Isra DaycareOfsted inspection, 29 Apr 2014

Isra Daycare SKN Business Centre, 1 Guildford Street, Birmingham, West Midlands, B19 2HN

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 29/04/2014 23/04/2013

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early years provision

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

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This provision requires improvement

 Partnerships with parents continue to improve and a range of initiatives are used to share information and ensure they are engaged in children's learning and development.  Safeguarding is given a high profile and is a discussion point at staff meetings, supervision sessions and appraisals. As a result, staff understand their roles and responsibilities in ensuring children are safe and protected from harm.  Children see signs, labels, notices and songs displayed, which are reflective of their home languages. This helps them to feel valued and included and in the case of parents, helps them to know what is going on in the nursery.

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It is not yet good because

 Some staff are not yet using observations and assessments to consistently plan for children's next steps in their learning, so that they make best progress.  The outdoor play area is not yet planned for, or utilised effectively to support all areas of children's learning and development.  Staff in the pre-school room do not always engage with children as well as they could or consistently ask questions to challenge children's critical thinking.  Meals do not regularly contain freshly cooked and prepared foods and therefore, are not always healthy, balanced and nutritious.

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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 playrooms and outdoor play area.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children having lunch, snacks and observed hygiene practices.  The inspector engaged with children and staff.  The inspector carried out a joint observation with the manager in the baby room.  The inspector looked at planning documentation and children's assessment records.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at policies, procedures, staff and children's details and risk assessments.

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Information about the setting

Isra Daycare is one of four nurseries run by Isra Daycare Limited and is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. Children are cared for in four main playrooms operating from a Business Centre in Lozells, Birmingham. The nursery provides childcare for parents on courses. There is a fully enclosed area available for outdoor play. The nursery employs 12 childcare staff. Of these, 10 hold appropriate early years qualifications. Four members of staff, including the manager have a degree in early years. Six members of staff have a National Vocational Qualification at level 2 or 3. Two members of staff are working towards a qualification at level 2. The nursery opens five days a week, during the school term, from 8am to 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 86 children on roll, who are in the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for three- and

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Information about the setting

four-year-old children. It supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language.

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must:

 ensure that all staff consistently use the information gleaned from observations and assessments to accurately track children's progress, plan a suitable range of activities and build on the next steps in children's learning, so that they make good progress

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must:

 ensure that children are provided with a range of freshly cooked and prepared meals that are healthy, balanced and nutritious.

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

 improve the quality of teaching, with particular regard to the pre-school room, so that staff consistently play and engage with children and ask open-ended questions to extend and consolidate their learning and knowledge

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

 develop, resource and plan interesting and challenging outdoor play experiences for children, so that they are provided with rich and varied learning experiences.

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who attend

Staff continue to improve their knowledge and understanding of the learning and development requirements for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Since the last inspection, they are now making better and more informed use of observations to assess children's learning, although, some staff are more confident at this than others. Therefore, for some children the next steps in learning are identified but not always with enough precision and accuracy. At times, opportunities for staff to adapt activities to meet children's individual needs are held back by the need to further refine and improve the assessment systems. This means that the practice of regularly analysing information about children's progress and achievement in order to improve aspects of teaching is not fully embedded across the nursery. In addition, the quality of some staff's interactions, particularly in the pre-school room, are not always consistent, resulting in some missed opportunities to extend and

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who attend

consolidate children's learning. For example, children line up to go outside and staff ask children to count how many are in the line. However, the member of staff becomes distracted and does not follow this up with children. Activities indoors and outdoors do not always ensure that all children's learning is effectively promoted. Some staff act spontaneously, playing with children and developing a range of skills, while others take on a less productive, supervisory role.

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who attend

The manager is aware of these weaknesses and systems to monitor teaching and learning are now in place, albeit, quite recently. She has undertaken some joint observations and supervision sessions with staff, resulting in current in-house training to focus on the Early Years Foundation Stage learning and development requirements and embedding consistent practice. This has helped in promoting more varied and enjoyable activities for children that are based on their own ideas and therefore, helps to maintain their interest. For example, children in the pre-school room are keen to explore different signs in their environment, particularly road signs and what they mean. This is prompted by an earlier discussion and visual images they have been shown and discussed. They start with a bus journey and are asked to consider in the first instance how they will find a bus. Once they recognise and locate a bus-stop, children then count out their money as they pay the fare.

