Bright Horizons Stony Stratford Day Nursery and Preschool

Wolverton Mill Day Nursery Unit 1A, Walker Avenue, Wolverton Mill, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK12 5TW

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 22/04/2014 24/06/2013

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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

 Staff use effective teaching to help children make good progress and become engaged and enthusiastic learners. They use their observations and assessments to plan a wide range of interesting activities to support children's individual learning.  Staff are knowledgeable about their roles and responsibilities to safeguard children. They attend regular training to update their understanding to keep children safe from harm.  Partnerships with parents and other professionals are strong. As a result, the sharing of information positively helps children make good progress.  Children thoroughly enjoy taking an active part in the Children's Forum. The management team seek and act on their views through successful engagement with the children to promote well-focused improvement plans.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 On occasion, there are insufficient resources available to enable young children to successfully share and take turns and therefore promote cooperation between them.  Staff do not always consistently engage younger children during busy routines to fully promote calm and restful periods.

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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 the interactions between children and staff in the playrooms and the outside learning environment.  The inspector carried out a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held meetings with the manager of the nursery and the area training manager.  The inspector looked at a sample of children's records and planning documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of suitability and qualifications of staff working with children and the provider's improvement plan.  The inspector took account of the views of parents and carers spoken to on the day

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Information about the setting

Wolverton Mill Day Nursery is one of a chain of nurseries run by Asquith Nurseries Ltd. It opened in 2005. The nursery operates from four rooms in a purpose-built building on the north of Milton Keynes. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and on the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. The nursery is open each weekday from 7.30am to 6pm for 51 weeks of the year. All children share access to enclosed outdoor play areas.

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Information about the setting

There are currently 110 children in the early years age group on roll attending the nursery. Children come from the local and wider residential areas. The setting supports a number of children with special educational needs/or disabilities, and those who learn English as an additional language. The nursery is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two, three and four years. The nursery employs 15 permanent staff and five supply staff. Of these, 14 members of staff have a relevant level 3 qualification. The manager holds Early Years Professional Status. The nursery also employs a chef.

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

 extend the availability of resources for younger children, to help them learn to negotiate and share

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

 review the organisation of lunch and sleep time routines to enhance young children's experiences through calm and restful periods.

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who attend

Staff have a secure understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage and about how children learn through play. They use information from parents to assess children when they first start at the nursery. This establishes a clear starting point for staff to plan for children's learning. Staff effectively and frequently observe and assess children's learning and development. They record their observations of children as part of the ongoing assessment process, which they frequently review to identify and address any gaps in children's learning. Staff use the 'Every child a talker' criteria to ensure any gaps in children's language development are quickly addressed so they make as much progress as they can. Staff provide a broad and balanced curriculum by creating an exciting environment inside and outside for child initiated play. Young children show a sense of achievement and pleasure as they experiment with paint using different size paintbrushes,

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who attend

foam pads and their hands. Older children play independently, writing their letters and eagerly show their skill in writing their names and sounding out their letters. They use practical activities to ably sort and count the small matching bears and use the vocabulary involved in adding and subtracting. This helps children to be well motivated and eager to learn. However, in the younger children's rooms, not all of the resources are well organised to better support children to negotiate and take turns.

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who attend

Staff are skilled and effective teachers. They plan for the next steps in children's learning through the delivery of targeted adult-directed activities. They provide exciting activities to interest children so they are fully involved in their play. This enables children to make good progress and to be ready for the next stage of their learning, and eventually for school. Nursery room staff are skilled in supporting children's imaginative play outside; as they remember the list of pretend foods available in the make believe caf. Pre-school staff plan many valuable activities to help children build on and extend their knowledge, experiences and interests. Children eagerly remember the names of a varied range of baby animals including a 'snakelet' and 'joey' that they discussed earlier. They are enthusiastically involved in choosing and planning the planting of various vegetable seeds when the weather improves. Staff are good role models as they clearly read the

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who attend

instructions written on the seed packet, showing that print carries meaning and helping children's emergent reading skills.

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who attend

There are strong partnerships with parents. Communication system work well so that they are up-to-date and clear about their children's learning and progress. The nursery invite parents to regular reporting sessions to meet and chat to their children's key person and other staff. The nursery offers a library scheme for parents to share books with their children. Open evenings help to promote the valuable benefits of learning through play and this helps parents extend their children's learning at home.

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

Key persons are skilled and sensitive, and support children to form strong, secure emotional attachments. This provides a solid foundation to help children develop their personal, social and emotional skills. Staff ensure that young children have their individual comforter close to hand and each key person changes their own key child's nappies. Every key person has another member of staff that acts as a back-up key person. This helps to ensure children have tailored emotional support when their own key person is absent or working in another room. When a child moves up to the next room, their key person accompanies them for several visits so that children receive emotional support at times of change. Staff consult parents about their preferences for their young children's care routines, for example, their views on nappy changing practices. Improvements in the toddler room diary systems help staff effectively communicate children's individual needs;

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

such as feeding routines and medication requirements to other staff and the parents. This promotes children's wellbeing and allows parents to receive full feedback at the end of the day. Some lunchtime routines for the younger age range do not always fully support children. This is because, at times, staff are busy doing domestic tasks, taking them away from offering further support to children and promoting a calm and relaxed atmosphere.

