieve specific tasks, such as building bridges and walkways with construction resources.

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

All children benefit from the open communication and two-way flow of information between the staff and their parents. Parents are able to speak with staff at any time and they know who their children's key people are. They have access to their children's records on request and are able to make written contributions about their children's learning. The parents spoken to during the inspection were very pleased with the progress their children are making at the nursery and at the pre-school. Parents are actively involved in the committee and on the board of trustees. This enables parents to influence the setting at a higher level, such as updating information handbooks and reviewing policies. In addition, the settings offer parent workshops that run when the children are attending the groups. The workshops help to promote the parents' understanding of how children learn.

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provision

The nursery procedures for safeguarding are comprehensive and effective. All staff understand the safeguarding procedures and know how to implement them to promote the welfare of the children in their care. The group manager displays the Local Safeguarding Children Board's contact details and procedures to inform staff, parents and visitors. Staff discuss all safeguarding policies with parents to ensure they are aware of the settings child protection responsibilities. All parents have access to hard copy policies and there are copies of all policies on display for them to read at any time. All children benefit from a safe and secure play and learning environment because staff carry out full written risk assessments covering all areas the children come into contact with. The management team implement robust and rigorous recruitment and vetting systems consistently to ensure all adults in the settings are suitable to work with children. Visitors

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provision

are required to sign in and out of the premises and must show their identification on arrival.

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provision

This was an early re-inspection following an inadequate judgement at the last inspection. Both the pre-school and the nursery have made very good progress since the last inspection and they have addressed the notices to improve that were issued by Ofsted in full. The areas of concern related to safety, supervision, managing children's behaviour, accidents, partnership with parents, staff supervision, evaluation, children's communication and language, meeting the youngest children's individual needs, and the staff's knowledge of implementing an effective educational programme. Throughout the inspection, the management team and staff demonstrated and evidenced how they have addressed all of the issues successfully.

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provision

The group manager and staff implement rigorous self-evaluation procedures to identify priorities for further development to raise standards in the settings. As a result of continual evaluation and reflective practice of staff, many changes have been put in place to improve the outcomes for children and drive improvement across the nursery and pre- school. For example, children's records have been improved to ensure their next steps are recorded and tracked effectively to make tracking their progress easier. Staff have evaluated the layout of the youngest children's area to ensure they have resting facilities. The pre-school garden area has been fitted with astro-turf to cover the tree roots, which were a potential trip hazard for children and staff. All staff, parents and children are actively involved in the evaluation process. This means that the views of all users are being valued to further drive improvement. Effective performance management and

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provision

induction systems ensure all staff are confident in their roles within the nursery and pre- school. The group manager and both managers work together closely to continually monitor the quality of staff practice. They identify training needs and review all paperwork to ensure it is maintained to a good standard. The managers monitor the quality of activities and experiences provided for the children. All staff complete regular training to ensure their personal skills and professional development continue to grow. As a result, staff are keen to improve the outcomes for all children who attend.

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provision

The settings both have strong links with a wide range of agencies to ensure all children's individual needs are met in the best possible way. Well-established and rigorous systems are in place to identify and support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those children who learn English as an additional language as soon as possible. The special needs coordinators are knowledgeable and they work very closely in partnership with the parents to address any concerns. They implement individual strategies and unique support programmes in line with recommendations from other professionals. All strategies are agreed with parents to ensure a consistent approach, both at home and in the settings for the 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 160819 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 906798 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 102 Number of children on roll 136 Name of provider Community Childcare Centres Date of previous inspection 07/02/2013 Telephone number 023 92258557

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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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