Dawn To Dusk Day NurseryOfsted inspection, 2 Jul 2014

Dawn To Dusk Day Nursery Swanley School, St. Marys Road, Swanley, Kent, BR8 7TE

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 02/07/2014 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 know the children well and build strong bonds and attachments with them all, which results in children being happy in the nursery environment.  The management have procedures in place to continue to ensure children's development and health and safety remains embedded.  Children are confident due to staff praising their achievements.  Children with additional needs and English as an additional language are well supported due to strong links with outside agencies.  Children have access to a variety of activities throughout the day.

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It is not yet good because

 Staff do not always give children a clear understanding of boundaries and expectations of their behaviour.  The manager has not developed a sound process to monitor the variable quality of teaching and some activities lack challenge as a result.  Younger children are not exposed to a wide range of new vocabulary to support communication and language skills.

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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

 Inspector gathered views of parents.  Inspector completed a joint observation with the manager.  Inspector observed activities in all rooms and the garden.  Inspector sampled policies, children's records and monitoring documentation.

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Information about the setting

Dawn To Dusk Day Nursery opened in 1997. It is one of two settings in Kent owned by the same provider. The nursery operates from a purpose built single storey building in the grounds of Orchards Academy, which is part of the Kemnal Trust. The provision also offers an out of school club, opening before and after school hours. There are four main playrooms for pre-school children, toddlers and babies. There is an enclosed outside play area that leads to a large garden. The nursery opens five days a week for 50 weeks of the year. Nursery sessions are from 7am until 7pm. The provision also offers flexible care within these hours. The breakfast club opens from 7am to 9am and the after school club (Duskies) opens from 3.20pm to 7pm. There are currently 55 children on roll in the early years age range. The nursery is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education for children age three and four years. Staff support children who are learning

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Information about the setting

English as an additional language. There are 10 members of staff. The area manager has a degree in Early Years Childcare and has achieved Early Years Professional Status. One member of staff holds a level 5 qualification in childcare and four members of staff hold a level 3 qualification. Three members of staff hold a level 2 qualification in childcare and there is one apprentice. This provider is registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The setting works in partnership with the local authority and other providers in the local area.

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must:

 ensure children have opportunities to resolve conflicts and manage their own behaviour

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must:

 ensure all activities are informed by observation and assessment of children's abilities to ensure activities meet the needs of individual children.

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

 increase the level of new words for younger children during activities and care routines to strengthen their communication and language skills.

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who attend

Staff show a suitable understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage, providing well for all seven areas, to help promote children's learning and development. Children enjoy their time at the nursery and are confident to explore their environment. Staff use information which they collate in 'All about me' forms as well as settling observations of children to determine children's starting points. Staff are able to promote children's development but the quality of teaching is variable. Although staff plan a range of activities for children to support individual next steps, these are not always thought through by staff. For instance, during a focus activity for children to look for bugs, equipment was limited and children left unsure of what they needed to do. Therefore, progress to the children's next stage of learning is not always supported or sufficiently challenging. Staff are enthusiastic when interacting with children as they recall their

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who attend

favourite stories, but do not always encourage children to develop their imagination by providing resources for props. Children enjoy singing songs together in the garden area and staff support this interest by joining in with them. Younger children enjoy spending time with older children during garden play, with support from their key carer. This supports children's transition throughout the setting.

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who attend

Younger children enjoy exploring sounds using wooden spoons and pots and pans. Staff support their understanding, offering single words such as 'loud' and 'bang'. Although later during messy activities when young children explore different textures, staff offer limited access to new vocabulary to support children's communication and language acquisition. Staff support children who speak English as an additional language using visual aids and a combination of home language and English and these children make sound progress. Children enjoy coming together for circle time, talking about the weather and the date, for example. Although this area is restrictive causing children to become squashed and fidgety, quickly loosing concentration. Staff do not always step in to rectify this and children's learning is impacted as a result.

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who attend

Children enjoy stories read to them by staff and this helps to develop their interest in books in readiness for school. Parents share information at the beginning of their children's nursery life, and attend consultations about their children's progress. Staff share information well overall about children's progress and offer strategies to engage parents in promoting learning at home.