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who attend

They talk about what they see around them, identifying birds, colours, trees and people. Once they get off the bus they know that the 'lollipop' person guides them across the road, but alternatively they can look out for a zebra crossing or a pedestrianised crossing that uses traffic lights to help people cross the road. Children learn the purpose of the lights and what the different colours mean so that they can cross safely. Children remember their discussions at nursery and look for road signs they recognise and the messages these convey in helping drivers and pedestrians to stay safe. They count different types of vehicles, such as, cars, lorries and fire-engines. Once back at nursery, children recall what they have seen to consolidate their learning. They also cut out, stick and make their own fire-engines, which is entirely their own work, rather than manufactured by staff, helping children to develop a sense of achievement.

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who attend

Children, parents and staff are linguistically and culturally very diverse, with the majority speaking English as their second language. Staff recognise that children's first language has a significant role in supporting their future learning and the acquisition of English. Therefore, they obtain key words in the home languages spoken so that children can make connections with the English equivalent, such as, 'toilet', 'drink' and 'food'. Visual routines and prompts also aid this learning process. Children are encouraged to use their home language in their play and at times, staff offer explanations in both English and other languages to help consolidate children's thinking processes and understanding. Signs, labels and familiar songs are displayed in different languages and print, so that all children feel valued and included. Staff are now engaging with parents more regularly to share information about children's learning and development. At the start of the

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who attend

placement they find out what children like doing at home and any particular interests they have, so that these can be incorporated into their play at nursery. When children are collected at the end of the session, this information sharing continues as staff discuss children's day and what they have done. To further enhance communication, 'teddy' goes home with a different child and parents record what he has done in writing, pictures and photographs. This provides an insight into children's home-life, while also developing children's confidence and communication as they share their exploits with other children.

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who attend

Children are encouraged to carry out tasks independently, such as serving their own food at lunchtime and then scraping any leftover food into the bin provided before stacking their plates at the serving table. They pour their own drinks, put on their coats and attempt to fasten buttons and zips, helping to equip them with skills for their future learning and transfer to school. Children enjoy looking at books, many of which are newly acquired. They sit and listen to stories, predicting what might happen next and at the end and recall what they know. However, questions posed by staff are at times closed and do not provide opportunities for children to think critically and creatively. Despite this, children's attention and focus is good and they ask for another story to be read. They also enjoy songs and rhymes and stand up in front of their friends and sing a solo, helping to develop their confidence and self-esteem. Babies and young children are supported well,

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who attend

receiving lots of cuddles and one-to-one attention. Staff sit alongside them as they play, smiling and responding to their gurgles, babbles and other sounds and mirror these, helping to promote their early communication skills. Babies explore their senses through a good range of different materials and textures, such as, water, sand and paint. Overall, children's needs for the most part are adequately met and they are making sound progress according to their starting points.

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

Children from different backgrounds get on well together. They enjoy coming to nursery and confidently take part in what is on offer. Settling-in is a gradual process to enable children to settle successfully. All children have a key person and at different times of the day, work with them in their key groups. In addition, staff also plan for children to have individual time with their key person. This enables all children to build a close relationship with at least one adult. As children grow older and move into a new room, this is handled gently and sensitively so that children have time to adjust to their new key person, surroundings and other children. This helps to ensure that transitions into the nursery and between rooms are managed as smoothly as possible, so that children feel safe and secure. As a result, children demonstrate a sense of belonging as they enter the nursery happily and confidently explore their surroundings. Information is readily shared with

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

parents at the beginning and end of the sessions, so that children's well-being is consistently promoted.

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

Children are generally well-behaved and respond well to the boundaries and expectations within the setting. Staff continually remind older children of these throughout the session, using explanations to reinforce the message of why this is important, particularly with regards to their safety. For example, some children are reminded to walk, rather than run inside, while other children remember independently. In light of recent behaviour management, children use the 'thinking chair' when they have behaved inappropriately. This enables them to consider the consequences of their actions and learn that these, along with unkind words, can hurt other children's feelings. When they recognise what they have done and the impact this has had on the other child, they often offer comfort to try and make amends. They begin to learn the art of sharing and this is handled sensitively as staff provide positive role models and show them what to do. Children are

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

given lots of praise for doing things well, such as 'good listening, sitting and sharing.' This helps to promote children's confidence and self-esteem and ensure they are suitably prepared socially and emotionally for the next phase in their learning and development. Younger children and babies respond to other's emotions. For example, a toddler becomes concerned when they hear a baby cry and goes over to provide a cuddle, showing the toddler recognises and understands other children's feelings. The toddler replicate this by showing care and attention to their dolly.

