The Red House Nursery

The Red House Nursery 38 Smithills Croft Road, BOLTON, BL1 6LN

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 04/09/2014 16/06/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 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 4 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 4

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This provision is inadequate

 Staff deployment is not effective and does not meet the nursery's own risk assessment procedures in order to adequately support children's safety at all times.  Not all staff have a robust understanding of the procedures to follow in the event of safeguarding concerns. In particular, some staff are unsure who to contact if they are concerned about another member of staff's conduct. This compromises children's welfare.  Quality of teaching varies across the nursery and as a result, children do not make good progress overall. Specifically, support for children to develop good concentration and listening skills is not well managed throughout the nursery.  The coaching and supervision provided by managers is not rigorous enough to identify where there are gaps in staff knowledge and skills. Consequently, children receive inconsistent practice.  Self-evaluation has not been sufficiently robust to identify where there are weaknesses

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This provision is inadequate

in practice. In particular, changes to safety procedures have not been robustly checked to ensure they are effectively implemented to promote children's well-being.

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It has the following strengths

 Parents praise the nursery for the caring and enthusiastic staff, the frequent opportunities it provides for outdoor play and the ways in which parents' views are regularly taken into consideration when planning improvements.

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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 the childcare rooms and outdoors, and viewed toys, resources and equipment.

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Inspection activities

 The suitability of staff and managers were checked, along with evidence of their qualifications.

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Inspection activities

 Meetings were held with the nominated person and the managers of the provision, and the inspector also spoke to members of staff when appropriate.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector and the nominated person carried out a joint observation in the outdoor area and discussed the ways in which the early years provision is evaluated in order to make plans for improvement.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector also took account of the views of children and parents spoken to on the day.

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Information about the setting

The Red House Nursery first opened in 1993 and has been owned by a limited company since 2007. It is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The nursery operates from a detached building in the Smithills area of Bolton, Lancashire. Children are cared for in six rooms on the ground and first floors. All children share access to a secure outdoor play area. The setting is open for 51 weeks a year, Monday to Friday, from 8am until 6pm. There are 14 staff, of whom eight are qualified to level 3 in childcare. The manager has an early years foundation degree. In addition, one of the owners holds Early Years Professional Status and is a qualified teacher. The nursery also employs a cook and two apprentices. It provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-olds. There are currently 50 children on roll, who are all in the early years age range. The setting is supported by the local early

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must:

 deploy staff to meet the needs of all children and ensure their safety, with particular regard to outdoor play and the use of slides

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must:

 ensure that all staff have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities with specific regard to changes in risk assessments, in order to effectively support children's safety

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must:

 ensure all staff have up-to-date knowledge of safeguarding issues, including how to respond to concerns about staff conduct to promptly and efficiently promote children's welfare.

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

 strengthen the systems for managing staff performance so that weaknesses in knowledge and skills are promptly identified and tackled, to ensure all staff are fully competent in their roles and children benefit from high-quality teaching and care across the nursery

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

 improve the quality of teaching across the nursery, in particular, the delivery of small group activities so that they provide all children with opportunities to develop good concentration, communication and listening skills.

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who attend

Staff build up a picture of children's abilities when they first start at the nursery and use this information to plan activities to help them progress. Parents contribute to these initial assessments and are regularly asked for information about their children's interests and experiences away from the nursery. This supplements the information used by key persons when planning for their children's next steps and helps to ensure that children receive activities tailored to their current needs and interests. Staff make frequent observations of children's learning in order to make assessments of their abilities. Progress is then tracked in line with age-expected developmental milestones. This helps to ensure that any gaps in development are quickly spotted and responded to. Staff then plan inclusive activities based on individual children's needs, in order to extend their progress. However, not all staff have the skills and expertise to make good use of planned activities

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who attend

or play initiated by children, in order to maximise their learning. For example, children in the toddler room are asked to choose books in the book corner, but very rapidly are told to put these back so that they can listen to a story selected by one child. This is not effective in supporting children's ability to concentrate and prevents independent enjoyment of books as part of their early experiences in literacy. Small group times are also not effectively planned to enhance children's experiences. These are frequently conducted in small areas of the playrooms. Consequently, children struggle to sit comfortably, which reduces their ability to pay attention. Hence, children do not learn to concentrate fully on the activity offered, such as listening to a story read by staff. In addition, staff do not organise children during activities in a way that promotes the development of good social skills, such as taking turns and listening. As a result, children's

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who attend

learning is not consistently well supported because some children dominate staff attention and talk. Consequently, quieter children miss opportunities to contribute and some children begin to lose interest in the activity. Overall, children develop the skills required for school, but not all staff demonstrate the consistent good practice needed to support this effectively or to help children make the best possible progress.

