The Old Library

The Old Library Wardle Road, Rochdale, Lancashire, OL12 9ER

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 16/06/2014 04/04/2012

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early years provision

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

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This provision requires improvement

 Staff have a secure understanding of how to manage any safeguarding concerns they may have about children's welfare. They implement suitable measures to prevent unauthorised access to the premises in order to protect children.  Partnerships are established with parents and external agencies in order to support children's learning and well-being.  The manager has implemented a range of measures to improve the rigor with which staff performance is managed, as well as for monitoring the planning, observations and assessment for children's learning.

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It is not yet good because

 Staff are not always sufficiently robust in carrying out their checks of the premises to minimise all potential risks to children.  Staff deployment and teaching practice with pre-school age children is not good enough to meet their learning needs well at all times, including by making consistent use of their spontaneous ideas for planning learning experiences.  There is no clear system or schedule for frequent, reflective discussion between the manager and the owning company, in order for them to share evaluations and then plan improvements jointly. This lessens the pace of improving the nursery's provision for children's welfare 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 carried out observations of childcare staff and their interactions with children throughout the day.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held meetings with the manager and spoke with staff, a representative from the local authority, children and parents at appropriate times during the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 A joint observation was carried out of a member of staff by the inspector and the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of suitability and qualifications of practitioners working with children, and discussed with the manager the ways in which practice in the setting is evaluated and examined documents related to this.

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Information about the setting

The Old Library Nursery Ltd is owned by a limited company and has been operating since 1988. It on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register, and is situated in a converted library in the village of Wardle in Rochdale. The nursery is accessible to all children and there is an enclosed outdoor play area. The nursery is open Monday to Friday from 7.30am to 5.30pm for 51 weeks a year, apart from Bank Holidays. It also offers care for school-age children before and after the school day. There are 10 members of staff working directly with the children, including the manager. Of these, six are qualified to level 3 in childcare and two are qualified to level 2. The manager has a degree. The nursery employs a cook to prepare meals on the premises. There are currently 76 children on roll, of whom 73 are in the early years age range. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-olds. It

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Information about the setting

supports children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The nursery receives support and advice from the local authority.

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must:

 improve staff practice with regard to implementing checks for hazards in the outdoor area, and therefore minimise the risks posed to children by staff not ensuring that storage areas are inaccessible to children

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must:

 ensure that children's learning in the pre-school room is effectively supported by deploying sufficient staff at all times, who have a good knowledge of the individual children, and know how to effectively teach and meet children's learning needs and interests.

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

 improve the staff's use of children's spontaneous interests in order to motivate and engage them in their learning through high quality discussion, to further develop their communication and language skills

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

 implement systems to support regular reflective dialogue between the owners and manager, in order to sustain the continuous improvements made by the manager as a result of her ongoing evaluations, using the views of those associated with the nursery.

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who attend

The manager has made improvements to the ways in which children's learning is planned. For example, by ensuring that plans are made for the activities and resources offered outdoors and for learning about letters and their sounds in the pre-school room. This means that planning is now targeted to raise children's achievement in specific areas; however, these changes are too recent for their impact to be clear. The manager has also developed the ways in which she checks the planning for both individual children and the weekly planning in all rooms, in order to ensure that a balanced education programme is offered to all children. However, although improvements in systems to support children's learning have been implemented, staff practice and skills are not consistently good enough for learning to be optimal. In addition, although the staffing in the pre-school room meets statutory minimum requirements, it is not always with enough well-qualified

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who attend

staff to support children's learning needs effectively at all times. For example, when one member of staff is leading a creative activity and the other is supervising play on the outdoor decked area. This means no staff are available for children playing with the small world or role-play resources, in order to support their learning. Children's learning is also limited by pre-school staff not having a secure knowledge of children's learning needs at all times. This is because adequate plans are not made to ensure continuity at times when staff have taken short or long-term leave. This results in staff working with pre-school children not knowing their individual planning and the ways in which they learn best. Consequently, their learning during these times is not well supported by consistent teaching, although some progress is made due to children's use of the resources always accessible to them indoors and outside. Parents are helped to provide information about

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who attend

children's development when children join the nursery, and the manager has increased the detail of this in order to better support initial planning for their needs. Parents are enthusiastic about the activities that are suggested for use at home to complement learning in the nursery, such as for children's learning about letters and sounds. The manager encourages parents to make ongoing contributions to the planning for their children's learning, in order to further individualise this and motivate children accordingly.

