Little Saints Nursery

Little Saints Nursery School House, Hillfoot Road, Totley, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S17 4AP

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 03/11/2014 17/05/2011

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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

 The committee has an extremely poor knowledge of the legal requirements. As a result, they do not understand their role in ensuring that children are safeguarded and their welfare is promoted. This has a negative impact on children's welfare.  Records are not easily accessible or available for inspection. This means that checks to ensure all committee members are suitable to work with children cannot be verified.  The management and committee have not established a programme of supervision for staff. This results in a lack of support, coaching and monitoring of staff performance, practice and professional development.  Staff's use of questioning and listening skills is not always effective to support children in making even swifter progress in their communication and language.

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It has the following strengths

 Teaching is good and children are provided with a wide range of interesting and age appropriate activities and experiences. As a result, they make good progress in their learning and development.  Children form warm relationships with staff. As a result, children are happy to attend the nursery.  Effective partnerships with parents means there is continuity of learning between the nursery and home, which contributes to the good progress children make.

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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 playrooms and the outside area.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the deputy manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held meetings with the nominated person and the manager of the nursery.  The inspector looked at children's assessment records and planning documentation

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of suitability and qualifications of the committee and staff working with children, the provider's self-evaluation form and improvement plan.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to parents to obtain their views on how the nursery meets the children's needs.

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Information about the setting

Little Saints Nursery was registered in 2001 and is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is situated in purpose built premises in the Totley area of Sheffield, and is managed by a committee. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children. It operates from two rooms and there is an enclosed area available for outdoor play. The nursery employs 10 members of childcare staff. Of these, nine hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3, including one with Qualified Teacher Status. One member of staff is working towards a level 2 qualification. The nursery opens Monday to Friday from 8am until 3.20pm during term time. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 33 children attending who are in the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children.

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must:

 ensure the committee are fully trained and understand the safeguarding policy and procedure, so that they recognise and take immediate action if there are concerns about a child

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must:

 ensure that records are easily accessible and available for inspection, with particular regard to the Disclosure and Barring Service checks for the committee members

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must:

 implement a system of supervision and appraisal for all staff, to effectively identify training needs and to bring about continuous improvement of the nursery.

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

 enhance opportunities for children to further extend their communication and language development, for example, by asking more open-ended questions during activities and allowing sufficient time for children to respond.

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who attend

Staff are well qualified and experienced. They place a good emphasis on teaching and learning. They provide a wide range of activities and experiences that give the children many opportunities for independent play and learning. Consequently, children are making good progress in all areas of their development and they are acquiring the skills necessary to be ready for school. The staff are actively involved in children's play. They interact well with them. Staff explain, question and encourage children to explore, have a go and try new things. This effective teaching encourages children to be active learners. For example, during an activity to make people shapes out of dough, the member of staff only intervenes when children begin to struggle to roll the dough and they become frustrated. Throughout this activity, she talks to them, and comments on what they are doing. They talk about family members, colours, numbers and letters. The member of staff extends the

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who attend

activity by supporting children to count and identify the names of the different people they have made. Children happily talk about family members who are not present. For instance, they tell staff about their siblings and family outings they have been on in the holidays. Throughout the activity, the staff praise children's achievements. In addition, they use noticeable body language, such as, smiles, shrugs and giggles, to demonstrate their pleasure and encourage the children to explore even further. This type of interaction demonstrates the good quality of teaching provided by the staff, which is effectively engages children's and ensures their involvement in learning.

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who attend

Children have an individual planning record that details their starting points, ongoing progress and next steps. This means that the staff plan activities that enhance children's learning. Effective planning is carried out and is linked to the characteristics of effective learning through a tracker system, based upon the seven areas of learning. School readiness is supported by a consistent emphasis on learning about numbers and colours. The formation of phonic sounds is promoted throughout the play activities, which are based upon the alphabet and name recognition. Counting happens regularly and helps to consolidate children's early mathematical development and understanding. Staff verbally communicate with children throughout the day, asking questions, posing tasks and providing challenges for children. However, at times some staff do not ask enough open questions and can be too eager to answer their own question. This does not leave enough

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who attend

time for children to consider and verbalise their own response. Paintings that children have completed form attractive displays around the nursery and are also used to inform parents about the activities that take place, and how they develop and contribute to children's learning. Children thoroughly enjoy the time they spend at the nursery and they are excited and motivated to learn. Consequently, all children, including the two-year-old children, who attend the nursery, make good progress in their learning and development.

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who attend

Partnerships with parents are well promoted because the staff actively encourage them to be involved in their child's learning. A wide range of information is gathered from parents at the children's settling-in visits, which enables them to settle quickly. Staff effectively share children's ongoing progress and development with parents on a daily basis using a daily journal for each child. Parents are supported in extending children's learning at home. In addition, they are invited to attend parents' evenings on a regular basis to discuss their child's progress. The staff complete the progress check for children between the ages of two and three years and provide parents with a written summary of their child's progress against the prime areas of learning. Parents are very complimentary about the staff and the positive effect the nursery has had on their child's good progress.

