The Little Academy Day Nursery

Severn Lodge Ltd Severn Lodge Nursery and Pre-School, Severn Lodge, Severn Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD2 4LS

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 21/03/2014 12/12/2012

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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

 Teaching is variable and some activities do not meet children's needs, which means children sometimes lose interest and staff do not effectively manage their behaviour. This reduces children's self-esteem, confidence and enthusiasm for learning.  The progress check at age two does not clearly identify areas where children's progress is less than expected and a written summary is not consistently shared with parents. In addition, some parents are not kept informed about their child's progress.  Information gained from observations is not used effectively to plan developmentally appropriate next steps for every child and to support children who have emerging concerns. This means gaps in children's learning are not effectively closed.  Children do not have opportunities to choose or serve their own food. This reduces their sense of well-being and their opportunities to become self-reliant.

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It has the following strengths

 Managers and staff are clear about safeguarding and welfare requirements and there is a designated member of staff responsible for safeguarding children in the setting. This helps ensure children are safe.  Children are offered a good range of resources and equipment that help promote all areas of learning and development.  Babies are encouraged to experiment with media and materials freely. This means they are focused for remarkably long periods of time given their age.

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Information about this inspection

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

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Information about this inspection

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

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Information about this inspection

The provision is also registered on the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. This report includes a judgment about compliance with the requirements of that register.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in all the playrooms and the outdoor areas.  The inspector held a meeting with the manager and a director of the nursery.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the manager.  The inspector looked at children's assessment records and planning documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of suitability and qualifications of practitioners working with children and the provider's self-evaluation form.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents and carers spoken to during the inspection.

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Information about the setting

Severn Lodge Ltd was registered in 1999 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is situated in a detached property on the outskirts of Bradford. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children. It operates from five playrooms over two floors and there are a number of areas available for outdoor play. The nursery employs a manager, deputy manager and 18 members of childcare staff. Of these, six hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2 and 11 at level 3. The manager has Early Years Professional Status. The nursery opens Monday to Friday all year round. Sessions are from 7.30am until 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 110 children attending, who are in the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language

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Information about the setting

and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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must:

 improve staff knowledge and understanding of the learning and development requirements, so that children are provided with a suitable educational programme, which enables them to make good progress towards the early learning goals

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must:

 ensure the named practitioner responsible for behaviour management has the necessary skills to advise staff on behaviour issues, in order to help staff implement appropriate strategies

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must:

 use information obtained from observing children to understand their level of achievement, interests and learning styles. Shape learning experiences for each child reflecting those observations to help children make the best possible progress in their learning and development

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must:

 use routine assessment, such as the progress check at age two, to identify children's strengths and where their progress is less than expected. Provide parents with a short written summary of their development in the prime areas of learning

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must:

 involve parents in their children's learning by improving the exchange of information on during the placement and encouraging them to share their views and enhance children's learning and development at home.

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

 support children as they develop their own likes and dislikes in food and drink, by encouraging them to serve themselves, choose healthy options and portion sizes.

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who attend

Teaching is of variable quality and effectiveness and some staff do not take sufficient account of children's interests or stage of development. This means some staff fail to enthuse and engage children effectively. For example, staff in the three- and four-year-old room plan activities based on adult-chosen topics. This reduces children's motivation and enthusiasm for learning. Adults often decide what children should paint and draw. For example, all the displays in the two-year-old room are mainly of adults' work. Children's contributions are limited to painting the background. Children do not have many opportunities to use their imagination. A member of staff provides a group of three- and four-year-old children with a piece of coloured paper, a box of pre-cut pieces of wool, coloured match-stick-sized pieces of wood and some glue. The member of staff instructs children to make sea creatures for the under-the-sea display. Children do not have enough

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who attend

encouragement, or resources to experiment with their own ideas. They do not have opportunities to be involved in the decision to colour glue blue, choose the colour of the paper they use, or cut pieces of wool. Therefore, in this activity, children do not have many opportunities to think for themselves, solve problems, or practice skills, such as using scissors. Staff ask children many questions and they are not given enough time to respond or formulate their ideas. This limits children's opportunities to develop their communication and thinking skills. The member of staff links the activity to a previous discussion about divers, but because the activity was not matched well to individual children's age or stage of development, older children dominate the responses and younger children do not learn effectively.

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who attend

However, some teaching is more effective and children are offered a good range of resources and equipment that help promote all areas of learning and development. This means some children make appropriate progress in their learning and development. For example, teaching in the baby room is good. Babies are encouraged to experiment with media and materials freely. For example, children are engrossed in exploring the marks they can make using two colours of thick paint on a very large piece of paper attached to a table. The activity is organised so children can sit in low chairs at a table and explore and experiment with the paint easily. They use large sweeping movements of their arms to experiment with the paint and make marks with their hands, brushes and sponges. Staff in this room know children well and tailor activities to children's needs. This means these children are interested in learning and are engrossed for unusually long periods of

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who attend

time given their age. Overall, children are not making good enough progress to support their future learning.