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who attend

Regular observations are made of children's learning and these are monitored to ensure that they cover all areas of learning within the Early Years Foundation Stage. These observations are used to assess children's progress by comparing them with developmental milestones to see if children are making progress that is below, above or expected for their age. As a result, interventions can be made, including seeking advice from external specialists, with parents' permission, in order to meet children's developmental needs. Plans for children's future learning are made as a result of observational assessment and incorporated into the activities provided each day. Some use is made of children's interests for planning activities, however, this is not consistently implemented by all staff in order to motivate children in their learning. For example, staff plan activities to help children make flags from different countries to develop their

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who attend

manipulative and creative skills, as well as their knowledge of the world. However, they reject children's spontaneous requests for some play dough and do not consider if this could be made with children as an activity in its own right. This does not motivate children to learn or promote equality of opportunity. As a result, opportunities are missed to support children's learning, including developing their communication and language skills. Children aged over two years are always busy and engaged in activities in order to support their learning. They scoop and shape sand, draw pictures and engage in imaginative play with toys, such as dolls' houses. However, the quality of their learning is not consistently good due to the gaps in staff deployment and some staff's lack of knowledge of individual children's needs. Overall, children are prepared for their next steps in education and learning, including those with special educational needs and/or

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who attend

disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language, but progress is steady rather than brisk.

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who attend

Staff practice in the room for babies supports their learning. For example, as staff encourage them to play with toys that help them to link cause and effect by playing music or showing lights when they push buttons. Staff provide effective support for babies to develop their whole-body coordination by helping them to practise standing to strengthen their legs. They offer activities where babies can explore paint, crayons and other creative resources in order to provide opportunities for them to hear new words and to develop their manipulative skills. Staff take babies on pushchair walks in order to help them see the local area and talk to them about what they see to develop their communication and language. All children are provided with opportunities to listen to stories and select books during the day, so that they have experiences that support their enjoyment of literacy. The nursery helps children to learn about diversity by teaching them about a range of

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who attend

festivals celebrated by different faiths and communities both locally and around the world.

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

Unauthorised access to the premises is prevented by a range of measures, and staff demonstrate a suitable knowledge of how to protect children's welfare in this respect. For example, the front door has a bell for visitors to use and is always answered by established staff who are familiar with the parents and carers who usually collect children. Any unknown visitors have their identity checked either by producing documentary identification, or if intending to collect children, by staff telephoning parents to check the password the person should provide. Gates to the outdoor play areas are secured by locks at all times when children are on the premises. As a result, the premises are adequately secure in order to help keep children safe. However, staff are not always sufficiently observant for hazards on the premises, such as when outside storage areas are not secure and closed to prevent children having access to these areas which are not intended for

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

their use. Some aspects of risk are therefore not minimised. The nursery implements a key-person system in order to support children's emotional well-being and help them develop secure attachments in order to facilitate their learning. However, this is not always effective for all ages of children. For example, some children in the pre-school room do not have someone present at all times who knows them well, due to fluctuations in staffing. As a result, the staff knowledge of key children and their needs is not thorough enough to enable all children to make good progress at these times.

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

Children are generally well behaved because staff make use of strategies to motivate them to show good behaviour. For example, they offer small responsibilities to children who demonstrate this. They also use simple motivators, such as sticker charts, to encourage children's progress in some aspects of their learning, including managing their behaviour and toilet training. Staff emphasise the use of good manners by children at key points during the day, such as mealtimes, to teach this. Use is made of meals and snacks for children to develop their self-help skills and they are encouraged to serve some foods themselves. This also helps to develop their coordination and manipulative skills. Food and drink provided is healthy and children have access to drinking water throughout the day to help them learn to meet their needs. Children have frequent opportunities to play outside where a range of equipment is provided to help them develop their whole-body

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

coordination. They also are provided with a range of opportunities to learn about taking reasonable risk in physical play, such as by having climbing frames and large tyres embedded in the ground to climb on. Children delight in their outdoor play and enthusiastically pedal on wheeled toys and make use of the slide. Babies are pushed on wheeled toys with harnesses for safety by staff and clearly enjoy their earliest experiences of outdoor play, learning to view this as part of a healthy lifestyle.