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

Staff ensure that children can make choices in their activities. The nursery supplies all-in- one suits so that children can play outside in all safe weather conditions. Staff sensitively help children to develop their independence and self care skills. They encourage children to wear appropriate clothing and to dress themselves, including doing up their shoes when they choose to play outside. Pre-school children receive very good support from staff, with appropriate praise during their toilet training. Older children can independently use the toilets. This will help in their eventual move to school. Staff use positive praise and clear guidance, which is appropriate to children's levels of understanding to support them to behave well. Staff watch the young children closely and remind them to use kind hands. They explain to children the consequences of their actions, such as putting the knife in their mouth, which helps children gain an understanding of keeping themselves safe.

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

Children have good opportunities to learn about healthy living. They have many opportunities to exercise as they move freely between the inside and outside areas. Staff encourage physical exercise as they energetically join in children's running games. They extend children's physical skills as they encourage children to jump and move forwards and backwards. Staff effectively support them to learn to move safely and with control on the challenging climbing equipment. Young children enjoy the small carpeted steps where they can learn to take manageable risks. There are freshly cooked and nutritious meals and snacks from a varied menu, specifically planned to help children enjoy their meals. the nursery cater well for children's allergies and food preferences, with staff following strict procedures to ensure that children are kept safe from contamination with allergens.

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provision

This inspection was prompted following a complaint about staff skills, supervision and deployment to follow children's routines with regards to nappy changing, feed times and use of comforters, appropriate behaviour management, and ratios. The concerns also included managing complaints. Evidence shows that there is an effective key person system in place to meet the individual needs of all children. Although bank staff frequently support the staff team, they know each other and the children well to support individual needs. Staff work closely with parents to meet children's welfare needs, so that nappies are changed regularly throughout the day. Staff provide children with dummies and comforters during the day to help settle them and provide comfort. Effective communication with parents enables both parties to work well together. There are appropriate systems in place to deal with complaints in line with regulations. Management

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provision

ensure ratios and staff deployment within each room support children's individual needs and comply with regulations. Staff manage children's behaviour well, so that children receive consistent messages about boundaries and expectations. Management acknowledge that on one occasion, staff did not give a young child their bottle of milk. This happened during a busy period at the end of the day, where staff started the process, but forget to complete it and inform others, due to other demands. Parents were promptly informed of this, and apologies given. Following this incident, management reviewed practices and procedures in the nursery. The bottle warming device is now in the toddler room, where it is visible and easily accessible to staff. Improvements have been made to the diary systems to help staff effectively communicate children's individual needs, such as feeding routines to other staff and the parents. This ensures they promote

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provision

children's wellbeing, and allows parents to receive full feedback at the end of the day. Management have taken thorough steps to prevent this from happening again. Ofsted are happy with the action taken by the nursery.

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provision

The nursery management gives a high priority to safeguarding children and providing a safe and secure environment for them to play and learn. Nursery staff are an experienced team and know the importance of safeguarding children. There are robust recruitment and checking systems to assess that staff are suitable for their role of working with children and remain suitable to do so. The new manager receives good support from the company's training and practice manager. Management manage staff ratios through a team of regular bank staff that are well qualified, know the staff and routines, and are familiar to the children. The management team monitor staff performance effectively. Regular supervision meetings and appraisals help them to tackle and address any staff issues about practice and their knowledge. Staff are confident to report their concerns, including about any colleagues. They all undertake online safeguarding training regularly,

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provision

and as part of the induction process. Staff are confident to recognise signs that children may be at risk and are able to use the reporting procedures so that they safeguard children's welfare.

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provision

A strong management team strives to motivate staff, and sets out a clear vision of their expectations. The management team is fully aware of changes that must be notified to Ofsted, for example, a new manager. They take full account of parents' comments and quickly address any concerns. Parents report how happy they and their children are with the nursery. The manager and staff regularly discuss improvements and, following the recent team meetings, are introducing peer reviews to help identify and set challenging targets for improvement. Staff seek views from the children. A very successful Children's Forum, allowed the older children to choose representatives to meet with the management to give their views on the nursery. Both staff and children enjoyed this experience, and children's suggestions for planting are now included in the planning. This process helps to inform the effective systems for self-evaluations. Staff attend regular

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provision

team meetings to help with their continuous professional development. For example, they discuss how to be more resourceful when creating exciting role-play areas linked to the children's interest. A result, there is a well-stocked hairdresser's salon with real props and artefacts. This positively impacts on teaching and children's learning and development. Managers and staff fully understand their responsibilities for the learning and development requirements. Management monitor teaching and learning effectively to quickly identify children's individual development needs. Staff track children's progress by regularly reviewing the learning records to ensure there is no underachievement. This includes the completion of the progress check at age two years, and, if required, additional support is available to close gaps in learning.

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provision

Staff build strong and effective relationships with other professionals. This ensures that appropriate interventions are in place for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, so that children and their families receive very good support. Staff are in close contact with local schools and other provisions that children attend. This effectively supports continuity in their care and learning. Parents have been consulted through regular meetings and useful information on the nursery's website.

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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 EY304889 Local authority Milton Keynes Inspection number 967905 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 93 Number of children on roll 110 Name of provider Asquith Court Nurseries Limited Date of previous inspection 24/06/2013 Telephone number 01908 311147

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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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