First Step Nursery Day Care

First Step Nursery Day Care 52 Deptford, Broadway, Deptford, London, SE8 4PH

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 02/09/2014 19/06/2013

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 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 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 Children benefit from a very bright and stimulating environment, both inside and outdoors.  Planning and assessment are good and staff monitor children's progress well together using effective methods of teaching.  The owner, manager and all staff are all working together very cohesively as a strong team. This also supports a strong partnership with parents to maximise children's potential.  There has been a major review of provision since the last inspection where the management team and staff have worked tirelessly to achieve high standards. They are committed to continuous improvement.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Children are not always made aware of different signs and symbols when walking in the local community to raise their recognition of letters, numbers and knowledge of their world about them.

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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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Inspection activities

 The inspector toured the nursery premises and accompanied children on an outing.  The inspector looked at children's records and documents relating to safeguarding.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held discussions with the owner, manager and the staff at appropriate times.  The inspector took account of the views of parents.

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Information about the setting

First Step Nursery Day Care registered in 2011 and is privately owned. It operates from a three-storey premises in Deptford, close to Deptford Bridge Station, in the London Borough of Lewisham. It is near the main high street and close to all public transport services. Children use rooms on the ground, first and second floors. There is a lift to all floors. There is an enclosed area for outdoor play and a separate outdoor area for babies. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register. The nursery opens each weekday from 7.30am to 6.15pm, all year round. There are currently 29 children on roll. The nursery has provision to care for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. There are 17 staff employed to work with the children. The manager has a degree in education, one member of staff holds Early Years Professional Status. There are 14 members of staff with qualifications in

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

 enhance children's literacy and their understanding of the world, for example by encouraging them to look for signs and symbols in their environment when going on walks to destinations such as the library.

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who attend

Children are progressing well at this warm, inviting and friendly nursery. The consistent approach taken to early development begins from the first day when staff acquire from parents significant information about their children. The staff follow this through with regular assessments of children's progress. This enables them to plan relevant activities to challenge children to progress strongly in both their development and learning. The staff make accurate summaries of children's achievements, including the progress check for children between the ages of two and three years. This enables staff to share with parents any areas where children may require extra support. The daily feedback that staff provide, together with children's enthusiasm for taking work and books home enables parents to continue their children's learning at home. The good support staff provide to children who learn English as an additional language enables them to make very good progress in their

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who attend

ability to communicate. Some staff speak other languages and they also use simple sign language, which children understand. Consequently, all children are receiving good support that prepares them well as they move to other rooms within the nursery and ultimately for school. Children are very sociable and greet visitors with warmth. They are keen to participate in conversation and staff support them very well by being enthusiastic listeners and guiding children during activities. For example, children have opportunities to role play both inside and outdoors. While in the garden they collected the fallen leaves and pretended to make salad in their outdoor kitchen. Staff talked to the children about different kinds of salad and questioned them about why they put it in the oven. Children learnt that salad is always cold and the oven makes ingredients hot. Inside toddlers also role play, having an indoor picnic. They developed their hand-and-eye coordination skills as they carefully

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who attend

poured tea into cups and fed their dolls. Staff tested children's understanding by making simple requests, such as asking for toast, then more complex sentences when encouraging children to serve each other. This supports children's emerging social skills, particularly with sharing and showing care for others.

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who attend

Older children eagerly talked about their visit to the library, which is a frequent occurrence and engages children in the love and respect for books and reading. On arrival children started to whisper as they knew they must be quiet in the library because they said others are reading. Children were captivated by the story which staff also reviewed with them later when they returned to the nursery. This reinforces children's learning through listening and understanding. Many of the older children are able to recognise letters of their first name and staff encourage early learning of letters. However, children's attention was not drawn to the many letters and signs during their walk back from the library to heighten their literacy skills and awareness of the information in their environment.

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who attend

Children explore different media to express their creativity. For example, children had fun making bubbles in water using a range of equipment. They made sand cakes of different sizes, learning what is big and little. Children counted teddies in shaving foam and staff encouraged them to scroll with their fingers to make different shapes in the foam. Children are thrilled as they begin to write the letters of their names. Older children also benefit from complex construction toys to make a marble run, which supports their problem solving and early mathematical comprehension as they learn how different shapes fit together.

