Filkins Nursery (The Old Station Nursery Ltd)

Filkins Nursery (The Old Station Nursery Ltd) The Old School, Filkins, LECHLADE, Gloucestershire, GL7 3JJ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 03/09/2014 17/09/2008

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 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 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 Children follow a unique pathway in their learning because staff expertly observe, assess and identify each child's needs and learning style. This results in a highly effective programme of individualised learning.  Staff plan a vibrant range of highly stimulating and exciting activities both indoors and outside, which motivate children and challenge their thinking. As a result, children make rapid progress in their learning.  The extremely strong leadership and management of the nursery have rigorous processes in place to monitor the quality of the education provision and care of the children.  Excellent partnerships with parents promote a fully cohesive approach to learning as staff consistently include parents' views in their children's assessments and encourage them to contribute to individual plans that feature children's achievements at home.  Children are very happy and settled in the welcoming environment of the nursery. Staff

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This provision is outstanding

are extremely caring and children's health, safety and well-being are afforded the utmost priority.

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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 children in all areas of the nursery.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held discussions with the nursery manager, head office adviser, staff and children.  The inspector took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day.  The inspector completed a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector reviewed paperwork including children's records, samples of their work, policies, risk assessments and suitability checks on staff.

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Information about the setting

Filkins Nursery registered in 2007. The nursery is one of 6 settings operated by The Old Station Nursery Limited. The provider is on the Early Years Register and on both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The nursery operates from the old school house in the village of Filkins, near Lechlade, Gloucestershire. The nursery is open for 51 weeks of the year from 8am until 6pm each weekday. Facilities include two playrooms and an enclosed outdoor play area. The nursery receives funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two, three and four years. There are currently 49 children on roll. Of these, 40 are in the early years age range. Care is offered to school-aged children before and after the school day, and during school holidays. The nursery employs 9 staff to work with the children. Of these, one has a Foundation Degree in Early Years and BA (Hons) Childhood and Youth Studies, seven hold appropriate early

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Information about the setting

years qualifications at Level 3, and one at Level 2.

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

 enhance children's positive attitudes to diversity as they play outdoors to complement the excellent indoor provision that reflects a variety of cultures.

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who attend

Children thrive in this vibrant and nurturing nursery. They carry out systematic observations, precise assessments and maintain excellent communication with parents. This enables them to sensitively identify children's individual needs from the outset. As a result, staff know children across the nursery extremely well. This enables staff to give children's needs a very high priority and, together with children's interests, guide and inform children's development thoroughly. Planning brings together individual goals for each child in the nursery and reflects their learning experiences at home. The key persons routinely share their plans for each child with parents and all the staff. This means that all staff who work in the rooms offer a targeted approach in their support of children. This rigorous, shared planning and assessment means that staff and parents are quick to identify when children excel or need more help in specific areas. Staff quickly employ

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who attend

strategies to extend or boost children's skills, or support parents as they seek guidance from outside agencies. Consequently, all children make the best possible progress from their starting points.

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who attend

The quality of teaching is exceptional because staff have an excellent knowledge of child development and how children learn best. Staff have high expectations and provide excellent opportunities for children to play, explore, investigate and problem solve. They expertly judge when to intervene directly to extend children's ideas as they act as co- learners. Staff model their thinking processes out loud so children can build on and evaluate their ideas. For example, staff use phrases, such as: 'I wonder' and 'I think that', and they point out their friends alternative viewpoints. As a result, children demonstrate resilience and creative thinking when they face challenges. For example, children persevered when their plans for an assault course did not work by replacing planks, bricks, tree stumps and hoops as staff marked out the positions they choose with chalk. Staff reflect on their practice throughout the day. They share ideas and reform plans with each

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who attend

other by noting children's responses and interest levels during activities. As a result, children consolidate their learning well. For example, staff encouraged children to read and discuss a book about a builder and name the tools so they could revisit new vocabulary, which they had learnt earlier in role play.

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who attend

Staff provide all children with an extensive range of indoor and outdoor activities. These activities provide children with excellent opportunities that fully support their learning in all areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage. For example, staff encourage children to use objects, such as musical instruments and puppets to help enhance their understanding of a story. Children receive highly effective support for their communication and language development. Staff use relevant early language programmes and follow speech and language therapists' guidance to support their teaching. Staff support children to initiate conversations, engage in play with words and rhymes and voice their preferences. For example, staff talked with children about people they know, located their homes on the map and explained how to listen for information. As result, children make rapid improvements in their speech and language.

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who attend

Staff provide outstanding opportunities and resources for children to develop their physical skills within the nursery. The recently improved outdoor facilities enable each age range of children to develop fully their physical skills, irrespective of the weather. For example, children explore the forest school area where they build dens, play in the mud kitchen, learn safety around fire and care for chickens.

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who attend

Many carefully planned activities and resources help children with their early literacy and mathematical development. Older children can competently identify sounds in words, read their names and those of their friends. Staff teach children to count and recognise numbers to 10 in their play activities. Children learn about measure and shape through exciting open-ended activities. For example, children helped create a graph to record their food preferences, and recorded and ordered their heights.

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who attend

The sharply focused provision for personal, social and emotional development means that children are confident learners who are developing their independence at their own pace. For example, children who find it difficult to shift their attention are reminded by visual cue cards that they will be packing away for lunch soon. Staff organise the daily routine extremely well so that children have extended periods of play. This ensures children sustain and extend their concentration particularly well during their play. Children learn to play collaboratively with their friends and value each other's contributions. By the end of their time in the nursery, children are highly articulate, confident and independent. These skills prepare them extremely well for their transfer to school. Parents are highly complimentary about the support they receive to extend their children's learning at home. They comment that staff have helped them gain a better understanding

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who attend

of the meaning of play and how children learn.

