Crocus Early Years (Hinxton Hall Nursery)

Crocus Early Years (Hinxton Hall Nursery) Wellcome Genome Campus, HINXTON, Cambs, CB10 1RQ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 27/06/2014 13/06/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 Previous inspection: 1 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

 Children are very happy, self-assured and confident. They benefit from a highly motivated, dedicated staff team who know children well and provide excellent care and education.  The quality of teaching and learning is exceptional as staff have an excellent knowledge of how children learn. This is supported through precise, accurate assessment and planning for individual children to ensure they make outstanding progress.  Children are extremely safe in an environment that is secure and stimulating. Staff demonstrate an excellent knowledge and understanding of safeguarding procedures and all other aspects of safety.  The leadership and management is extremely strong. They consistently review and evaluate their practice and the learning experiences they provide. The extremely well motivated staff team work exceptionally well together, to ensure all children thrive and enjoy an outstanding learning experience at all times.

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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 both indoors and in the outside play areas.  The inspector carried out a joint observation and held a meeting with the manager.  The inspector looked at children's assessment records and planning documents.

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Inspection activities

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

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Information about the setting

Crocus Early Years Hinxton was registered in 2001 and is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is situated in purpose- built premises on the Wellcome Trust Genome campus area of Cambridgeshire, and is managed by Bright Horizons Family Solutions. The nursery serves the local area with priority given to the children of staff working on the campus. The nursery is accessible to all children. Each room has access to an enclosed outdoor area. The nursery opens Monday to Friday all year round. Sessions are from 8am until 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 108 children attending who are in the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. The nursery supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The nursery

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Information about the setting

employs 34 members of staff. Of these, five hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2, 20 at level 3, one at level 5 and one at level 6. There are six members of staff unqualified and a nursery chef.

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

 enhance the outstanding teaching strategies already in place by extending the use of factual books to further develop children's understanding and learning.

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who attend

Teaching and learning is outstanding because staff have very high expectations and understand how children learn. Children have access to a wide variety of toys and resources that cover all seven areas of learning in both the indoor and outdoor environments. Resources for babies are stored on open shelves and baskets on the floor. They are eager to investigate and enjoy many varied experiences supported by staff who understand how babies learn and develop. Children in all rooms show high levels of concentration and quickly become engrossed in their play. Consequently, all children make excellent progress in their learning and development. Effective deployment of the staff enables them to be readily available to support children in order to extend their learning. For example, a member of staff explains the use of calculators to a group of children. Consequently, children discuss which numbers they are pressing and what numbers they

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who attend

make. Children's mathematical development is therefore extended. Staff in the pre-school rooms have an excellent knowledge of the children's stage of development and interests. Therefore, children demonstrate high levels of skill in many areas. For example, many children are able to write words and draw pictures with precise details. These are valued and respected by the staff as they use them for displays and signs around the room and outdoors areas. These high levels of skill are further developed as the staff effectively use the company's schemes to promote rapid progress in reading, writing and mathematics.

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who attend

The experienced and dedicated staff have an excellent knowledge of the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Every child is valued and respected. Staff assess and identify children's starting points and ongoing development stages extremely well. The highly effective assessment and tracking of children's progress ensures all children make excellent progress in all areas and many exceed development expectations. Parents state they are well informed about their child's progress. Development records contain regular updates from parent's observations at home. Daily conversations with the key person and the open door policy of the nursery ensure parents are very well informed of the child's day at nursery. A very well resourced library is in constant use by the parents who borrow books and science activities. This enables children to have expanded learning opportunities at home. Regular e-mails and parent

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who attend

consultations ensure parents have an excellent knowledge of their child's development.

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who attend

The nursery supports the learning of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language extremely well. The staff ensure signs around the nursery reflect the many languages the children speak. This is further extended through the wide variety of dual language books available to the children. Consequently, many children are developing speaking and listening skills effectively in two languages. The highly effective use of questions enable children to think critically and solve problems. As a result, the older children hold effective and sustained conversations with their peers. Following a conversation between a staff member and a child about what a bruise is and how it develops. An activity is set up in the pre-school room, using apples, to look at how bruises develop. This enables children to experiment and gain a deeper knowledge of words, such as 'skin', 'bruise' and 'blood'. There is scope

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who attend

to extend this outstanding activity even further with the use of factual books to give a visual representation of the concept under discussion.

