Hambledon Nursery School Limited

Hambledon Nursery School Hambledon Road, Godalming, GU8 4DR

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 04/06/2014 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 Previous inspection: Not Applicable 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 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 Staff know children exceptionally well. They can therefore adapt planning to suit children's emerging interests and support their developing skills in a broad range of activities that help children to make very good progress, in relation to their starting points, in all seven areas of learning.  Children are extremely engaged and happy in their play and learning. They take part actively, leading their play alongside purposeful adult-led focused activities.  Both the indoor and outdoor environments are very conducive to children's learning, exploration and curiosity.  Children show exceptional awareness of their own self-care, health and safety. They are extremely independent and confident. All children behave very well.  The head teacher of the nursery is inspirational to bring about continued improvement. Staff work extremely well together and are exceptional role models to children who attend. There are highly effective systems in relation to recruitment and mentoring of

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This provision is outstanding

staff and as a result, the adults who care for the children are very suitable to do so. They have excellent teaching and interaction skills.  Parents are extremely positive about the care their children receive and they are very pleased with how much staff involve them in their children's learning.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections of registered early years provision are:  scheduled at least once in every inspection cycle – the current cycle ends on 31 July

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Information about this inspection

 scheduled more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged inadequate  brought forward in the inspection cycle where Ofsted has received information that suggests the provision may not be meeting the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage or where assessment of the provision identifies a need for early inspection  prioritised where we have received information that the provision is not meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and which suggests children may not be safe  scheduled at the completion of an investigation into failure to comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children in their play and in their interactions with staff and the head teacher.  The inspector spoke to children, staff and parents.  The inspector completed a joint observation with the head teacher.  The inspector read and took into account the nursery's self-evaluation form.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled the nursery's documentation and children's development records.

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Information about the setting

Hambledon Nursery School has been operating for over 20 years and re-registered in 2013. It operates from a building that was formerly the village school, in the rural village of Hambledon, Surrey and serves the local community and the surrounding area.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register. There are three separate classrooms, a small quiet room and a large, secure outside area, which is fully utilised, all year round for children's play. There is a separate drive into the nursery car park for parents. Trustees and a management committee run the nursery and there are 18 members of staff including the head teacher and a secretary. Of the 17 staff working directly with children, three staff hold qualified teacher status and the manager is qualified to level 5. All the remaining staff, apart from one hold a recognised qualification in early years. The unqualified staff member is embarking on a qualification in early years.

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Information about the setting

The nursery operates during term time only, Monday to Thursday from 9am to 3pm and on a Friday from 9am until 12:30pm. There are procedures in place to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children with English as an additional language.

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

 extend activities further to promote children's growing awareness of flat 2- dimensional and solid 3-dimensional shapes.

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who attend

The nursery provides children with excellent experiences to support their learning and development. Staff have very high expectations for children and motivate them to engage in their play and their own particular interests. The focus of teaching centres on how children learn actively. Children benefit from rich and varied experiences across all seven areas of learning. There are two main rooms for children's learning, with Blue Room accommodating children aged from two-years-old to three years of age, and Red Room supporting the older of the children in their learning.

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who attend

Children in Red Room lead their role-play. They adapt this area and although in the recent past it has been a dinosaur museum and a restaurant, it is currently a school. Children are therefore able to talk about what for many of them will be their next place of learning. They can listen to one another's views and comments, so that not only are they becoming more confident about this next step but also they can share suggestions about what this experience may be like. In Blue Room, children sit contently with staff, either chatting about their day or listening to stories. They play in the water tray and experiment pouring water from various sizes of containers. They make-believe at pouring cups of tea from a teapot to a cup and tell staff to 'be careful, it's hot'. Children experiment by running toy trucks through the water and staff encourage them to notice the sounds the trucks make, which means that children broaden their vocabulary by using words such as 'splash' or

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who attend

'slosh' as they describe what is happening.