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who attend

Staff plan activities using the learning and development goals of the Early Years Foundation Stage that are appropriate for the majority of children in each group. This means most children make satisfactory progress in all areas of learning, however, it does not take into account individual children's interests or needs. This means that staff do not generally target teaching to meet the needs of children who do not make expected progress, so gaps in their learning are not effectively closed. Although, staff are aware that there are gaps in some children's learning, there are no clear systems to address these. Most staff work with parents to find out about children's needs and stage of development when they start attending the nursery. This helps ensure children settle quickly into the nursery's routines. However, Children's learning journey records contain a wide range of information, observations, photographs, assessments and examples of their

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who attend

work. The journals also include information for parents about the Early Years Foundation Stage and their child's key person. Most staff provide parents are with a termly summary of their children's development. However, some parents have not seen their child's learning journal and are not well-informed about their child's development. In addition, the progress check at age two is not consistently carried out to ensure all parents are informed and provided with a written summary of their child's progress in the prime areas of learning.

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

Warm relationships between children and the friendly, approachable staff ensure children are well supported and usually content. The under two unit is spacious and comfortable and a high staff to child ratio means children receive good individual attention and care. The nursery encourages children to attend induction sessions before they start and the nursery provides parents with a booklet for them to complete called 'All about Me'. This helps each child's key person exchange information with parents when children first start. These systems enable the key person to find out children's routines and preferences. In addition, staff exchange verbal information with parents on a daily basis. These systems usually enable staff to meet the individual needs of children. However, large group 'learning sessions' with the three- and four-year-old group, do not match the needs of all children well. This means some children lose interest and their behaviour deteriorates.

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

Staff do not manage this effectively and children are sometimes asked to leave the group and sit on a chair at the other end of the room. This reduces children's self-esteem, confidence and enthusiasm for learning.

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

The indoor environment is light, spacious and generally well-organised to allow children to select a range of resources that promote their learning and development. However, children's access to some resources, such as, paints, glue and model making materials are not easily accessible to children. This inhibits children's opportunities to become confident and independent learners. However, the outdoor environment is well-planned and equipped and all children have easy and frequent access to fresh air and exercise. The nursery provides nutritious meals that the cook prepares on site. She ensures children's dietary needs are met. However, children are not offered choice and do not have opportunities to serve themselves. This means staff do not support children effectively as they develop their own likes and dislikes in food and drink. For example, staff continue to persuade them to eat when children choose to stop eating. This reduces children's sense

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

of well-being. It also means children do not have opportunities to make choices about healthy options and portion sizes and reduces their opportunities to learn to be self- reliant.

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

Children learn about keeping themselves safe by taking part in monthly fire drills. Staff encourage older children to wash their hands and dress themselves. This means children become self-reliant, which helps them when they move on to school. Staff have good links with local schools. The manager provides teachers of the children's next nursery or reception class with information about children's attainment. This supports their transition to the next stage in their learning.

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provision

The manager understands how to keep children safe from harm. Robust recruitment procedures are in place to ensure that staff are suitable to work with children before they start work. There is a designated member of staff responsible for safeguarding children in the nursery. Many of the staff have also completed child protection courses, which means they understand procedures to follow should they have a concern about a child in their care. Staff deployment is good, which means children are well supervised. The director and manager have a phone-link to the nursery's surveillance system, which enables them to monitor practice in each of the rooms of the nursery, both from the office and remotely when they are off-site. This also helps keep children safe. Staff carry out daily risk assessments of each room and outdoors, to ensure the environment and equipment is safe. Nursery polices and self-evaluation documents describe safe and appropriate

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provision

practice. For example, if a child has an accident, staff are required to complete an accident form and inform parents appropriately.

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provision

The manager understands the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. She evaluates her provision using the Ofsted self-analysis form. However, she does not observe practice or monitor staff practice in sufficient detail to ensure practice consistently meets the good standards laid down in policies and nursery procedures. The manager conducts annual appraisals with staff. This process addresses general staff competences, but does not have a good enough impact on the quality of teaching. This means the quality of teaching is sometimes inconsistent and although, most staff are well qualified, some have not continued to update their skills. The manager does not monitor children's progress consistently across the whole nursery. This means she does not quickly identify areas of provision, which are less successful.

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provision

The nursery generally has good links with parents. Parent questionnaires are used to canvass parents' views, which give them opportunities to contribute to the nursery's self- evaluation in order to enhance the provision. Parents are generally very happy with the care their children receive, although, some say they would like more information about their children's learning and development. This is because the manager does not monitor practice closely enough. Although, systems to share information with parents are in place, they are not consistently followed by all staff. This hinders communication between the nursery and a few parents. In addition, because tracking information of children's progress is not fully shared with parents and the manager does not always monitor children's rate of progress in sufficient detail, gaps in children's learning are not quickly addressed. This means children are sometimes not well-prepared for the next stage in their learning.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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actions)

The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

 ensure that children's behaviour is managed in a suitable manner (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that children's behaviour is managed in a suitable manner (voluntary part of the Childcare Register).

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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 302062 Local authority Bradford Inspection number 961921

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 67 Number of children on roll 110 Name of provider Severn Lodge Ltd Date of previous inspection 12/12/2012 Telephone number 01274 637425

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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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