Squirrels Day Nursery Corby Ltd

Squirrels Day Nursery Corby Ltd Hazelwood Neighbourhood Centre, Gainsborough Road, CORBY, Northamptonshire, NN18 0QF

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 14/10/2014 31/05/2011

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early years provision

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

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This provision is outstanding

 Children make excellent progress towards the early learning goals, taking into account their starting points and capabilities because staff are highly skilled in supporting children's individual needs and do so extremely effectively.  The outdoor area is a rich learning resource where children enjoy a wide variety of opportunities to develop physically and emotionally and engage in activities, which support all areas of learning.  Children feel very safe and secure in the friendly nursery. The highly effective use of key persons enables children to form secure attachments with the adults caring for them and for their parents to share information and support their learning with ease.  Extremely effective monitoring and tracking of the nursery provision makes sure that targets for future development are identified and continuous improvements are made. This ensures that the nursery continues to provide high quality care and education for

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This provision is outstanding

all the children attending.  Partnership working with other professionals and agencies supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children for whom English is an additional language, exceptionally well.  Staff diligently identify and minimise potential risks to children. They have a secure knowledge of the signs of abuse and neglect and are fully aware of their responsibilities to protect children, ensuring that they are fully safeguarded.

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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 engage in free-choice play and take part in planned activities in all areas of the nursery and discussed these observations with the manager and senior staff.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector completed a joint observation with the manager in the outdoor area and discussed this with her.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessment records and planning and tracking documentation.  The inspector checked all the areas of the nursery used by the children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of suitability of the owners, managers, staff and volunteers and talked with the manager about the nursery's self-evaluation and improvement plans.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents and carers from information provided by the nursery.

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Information about the setting

Squirrels Day Nursery Corby Ltd was registered in 1995 and undertook a change of name and registered again in 2007. It is registered on the Early Years Register and on the compulsory and the voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The nursery operates from rooms adjoining the Hazelwood Neighbourhood Centre in Corby, Northamptonshire. There is disabled access to the premises. All children have access to an outdoor play area. The nursery is open five days a week, all year round, except for bank holidays. Opening hours are from 8am to 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 74 children on roll, all of whom are in the early years age group. The setting supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children, who speak English as an additional language. The nursery employs 15 childcare staff, all of whom have appropriate early years qualifications, including one member of staff qualified at level 5

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Information about the setting

and two staff qualified at level 6. There is a full-time chef, a cleaner and regular volunteers, who support the childcare staff. The nursery is a member of the National Day Nurseries Association.

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

 enhance the already excellent support provided to children as they learn about the similarities and differences between themselves and others, including their language, customs and backgrounds.

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who attend

Children attending this friendly neighbourhood nursery have every opportunity to meet their full potential, taking into account their starting points and capabilities. The owners, managers and their team understand fully how to best implement the Early Years Foundation Stage to recognise the uniqueness of each child. As a result, children's development and learning are exceptionally well supported. Children are provided with the skills that will thoroughly support them in their future learning. They spend the day involved in activities that are planned for them individually and they are supported by their key person and other room staff to ensure every learning opportunity is maximised during the activities. Excellent support is provided to children as they learn about the similarities and differences between themselves and others. There is slightly less emphasis placed on including more reference to the different languages, customs and backgrounds

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who attend

represented within the nursery to enhance this aspect to the optimum. Observations are carried out on children as they play, so that staff are accurately able to identify new interests and potential next steps in their learning. This enables them to plan challenging and innovative experiences for all the children. Regular assessments of children's progress efficiently and effectively support their future learning needs. Excellent teaching techniques are demonstrated by staff throughout the nursery, enabling children to be active learners. Children are highly motivated and fully engage in the well-balanced adult- led and child-initiated activities. They are able to instigate their own learning in their playroom and in the outdoor area. For example, materials are put out by staff and children decide what to do with them. One group of children mix together water, oats and gravy granules to make fish food. Another group of children use the same materials in a

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who attend

different way by mixing the gravy granules and water together in a tray, then using a spoon or their finger to make swirling patterns. Parents and carers comment that they are overwhelmed and delighted with their children's rapid progress since joining the nursery.

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who attend

Staff are highly skilled in extending children's play. They engage them in conversation while they play to encourage critical thinking and to develop language. Staff fully understand the characteristics of effective learning and how children learn through play that follows their own interests and takes account of past experiences. This is demonstrated exceptionally well throughout the nursery with the provision of designated areas both inside and outdoors. For example, children pretend to cook conkers in a saucepan in the 'mud kitchen' vigorously stirring, so that each conker is coated in the mud and water sauce. The outdoor play area is an extremely valuable resource, which staff have worked hard to develop. It can be accessed from each base room and is available to the children throughout most of the day. Children are excited to be outside and when the doors are open, there are very few children, who prefer to play indoors. Staff fully

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who attend

embrace the importance of outdoor play and create a rich learning environment that promotes all areas of learning extremely well. A recent addition to the nursery is a forest school style area created on land, which is a short walk from the nursery building. Children visit the area in small groups and are learning how to take appropriate risks in their play, including in relation to their own behaviour.

