Little Tinkers

Little Tinkers Scocus Barn, Five Ashes, Mayfield, East Sussex, TN20 6JJ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 13/08/2014 01/11/2013

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: 3 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 Staff's ongoing professional development is supported well with further training and personal reflective practice records.  Children are becoming very independent and enthusiastic learners as they confidently explore their environment and choose the games they want to play.  Children are developing a love of books. Younger children enjoy shared reading with staff and older children confidently select books to look at themselves during their free play.  Staff promote children's health well, teaching them about healthy eating and good personal hygiene, as well as providing lots of opportunities for physical exercise.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 The key-person arrangements in place for younger children do not always ensure key persons are free to take the lead in settling new children into the nursery.  Children do not always receive opportunities to practise the practical independent and social skills associated with dining, such as using cutlery and plates.

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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 inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

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Inspection activities

 The inspectors completed a joint observation in the nursery, and held meetings with the nursery owner and manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspectors looked at some children's records, including their learning assessments, and spoke to some key persons and parents.  The inspectors observed activities in the play rooms and the outside play areas.

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Inspection activities

 The inspectors checked evidence of safeguarding practices, staff recruitment, ongoing professional development and self-evaluation processes.

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Information about the setting

Little Tinkers registered in 2009 and is located in a converted barn near Five Ashes, East Sussex. The premises consist of two group rooms, both of which have direct access to fully enclosed outdoor play spaces. There is also a small holding with livestock in the nursery grounds. The nursery is open each weekday from 8am to 6pm, for 51 weeks of the year. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently 101 childrenaged from birth on roll, of these 96 are in the early years age range. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. There are nine members of staff; two have appropriate early years qualifications to National Vocational Qualification at level 6, three staff have level 2 and two have level 2. In addition, there are trained professionals for tennis, art and drama who visit the nursery regularly and carry out activities with

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Information about the setting

children. The nursery receives funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two, three and four years.

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

 strengthen the key person arrangements so that the named key person is always ready to settle new children in the nursery

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

 extend further children's experiences associated with dining, such as using cutlery and plates, to enhance their independence and social skills.

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who attend

The staff promote children's learning and development effectively. Staff undertake sensitive observations of children which they use to plan for their future learning. Recent, well-targeted improvements to the systems for assessment and planning are helping to provide a precise picture of children's individual achievements and progress. Staff understand children's specific individual needs and accommodate these well. Parents comment that they receive good detail about their child's day and can support children's learning at home. Drop-in sessions for parents are held so they can see learning records and talk to their child's key person. When children start, the information parents share about their child helps staff with their initial assessments. Staff provide parents with informative written progress checks for two-year-old children. The reports give detail on children's personal, social, emotional and physical progress, as well as their

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who attend

communication and language development. The staff support children's developing communication and language skills well. The staff working with the babies and toddlers use a lot of repetition and songs to encourage their developing language. With the older children the staff extend their language with open questioning. This promotes children to think of an answer other than 'Yes' or 'No'. The children play happily and there is evidence of some strong friendships developing. Children are confident to express their views, such as deciding which book they want to share with a member of staff. The staff's one to one sharing of books with babies successfully engages children's interest. They use a good tone of voice to interest children.

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who attend

The pre-school children, in the Penguin group, thoroughly enjoy the music and movement activity. This provides children with a wide range of movements that help strengthen the physical abilities they need for early writing skills. Children chalk or draw on large sheets of paper or explore a mixture of water, bubbles and glitter in a tray following the actions in the song. There are lots of resources to promote physical play inside and outdoors. There are sports sessions with outside professionals coming in to teach the children, for example with bat and ball play, and dance. Babies and toddlers enjoy exploring their room and have easy access to their own outside play area. The older children love to spend outside and enjoy the natural environment, learning about the wider world. Children regularly visit the farm animals and learn about life cycles, such as seeing the lambs grow. There is discussion about size and shape with the younger children and lots of counting

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who attend

with the older children. This encourages progress in their mathematics development. As children move through the nursery they clearly gain the skills they need for going to school. They are confident and keen to interact with the staff and others. They play cooperatively with other children and gain independence skills, such as going to the toilet themselves.

