Barbies Playschool and Selwyn House Nursery

Barbies Playschool & Selwyn House Nursery 64 St. Peters Road, Broadstairs, Kent, CT10 2ST

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 27/10/2014 27/06/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 Previous inspection: 1 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

 The staff provide an exceptional range of activities to meet the different needs of the children.  The staff use excellent quality teaching methods to enable all children to learn and make outstanding progress towards the Early Learning Goals.  All staff demonstrate that they have exceptionally high expectations of themselves and the children. Children are highly motivated to explore their environment and engage in critical thinking.  The quality of the management team is excellent. They demonstrate that their relaxed management style creates a truly unique setting which concentrates on the well-being of both children and staff.  The staff provide an exceptional outdoor area, the use of which is timetabled between the nursery and pre-school children. However, children do not use the garden at the same time in order to enhance their experience in learning from their friends.

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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 the interaction between the staff and the children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector talked to a selection of parents in order to obtain their views about the setting.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled a range of paperwork including the settings safeguarding procedures and the children's development records.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector and the deputy observed children and staff in the youngest children's room.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector talked at length with the provider and the deputy about their styles of management and their staff monitoring activities.

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Information about the setting

Barbie's Playschool and Selwyn House Nursery opened in 1985 and operates from a converted premises with four playrooms, an office/reception area, separate children's and staff toilets, kitchen and staff room and two outdoor play areas. The setting serves the local area and surrounding towns. The setting is registered on the Early Years Register, and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently 120 children on roll in the early years age range. The setting receives funding for free early education for some two-year-olds and all three- and four-year-olds. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The setting is able to support children with special education needs and/or disabilities and those who are learning English as an additional language. The play-school opens five days a week, term time only and the nursery opens five days a week all year round. Opening times are from 8:30am to 4pm. The Holiday club

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Information about the setting

operates for the Easter holidays, the summer holidays and during all half term holidays excluding bank holidays. These sessions are also from 8:30am to 4pm and are open to children up to the age of eight years. There are 21 staff, including the manager/owner, deputy manager, housekeeper and a volunteer domestic assistant. All but two of the childcare staff have early years qualifications at National Vocational Qualification level two and above. There are two qualified primary school teachers and an early years teacher included in the staff ratios. The setting is registered on the Early Years Register and on both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register.

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

 consider ways to improve the use of the outdoor play area by allowing the different age groups of children to use it at the same time.

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who attend

Staff who are highly trained and qualified provide exceptional learning opportunities for the children who attend. All staff demonstrate that they have high expectations for themselves and the children. For example, staff spend a great deal of time at home and in the setting preparing activities to target all children's needs. This means that children engage in highly stimulating activities which fully cover both their individual and group learning needs.

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who attend

The experienced staff teams work exceptionally well together to support all children, particularly those who have Special Educational Needs (SEN) and/or disabilities. Records show that all children are rapidly closing the gaps in different aspects of their learning, given their starting points and abilities. For example, staff provide children with physical disabilities appropriate equipment such as, disability chairs and walkers. This helps them to develop and use their physical skills as much as possible. The staff also use their excellent teaching skills to provide learning opportunities for children who speak English as an additional language. For example, all children learn signing and are supported in their learning by the excellent range of communication signs and, words in children's home languages. These are posted near activities to give the children clear pictorial instructions. The staff teach the children about different textures by positioning displays at child level.

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who attend

The displays are multifunctional and support the children with visual impairments to find their way around the rooms. For example, the entrance to one of the children's classrooms has a display with conkers and fir cones, protected by plastic film. This means that not only do children feel different textures but are also developing excellent memory skills.

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who attend

The outdoor area is exceptional and suitable for children of all abilities. It is all on one level with different paths and meeting areas. It includes plants with different smells and leaf textures which also help the children find their way around. The provider has a designated staff member assigned to the garden to ensure that there are always different adult led activities of a seasonal nature. For example in spring the children plant seeds to grow vegetables to harvest and eat later in the year. The separate potting shed allows children to investigate the composting bins and fill flower pots with compost ready for the seeds. All areas include the communication signs children have learnt along with pictures of wildlife and insects. This reinforces the children's learning from indoors. In the meeting shed the children are able to recall previous activities by looking at photographs and talking about their current projects. For example, children planted runner beans; then they

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who attend

read the Jack and the Beanstalk story and decided they wanted to construct their own beanstalk. They used a tree with vines growing up it to make into a beanstalk with large paper leaves. They made a giant and a Jack and now have a beanstalk area for story time too. Pumpkin carving is the latest seasonal activity that has engaged the children. They have made displays of their pumpkins and photographed them. Children can free flow into the open section of the garden from the pre-school rooms. However, the use of this section of garden is timetabled and therefore the younger children do not have opportunities to learn from the older children. This section of garden has ride on toys suitable for all children but particularly children with physical disabilities. Staff provide high visibility soft blocks for all children to use and teach them to stack and count them. These are particularly helpful to children who are visually impaired. Children are able to take the

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who attend

inside outdoors at will which gives them a different perspective on their already exceptional learning experiences providing them with wonderful and useful skills for the future.

