The Village Nursery Ltd

The Village Nursery (Helmshore) 409 Helmshore Road, Haslingden, ROSSENDALE, Lancashire, BB4 4JA

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 03/07/2014 16/07/2013

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: 4 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 Staff are fully aware of their responsibility to safeguard children. They are vigilant about children's safety and are good role models of how to behave and resolve any disputes. They conduct effective risk assessments and teach children to act and play safely. This effectively promotes children's well-being.  Teaching is good as the staff are well-motivated and involve all children in play and learning. They plan a wide range of experiences and challenging activities based on children's interests. They understand how children learn through play and actively encourage children to explore and experiment as they learn new things.  Partnership with local services are strong and used effectively to support children and staff.  The premises and staff are welcoming and inviting. A very well-planned garden is used effectively to make sure children have good opportunities to develop their learning in the fresh air and natural environment.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 There is scope to improve the organisation of some activities to further support children's choice and independence, in particular sensory play for babies.  There is scope to build on the good practice already established by encouraging staff to share their professional skills and knowledge to improve the quality of teaching and 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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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 the main playrooms, the dining room and the outdoor area.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held meetings with the manager and provider and had discussions with staff.  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 staff working with children and the provider's self-evaluation documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents and children talked to on the day and in the nursery's feedback.

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Information about the setting

The Village Nursery (Helmshore) opened in 2008 and is run by The Village Nursery (Helmshore) Limited. It operates from a converted premises in the Helmshore area of Lancashire. The nursery serves the immediate locality and also the surrounding areas. The nursery opens five days a week from 8am until 6pm all year round, except for bank holidays and Christmas holidays. Children attend for a variety of sessions. Children are cared for across three rooms and have access to an enclosed outdoor play area, including undercover areas outside each room. There are currently 93 children in the early years age range. There are currently 14 staff working directly with the children, all of whom have an appropriate early years qualification. One of the staff have appropriate qualifications at level 5 and two at level 4. The nursery receives support from the local authority. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and

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Information about the setting

voluntary parts of the Childcare Register.

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

 review the organisation and planning of sensory activities for babies, such as painting, to enable easy access to other activities, enhancing their choice of activity and their free use of resources and activities on offer

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

 embed the use of peer observations to build on the good systems already established in order to further encourage staff to fully share their knowledge and professional skills, enhancing children's continued progress.

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who attend

Staff are enthusiastic and plan a broad range of activities and first-hand experiences to interest and challenge children that cover all areas of learning. The way they observe, assess and plan for children's learning has been developed with local authority consultants. Staff have a strong commitment to training and work together to improve teaching and children's learning. Staff know children well and liaise closely with parents to find out their child's current interests at home and in nursery. This is because of the effective key-person system and the good team working that is in place. Children's progress is accurately and regularly assessed to ensure any gaps in their development are identified and appropriate interventions planned in sensitive partnership with parents. Consequently, all children are active, eager to explore, play and learn.

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who attend

Staff ensure babies are offered a wide range of activities. The layout of the baby room enables different activities to be enjoyed by different children safely. For instance, some children enjoy the physical challenge of exploring the tunnels and soft play equipment as they climb, balance, crawl, jump and run. They play actively while other children sit in the carpeted area exploring books and shape sorters. They enjoy undisturbed play as they crawl or move around the soft cushions and draped dens. The middle area is used for children to explore sensory activities, such as painting. However, at times the use of the floor space, in addition to a large table for painting activities, means children have less easy access to explore other activities on offer. This does not always fully enhance their ability to choose their activities or to make free use of the good quality toys available. Staff caring for older children carefully adapt resources to make them more appealing to

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who attend

children. For instance, on observing that boys rarely used some small construction resources, they added pictures of superheroes to the beads and threading materials. This has resulted in boys being more compelled to play and explore such activities. They play together in small groups, talking, showing great concentration and problem solving as they manipulate the beads and buttons on to string. They show pride and good counting skills as they hold their strings up to count how many they have. Staff plan fun activities for older children to practice and refine their counting and calculating skills. They playfully suggest incorrect answers to questions posed. Children demonstrate confidence and understanding as they delight in correcting them.

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who attend

Children's transitions in the nursery and to school are well planned. Staff share what they know about children to help ensure continuity in their learning. All staff are keenly aware of the necessary physical skills and communication skills children need for the next stage in their learning. For instance, as children play with dough, staff model how to roll it using their hands, fingers and small tools. Children copy them and develop good use of small muscles and control. Older children recognise their names as they see and use name labels throughout the day. Staff caring for babies use short simple words and gestures to help develop their understanding. Older children hear staff model rich and creative language. For instance, as children explore oats, cornflakes and pasta with their hands, staff show children how it falls from their hands in different ways. They liken the noise of the pasta falling on the tray to the noise of rain falling on the conservatory roof. This helps

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who attend

children to make links in their experiences and sharpens their listening skills. Consequently, children are developing a wide range of necessary skills to support their next stage of learning.