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

A key-person system is in place with a buddy key person to support children if their named key person is unavailable. Babies and children develop positive emotional attachments and this promotes their well-being. However, there is the occasional time when key persons are not always actively engaged in settling in new children. The attention and consideration given to children's individual care needs promotes inclusion as good detail is obtained from parents. The staff manage moves between nursery rooms slowly to ensure children settle quickly. For example, children have visits so they gain a familiarity with the environment before they move on. Parents state they are happy with the care their children receive and staff know their children well.

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

Children gain independence and confidence as they make choices about their play in the welcoming and stimulating environment. The older children go to the toilet when they need and pour drinks at snack time. Children bring packed lunches and gain skills in opening containers. However, there are times when they are not being encouraged to practise independent and social dining skills, such as using plates and cutlery. The nursery no longer provides a cooked meal using farm meat that children help prepare, although they do engage in some other cooking activities. Children learn about the importance of hand washing and having a healthy lifestyle. They enjoy going to collect some of the food they eat for snacks, such as cucumbers from the farm. Several children have taken a role in watering and tending the fruit and vegetables. Children have good outdoor play experiences that develop their physical skills. They dig in the sand pit and make

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

sandcastles, play with the balls or use the ride on toys. They use up energy in the bat and ball games or running around outside. The staff manage children's behaviour well. They are patient, calm and use humour appropriately that creates a positive environment. Children wait their turn, share resources when necessary and show they listen well. The staff help teach children how to keep safe. The children practise fire evacuation drills and learn to consider the needs of others, such as when playing in the sand. The broad range of good quality resources across the nursery are at a low level to help children to make decisions about what they want to do and where they want to play.

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provision

The management team and staff demonstrate a secure understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements. The staff have a confident awareness about possible child protection issues and of the processes to follow should they have concerns. They complete safeguarding training and there are detailed written procedures in place. The thorough recruitment system ensures that the provider undertakes relevant and appropriate checks to help ensure staff suitability. A clear induction process helps new staff gain an understanding of their roles and responsibilities. There is effective ongoing support for staff with training, supervision sessions and annual appraisals. Staff reflect regularly on their own learning and record information about their professional development. The whole staff team are keen to learn and improve their knowledge base with in-house training or improve their childcare qualification.

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provision

The premises are safe and secure with appropriate risk assessments in place. There are daily cleaning routines that ensure the areas used by children and equipment are hygienic, for example the microwave and fridge are suitably clean. The nursery is situated on a smallholding in the country and as such there are sometimes flies but these are dealt with effectively and do not affect the provision of food and drink. Children have supervised access to the farm and staff manage this suitably. There are sufficient qualified staff working in the nursery to meet the required child to adult ratios. The staff supervise children well, both indoors and outside and routinely check sleeping babies.

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provision

The staff have a competent knowledge of the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. They promote and support children's progress, ensuring that they include parents in the process. The management team is reviewing the current systems for tracking and monitoring development across the nursery. This will enable them to compare the ongoing progress of groups of children to ensure all key persons continue to encourage development and narrow achievement gaps.

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provision

The self-evaluation of the nursery practice is informative with the views of parents, staff and children taken into account. Development plans are ongoing and demonstrate a secure willingness to improve outcomes for the children across the nursery. There have been positive developments since the last inspection, demonstrating a strong capacity to continue improvements. For example, the complaints record is available and good arrangements are in place for partnership working with other early years settings where children also attend. There are strong relationships with parents and staff engage positively with them to ensure their children receive the care they need. There is effective information sharing to ensure parents are aware of the practices at the nursery. Staff gain detail from parents about children's backgrounds and care needs, such as dietary requirements. This helps staff meet children's individual needs well, fully supporting

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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. We re-inspect nurseries and pre-schools judged as requires improvement within 12 months of the date of 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

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Grade Judgement Description

is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected again within six months of the date of this inspection. Met There were no children present at the time of the inspection. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not met There were no children present at the time of the inspection. 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 EY375779 Local authority East Sussex Inspection number 984927 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 52 Number of children on roll 101 Name of provider Ellen Hanna Date of previous inspection 01/11/2013 Telephone number 01825 830772

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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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