Children's Place Halifax

The Children's Place The Poplars, Free School Lane, Halifax, West Yorkshire, HX1 2YE

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 16/04/2013 09/06/2009

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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 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision is satisfactory

 Children develop positive relationships with the staff and other children, because the staff include them all well in activities and they praise their achievements.  Children receive effective challenges outdoors. This supports children's physicals skills and their imagination well.  Children progress appropriately in their learning, overall, across the seven areas, because the staff use the observations of children to plan a range of activities to support them.  Children receive a good balance of indoor and outdoor play activities. This supports their all-round development effectively.

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It is not yet good because

 There are gaps in some key staff's knowledge about the specific languages some children use at home, which means children's language and communication skills are not fully supported.  Staff do not use a range of ways to further assist children in recognising numerals outdoors, this means their mathematical skills are not supported as well as possible.  There is scope to further assist babies in their developing communication and language skills during daily routines to promote their progress.

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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 the three play rooms, the bathroom areas and the outside playing areas.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled a range of documents that included children's records of learning, policies and procedures and an evaluation of the provision's documents.  The inspector spoke to several parents and children in all the rooms.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to several staff about the learning intentions of activities observed at the inspection, and the inspector spoke to the manager about the operational procedures in place to support children's care and learning needs.

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Information about the setting

The Children's Place nursery was registered in 1997. It is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is part of The Children's Place Nurseries Ltd chain which operates across West Yorkshire. The nursery is situated in a detached property in the Halifax area of West Yorkshire. The provision is in partnership with Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust. The nursery serves the local area and serves parents employed by the Health Care Trust with some places open to the local community. It operates from three playrooms and there are two fully enclosed areas available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery employs 18 members of child care staff. Of these, 11 hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3, and four at level 2. One staff member holds Early Years Professional Status and the manager has a degree. The nursery opens from Monday to Friday all year round. Sessions are from 7am until 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 117 children attending under eight years of age, of whom 105 children are in the early years age range. Children attend on a full and sessional basis. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The setting receives support from an early years consultant and the company's management group. They have the 'Investors in People' award and have achieved the National Day Nurseries Association 'Quality Counts'

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must:

 ensure all the staff have a detailed knowledge about the individual needs of all children by gathering full information about the specific language children use at home, and provide reasonable opportunities for children to develop and use their home language in their play, to fully support their language development between the home and the provision.

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

 extend the opportunities for children to recognise numerals, by adding numbers to all areas of learning, such as outdoors. For example, place number labels on each bike and the corresponding number on each parking space

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

 extend further the opportunities for babies to develop their communication and language skills, by making the best of all opportunities to repeat words.

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who attend

The staff throughout the nursery have a sound knowledge of the seven areas of learning. This means that all groups of children receive support to help them progress well, overall, towards the early learning goals. Children are developing appropriately according to their individual starting points and time attending the provision. For example, the staff give good support to help most children with their developing communication skills at most times during the day, through talking to them consistently through activities and routines. However, although there are times in the baby room when staff use language frequently to support the babies' language and communication skills, there are also some times when not all staff make the best of opportunities to talk consistently and repeat words during routines in order to progress babies' learning.

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who attend

Staff follow the children's interest in books, and they are supporting their early reading skills as they effectively include all of them. They make a point to listen to what children have to say as they discuss the story. Children's thinking skills are supported well at this time because staff pose open ended questions to encourage children to describe what happens next. Staff support children as they plan to make pictures about the story and consider where they wish to display their work. This motivates the children and they enjoy the activity while making decisions.

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who attend

Children who use English as an additional language receive appropriate support to develop their spoken English. For example, staff help children join in conversations using pictures and labels. However, not all key staff fully understand what specific language some children speak at home. This means that they cannot give children enough support or opportunities to use their home language in play and learning, or support their language development at home.

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who attend

Babies receive good support as they explore. For example, staff help children become mobile and ensure that they have opportunities to investigate a variety of different textures and materials to help them learn about the world. More able groups of children are creative in lots of different ways. For example, they explore dance and use a variety of media, such as paint. Children are supported effectively during a play dough activity. For example, the staff encourage the children to consider which rolling pin is the biggest, and which is the longest and which is the smallest. This supports aspects of their mathematical development well. However, there are other ways to help children further extend their mathematical skills. For example, by extending the use of number labels within the outside play area.

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who attend

The outdoor areas are used regularly for all ages within the nursery. The staff ensure that the areas are challenging for children by providing a variety of resources that create interest and incite curiosity. This supports their thinking and their imagination effectively. For example, they can crawl through tunnels, climb and experience different surfaces and levels. This also supports their physical skills well.

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who attend

The observations of children are used consistently to plan children's next steps in learning across the seven areas. The staff follow the children's choices and build on these to ensure children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, move on to the next stage. Staff work alongside other early years professionals, where appropriate, to support individual children. Staff can clearly state where the children are in their learning. This supports children's all-round development and their readiness for school appropriately.

