Linden House Nursery

Linden House Nursery 83 West Street, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, LU6 1SE

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 10/04/2014 12/08/2013

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 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 3 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision requires improvement

 Staff teach children to enjoy physical play where they can be creative and imaginative, as they role-play being animals and express their ideas through negotiating roles and ideas.  Children gain independence as they tidy up when music is played, helping them to understand changes in their daily routine.  The parent partnership group provides ways for parents to share their ideas and views, while electronic assessment means they can suitably exchange information about their children's learning.  Staff are aware of their responsibilities to keep children safe at the nursery.

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It is not yet good because

 Some activities fail to suitably stimulate, excite and engage children to effectively promote their learning and development.  Staff sometimes talk to children in very stilted ways, meaning children do not always hear language as a means to share thoughts, feelings and ideas to help them to understand.  Relationships with schools where children also attend require improvement to implement a programme for the regular exchange of information to support continuity of care and 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 all rooms and the garden.  The inspector had discussions with parents, staff and children.  The inspector undertook a joint observation with the deputy manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessment records, planning documentation, evidence of suitability of staff members, and a range of other documentation, including the safeguarding procedures.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector had a meeting with the deputy manager, manager and administrator of the nursery.

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Information about the setting

Linden House Nursery was registered in 2002 and is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It operates from three rooms and a conservatory in an Edwardian house close to the centre of Dunstable, Bedfordshire. There are ten steps to reach the entrance door. Children have shared access to an enclosed area for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 12 members of childcare staff. Of these, nine hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 and above. The setting is open Monday to Friday from 7.30am to 6.30pm, for 51 weeks of the year. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The nursery also offers a drop-off and pick-up service to nursery for children attending Dunstable Icknield Lower School. There are currently 64 children on roll who are in the early years age range.

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must:

 ensure that all activities staff plan for children are enjoyable and provide them with sufficient challenge by ensuring there are adequate resources for all children to use, providing opportunities for them to be independent and determine their own outcomes, and ensuring staff have consistently high expectations for what children can do.

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

 enhance children's communication and language further through modelling meaningful sentences and conversations with all children

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

 increase the two-way flow of information between the schools where children attend to ensure that children who attend full time go on to experience continuity in their learning when they spend time at the nursery.

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who attend

Staff plan activities which cover all seven areas of the required curriculum. Generally, these help children to make progress and follow their interests. However, some activities in some rooms are less well planned. On occasion, staff do not provide sufficient or fully suitable resources, such as scissors, for children to use. Furthermore, staff are not confident in children's abilities and limit their use of equipment, meaning some spend time waiting without meaningful engagement in activities. The staff provide no alternatives for children to explore the activity independently during this time as they have pre-set ideas of what children will achieve. This means that some children do not consistently experience a good level of challenge. Staff understand how to support children's development of their large muscles. Throughout the nursery children have opportunity to slide, crawl, balance and climb as they start to become confident and gain control of their

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who attend

movements. Babies enjoy climbing and pulling themselves up against soft play cubes to maintain their balance. Staff ensure that young children have freedom to roll over and practise their early walking. Older children delight in their physical play in the garden where they pretend to be tigers and crawl around chasing each other on and off of the climbing frame. Children adapt their movements, avoiding obstacles and preventing themselves from bumping into each other. Children take on roles and negotiate how their play will develop, exchanging ideas about the storyline they are making up.

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who attend

Children enjoy story and rhyme times at the nursery. They take interest in books and join in with actions to songs, as well as dancing and moving their bodies to music. The children begin to recognise their name, as they register in the morning by sticking their name onto the room door. The younger children at the nursery enjoy listening to staff sing and talk as they copy the babbling sounds children make. On the whole, staff talk with children purposefully, for example, talking about what they are doing and asking for children's ideas. However, some staff adopt a stilted manner of talking with children at times. They give blunt and sometimes meaningless responses to children's achievements, for example, 'good legs' or 'good balancing'. This does not fully help young children to understand why staff are praising them or provide them with a consistent model for using language as a means to express their ideas and feelings.

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who attend

Generally, children develop the skills they need to be successful in their future learning and eventual readiness for school. Staff suitably encourage children to make choices about what they play with. Staff respond to babies' changing interests and desires and take them into differing areas of the garden when they show this interests them. Children are becoming curious about the world around them as they watch the traffic pass by the window or point out bubbles and butterflies when they play outdoors. Children play with sensory activities, such as beans and shaving foam, where they learn about the texture and feel of differing materials. Children enjoy painting with paint and water, where they observe the marks they make. Older children are beginning to form the letters which spell out their names by drawing over dots that staff draw for them. Children name individual letters by saying their sound. This demonstrates that children are broadly developing

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who attend

awareness of early phonics to support their early reading and writing.