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who attend

Children have ongoing opportunities to use resources for making marks, such as paint and crayons. They have independent access to malleable materials, in order to develop their manipulative skills, while enjoying creative play by making models. The nursery provides a range of opportunities for role play based on children's interests. This supports children's imaginative play and promotes their communication and language development. Children have access to information technology appropriate for the early years age range and play simple matching games using this, to develop their early numeracy and literacy skills. Staff make some use of child-initiated play and adult-led activities to develop children's learning in early numeracy, by modelling how to count. They use activities, such as preparing play dough with children, to support their understanding of number. Children learn about measuring as staff demonstrate how to count and weigh out ingredients. The nursery

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who attend

makes use of local parks and countryside, taking children on walks to help them learn about the natural world and the changes associated with the seasons. In the outdoor area, children have access to areas of moist soil and wood in which to look for creatures, such as worms and woodlice. This helps children to learn about the different habitats preferred by animals and encourages their exploratory impulses.

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who attend

Babies have access to a range of cause and effect toys, in order to encourage their manipulative skills and help them to understand that their actions can cause an effect. Babies delight in the effects they produce using these, such as musical sounds or flashing lights. Staff provide sensory experiences, such as soft gel for babies to explore. This also extends the opportunities for them to hear new descriptive words as staff discuss how the gel feels. Babies enjoy play in pop up tents filled with soft plastic balls. This helps to support their physical development as staff encourage them to throw and hit the balls. Staff plan some activities, such as rolling large balls for babies to follow, in order to consolidate babies' newly acquired skills in walking or crawling. They provide a range of age-appropriate books that are accessible to babies, in order to support their enjoyment of books as part of their earliest experiences of literacy.

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

Weaknesses in staffs' knowledge of safeguarding and a lack of understanding about how to correctly implement changes to risk assessments in the outdoor area undermine children's safety and well-being. However, there are some effective measures taken to help prevent accidents, such as having safety gates on the stairs with multiple locking devices, to prevent children having unsupervised access. In addition, the main door is always answered by staff to prevent unauthorised entry to or exit from the premises. This supports children's security on the premises. Children have a range of equipment on which to develop their physical skills and learn about taking some reasonable risks in play. Generally, there are adequate steps taken to support children's safety when using play equipment. For example, the large wooden climbing equipment is in a fenced section of the outdoor area and only pre-school age children are permitted to use it. However,

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

children are not always adequately supervised on the slide. This is because staff do not consistently adhere to the procedures for supervising them on this item, despite this being recently reviewed in the risk assessment. Children nevertheless are observed to enjoy their outdoor play and have ample space to run about and to ride on wheeled toys. Outdoor play is provided several times during each day, to enable children to develop their whole-body coordination and enjoy exercise as part of learning about a balanced lifestyle. Parents praise the way in which outdoor play is incorporated into their children's day.

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

Children are provided with nutritious meals and snacks, in order to help them learn about the foods that contribute to a healthy lifestyle. They have frequent opportunities to help prepare foods and learn about where some foods come from, such as by helping to collect eggs from the nursery's hens. This contributes towards developing later good habits in eating and selecting foods. Effective use is made of meals and snacks to help children develop some good social skills, such as appropriate table manners. The encouragement provided by staff for children to use cutlery correctly also helps children to develop their manipulative skills. Children in the pre-school help to set the tables and serve their own food at mealtimes. This helps them to develop self-help skills and learn about helping others in their community. Staff provide suitable support to help children learn about maintaining good personal hygiene. For example, they firmly but gently remind children to

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

go back to the wash basins if they have not washed their hands after using the toilets. Children's behaviour is good, as staff consistently implement simple rules to help them learn how to manage their feelings and behaviour for themselves.