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

Staff form strong relationships with children, greeting them warmly as they enter the nursery. They offer regular praise and encouragement to children which promotes children's self confidence and self esteem. Children behave well overall in the nursery, although on occasions expectations of behaviour are not made clear to children, as staff simply tell children to stop without offering clear explanations about their requests. This hinders children's personal, social and emotional development, as staff are not providing children with skills to manage conflicts and their own behaviour. The nursery has a designated behaviour co-ordinator, who is supported by the local authority to provide appropriate strategies, but these are not always followed through by staff. In younger age group rooms children are not always given opportunities to develop skills to support their independence. This, at times, inhibits their learning. For example, during messy activities

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

children are unable to explore fully as staff are keen to wipe the mess away. The environment is generally set out to offer a suitable range of activities and play opportunities to help to promote children's learning. Resources in each room are clearly labelled and easily accessible for children to explore independently. However, older children's access to role play resources is less effective and the area uninviting. This hinders the older children's imaginative play.

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

Children have a sound understanding of their own safety, for example they are eager to explain the importance of wearing a hat and sun cream in the hot weather, as well as drinking lots of water. Children have access to fresh drinking water throughout the day. They are given the opportunity to manage their own personal needs and understand why it is important to wash hands, although this support can variable across the rooms. After mealtime younger children enjoy a relaxing story before sleeping.

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

Staff complete daily risk assessments of each room and the garden area prior to using. Toys are checked and cleaned on a weekly basis, with schedules dated and signed appropriately. Children enjoy spending time in the garden where all areas are now safe. However, not all areas are adequately used to support children's learning. For instance, large wooden planters are overtaken with weeds, limiting children's interest in the natural environment.

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

A flexible settling in process and clear key worker system, whereby children have a named adult, makes children's entry into the nursery as smooth as possible Staff have procedures in place to ensure a smooth transition through all rooms of the nursery, with the key carer joining the children in their existing, secure environment before inviting them to play in their new room. This enables young children to become familiar and begin to form attachments to other adults and children. Parents are happy with the care their child receives and the improvements made to involve them in their child's day. Parents are pleased with the daily discussions they have with children's key carer about their day and this supports continuity of learning and care for the children attending.

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provision

The manager and staff team have made suitable improvements in developing the setting and ensuring children are safe. Staff have a good understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Policies and procedures as well as procedures for monitoring practice, help promote children's health, safety and wellbeing. The manager and staff are working hard to improve the nursery alongside the early years advisor from the local authority. The nursery has a suitable recruitment and induction programme for new staff, including the completion of the relevant Disclosure and Barring Service checks. New staff are supported by management during their probationary period. This allows the manager to assess capabilities as well as their understanding of policies and procedures. Staff are monitored by the manager through daily monitoring systems of each room as well as one-to-one supervisions. Staff complete

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provision

performance appraisals annually and at the end of the three month probation period.

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provision

The staff team and manager hold monthly staff meetings which enable all staff to engage in in-house training and allows the manager to seek the views of her team when reflecting on improvements being made to the nursery. This ensures the nursery continues to develop. The manager regularly checks staffs' understanding of nursery policies, particularly safeguarding, whistle blowing and health and safety. Monitoring of the education programme is less consistent, however, and results in teaching that is variable amongst the staff team. This means that gaps in children's learning are not always picked up in a timely manner and that activities do not always focus on individual children's needs and interests. There are some links with external agencies to support children's behaviour and speech and language delay enabling staff to access resources quickly. However, inconsistencies in staff practice mean there are still gaps in some staffs knowledge of

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provision

The manager continues to develop and improve the nursery and there are action plans to involve the whole staff team in the improvement process. The nursery self-evaluation system provides an overview of the nursery's strengths and weaknesses, although it does not focus adequately on the consistency of staff practice. Partnership with parents has improved and parents now able to work alongside staff to improve continuity of children's care and 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 children's behaviour is managed in a suitable way (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure children's behaviour is managed in a suitable way (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 EY332938 Local authority Kent Inspection number 963257 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 78 Number of children on roll 55 Name of provider Dawn To Dusk Nursery Swanley Ltd Date of previous inspection 12/08/2013 Telephone number 01322 660330

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Setting details

set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

Full-time provision is that which operates for more than three hours. These are usually known as nurseries, nursery schools and pre-schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the higher fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Sessional provision operates for more than two hours but does not exceed three hours in any one day. These are usually known as pre-schools, kindergartens or nursery schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the lower fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Childminders care for one or more children where individual children attend for a period of more than two hours in any one day. They operate from domestic premises, which are usually the childminder’s own home. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Type of provision

Out of school provision may be sessional or full-time provision and is delivered before or after school and/or in the summer holidays. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Where children receive their Early Years Foundation Stage in school these providers do not have to deliver the learning and development requirements in full but should complement the experiences children receive in school. achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children,

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Type of provision

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Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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