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who attend

Staff have recently introduced a new electronic method for observing, assessing and monitoring children's progress. Parents express their approval of this development, which enables them to more readily share their own observations of children's learning at home. Staff welcome the two-way flow of information and discuss the benefit this has for children, who experience continuity as parents can more easily support their learning at home. The staff reflect that this method is in its infancy, and staff are developing their understanding of using it. Staff provide a summary of children's learning for parents and are starting to track children's learning and development accurately as they identify their starting points. Staff can suitably plan what children need to learn by matching their observations against expected milestones. Consequently, children make steady progress at the nursery.

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

Staff build appropriate relationships with children, helping them to feel content. Staff talk to parents about children's home routines and items they use for comfort. The staff follow children's own individual times for sleep and rest and are attentive to monitoring them as they sleep. Young children wake contentedly and smile at staff, who cuddle them until they fully wake. When children are unsettled as they adjust to separation from their parents, staff are affectionate towards them and help them to feel secure. Staff prepare children for school by inviting teachers to attend the nursery to meet with children and by talking to children about the uniforms they will wear and the friends who will move with them. As children grow in age they change rooms within the nursery. The staff manage this in a satisfactory manner as they hold meetings with parents and complete transition forms which help new key people to find out more about children.

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

Staff help children to understand changes in their routine. They tell children what will happen next and help them to understand that activities are coming to an end by playing music which signals tidy-up time. Children are keen to help tidy away toys as they become independent in taking responsibility for looking after the equipment they play with. Children tell staff when they are thirsty and find their own drinks as they learn to manage their own needs. At lunchtimes, children serve themselves their food as they start to understand their own appetites and preferences. Children eat together as a group and enjoy mealtimes as a sociable occasion. Their regular outdoor play and trips within their local community help them to understand the components of a healthy lifestyle. Children behave well because staff explain their expectations to them. For example, when children climb on chairs, staff remind them to sit down. Older children become confident in

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

following rules and quickly quieten and listen when staff talk to them. They line up and follow staff directions, such as washing their hands when they return from playing outside.

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

Children choose from a suitable range of activities which are both child and adult led. Children know where activities are kept as they are visible and easy for them to find, meaning they are able to make some choices about what they play with. Children experience risk and challenge in their play, for example, older children enjoy the sensation of getting static shocks from the slide and tentatively touch each other to feel the sensation of this. Younger children negotiate the steps to the garden carefully, holding on the side to steady themselves. Children learn to keep themselves safe as staff guide them closely. They explain that they need walk inside and not run as they might slip.

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provision

Staff carry out regular risk assessments of all the areas where children play and any activities outside of the nursery. Staff supervise children closely at all times and ensure that safe and legal ratios are maintained throughout the day. There is a thorough process in place for recruiting new staff. This includes ensuring that checks are complete to assess the suitability of staff to work with children, and an induction period monitors the work of staff. Staff know their roles and responsibilities in keeping children safe because they follow clear policies and procedures which guide their work. Senior staff undertake regular training to maintain their awareness of changes and to refresh their knowledge, meaning that there are suitable measures to keep children safe at the nursery.

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provision

The nursery implements a programme for staff's professional development. The manager is well qualified and uses her knowledge to monitor the work of staff. There is an acceptable programme in place for supervising staff, which includes regular meetings and opportunities to review agreed targets. Staff complete training courses which are beneficial for their work with children. The senior staff share their learning with the staff team, and group training helps staff to have a good universal understanding, for example, of first aid. The staff team work well together and are supportive of each other. Staff complete peer observations, which helps them to strengthen their working relationships. The nursery completes self-evaluation to review the quality of care they provide for children. This is realistic and identifies areas of strength, along with weaker areas. The nursery has sufficiently addressed recommendations and actions from the previous

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provision

inspection, and all staff are committed to further raising standards for children. Therefore, the nursery has a strong capacity to maintain ongoing improvement for children. The nursery manager and deputy manager monitor the quality of teaching and learning and identify weaker practice, developing plans for support for staff. The senior staff at the nursery are using newly identified data to further track differing groups of children and to further monitor the work of staff. Staff complete the progress check for children at age two in consultation with parents. Therefore, this is reflective of children's progress to date.

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provision

Nursery staff are aware of the importance of working with other professionals to support children should the need arise. Staff share all relevant information with local schools when children move into full-time education. This helps to make the move smoother for children. However, some children still attend the nursery for short periods of time as well as full-time school. During this time the nursery does not actively exchange regular information with the school to continue to consistently complement children's learning. The nursery works with local authority development workers and critically reviews their suggestions for improvements to build upon the quality of care they provide. A newly formed parent partnership group is in operation. Parents are fully in control of the group to raise issues and discussion with the nursery on behalf of the parents whose children attend. They share their ideas, views and suggestions and are beginning to explore ways

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provision

to further raise parental involvement. The parents at the nursery are very supportive of staff and feel satisfied with the standard of care their children attend. They, together with nursery staff, have ambitious plans in place to continue to strengthen the parent/nursery relationships for the benefit of children.

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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 EY103054 Local authority Central Bedfordshire Inspection number 934344

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 36 Number of children on roll 64 Name of provider Dora Marie De Leonardis Date of previous inspection 12/08/2013 Telephone number 01582 662575

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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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