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who attend

Staff are extremely confident to promote children's developing language and their confidence to speak or sing in a group. In Blue Room, the children are enthusiastic about a short group activity. They grab a section of the parachute as the staff unfold it and listen to the instructions that staff give. Staff use popular songs but adapt them so they can involve props such as soft toy rabbits of dogs to further engage the children. When a staff member says she needs three rabbits a child calls out 'I am nearly three' and later when staff accidently say the wrong words of the song, children are exceptionally confident and alert to correct the staff and explain what the words should be. In Red Room, children have been learning about the life cycle of a frog, and while the practical part of this learning takes place by the pond outdoors, staff are extremely proactive to continue this learning indoors. They supply both reference and fiction story books and children

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who attend

complete the display to show their understanding of frog spawn, tadpole and frog. This very good practice helps children to put their learning in to context and develops children's thinking skills further. A child shows the inspector a display he has made in collaboration with home and nursery. The child highlights that he has found out about his great-great- grandfather who was in World War One. As part of his individual project, the child has written his interpretation of the war in his voice and has labelled a branch of a tree to represent his own family timeline. In his own writing he labels where his mum and dad are in relation to him.

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who attend

Red Room children prepare for their physical play activity. Their confidence is overwhelming as they find their bags containing their exercise kit. They change without fuss and learn the importance of warming up. With the staff, children talk about different muscles and how their heart is beating faster. The staff member explains the obstacle course and children choose teams. They listen to the instructions and therefore understand that they need to go over and under different pieces of equipment. Children are enthusiastic as they make their way across soft play blocks, over balancing beams, through tables and tubes. They laugh and encourage one another to go faster. One of the children has a stopwatch and times each child from when they start to when they finish at a particular point. He highlights that was 'eight' seconds and then the children work out who was fastest. Proactively the staff extend and adapt for more able children and

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who attend

demonstrate how much harder it is to complete the obstacle course when going backwards. A child calls out that the staff member looks like a 'wiggly worm'. After the children complete the course both forwards and backwards, they talk together to evaluate which direction was the easiest and which was the hardest to do. There are exceptional opportunities made for children to be self-aware and confident, communicate together and play physically. Staff plan exceptionally well and evaluate their activities after children complete and before repeating them the following week, and therefore children are highly challenged not only to take part but also to do so with enthusiasm and willingness. As with this and other activities during the inspection, there are some excellent opportunities made to provoke children's understanding of number and direction as well as mathematical terms; although fewer opportunities to extend language for older or more

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who attend

able children in relation to discussions about flat and solid shapes.

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who attend

Staff value the children as individuals and are successful in adapting activities to meet these individual needs. There is excellent support for children speaking English as an additional language so that they can both see and hear their home language, and so that they can acquire and understand English too. There are excellent planning systems in place so that each individual child has small, achievable targets set each week, based on any minor gaps in their learning. Likewise, there is inspirational teaching to challenge further those children who are more easily exceeding expectations for their age. This means that all children succeed in their learning in relation to their starting points. All staff demonstrate dedication for their roles and a very good understanding of the learning and development requirements for the Early Years Foundation Stage. The quality of teaching and the interactions staff make during adult-led activities and child-initiated play is of a

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who attend

high standard throughout the nursery. Assessment for all children's learning is precise, and sharply focused on what and how children are learning.

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who attend

The nursery compiles delightful individual journals of children's learning, which give an outstanding and highly informative account of the progress children make in all areas of their learning in relation to their starting points. Observations focus on the child's voice and staff make a significant impact on how children acquire very good communication and language skills, can think creatively and learn actively. There are highly successful strategies to invite parents to share in children's learning both at nursery and at home. Parents volunteer to work in the nursery library, they receive regular information about the Early Years Foundation Stage and see displayed photographs to explain and support how their interactions can build on what children already know and do. Parents are encouraged to share children's achievements from home through observation sheets and guidance, for example on how to read with children at home. This highly impressive

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who attend

partnership enriches children's learning and they make exceptional progress in relation to their starting points. Children at the nursery are extremely ready and motivated to move on to school.