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

The nursery seeks detailed information from parents prior to children beginning to attend, in order to meet their needs. This includes information about any health matters, such as allergies, and any dietary preferences or requirements. The nursery keeps a record of all information regarding children that is needed to meet statutory requirements and this is held securely to support confidentiality. Parents are invited to provide permission regarding a variety of matters, in order to help tailor their children's care to their needs. For example, they must provide written permission regarding the administration of any medicines to children and also can choose whether or not children are included in group photographs. This supports working in partnership with parents regarding their children's care. The nursery operates a key-person system to provide children with the emotional security of having at least one adult who knows them well. This also means that parents

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

have a consistent point of contact when they need to exchange information about their children. Children and parents are helped to get to know the nursery initially by making a series of visits of gradually increasing times. This includes parents leaving children at the nursery for various periods of time, to help children become secure in the nursery as they engage with staff and other children. A flexible approach is used for the number of visits required, depending on the observed needs of children and parents. Children are observed to be happy and confident in the nursery as a result of the support for their emotional well-being.

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provision

This inspection was prioritised following a child incurring an injury on the premises, and resulting concerns regarding children's safety. The provider notified Ofsted of the incident, as required. The inspection found that while the provider had identified the action required to prevent future mishap, the new measures were not being correctly implemented by staff. As a result, children's safety was not effectively protected, leading to a risk of further accidents occurring in the outdoor area. In addition, some staff are not able to demonstrate a secure understanding of the procedures for safeguarding children's welfare. They are not clear about the procedures to follow if they have concerns about another member of staff's conduct. Consequently, children's welfare cannot be assured as not all staff are aware of the correct actions to take to ensure prompt and effective action in the event of inappropriate behaviour by an adult. These weaknesses constitute breaches of

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provision

the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. In addition, there is a breach of requirements for both parts of the Childcare Register with regard to ensuring that risks to children's health and safety are minimised.

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provision

All policies, qualifications and documentation are in place to meet statutory requirements. For example, the safeguarding policy contains suitable detail. However, the lack of secure knowledge of some staff means that this is not consistently effective in underpinning their practice. Risk assessments are in place for all areas of the premises and outings. These are reviewed as needed or annually. However, staff do not consistently implement any changes made to these in order to support children's safety effectively in all areas of the premises. The nursery employs nine staff, who are qualified in paediatric first aid and they are adequately deployed throughout the premises and any outings, to cover the event of emergency first aid being needed for children. There are adequate checks made to ensure staff are suitable to work with children and also to ascertain their ongoing suitability. For example, Disclosure and Barring Service checks are repeated at regular intervals after the

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provision

initial checks when staff are employed. However, the systems for the subsequent management of staff performance, including induction, lack sufficient rigor to ensure that all staff are secure in their knowledge of safeguarding and how to manage risk. As a result, not all staff receive sufficient coaching and support to carry out their roles effectively in keeping children safe. In addition, the quality of teaching by staff varies widely in its effectiveness. This further demonstrates weaknesses in how some staff are managed. Consequently, there is room to improve their standard of teaching through the current performance management systems. Some staff training needs are identified and provided for as a result of coaching and supervision, and the nursery uses both in-house training and externally delivered courses. Systems are in place to monitor children's progress and the planning of future activities. This supports the provision of activities and

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provision

resources that broadly facilitate children's learning and development, leading to children making steady progress towards the early learning goals. The owner understands the importance of working with other professionals to support children's learning and development needs, when this is required.

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provision

Parents praise the nursery and the staff for their care and enthusiasm. They also appreciate the importance placed on obtaining their views regularly in order to bring about improvements. For example, parents' views about the menu are sought and changes are made to accommodate their suggestions. Staff views are also used to inform the evaluation of the nursery. The nursery has implemented all the recommendations from the previous inspection, especially with regard to enabling parents to contribute to their children's learning. This demonstrates that there is the capacity for implementing changes, in order to make improvements.

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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:

 take all necessary measures to minimise any risks to the health or safety of children (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  take all necessary measures to minimise any risks to the health or safety of children (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. 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 EY355644 Local authority Bolton Inspection number 988089

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 49 Number of children on roll 50 Name of provider Bailey Education Limited Date of previous inspection 16/06/2011 Telephone number 01204 840484

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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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