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who attend

The busy, yet calm atmosphere within the nursery and the highly effective partnerships staff establish with parents and carers ensure that children settle quickly. Staff work closely with parents to ensure that individual educational programmes are effectively met and parents are reassured. Parents are very involved in their children's learning. They are provided with a wide range of opportunities to support their children's learning, such as 'stay and play' sessions and spaces in each child's learning journal where they can add family photographs and snippets of information. These provide the child's key person with information, which they can use to support the child's development even further. In addition, there is plenty of time for parents to talk with a member of staff at the end of the day, when they collect their children and to confirm the best way to support them as they move onto the next room or to school.

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

The extremely successful key person and buddy system contributes exceptionally well to children's feelings of well-being and security. There is always a person, who knows them well, to attend to their needs. All staff and children are familiar with each other, which ensures that children's emotional well-being is extremely well fostered. Each key person shares information with parents on a daily basis ensuring that changing needs are quickly met. There are also formal meetings between parents and key staff where children's development and progress are discussed and decisions are made about additional support or moves, for example, to other settings or school.

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

Children enjoy nutritious, healthy snacks and meals, which are freshly prepared on site. Account is taken of children's dietary needs and parental preferences. Children develop many independence skills as they help themselves to fruit or cheese and biscuits and drinks of water or milk at snack time. Staff sit with the children at mealtimes and offer excellent modelling to support them in learning how to eat their food and use good table manners. There is lots of chatter during lunch as adults and children talk about their morning activities and anticipate what they might do in the afternoon. Consequently, children develop excellent social skills.

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

Children behave extremely well. They learn what is expected of them in this nurturing environment and on the rare occasions when their enthusiasm overcomes their sense of fair play, staff quietly intervene to remind them about the golden rules of sharing and being kind. Children are highly receptive to what staff say, they listen and respond well and show that they fully understand the consequences of their actions. As a result, children's behaviour is extremely good and they are becoming increasing responsible, which prepares them well emotionally for their future moves to other rooms, settings and eventually, school. They show that they are developing their sense of safety and are able to recognise dangers and address these. For example, children are able to develop balancing skills and learn how to climb safely and take appropriate risks when they play in the garden. At other times, children join in action rhymes and songs or enthusiastically use

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

a variety of tools to make meals in the 'mud kitchen'. Excellent arrangements exist between the nursery and the local primary schools. Therefore, children, who are shortly to move up to school become familiar with their new environment and their teacher. This prepares children extremely well by reducing any anxieties they may have and helps them to feel excited and look forward to their move.

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provision

Everyone working at the nursery understands the importance of safeguarding and child protection. This nursery has a stable staff team but parents can be reassured by the rigorous recruitment and induction procedures to ensure the staff's suitability to work with children. Confirmation of staff suitability checks and qualifications are in place and everyone knows their role and responsibility relating to child protection. The owners and the manager are fully aware of their role to report and investigate any concerns in line with their Local Safeguarding Children Board and to work with other agencies to support families in need. Any concerns raised by parents are taken very seriously indeed, thoroughly investigated and dealt with accordingly. Staff do not use personal telephones and cameras during opening hours and everyone signs up to the nursery's strict social media agreement to further protect children. Excellent use of detailed risk assessments

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provision

and the routine safety checks of equipment and resources contribute significantly to children's safety. The nursery meticulously meets all the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Leaders and managers provide an extremely welcoming environment where all children are highly valued and respected. The manager and her senior staff team are very effective role models and motivate their team, so that they also want the very best for the children, who attend. The process of self-evaluation and critical reflection, takes account of the views of children, parents and other partners and forms part of the nursery's development plan. This ensures that everyone has a clear understanding of their strengths and has an opportunity to be involved in the identification of areas for future development. Staff at all levels work together exceptionally well and they are very supportive of each other. Regular meetings, appraisals and management observations of staff's day-to-day practices

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provision

ensure that any potential areas of concern are quickly identified and dealt with. This ensures that the nursery continues to provide a high quality service.

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provision

All required documentation and record keeping for the safe organisation and management of the nursery, including parental consents for children to be given their medication, are meticulously maintained. Staff engage with parents and carers extremely well. Parents written comments show how much they value the nursery's educational provision for their children and the support provided for themselves. Staff, parents and other professionals work very well together to effectively support and promote children's development and learning. The comprehensive monitoring of children's progress means that staff very quickly identify where additional support may be needed and provide it immediately by adapting or changing activities. Strong links with other agencies and other providers, such as when children transfer to school and for children with special educational needs ensure that their specific learning needs are familiar to the new setting and can be planned for

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provision

immediately, to promote consistency in their care, learning and development.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are Met

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 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 EY356271 Local authority Northamptonshire Inspection number 820924

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 63 Number of children on roll 74 Name of provider Squirrels Day Nursery (Corby) Ltd Date of previous inspection 31/05/2011 Telephone number 01536 505307

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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

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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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