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who attend

The progress check at age two is implemented and gives parents a clear picture of their child's progress and what is planned to aid their further development. Parents are included well, overall, in their children's learning through discussion, and through the sharing of the children's records of learning. Regular parents evenings provide time to discuss their individual child's progress. Parents often bring in items from home to use at the nursery, such as books. This provides continuity in children's learning between the home and the provision.

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

Each child has a staff member assigned to them as their key person. This ensures that the staff can support the different needs of individual children. All age groups of children develop positive relationships and strong attachments with the staff and other children. This is because staff include children in group activities, reassure children and help them become independent. They frequently praise them for achieving tasks. For example, more able children receive praise when they happily explain that they are waiting for the chicks to hatch out of the eggs they are observing in the incubator, and as they spread their own jam on toast. Babies receive praise as they make good attempts at feeding themselves. This helps them feel secure and confident within the environment, and they respond by behaving positively and happily carry on with what they are doing. Children's behaviour is good and they are learning to work together, share and take turns.

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

Care routines are carried out effectively. For example, more able children show independence and knowledge about the importance of hand washing, and they are encouraged by staff to carry out hand washing during the day. Staff demonstrate strong knowledge of babies routines, such as feeding and sleep patterns. This effectively supports children's well-being and continuity between the home and setting.

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

The environment is clean and well maintained, and the provision inside and outdoors is effectively risk assessed. This includes ensuring there are sufficient staff to monitor the safety of the outdoor and indoor playing areas as children explore. The staff talk to the children about safety, for example, this includes helping them understand about the importance of not running in a small space indoors. This helps them learn about risks and how to keep themselves and others safe effectively.

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

Children are developing a good understanding of the importance of living a healthy lifestyle because the staff ensure that they receive a good balance of indoor and outdoor play activities that they enjoy. This supports their all-round development. Staff ensure that the children eat a range of healthy food. For example, the meals are of good quantity, made freshly each day and include a balance of food groups. Water is readily available for all groups of children.

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

Transitions are managed effectively within the nursery to support children's well-being. For example, children visit the nursery before starting, and there are regular visits to other rooms before moving. Staff ensure parents are fully involved in the process, to enable all parties to support the children effectively at this time.

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provision

The management and staff team demonstrate a good understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements. This is demonstrated by the consistency in how the staff implement safety checks within the provision to keep children safe indoors and outdoors. The provider acts responsibly to support children by notifying Ofsted of any incidents or accidents within the provision over a period of time. The provider has reviewed the type of incidents to ensure that any potential risks to children are minimal. This means that the provider takes effective action to keep children safe.

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provision

Staff know their role with regard to who to contact if there are any concerns about a child. The safeguarding policy is clear in keeping staff and parents informed of the importance of keeping children safe, and what to do if there are concerns. Employment procedures are robustly implemented to ensure staff are suitable to work with children. Clear induction and regular staff appraisals provide staff with ongoing support to work with children, overall. Staff go on regular training courses, such as changes to the learning and development requirements and first aid.

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provision

The management team make sure that children's learning and development are promoted appropriately, in many aspects, through monitoring staff's implementation of the learning and development requirements. For example, how the observations of children are used to support them. However, the provider does not yet fully implement an important part of the learning and development requirements relating to supporting children whose home language is not English.

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provision

The provision makes satisfactory use of evaluation, overall, to support children. Regular meetings involving the management team and the staff, ensures that staff have opportunities to voice their ideas on how to improve the nursery. Children are frequently asked to voice their views and make choices, such as where to display their own pictures. Staff also take account of their ideas by ensuring that they listen to children's requests to explore resources they choose. The provision actively encourages parents to share their ideas about the service through discussion, including the children's individual care and learning needs, and through the use of questionnaires. This results in the staff working with the parents to meet children's needs by consistently reviewing their practice.

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provision

The provision forms good relationships with the parents, working alongside them to support the children's care and learning overall. Parents spoken to at the inspection speak positively with regard to how the nursery operates to support their child's learning and care routines.

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provision

The provision forms effective relationships with other professionals and the management team demonstrates a clear understanding of their role in liaising with other providers should children attend other provisions. They are aware of the importance of sharing information to support children's care and learning, and to work in partnership to offer support to children with any particular identified need. The staff continue to extend the strong partnership working links with the local authority, through meetings and through sharing information when staff from the local authority visit the nursery. This ensures that children receive suitable support for their all-round development.

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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 Satisfactory Satisfactory provision is performing less well than expectations in one or more of the key areas. It requires improvement in order to be good. 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 the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be inspected again within 12 months of the date of this inspection.

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Grade Judgement Description

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 303834 Local authority Calderdale Inspection number 908407

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 59 Number of children on roll 117 Name of provider The Children's Place Limited Date of previous inspection 09/06/2009 Telephone number 01422 329 030

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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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