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

Children are happy and content because staff give children and their family time and attention. Children show pleasure on arrival, easily parting from their parents to the competent charge of a caring key person. As a result, close relationships are formed and children are emotionally secure, showing a clear attachment to their key person. In some cases, children introduce themselves as a 'key child' to a specific member of staff, which shows the strength of their attachment.

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

Children enjoy their nursery because it is a very stimulating learning environment, which is planned with thought for the different ages of the children who attend. For example, babies occupy spacious downstairs rooms with both smooth floors and carpets. The activities are all low level, encouraging babies to crawl and pull themselves up. They also have immediate access to a well-resourced outside play area. Here staff helped them to develop their physical skills, rolling and catching balls, climbing apparatus and having fun scattering shredded paper. All children enjoy exercise in the fresh air in all weathers in their exciting outdoor play areas. They also have opportunities to tend a natural garden where they are able to dig soil and grow plants and other vegetables. The in-house cook prepares nutritious healthy meals. Children enjoy the variety of vegetables and casserole dishes as well as the selection of different fruits available. Meal times are a warm and

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

social occasion where staff sit with the children and chat freely, utilising the routine effectively to develop children's social skills and create a rich learning environment through conversation. Staff fully support children's independence such as using appropriate cutlery and seeing to their personal hygiene needs. Children, therefore, become competent in these skills in preparation for their move to their reception class at school.

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

Staff ensure the nursery is safe at all times. They have a very good understanding of safeguarding children procedures and managing risks. A very secure entrance system protects children and staff use appropriate safety equipment inside such as gates, smoke detectors and door safety finger guards to keep children safe. Children enjoy the challenge of climbing high apparatus while learning about the risks. When children go on outings they behave extremely well which helps them to keep safe. They put on their high visibility jackets, hold hands with staff and stop correctly at the kerb to look left and right before crossing the road. The nursery environment is also well equipped to support children with physical disabilities. The layout of the rooms provides children with space to move around, the internal lift enables children to travel to all floors and there are well equipped changing rooms for children's comfort and privacy.

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provision

There have been major changes since the last inspection. The owner, manager and staff have been working hard to fully address the actions raised to ensure they meet the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. The managers now have a very strong recruitment procedure, which shows the thorough checks conducted on all new staff to ensure their suitability to work with children. The induction period and regular supervision provides staff with the knowledge and support to be effective in their roles. All staff have a good understanding of child- protection procedures and know their individual responsibilities with regard to ensuring children's well-being is secure at all times. A programme of staff training regarding assessing risks and monitoring accidents has resulted in a significant reduction in accidents at the setting. Furthermore, there is a high percentage of staff who hold a first-aid qualification. This means that there is more than

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provision

one qualified staff member present in each room and at least two when children go on outings. This means that children receive immediate attention in the event of an accident.

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provision

Staff show passion and enthusiasm for their work. They are strongly motivated to access further training in their field and welcome the support of their managers in helping them to achieve their goals. The room supervisors and manager carefully monitor the education programmes through observing staff practice and giving supportive feedback. This ensures staff development and accuracy in noting children's stages in their learning and development.

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provision

The nursery management is committed to improving the provision. They have risen to the challenges of the actions from the previous inspections and have implemented their own action plan for continuous improvement. This comes from regular staff and parent meetings and comments that are made in the consultation books at reception. This is working particularly well in the contribution to partnership working.

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provision

The management and staff have a good knowledge and understanding of the importance of working in partnership with others. There are strong links with the local authority and health professionals to support children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. The qualified nursery special educational needs coordinator keeps abreast of the recent changes and maintains links with outside agencies so the nursery receives appropriate guidance. The good connections with local schools in the area means that staff speak with confidence what children can expect when they go to school. Staff complete comprehensive final assessments which they pass on to school to inform teachers on each child's achievements.

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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 EY422898 Local authority Lewisham Inspection number 968118 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 85 Number of children on roll 29 Name of provider Mary Iyangbe Idiaghe Date of previous inspection 19/06/2013 Telephone number 0208 0454421

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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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