Pencil Pots Day Nursery

Pencil Pots Day Nursery 321 The Drive, ILFORD, Essex, IG1 3PW

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 01/05/2014 18/11/2013

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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 provide a stimulating and well-developed interactive learning environment based on children's interests, which enables children to make good progress with the learning and all-round development.  Children benefit from strong attachments with their key person, which supports children's independence and self-esteem.  Children are well-nourished and enjoy a variety of freshly cooked healthy meals which helps to promote their good health.  Staff understand the importance of building a strong partnership with parents and carers to promote children's well-being.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Staff do not consistently assess children's learning styles to better shape their learning experiences.  Routines do not always allow babies to access the baby room each day. As a result, they do not always have the time to freely explore their own areas.

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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 spoke the nominated person and staff at appropriate times throughout the day.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the nominated person.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities throughout the nursery in both indoor and outdoor areas.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at samples of documentation, including children's learning records, learning and development information, self-evaluation and a selection of policies and procedures.  The inspector took account of the views of parents through discussion.

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Information about the setting

Pencil Pots Day Nursery registered in 2012 and is privately owned. It operates from a two- storey converted house in Ilford, within the London Borough of Redbridge. It operates from three rooms and there is a fully enclosed area for outside play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery open each weekday from 7am to 7pm, for 50 weeks of the year. It is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. 23 children in the early years age range currently attend the nursery for a variety of sessions. The nursery is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education for children aged three and four.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs seven members of staff, all of whom hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 or above. One member of staff has attained Early Years Professional status. The nursery supports children who speak English as an additional language.

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

 review ways to share assessment information with parents so that they understand their child's progress and how the key person supports their child's individual learning experiences

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

 provide the youngest children with a more balanced learning programme, for example by enabling them to spend more time playing in the baby room to fully support their developing exploratory skills.

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who attend

The atmosphere of the nursery is calm and purposeful. Caring and enthusiastic staff use good teaching techniques. These have a positive impact on children's learning and development, so that children make good progress overall. Children clearly enjoy learning through play. All children enter the nursery happily, eagerly choosing what they wish to do from the interesting and stimulating experiences offered. Attentive staff support and enhance children's learning in each room. Staff move around the playroom, working well together to be available to join in children's play. They talk to children clearly, making good eye contact and giving children time to think before they answer questions. They extend children's vocabularies by describing what children do. Children using the messy play area are encouraged to roll and catch when forming shapes, with staff demonstrating precisely what this means so that children can understand and copy. Children hear words

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who attend

such as, 'squeeze' and 'changing'. They exclaim wonder when they create new colours from adding different coloured paints to their flour mixture. This shows children's enthusiasm for learning. Staff use correct grammar when speaking to children, providing good role models for children's developing speech.

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who attend

Children practise good hand and finger control in an activity counting coloured keys. They carefully pick up the keys and thread them through the ring. The younger children copy the older children with their counting and recognition of colour. The staff sit with the children, encouraging them to try new experiences. They ask useful questions that help children to express their thoughts and challenge their thinking. Children enjoy looking at books and have their favourites, which they share with friends and staff in the cosy book corner. Children are starting to understand how books work, turning pages and offering descriptions of the images. For example, children excitedly sing songs while looking in books and recite nursery rhymes. This not only demonstrates their understanding and expression, but also helps them develop their language skills. On arrival at nursery, staff help children to select their pictures and post these into their named pocket. This

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who attend

demonstrates children's abilities to recognise the familiar letters of their name and encourages initial sounds in words.

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who attend

Staff use good teaching strategies in the daily routines. For example, children learn to put out the placemats on the table against the number of chairs in place. Staff focus on promoting children's social and emotional development. Children are making friends and beginning to understand the rules of group play. The staff give consistent messages of behaviour, explaining why some things are unacceptable in the nursery while offering praise for good manners and kindness towards others. Children are encouraged to become independent. They enjoy selecting toys and resources which interest them, and pouring drinks and serving their food at meal times. Children attend from a wide variety of cultural and religious backgrounds and a range of languages are spoken at home. The staff are able to provide families and children with support and advice in their first languages, as they also speak a variety of languages. This helps children with English as an additional

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who attend

language and their families to feel valued and helps the children to develop a stronger sense of self.