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

Key persons enable children to settle into the nursery exceptionally well and continue to help them when they move into a new room or on to school. Children develop strong bonds and secure attachments because key persons show high levels of sensitivity, care and consideration towards each child and their family. In particular, the relationships between staff and children foster a strong emotional basis for children to initiate friendships with others as staff encourage children to include each other in their play. Siblings frequently see each other throughout the day, to re-affirm secure relationships and enjoy playing in the garden areas together. Staff nurture children's confidence and independence extremely well. For example, in the outdoor area, staff help older children to walk along the balancing logs. They then encourage children them to try unaided as they tell them they can do it on their own. Children are keen to please and because of the

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

excellent levels of trust within relationships, they are soon negotiating the apparatus independently. During group time staff encourage younger children to sing their names, sensitively supporting those who are reluctant to respond. All children thrive on the positive praise from staff, which significantly supports their self-esteem. Staff are excellent role models, who work together impressively well as a team. Children mirror this in their relationships with one another. They played together extremely well, holding buckets for their friends, while they patted down the sand with spades.

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

The nursery places an extremely high focus on children's health and well-being. Meals are nutritional, well-balanced and greatly enjoyed by children. Children are developing a thorough understanding of healthy foods because they grow them in the garden. Staff teach children about safety awareness extremely well, such as explaining the importance of holding scissors and tools correctly, and sitting on chairs sensibly. Children know that they have to wear appropriate clothing to keep them protected, such as sun hats. During forest school play staff engage children well in identifying hazards for themselves and ways they may reduce risk of harm. Children have excellent opportunities to enjoy fresh air and exercise each day in the spacious outdoor garden areas.

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

Children benefit from an extremely welcoming and well-resourced environment that is highly conducive to learning. Staff carefully consider factors, such as noise, light, and colour to ensure that space and resources are used creatively and effectively. There are cosy spaces in all of the children's rooms and these provide secure areas for children to relax and rest. The environment is attractive and staff display an extensive array of photographs, posters and examples of children's work around the nursery. Child-height displays successfully promote children's language and help them to recall nursery events. Staff consistently encourage children to be confident about making decisions about their own play and learning. They ensure a comprehensive range of toys and resources is accessibly stored or presented and older children are able to read the labels. Consequently, children can easily see what is available and make good independent

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

choices. Activities provide a wealth of opportunities for children to build on their own personal experiences. For example, staff encouraged children who have visited a zoo recently to play with the zoo animals as they excitedly told staff about their visit. Staff support children effectively to foster a respect for their own and others' cultures and beliefs. There are a multitude of resources indoors that reflect diversity in society and the wider world although there are fewer resources outside to complement this provision.

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

Staff support children's independence in self-care routines very effectively. Older children persevere extremely well when putting on their own coats for outdoor play. Children are aware of the importance of hand-washing routines. They receive excellent support to use the toilet. This includes stories around body functions, a soft toy who models making a change from nappies to pull-ups to pants. Consequently, children become self-reliant, self- confident and socially aware, preparing them exceptionally well for their future learning.

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provision

The manager has an excellent understanding of her responsibilities to keep children safe. Stringent procedures are in place to ensure that safeguarding children has the highest priority in the nursery. The manager and her staff have up-to-date training to support their knowledge. During discussions, staff competently explain the procedures to take should they have any concerns about children in their care. Staff implement a range of high-quality policies, which promotes children's welfare further. The manager regularly reviews all policies and procedures and ensures that parents have easy access to documentation through email. Rigorous recruitment systems for vetting new staff ensure their suitability to work with children. This includes the thorough checking and suitability of each member of staff, prior to them working unsupervised with children. The manager further strengthens this by close monitoring of staff practice through observations.

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provision

Staffing ratios are high and children are extremely well supervised at all times. Staff risk assess all areas daily to identify and minimise potential hazards. Meticulous records for registration, accidents, incidents and medication further promote children's welfare. Robust drills for emergency evacuation, such as fire, take place regularly. A highly effective key-person system ensures that all children benefit from the additional security and reassurance of staff who know them extremely well. For example, staff often check with each other where their key children are choosing to play. These systems promote children's well-being and help create a safe environment.

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provision

Highly effective self-evaluation fosters an enthusiastic culture of continuous professional development. The team makes excellent use of reflective practice and regular self- evaluation to target areas for further development. This involves staff, parents and children's views, as well as advice from their head office advisors and quality improvements audits. This process provides an excellent opportunity for staff to expand their knowledge, skills and expertise. The team has successfully addressed the recommendations from the previous inspection. The drive for improvement is sharply targeted according to the needs of the children who attend. For example, the tracking of the children's progress helped the manager to identify staff training needs. This has included local authority training on provision for two-year-old children, and speech and language training to support children who may have a delay. They have joined a national

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provision

training initiative to support the teaching of mathematics.

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provision

Partnership with parents is strong. Parents speak highly of the nursery and are impressed with the wealth of knowledge that staff have about their children. Parents stated they were extremely happy with the care and education provided. Parents receive a wide range of information through daily chats, parent evenings, newsletters and an online facility. The nursery has developed very good links with a variety of other professionals supporting children and their families. This ensures that children receive timely and appropriate support to meet their individual needs and to promote inclusion. The result is an atmosphere of community collaboration where children receive the absolute best support they can to reach their potential in a very nurturing environment.

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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 EY361061 Local authority Oxfordshire Inspection number 828800 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 8 Total number of places 28 Number of children on roll 49 Name of provider The Old Station Nursery Ltd Date of previous inspection 17/09/2008 Telephone number 01367 860 594

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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

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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