Busy Bees Day Nursery at Altrincham

Busy Bees Day Nursery at Altrincham 72 Ellesmere Road, ALTRINCHAM, Cheshire, WA14 1JD

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 10/04/2014 10/04/2013

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 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 4 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 4

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This provision is inadequate

 The recruitment process is not good enough to ensure that all staff working with children are suitable to do so. This compromises children's safety.  Some activities do not promote the characteristics of effective teaching and learning and, therefore, children are not always interested and engaged in their learning.  Children's communication and thinking skills are not sufficiently promoted. Staff do not use open-ended questions and ensure children have enough time to respond.  There are insufficient opportunities for children to learn to take responsibility for their own needs and to extend their independence throughout the daily routine.

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It has the following strengths

 Good partnerships with parents and other agencies are established at the nursery to ensure children's care is collaborative.  Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language are making good progress, given their starting points and capabilities, because staff provide targeted, effective learning opportunities.

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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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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed play activities and staff interaction with children both indoors and in the outdoor environment.  The inspector completed a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held a meeting with the manager and a member of the childcare team.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents and carers spoken to on the day of the inspection.  The inspector had a tour of the nursery with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled documentation, including children's assessment records, planning documentation, evidence of staff suitability and qualifications and children's learning journals.

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Information about the setting

Busy Bees Day Nursery at Altrincham was registered in 2000 and is on the Early Years Register. It is one of a chain of day nurseries owned by the Busy Bees Group Limited. It operates from a large Victorian house in a residential part of Altrincham. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children. It operates from four base rooms and there is an enclosed area available for outdoor play. The nursery employs 24 members of childcare staff and three substitute staff. Of these, seven hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2, a further seven at level 3 and three at level 4. The nursery opens Monday to Friday all year, except for bank holidays. Sessions are from 8am until 6pm. A special arrangement can be made for children to arrive at 7am and to depart at 7pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 134 children attending who are in the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early

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Information about the setting

education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It supports a number of children with special needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language.

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enforcement action:

We will issue a Welfare Requirements Notice requiring the provider to:

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enforcement action:

implement effective systems to ensure all staff are suitable to work with children, including fully assessing employment history, any criminal convictions and following up appropriately sourced references.

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must:

 ensure that the planning and guiding of children's activities reflects on the different ways that children learn and promotes the characteristics of effective teaching and learning

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must:

 support children's language development and thinking skills, for example, by using open-ended questions and by giving children sufficient time to respond.

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

 develop more opportunities for children to freely access creative materials and learn to take age-appropriate responsibility for their own needs, for example, by enabling children to pour their own drinks and serve their own lunch.

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who attend

Educational programmes cover the seven areas of learning, but do not always promote the characteristics of effective teaching and learning. For example, pre-school children complete worksheets where they draw lines to match pictures together that rhyme. This does not encourage children to be active and learn through first-hand experiences. Staff in the two to three-year-old room take children away from the areas where they are happily engaged, such as playing with the dolls in the home corner, and then encourage them to play dominoes. The activity is overly directed by the staff and children are not given enough time to respond to questions. In addition, some of the questions asked by staff are closed questions, which do not adequately support children's thinking skills. This weak teaching impacts on children's engagement in the activity and hinders their development in communication and language. Nevertheless, children are developing some of the key

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who attend

skills required for school because staff sing songs with the children which they are eager to participate in, this promotes their use of language. Children develop their physical skills as they enjoy splashing in the water and manipulating the play dough. Staff promote children's mathematical awareness through the use of daily routines. For example, children identify how many chairs are left at the table so they can work out how many children can join the table. Children are developing some social skills as they learn to take turns while playing a game. They are developing their understanding of the world as they have participated in growing daffodils outdoors. Children develop their early writing skills through making different marks on the paper.

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who attend

Staff and parents work together to complete an early assessment record, which highlights the current skills that children hold. This is used to plan the initial activities for children, along with the observations of the first five sessions children attend. Staff observe and complete an interest sheet for their key children and plan activities linked to the seven areas of learning and based around the children's interests. Staff understand what they want children to achieve, however, some of the practice in support of children's learning is less secure. For example, staff do not always ask children what they want to do and how they will do it, as exemplified when children are moved from activities they are enjoying to participate in staff's chosen activities. That said, staff work in partnership with parents because they provide them with activity at home forms so they can continue children's learning. Parents meet with their children's key person every six months to discuss the

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who attend

progress children are making, which ensures parents are kept well informed.

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who attend

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are effectively supported. Individual education plans are in place to ensure children receive targeted support, which helps them to make good progress in their learning. In addition, children who speak English as an additional language are well supported. Staff know and use some basic words in Spanish and display words around the nursery. Consequently, children's home language is valued and this effectively supports their acquisition of English.