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

The nursery environment offers a stimulating and happy place for children to play and learn. Staff are highly skilled, with many of them having worked at the nursery for a considerable time. Staff know the children very well, and are extremely sensitive in helping them form close attachments. Therefore, children feel valued and emotionally secure. The key-person system is exceptionally well established. Staff demonstrate particularly good interaction skills with children and are very resourceful in ensuring that children develop through a wealth of opportunities that promote their learning. There are excellent systems to work with parents so that children settle well when they first attend nursery. The staff maintain this partnership throughout the time children attend. For example, staff offer highly nurturing support as children make the transition from Blue Room to Red Room. Children receive their written invitations to visit their next stage room

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

and because they mix with older children throughout the day, they are very confident to move on. Likewise highly effective practice, in promoting children independence, social skills and eagerness to learn, means that children are exceptionally ready to move on to school when this time comes.

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

Children lead their play. They are confident to choose their own activities and resources, and understand that they can take resources from the indoors to the outdoors to extend what it is they want to do. Children are excited about their learning and therefore engage thoroughly throughout the day. The relationships with the staff are very good. Children clearly understand staff expectations and the routines of the day. They are extremely independent and demonstrate their confidence in changing into outdoor shoes and coats with limited support. Likewise older children change into and out of physical play clothing with minimal fuss and are extremely confident to do so. Children have an extremely good understanding of their self-care and understand the importance of when to wash their hands. Following outdoor play, before snack or lunch children do this in an impressing manner, they take turns and follow through the procedures with minimal guidance, unless

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

it needed. Then staff are to hand, and very willing to help.

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

Children understand their own safety. Their behaviour is highly exceptional and therefore, staff only need to give timely reminders so that children understand that they need 'listening ears' or 'walking feet'. Proactive staff help children to extend their own awareness of safety through the books they read. During a story, children listen intently as the staff reads about an ambulance. Children learn new words such as 'paramedic' and a child explains to his friends that sometimes the paramedic arrives on a motorbike. Children demonstrate exceptional awareness to call 999 if they need an ambulance. They listen as a staff member explains what a stretcher is for and why it is used. Children remain incredibly focused and engaged as the story unfolds and children offer ideas. This is because staff have an excellent awareness of how to involve the children. This practice thoroughly supports children's awareness of the wider world, their safety, their language,

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

Children demonstrate high levels of self-control during activities because staff are extremely good role models who promote children's positive awareness. This is clear as children play both indoors and outdoors or when for example, on the day of inspection, children are having their photographs taken by a professional photographer. They listen, follow the photographer's instructions, and are excited about the fact they are having a photo with siblings or as a group. Children take pride in this.

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

The nursery provides nutritious snacks for the children and all staff understand and adhere to children's dietary needs and preferences. Children grow herbs, vegetables and fruits in their gardening club. When the foods are ready to harvest, children prepare and cook vegetable soup for lunch. This learning initiate helps to extend children's understanding of how food is grown and cooked. Children staying for lunch have their meals provided by parents. These parents are enthusiastic about supporting the nursery policy about healthy options and a balanced diet, which promotes children's good health.

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

All children have regular access to the outdoors. For the main part of the day, children can move from the indoors to the outdoors freely as they play. Group activities outdoors enable children to take part in focused and adult-led activities. On the day of inspection, children were excited to take part in an outdoor obstacle course and manoeuvred their tricycles and scooters through set obstacles, demonstrating amazing control. In their free play later in the day, children choose their pedalled resources, riding down ramps with ease and judging distance as they stop or negotiate a hill. They have an outstanding awareness of their own space and very good skill at changing direction or negotiating each other as they play together. Other children look under logs with staff, who invite them to feel the insects that live there. Children explain that the slug is 'slimy' or that there are 'lots of ants'. Other children play together in the tree house or on climbing equipment.

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

Consequently, children experience a broad range of outdoor learning, fresh air and physical exercise throughout the day.

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provision

The nursery offers a highly stimulating environment to children. It is led exceptionally well by the head teacher who is inspirational and highly motivated in continuously promoting the very best outcomes for children. The head teacher is highly experienced. She works with caring and dedicated staff, of which three are qualified teachers. The head teacher has an excellent understanding of her responsibilities to safeguard children, support their learning and development and build partnerships with parents. The nursery offers an exceptionally welcoming approach. At the heart of its ethos is child initiated play, based on children's individual interests. Staff are keen to promote children's engagement in leading their own learning. This happens incredibly well, which means that children are extremely willing to take part in activities and are very happy.