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

The children who attend are aged two years and upwards. They demonstrate that they are extremely happy and settled as they move freely around the play areas and garden, exploring activities and totally engage with staff during adult-led activities. This shows they develop high levels of confidence in the staff to keep them safe as well as becoming very comfortable with their own abilities. For those children who are still settling in and may cry when parents leave, there are always the warm cuddles and interesting distractions provided by their key person.

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

The staff teach children to manage their own behaviour by using consistent strategies. The children's behaviour always has excellent links to them having regard for others especially returning toys to their allotted places and keeping the main free floor areas clear from obstacles. Children are taught to respect their toys and not to use them to harm anyone else. Therefore, children learn that everyone is different and have differing needs which their own undesirable behaviour may impact on. Children also learn to manage their own needs such as toileting and hand-washing through the very clear guidance of staff. The children sit in groups for snack time. This allows staff members to discuss the food the children are eating, provided by the setting. They discuss where food comes from, how it affects the children's bodies; recalling when they grew similar items in the garden and, how food makes children feel; big and strong. All staff are fully aware of

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

children's individual dietary needs and can cater for these. Parents provide lunch boxes for midday meals. Staff ensure that parents know the types of food to provide to make sure the contents are nutritious and healthy. Therefore, with healthy food and lots of physical play the children learn to have very healthy lifestyles.

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

Staff also work diligently when considering any upcoming transitions in the children's learning; either moving to a different room or on to school. This is particularly evident when children have additional complex needs. Staff arrange individual transition meetings with specialist staff and parents to discuss any moves and conduct up to five school visits with the children. The staff demonstrate excellence in their consideration of the children's needs being met in both settings during transition and come up with innovative ideas to help children be emotionally calm during the processes. For example, staff provide a very positive transition book using the setting's mascot and the new provision's mascot to help children learn that they can make new friends and feel happy about changes.

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provision

The provider and her very competent deputy are outstanding in their management of the setting. The safeguarding of children is given a high priority. All staff have an enhanced disclosure issued by the Disclosure and Barring Service. Any staff who are waiting for disclosures are not allowed to offer any personal care to children nor be alone with children at any time. The provider risk assesses the use of the access door between the setting and the house next door. Parents do not access the children's toilet areas at all. The deputy manager is exceptional in ensuring that all staff complete accident and incident reports immediately and is meticulous where administering children's medication is concerned. All staff have attended child protection training and the provider and the deputy are both the setting's designated child protection officers. The provider has an excellent set of staff employment and grievance procedures, which includes whistle

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provision

blowing. She takes any reports from staff very seriously. The provider discusses procedures with staff and displays them as reminders on the staff room walls. The provider and the deputy have exacting standards which they implement throughout the whole setting and which they ensure staff always adhere to. They achieve this by carrying out high quality assessments of staff practice and the various educational programmes developed by the staff teams for the children in their rooms. All staff carry out the rigorous monitoring of children's learning and development. The children's key persons discuss progress with room supervisors and in staff team meetings. The supervisors discuss tracking children's progress with the deputy and provider. This system enables staff and managers to quickly identify any areas where children or groups of children are not developing as expected, and provide specialist support where necessary.

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provision

The provider offers staff many opportunities for training for their professional development, and to develop their own specialism's which other staff can utilise. For example, some staff have completed specialist moving and handling training, others have attended specialist autism training and for teaching children play skills through mimicking. A meticulous staff training log is kept which helps managers identify those staff who need to update first aid or other required courses and workshops. The impact of the staff skills on the children is highly effective in helping children make excellent progress in their learning and development. The setting has excellent links with a wide range of specialist education and health professionals across the county of Kent. The staff and managers develop outstanding partnership working with parents. All parents interviewed stated that they feel part of a big family due to the warm caring atmosphere created by the staff.

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provision

They report that nothing is too much for the staff in meeting parents' requests for their children. They are always included in their children's learning, so much so that one child's referral for speech therapy was unnecessary after waiting for up to two years. The parent and key person sorted it out for themselves. The parents cannot praise the staff highly enough and consider the care of the children to be exemplary.

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provision

The deputy has the responsibility to co-ordinate the extensive self-evaluation and improvement programme. Staff carry out their own evaluations for their rooms and children. They capture the children's views and requests for inclusion in their self- evaluation. Any identified improvements are passed to the deputy for inclusion in the focused improvement plans which also have input from the local authority. Current plans for improvement show that staff are engaged in assessing procedures to cater for children who are talented and gifted. Staff in one room also requested awnings for the outdoor area to allow children more constant access to the garden during inclement weather. The impacts of any changes on the children are rigorously monitored, evaluated and amended so as not to cause the children any disruption.

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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 127000 Local authority Kent Inspection number 994676

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 8 Total number of places 60 Number of children on roll 140 Name of provider Barbara Pilcher Date of previous inspection 27/06/2011 Telephone number 01843 862120

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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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