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

Children are confident in the nursery and have established effective relationships with their key person. Staff are aware of children's emotional needs and support them effectively. For example, when a new toddler becomes upset staff support them by offering reassurance and comfort. Parents and carers spoken to on the day of the inspection report their satisfaction with how well their children have settled and on their children's growing confidence. Key persons visit the next room with children when they are developmentally ready to progress, which supports children's emotional well-being. Staff praise children for their efforts, which has a positive impact on their self-esteem and supports them in preparation for their next stage of learning. There are measures in place to promote children's safety. For example, furniture is the appropriate height for children and areas are checked daily. Staff-to-child ratios are maintained and children are well

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

supervised. However, children's safety is compromised through the weaknesses in the recruitment process.

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

Staff support children's understanding of risk. For example, when children climb on a bench near the window staff ask them to be careful. Children take controlled risks, such as cutting with scissors and using the outdoor equipment, which helps them to understand about safety. Staff provide children with some opportunities to be independent. For example, resources and storage areas are labelled so children know where things belong, this enables them to make informed choices about what they do. However, some areas are not as well resourced. For example, in the pre-school room there is no paper or paints in the creative area, which hinders children's ability to be independent in choosing how to express their creativity. At lunch time, the practice is variable from one table to another, for example, some children pour their own drinks and others are not able to do this as there are not appropriately sized jugs available. The plates and cutlery are put in the

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

middle of the table and some children help to give the plates out, while on other tables the staff undertake this role with little thought given to allowing children to complete such simple tasks. Although the food is in small bowls in the middle of each table, staff serve the children the dinner and, therefore, children have limited opportunities to gain self-help skills.

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

Children are provided with nutritious meals throughout the day, which supports a healthy lifestyle. Staff talk to children about the vegetables they are eating, which supports their understanding of healthy lifestyles. Children manage their own personal hygiene needs relative to their age. For example, they wash their own hands before lunch and access the toilet independently. Children of all ages play outdoors each day, which gives them access to fresh air and provides a varied play environment. They take part in sessions, such as 'Wake and shake', which provide them with routine opportunities to exercise. Discussions between staff and parents ensure that all children's care needs are known and can be met. For example, staff are working with some parents to support the weaning process for babies ready to move on to solid food.

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provision

At a recent visit to the nursery Ofsted found that the systems to check the suitability of staff through the recruitment process were not robust, which compromised children's safety. Ofsted issued a notice to improve requiring the provider to implement effective systems to ensure all staff are suitable to work with children, including fully assessing employment history, any criminal convictions and following up appropriately sourced references. Since then, the nursery has developed a new form to record the dates of staff's previous employment so they can check staff employment history. They have also developed a form to record telephone references. However, the new paperwork has not been implemented and references have not been followed up in a timely manner for new staff. Therefore, the nursery has not put in place all necessary measures to ensure staff are suitable to work with children, which means children are at risk. This is a breach of the

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provision

legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. In spite of that, children are generally safeguarded because staff demonstrate a suitable knowledge and understanding of the signs and symptoms of abuse, so they are able to respond if a need arises. All staff signed the safeguarding policy in February 2014 and this is due to be reviewed in July 2014. Some staff have accessed safeguarding training, in order to improve their knowledge of current practice. Ratios are adhered to and the manager and staff are clear on the number of staff required to ensure that children's welfare is maintained. As a result, children are well supervised and staff deploy themselves in different areas of the room and are aware of where children are. The progress children are making is closely monitored as the management team has an appropriate procedure for tracking children's progress. The tracking process compares the

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provision

progress between boys and girls. The manager has met with the staff in different rooms and has verbally agreed an action plan to work on the specific area where children have been identified as making least progress. This means that all children are supported to make some progress in their learning and development. The tracking data is clear and highlights the weaknesses in communication and language development for some children in particular rooms, which is a result of poor staff interaction. Where children's progress is not as strong given their capabilities and starting points, the manager has been working with staff to focus on the way in which activities are offered to the children. As a result, the manager is affecting some change in the way staff promote the characteristics of effective teaching and learning. The manager meets with staff for supervision meetings and appraisals. During these times, she discusses staff performance and a verbal

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provision

agreement is made with regard to areas for development, which generally helps them improve their performance. There are improvement plans in place which support the nursery staff team to improve overall.

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provision

Staff have good relationships with a range of other professionals and attend multi-agency meetings as appropriate. This enables staff to meet the needs of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Parents speak highly of the nursery and are keen to describe ways in which the nursery staff have helped their children. Staff demonstrate a suitable understanding of how to work with other providers of the Early Years Foundation Stage to create a consistent approach. The nursery has established relationships with the local schools and invites teachers in to observe the children playing. The nursery staff complete summary reports of the children's progress and these are shared with the teacher of the school the child is moving on to. This allows children to start in their new setting from their current development stage.

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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 310342 Local authority Trafford Inspection number 959955

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 107 Number of children on roll 134 Name of provider Busy Bees Day Nurseries Limited Date of previous inspection 10/04/2013 Telephone number 0161 928 9203

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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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