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provision

Staff at the nursery demonstrate a very strong understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. All staff complete safeguarding children training as part of their induction. Safeguarding and child protection matters form a key focus of the nursery's practice. Systems to support how staff understand their responsibilities in relation to child protection are extremely robust. Staff therefore demonstrate an excellent understanding of the procedures to take to protect and keep safe the children in their care. A high percentage of the staff working with children hold a recognised first aid qualification.

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provision

The management have exceptional systems in place for staff recruitment, coaching and training. There is secure induction practice and high quality supervision procedures. Consequently, staff are highly motivated in their roles. A targeted programme for professional development means that those working with children are and remain suitable to do so. The nursery has been part of local initiatives to promote children's creativity, and this has had a very good outcome on how staff use music and rhyme to promote children's expression of ideas.

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provision

The nursery implements robust policies and procedures, which staff adhere to throughout the day. Staff share the policies with parents so that they understand the procedures that support children's health and safety. Risk assessments of the environment are robust. Highly effective monitoring systems for any accidents and incidents that occur mean that staff can take appropriate action to identify any trends. These systems had previously identified that the items of footwear children had on, did have some impact on minor accidents occurring and the nursery took extremely prompt action to work with parents to minimise this. There are very high ratios of staff to children throughout the day, and staff deploy themselves exceptionally well so they can supervise children effectively at all times.

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provision

Staff demonstrate outstanding confidence in their teaching skills. Their adaptable approach means that they can relate to children's differing needs effectively. Staff are enthusiastic and dedicated. They have a thorough understanding of the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and an excellent understanding of children's backgrounds and interests. They are therefore very confident to interact with the children as they play or in more focused and adult-led activities. There are excellent partnerships with parents. This partnership makes a significant impact on how staff gather information about children's interests and achievements so far, prior to children starting and during their time at nursery. There are robust systems to monitor the educational programmes in order to ensure that all children receive a high standard of learning. Staff are extremely confident to instigate additional support for children when

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provision

and if needed and to work with external agencies to provide continuity of care. Likewise, there is successful support for those children speaking English as an additional language. Consequently, this means that staff support all children exceptionally well in acquiring the skills to learn effectively and be ready for the next stage of their learning. They make very good progress in relation to their starting points.

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provision

Partnerships with feeder schools are very well established. Consequently, staff can offer parents advice and be able to support children's readiness for when they move on to school. Parents are extremely positive about their care their children receive. Parents spoken to at the inspection were enthusiastic in voicing their views about the success of the nursery and the nurturing support that staff offer their children. They state that the nursery is a 'great place for children' and that staff are 'friendly and passionate about their roles.' Parents highlighted that staff support children's independence extremely well and that children are therefore very confident to move on to school. There is extremely successful practice to engage parents in children's learning at home. The head teacher provides projects for parents to extend at home. These have included festivals, interpreting stories and emergent writing. She offers advice and guidance for parents, who

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provision

respond positively through their home observations and photos, which feed in to children's development records. Fully embedded systems for two-way communication means that staff and parents engage often through newsletters, parent consultations and daily feedback. This very good practice promotes how parents and children feel valued, extends the continuity of children's learning and development and supports the children to make excellent progress.

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provision

The nursery is extremely proactive in evaluating their priorities. Not only do staff review and reflect on planned activities and children's play ideas, but also the views of parents, children and staff support how the nursery is aware of the strengths and plans for future improvement. The head teacher is passionate and animated about the successes of the nursery. However, she is very committed to its continuous success and therefore very clear about how she will achieve this using ongoing reflection and training to promote the future outcomes for children. Her drive and forward thinking to maintain the high levels of achievement is uncompromising.

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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 EY472201 Local authority Surrey Inspection number 943871 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 5 Total number of places 45 Number of children on roll 76 Name of provider Hambledon Nursery School Limited Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 01428684892

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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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