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

Children are extremely happy and enjoy their time at the nursery. The time spent outdoors is especially enjoyed. Staff actively use the outside areas and campus grounds to enhance the children's enjoyment of the natural environment. The older children bring their bikes or scooters to the nursery and are given time to ride them around the campus. Children show a good understanding of the need to wear helmets and to listen to instructions. Consequently, they are rapidly developing skills in knowing how to keep themselves safe. Staff promote healthy lifestyles by providing freely available water at all times and healthy food. All children, from babies through to pre-school, are encouraged to be independent at meal times. Key people support babies to serve themselves at lunchtime. Toddlers carry their plates and bowls carefully and scrape any remaining food into a bowl. This develops their independence. The nursery provides a nutritious menu

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

that meets the cultural and dietary needs of all children. They are developing excellent social skills, which prepares them for experiences in the wider world, such as school.

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

All staff have high expectations of behaviour and are consistent in their approach. As a result, children's behaviour is excellent and effective friendships are being made. The staff are good, positive role models, they show respect for the children and support them extremely well. Consequently, children feel emotionally secure and are extremely confident, independent and self-assured individuals. From an early age, staff teach children to recognise and begin to understand their emotions and those of others. For example, a child discussing a sad dream with a member of staff is given time and shown great respect for her feelings. Reassurance from the staff member results in the child giving the staff member a cuddle before going off to play happily.

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

Children develop exceptionally strong bonds with their key person and the staff team. The detailed information gained from parents as children start at the nursery is available to all staff. Therefore, staff support children's individual care needs to a very high standard. Babies' individual routines are prioritised and each is displayed on the wall. Consequently, babies are extremely happy and settled in the nursery. Parents of children with English as an additional language speak highly of the support they receive from the nursery. The child's key person learns special words in the child's home language. This enables children to feel secure. For example, a child moving rooms is involved in a conversation between the current key person and her next key person. As they discuss the special words in the child's home language, she joins in and clearly enjoys this dialogue. Children learn about their own and other's cultures and language as they celebrate special days and festivals.

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

Therefore, children learn to recognise and respect each other. Children requiring additional support to achieve are extremely well supported so they can fully participate in all activities. Visual timetable and prompts are used to support children to understand the routine of the day. Excellent links with local schools ensure children are very well prepared for the move when the time comes. Children are excited as their new teacher visits the nursery and they show pride as they show her round their room. This effectively promotes their development and readiness for the next stage of learning.

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provision

The highly motivated manager and staff team demonstrate a strong drive and commitment to maintain the already excellent standards of care and education they provide for the children. All staff have a thorough understanding of their roles and responsibilities to meet the safeguarding and welfare requirements. A robust recruitment and induction process is in place with all necessary checks being made. All staff demonstrate a clear understanding of safeguarding procedures, which are reflected in the policy. They are aware of and understand their responsibility to report any concerns they have about a child. Most of the staff have a current paediatric first-aid qualification. Thorough risk assessments and excellent understanding of staff regarding children's needs mean that they are extremely safe and secure. The manager has an excellent knowledge of the skills of her staff and she gives their professional development high priority. Regular discussions, appraisals and high quality

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provision

supervision mean that staff are constantly improving the already outstanding practice. The impact of this is evident in the nursery as staff evaluate their practice and strive at all times to give exceptional service to children and parents. Monitoring of children's education, learning and development is consistent and robust. The planning schedule for each child clearly show how the child's interest, development and achievements feed into the planning for their next step in learning. Consequently, all children are making excellent progress in their learning and development given their starting points.

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provision

Staff work extremely well with parents to ensure children's individual needs are exceptionally well met. Parents speak very highly of the provision and feel they are given excellent support by the staff. Those spoken to at the time of inspection talked about how much they value the excellent learning experiences their children take part in and how they recommend the nursery to others. There are many opportunities available for the flow of information between the nursery and the parents, including emails, newsletters, discussions at flexible drop-off and collection times. A parent committee is actively involved in the nursery. For example, they have recently been involved in building a recycled greenhouse in the garden to develop the nursery's eco project. Partnership working with other agencies and professionals, such as the local authority special needs co-ordinator and staff based in local schools, is excellent. They visit the nursery and

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provision

information is actively shared so that any additional support is implemented to aid children's learning and development. Strong links with the children's next school ensure the transition is managed exceptionally well. Teachers visit the nursery to meet children and to observe the outstanding learning opportunities they take part in. The nursery shares a detailed transition summary of children's achievements with these settings to ensure all children benefit from continuity in their care and 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 EY136664 Local authority Cambridgeshire Inspection number 848153

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 91 Number of children on roll 108 Name of provider Bright Horizon Family Solutions Ltd Date of previous inspection 13/06/2011 Telephone number 01223 495025

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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

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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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