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who attend

Staff plan children's experiences to cover the seven required areas of learning, indoors and outdoors, with planning documents detailing a broad programme of activities. The learning environment offers a wide range of materials and resources that add depth to children's experiences. Planning is adapted to respond to children's individual interests, determined by useful observations of children's play. Staff establish what children can do when they first start through completion of, 'all about me' forms. Staff record children's achievements through observations and photographs in their learning journeys and complete a daily diary of children's personal routines. These records are shared with parents, although staff do not always offer parents enough information about their assessment of children's individual learning. As a result, families are not always aware of how the key person helps to shape their child's learning.

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who attend

The baby room provides a fun-filled area with engaging resources that invite babies to play and encourages their exploration and learning. However due to low numbers of children currently attending, the babies spend most of their time playing in the older children's room. Although these young children are well-supervised at all times to keep them safe, they do not always have enough access to the baby room in order to benefit from the balanced learning this area offers.

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who attend

Children delight in using the outdoor area each day, with a variety of equipment that help them to extend their physical skills, for example, resources for climbing and balancing. This routine also effectively supports children who prefer to learn outdoors.

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

Clear risk assessments and daily visual checks help to keep children safe. All children move around the room happily, establishing trusting relationships with the staff through the key person system. In this small nursery, all staff know each child and have formed close bonds with the children and families for whom they take special responsibility. This helps to build secure emotional attachments that help children feel safe so they quickly develop confidence and independence, readily exploring their surroundings. Staff help children learn to understand their emotions through daily discussions and posting their images into the 'happy' or 'sad' pocket.

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

Staff take a consistent approach to the expectations of children's behaviour, so children quickly learn what is acceptable. Children play alongside others well and share toys appropriately. Staff intervene quickly and positively, resolving issues amicably. Staff organise themselves effectively so that someone is always available to provide support for children's care needs, such as a lap to have a cuddle or someone to help with nappy changes when needed. Older children become independent in their personal care, competently drying their hands before and after meal times.

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

The nursery provides the children with a healthy snack and freshly prepared nutritious meals, offering a varied choice each day. Menus are planned around children's dietary requirements and religious needs to promote children's good health. Children chat about eating fruit and vegetables, discussing their favourites.

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

Children's understanding of safety is threaded through the daily routines. They learn that some resources, such as sand and water, must be used with care and know they must walk indoors. Complying with staff expectations, making friends, learning self-care skills and being interested in their activities, means children enjoy there nursery experiences and gain good skills and attitudes in readiness for their eventual move to school. When children start school, their leaning journey is given to the parents and the profile tracker is given to the school to aid continuity in children's future learning.

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provision

Arrangements for safeguarding children's well-being are well established and effective. The management work well, using robust procedures to appoint staff who are suitable to work with children. The management places high priority on protecting children's welfare and follows proper procedures to work with outside agencies when needed. Staff have regular safeguarding and first aid training. They understand their individual responsibilities and the need to provide a safe play environment for children.

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provision

The management works closely with support staff from the local authority, actively seeking advice and acting on it to improve the provision. The management assess what they offer to children and their families and accurately identify areas for improvement. They understand the importance of offering outdoor play to promote learning across the areas of development in order to help children understand the value of healthy lifestyle.

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provision

Since the previous inspection, the management has worked especially hard in partnership with the local authority to address the weaknesses. This has led to a much improved monitoring and support system for staff, in particular they have made time to coach the deputy so that she can oversee the nursery in the manager's absence. The management fully understand their responsibility in meeting the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Monitoring of educational programmes and planning are good, although precise assessment of children's learning experiences has yet to be implemented. Therefore, staff do not always take into consideration children's learning styles to help them plan activities.

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provision

The management has undertaken a self-evaluation process and as a consequence have identified areas for improvement. For example, the management plan on developing the upper floor rooms to accommodate two-year-old children. This will provide relief for staff in meeting the needs of toddlers alongside older children, and give younger children a more spacious play area with appropriate resources. They also plan to develop a stronger partnership with parents by providing play days to enhance families involvement in their child's learning.

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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 EY454335 Local authority Redbridge Inspection number 963517 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 32 Number of children on roll 16 Name of provider Pencil Pots Day Nursery Ltd Date of previous inspection 18/11/2013 Telephone number 02085540033

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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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