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

Resources in each of the rooms continue to improve with the introduction of new toys and equipment. Consideration has been given to increasing the range and diversity of books available and to provide children with more writing and other media to support their early writing skills. For example, pens, paper, hole punchers and staplers, enable children to make their own 'books' or 'shopping lists.' Resources are stored at children's level within each of the base rooms. However, limited resources and a general lack of planning for outdoor play means that children's learning and development is not challenged across all areas of learning when outdoors.

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

Hygiene routines continue to improve throughout the nursery. Children wash their hands before eating and after using the toilet. Paper towels are used to dry their hands and these are placed in covered bins throughout the nursery, so that any opportunities for cross-infection are minimised. Children are provided with a range of hot meals provided by caterers from one of the other nurseries that the provider owns. These are transported in appropriate containers and once the food is transferred to serving dishes, a thermometer is used to ensure it is served at the correct temperature. The fridge and freezer temperatures are also taken to see that these are correctly maintained. Meals are quite basic and at times there is an over reliance on cheap, processed and tinned foods rather than using fresh ingredients. For example, children are served shop bought cakes high in sugar and on the day of the inspection they were served tinned custard with no fresh fruit,

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

crumble or other healthy options to accompany. This compromises children's understanding of maintaining a healthy diet. Children access drinking water throughout the day and younger babies are given regular drinks specific to their individual needs. All children get outside at some time during the day, whether this is in the outdoor play area or for walks in the local community. This means they engage in physical activity and get fresh air, helping to promote their well-being.

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provision

Staff's understanding of safeguarding children is sound. There has been a real drive and focus to enhance their knowledge of child protection since the last inspection. As a result, all staff have received in-house training and for those staff that require it, external mandatory training has also been updated. Staff are clear with regards to the indicators of abuse and what they would do should they have any concerns. They are fully aware of their responsibility in reporting their concerns to the designated safeguarding practitioner within the nursery, or external agencies if required. Child protection is seen as a high priority within the nursery and therefore, forms the basis for staff's weekly meetings and discussions. Recent 'serious case' reviews and other safeguarding issues enable staff to explore and deepen their understanding of how to protect children from harm. Vetting procedures ensure that qualifications, Disclosure and Barring Service checks and

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provision

references are obtained for all staff working with children, so that their suitability is ascertained from the start. Staff show a greater awareness of how to identify and minimise risks and carry out regular checks of the indoor and outdoor environments to minimise these.

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provision

The manager demonstrates the capacity to improve the nursery because there are clear plans to improve the quality of teaching and learning and to check on children's progress. The manager is prioritising and tackling these issues in a timely and organised way and it is evident that there is a strong drive for ongoing improvement. She is regularly monitoring staff to strengthen and improve their teaching skills and support children through positive interactions. The use of video recordings of routines and activities is having a positive impact. Staff are able to replay these, identifying their own weaknesses in the process and what they can do to implement change. For example, staff have looked at lunchtime routines and recognise they would be better sitting with children, rather than just acting in a supervisory role. However, aspects for improving the nursery's performance have not yet received enough time to consistently sustain the quality of

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provision

Regular training is seen as key to ensuring that the quality of the provision continues to improve. Staff are provided with regular opportunities to attend courses, both internally and externally to support their professional development. In-house training and staff meetings mean that information is shared and disseminated between each other. This means that staff are beginning to adopt some consistency in their approach to support children's well-being, learning and development. The setting continues to improve their partnership working with parents and look at initiatives to improve communication. They work with the local authority and other professionals; welcoming any suggestions and advice they provide to enhance the quality of care and learning for all children in their care.

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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 EY420833 Local authority Birmingham Inspection number 950646

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 58 Number of children on roll 86 Name of provider Isra Daycare Ltd Date of previous inspection 23/04/2013 Telephone number 0121 661 4920

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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

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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