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

Suitable information is gathered from parents prior to children joining the nursery and this is updated regularly. For example, the names of any new persons authorised to collect children are added to the information held about this, to support children's security. The nursery seeks information regarding children's health and any specific needs in this respect, in order to support children's well-being. Parents are provided with a comprehensive information pack containing policies used in the nursery so that they have access to these. The move for each child into the nursery is managed according to their individual needs and based on observations of their emotional well-being at all times. Parents receive suitable information about children's daily care and activities, including information regarding the length of any naps. For example, staff note if children have seemed unusually tired and have needed a longer nap to meet their needs, following the

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

nursery's policy on children's sleeping. This is provided in written form for babies so that parents can see any emerging changes in routine more clearly. Children's changes of room as they progress through the nursery are also suitably managed to promote their emotional security. The manager is proactive about inviting staff from children's future settings to visit them in the nursery as part of the transition to school. This is so that future staff can see children when they are confident in a familiar learning environment and gain a better understanding of how to support their needs.

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provision

Staff demonstrate a secure knowledge of how to manage any concerns they may have about children's welfare, and there are staff with designated responsibility to handle any safeguarding concerns passed to them by others. All staff undergo checks for their suitability through the Disclosure and Barring Service, and the manager repeats checks when staff have been employed for long periods of time to ensure that a suitable staff team is retained. Risk assessments are in place for the premises and any local outings that children participate in. However, staff are not always vigilant when making safety checks on the premises, resulting in an outdoor storage space at child level being left unsecured and accessible to children on the day of inspection. This raises the risk posed to children's safety if they enter areas not intended for their use. This is also a breach of the Childcare Register requirements. Adequate procedures for recruitment and induction are in place so

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provision

that suitable new staff are employed when needed and provided with the necessary initial information in order to protect children's welfare. All statutory records to support the safe and effective running of the nursery are in place, such as a record of any accidents to children that occur on the premises.

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provision

The manager has made progress in adding more detail and breadth to the planning for children's learning since her appointment just over a year ago. For example, she has introduced planning for the outdoor area activities and also to teach letters and sounds in the pre-school room. She has also implemented systems to monitor the planning and assessment for children's learning, to gauge their effectiveness. However, these changes are not fully embedded in the nursery and staff are not yet sufficiently expert to provide consistently good quality learning experiences. As a result, children make steady rather than consistently good progress toward the early learning goals. More rigorous systems have also been recently introduced to appraise staff performance using comparison with criteria for good practice. For example, the manager has initiated a more robust system of regular observations on staff in order to set targets to improve their practice as needed.

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provision

However, the full impact of this is not yet clear on how it raises quality of staff practice when working to support children's welfare and learning. The manager is keen to ensure that staff develop high expectations of their own practice and therefore of the progress of children in their care. She uses the observations on staff to target their training needs so that staff are given support to improve their skills and knowledge in order to provide for children's learning and care.

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provision

The manager has formed close partnerships in the last year with the local authority quality team. This is in order to support evaluation of the nursery leading to the introduction of changes to bring about continuous improvement in the provision. However, this is not always effective due to a lack of frequent opportunities for dialogue about the needs of the nursery between the manager and the limited company. As a result, the rate of improvement is steady rather than optimal in some respects, such as in acquiring new resources to support children's learning. There are routes in place for parents to provide written and verbal feedback to inform the evaluation process whenever they choose, and children's views are also sought. Staff are encouraged to offer their views at meetings and through the use of questionnaires. The evaluation process has therefore been developed by the manager to make use of the views of the range of people involved with the

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provision

nursery. Consequently, the nursery has made progress in implementing a recommendation about self-evaluation suggested in the previous inspection, demonstrating that improvement is ongoing in some areas. The manager has successfully guided the nursery to implement the local authority quality scheme and also uses the Ofsted self-evaluation tool in addition to this as part of her drive for raising practice to consistently good standards.

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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 all necessary measures are taken to minimise any identified risks (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that all necessary measures are taken to minimise any identified risks (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 316464 Local authority Rochdale Inspection number 978322

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 56 Number of children on roll 76 Name of provider The Old Library Nursery Ltd Date of previous inspection 04/04/2012 Telephone number 01706 649 430

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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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