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

A number of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage are not met. This is in relation to child protection, and the management committee's lack of understanding of how to identify the signs and symptoms of abuse and neglect, and how to report a concern about a child. Furthermore, systems for ensuring the suitability of committee members are not robust enough. Consequently, children's feelings of safety and security are not fully justified. Staff are warm and friendly and help all children to feel included. Consequently, children are fully engaged in the activities on offer and are active participants in the nursery, growing in confidence as their ideas and wishes are valued and supported. They are happy and form positive relationships with, younger and older children playing well with each other. A well-established key-person system helps children to make a smooth move between the home and the nursery. Staff fully

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

appreciate the value of working with parents and other agencies. Comprehensive and detailed information prior to a child beginning at the nursery, is obtained during home visits. In this way, staff are fully aware of children's needs, and are in a position to meet them as soon as a child starts nursery. Plans are also in place to create further links with other settings that children will attend in the future. Staff recognise the need to provide information appropriately to ensure children's learning is not disrupted when they move on to the next stage in their learning.

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

The learning environment for children is clean, welcoming, relaxed and very calm. Children behave very well for their ages and stages of development. Staff provide a positive role model for children and they ensure routines and boundaries are consistent so that children know what is expected of them. Through everyday play, they encourage children to share and take turns. This supports children in having cooperative and harmonious relationships with their peers. The children have a good understanding of ways in which they can keep themselves safe. They take part in fire evacuation drills so that they know what to do in an emergency. The majority of staff have completed first aid training and are confident in providing emergency first aid so that children receive the most up-to-date and appropriate treatment. Children develop a secure understanding of the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. Staff demonstrate their knowledge of health and nutrition for young children and

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

how to combine children's dietary likes with their nutritional needs for growth and development. Snack time is a social occasion, which the children benefit from greatly by sitting at the table and chatting about food. Children are encouraged to choose their own snack out of a choice of fruit and they are supported to help themselves to freely available milk. Thorough hygiene practices are in place for all children to minimise the risk of cross- infection. These include hand washing before snack time and after messy play. Children go outside every day in the secure play area. This means they learn that outdoor play is not just an activity for fair weather and, as a result, they benefit from lots of fresh air.

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provision

The leadership and management of the nursery is inadequate. The committee have an extremely poor understanding of the legal requirements and their roles and responsibilities managing the nursery. As a result, the nursery is failing to meet some of the legal requirements as set out for the Early Years Foundation Stage, which has a detrimental effect on children's safety. Staff have been subject to a Disclosure and Barring Service check. However, details of the Disclosure and Barring Service checks for all the committee are not all recorded in the setting and are not easily accessible or available for inspection to ensure children's safety. All the staff working with the children have completed safeguarding training. However, the nominated person of the committee, who is also responsible for safeguarding, has little understanding of how to safeguard children, and has not attended any training. This means that children attending the setting are at risk.

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provision

Systems for ensuring the children are kept safe on a day to day basis are in place and are operated effectively by staff. Security is good and vigilant procedures ensure that unauthorised access to children is prevented. For instance, there is a gate locking alarm system on the external entrance and parents and visitors only gain admittance when vetted by a member of staff. In addition, the identity of visitors is checked and there are clear boundaries around the use of cameras and mobile phones. All staff are deployed effectively to ensure that children are supervised well at all times. Staff complete regular risk assessments and give a high priority to risk management. Since the last inspection, changes have been made to ensure that there are effective procedures in place, with particular regard for taking children to school.

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provision

The staff demonstrate a good understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage learning and development requirements due to them being highly qualified. They have detailed knowledge of the areas of learning. Despite management not effectively monitoring the quality of the teaching and educational programmes for children, staff are able to identify the good progress children are making in their learning. Therefore, children are challenged sufficiently through well-targeted activities that focus on their next steps in learning to help them to make the best possible progress they can. Systems to manage staff performance and ensure their continuous professional development are inadequate. The lack of staff supervision results in the leadership and management having a poor knowledge of staff skills, and there is a lack of support, coaching and monitoring of staff performance. Consequently, their practice and professional development is not

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provision

encouraged. Some systems for self-evaluation are developed and there is a detailed action plan for the future. This includes the renewal of resources in the outdoor area to improve children's experiences when playing outside.

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provision

The staff demonstrate a good understanding of the importance of working with other professionals in order to ensure that children receive appropriate support tailored to their individual needs. Partnerships with parents are good. They receive comprehensive information prior to their children starting at the nursery. Parents report that their children enjoy attending the nursery and are settled and happy. They express a high regard for the service provided and praise the friendliness and approachability of the staff.

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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 Not Met

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

 ensure that the individual responsible for ensuring the safety and welfare of children has attended child protection training to enable that person to identify and act on any indications that a child may be suffering from harm (Compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that all committee individuals who make up the registered person, the manager and any person caring for, or in regular contact with, children is suitable to work with children which, must include obtaining an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check. (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that all committee members who make up the registered person, the manager and any person caring for, or in regular contact with, children is suitable to work with children which, must include obtaining an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check (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 300901 Local authority Sheffield Inspection number 867276

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 24 Number of children on roll 39 Name of provider Little Saints Nursery Committee Date of previous inspection 17/05/2011 Telephone number 0114 2352148

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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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