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

Children form warm and caring relationships with staff in the nursery. Young children develop strong emotional bonds with their key person and other staff. Babies automatically go to their key person for reassurance if they fall as they test their new standing skills. Staff create a calm atmosphere and develop a sense of belonging in children. They use displays of family photographs to talk to children about their family members. Children's confidence and emotional wellbeing, at times of transitions in the nursery and to other settings, is supported well due to careful planning and partnership with parents. Staff and parents share what they know about children to enable consistent and secure routines for children. Older children demonstrate excellent negotiation skills as they play. For instance, as a planned game of singing and performing the '10 green bottles' song ends children organise themselves to repeat it. They assign roles, such as

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

one child to knock the bottles down, another to hold a book and others to sing. They show good confidence and cooperation as they ask staff for help only when more children join and the potential for dispute is imminent.

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

Children demonstrate good attitudes to taking risks as they practice their developing physical skills. Young children crawl, walk and balance with enthusiasm. Staff sensitively support babies as they hold their hands to enable and encourage them to walk. Older children balance on short tubes. They accept only the minimum support from staff as they hold their hand to steady themselves. The children continue the fun with each other. They hold each other's hands, laugh, giggle and share each other's sense of achievement as they successfully balance. Children benefit from the very well-planned outdoor garden. They explore musical instruments under bushes and trees, run fast on the safety surfaced- track, climb challenging play equipment or make marks on the patio area.

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

Staff implement consistent routines throughout the nursery to develop children's social and personal skills. Babies cooperate with washing and dressing and demonstrate understanding and cooperation. Young children learn good hygiene routines as staff model washing their own hands. They playfully show how they can reach the back of their hands as they skilfully teach children how and why to wash their hands thoroughly. Older children pour drinks from appropriately-sized jugs. Young children copy staff as they wipe tables clean after painting activities. They show understanding and pride in taking responsibility as they dispose of the used wipe hygienically.

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provision

The provider and staff have a secure understanding of safeguarding issues. The nursery has a range of safeguarding policies and procedures to help ensure that children are appropriately protected. Since the last inspection by Ofsted, where the nursery received a number of actions to improve, the provider has reviewed the security of the premises and the quality of risk assessment procedures. Revised risk assessments have led to the fitting of an alarm system and additional locks to the front entrance to improve security. Clear information is given to staff and parents to help ensure that the premises remains secure, promoting children's safety. Recruitment procedures are robust and in line with local good practice guidance. This ensures all staff are appropriately vetted and qualified to work with children. In addition, the nursery has developed a bank of contingency staff to cover for staff absences and leave. The provider monitors the numbers of children attending the

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provision

nursery and maintains clear attendance records. This is enables them to ensure that staffing ratios are met at all times and all children are assigned a key person to ensure that their well-being and needs are met.

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provision

The provider and staff value the advice and support from the local authority consultant. They have used this support well to provide training for staff to improve the quality of staff interactions with children. Closer monitoring of staff performance has led to well- targeted training for staff. Recent training attended includes training on 'Terrific Twos' and 'Babbling Babies'. This has inspired and enthused the already loyal and committed staff team to continue to develop their practice and research current good practice in early years teaching. New monitoring systems mean that staff performance is assessed more robustly. The manager meets with staff weekly to discuss individual children's progress. The information is used to help assess how well staff track and plan for individual children's development. This helps ensure that any gaps in children's progress are promptly identified and planned for. A system of peer observations is beginning to be

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provision

introduced to some staff. This is helping staff to share good practice and to further identify any training needs. However, this system is not yet consistently embedded to fully reflect staff training and skills used in practice as they sustain further improvement.

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provision

The provider has positive partnerships with the local authority and children's centre staff. This helps them to evaluate their service and develop clear plans for even further improvement. All staff, parents and children are involved in the evaluation process. Parents are regularly asked to look at children's files and comment on children's progress. They have regular informal discussions with their child's key person. Information gained from parents is used effectively to plan for each child's development. Children's transitions to school or other settings they may attend are fully planned for in partnership with parents. Feedback from local teachers is used well to inform the planning of children's learning. Liaison with the local authority means parents and children have access to a range of other professional agencies. This helps to ensure that all children are fully supported to make the most of their learning opportunities. Consequently, children make

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provision

good progress in their learning given their individual starting points.

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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 EY364314 Local authority Lancashire Inspection number 932344

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 51 Number of children on roll 93 Name of provider The Village Nursery (Helmshore) Ltd Date of previous inspection 16/07/2013 Telephone number 01706 211422

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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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