Street Farm Day Nursery Ltd

Street Farm Day Nursery Station Road, Elmswell, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, IP30 9HD

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 27/10/2014 03/03/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 Previous inspection: 2 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 A rich, inspirational learning environment, both indoors and outdoors, creates a wide range of exciting opportunities for all children. This means children are keen, enthusiastic, independent, confident learners, and many make exceptional progress.  All staff fully understand their role in safeguarding children. They provide a high quality nursery which is welcoming, safe and stimulating. All necessary steps are taken to protect children's welfare. Safety is paramount and record keeping is exemplary.  Exceptional leadership ensures that professional development enables practitioners to challenge and improve their knowledge, understanding and practice. Individual strengths are used very effectively to enrich and strengthen learning opportunities for children.  The pastoral care provided is excellent. The nursery has very strong and effective relationships with parents and other agencies.  Managers and staff make excellent use of self evaluation and ongoing training to build

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This provision is outstanding

upon their good practice and ensure that all children continue to benefit from improvements made at the nursery.

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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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Inspection activities

 The inspector carried out a tour of the setting.  The inspector observed activities in the indoor and outdoor learning environments.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the manager.  The inspector held meetings with the manager and spoke to staff and children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessment records, planning documentation, evidence of suitability of staff working within the setting, the provider's self- evaluation and a range of other documentation, including risk assessments and policies.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector also took account of the views of parents and carers spoken to on the day of the inspection.  The inspector discussed with staff how they gain the views of parents.

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Information about the setting

Street Farm Day Nursery opened in 2003 and is on the Early Years Register. It is privately owned and is situated in Elmswell, Suffolk. The nursery operates from two specifically converted residential buildings. Children have access to an enclosed outdoor play area. It is open each weekday from 8am to 6pm, for 52 weeks of the year. There are currently 97 children on roll, some in part-time places. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and who speak English as an additional language. There are 22 members of staff, 20 of whom hold appropriate early years qualifications to at least level 2. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four- year-olds.

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

 enhance the use of peer mentoring to enable all staff to gain further confidence in giving and receiving constructive feedback, that will improve their teaching even further and provide the best possible learning outcomes for children.

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who attend

Children of all ages benefit from a wealth of stimulating and engaging activities. They demonstrate high levels of curiosity and involvement in activities, motivated by the enthusiasm of staff. Staff use their communication skills exceptionally well to model, scaffold and develop language, and ideas from training courses ensure each room is a communication-rich learning space. For example, mathematical language is used to problem solve as children order different lengths of string and different sized potion jars. One child is able to confidently explain what a cauldron is and what it is used for. Staff have an excellent knowledge and understanding of the learning and development requirements, placing children alongside one another at the easel to encourage more communication rather than one either side. They provide a broad range of interesting and challenging experiences for children that meet their individual needs very well indeed.

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who attend

Staff are highly innovative and will take risks, resulting in some consistently high learning experiences for children. For example a child-initiated party planning project where children made invitations and lists, travelled on the train to buy ingredients, made food, served food and designed and ran party games, finally creating a wall display of their learning, resulted in excellent learning outcomes. A colourful and inspirational scrapbook shows a child-initiated teaching unit based on fairies, with a clear focus on developing writing skills.

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who attend

Staff collect detailed learning and development information from parents when children first join the nursery. This is used very effectively to inform on entry assessments and supports children's individual age and stage of development. The quality of teaching is consistently good and often outstanding. Staff are highly skilled in engaging children in activities that enable them to learn and make good progress. For example, as children help to carve a pumpkin, they are challenged by a member of staff to think about uses for the pumpkin seeds. Staff support children extremely well as they play. They sit alongside them at their level and help and encourage them in their activities, letting children lead. This enables children to play and explore their environment, learning through a process of trial and error and developing independence. As a result, children are happy and engaged in activities for prolonged periods of time. Children enjoy using books and have

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who attend

opportunities to freely access these from reading areas both indoors and outside. Their language is developing very well and all children, including those who speak English as an additional language and those with special educational needs and /or disabilities, are making good progress.

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who attend

Outdoors, more space is available so that children can ride wheeled vehicles, balance and slide, write, take part in role play and dig in the sand pit. They also enjoy growing and caring for their own vegetables. In the toddler room, a vibrant wall display shows the impact of gardening for every month of the year through photographs and annotated pieces of work. Outside, children play musical instruments, explore with water and art materials and look for mini-beasts. Children are provided with a wide range of experiences to develop their physical skills. They enjoy mark making, making and using play dough, digging in mud, playing with containers and pouring water, climbing up the ladder and going down the slide, as well as playing basketball and football. As a result children make good progress in their physical development, based on their starting points. They gain a wide range of skills necessary for their next stage in their learning, including school, when

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who attend

the time comes. In all rooms every space is colourful, vibrant and stimulating, for example, the ceilings that are awash with dangling objects of varying textures, often made by the children themselves. These eye catching and imaginative displays enhance development for children of all ages and show progression through the age groups.

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who attend

Children have learning journals that contain detailed information about their progress towards the early learning goals. This includes information collected from the parents on entry to the setting, examples of children's work, photographs and observations. Each child's progress against the seven areas of learning and development is clearly tracked against age-related expectations. Staff also record an achievement summary for each child covering all areas of learning. Observations are used very effectively by staff to plan next steps in learning, and assessment by all staff is rigorous. Tracking of individual children is very robust and this exemplary practice contributes to the rapid progress that some children make. Parents enjoy contributing towards these learning records. This means that there is shared knowledge about children and a detailed picture of each child's learning and development is obtained.

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

Staff place a very strong emphasis on supporting children's emotional and physical well- being. A key-person system is well established and actively contributes to the high level of pastoral care referred to by parents. All children are confident, happy learners and settle quickly to their activities, mixing well with the other children. Resources are very accessible to children and all are clearly labelled, encouraging children to make independent choices. Independence is also promoted at mealtimes, when children wash their own hands, make choices, serve food and clean up after themselves. Learning opportunities are now embedded at mealtimes and behaviour is consistently good, showing strong evidence that actions put in place following the previous inspection have had an impact. Children have daily opportunities to run about in the fresh air, in order to promote their physical well-being. Staff promote the awareness of healthy lifestyles by

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

talking about the fruits and vegetables shared at snack time, including those they have grown themselves, and encouraging the children to drink water or milk.

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

Effective settling-in procedures are in place and children are very well supported emotionally. All room leaders describe the environments as home from home and their aim is to support home routines and work in close partnership with parents. One parent said, 'Having found it hard to settle at first, my child is now very much at home here. I am delighted'. Another parent added, 'The nursery should be very proud of the efforts staff make with the children'. Children are equally well supported emotionally when they leave the nursery and move into local schools. Excellent liaison takes place between the reception teachers at local schools and the nursery staff. This results in children being confident and prepared for the next stage in their learning, very detailed exchanges of information and a significant number of children achieving above expectations on entry to school.

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

All staff demonstrate a good understanding of safeguarding. They know the signs to look for and how to record and pass on information if required. Children demonstrate safe practices as they play, for example, looking out for other children around them as they use the slide and play football. Staff encourage children to grow in confidence by taking risks within a safe environment. Children cooperate well with each other and know what acceptable behaviour looks like in the nursery. This is because systems are in place and all staff are consistent in their approach towards positive behaviour management. Children are praised for good behaviour and are reminded of expectations on a regular basis. For example, a member of staff intervenes when two children are finding it hard to share a toy and resolves the situation through positive behaviour management.

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provision

The manager and staff create a first-class nursery that is welcoming, stimulating and safe. She ensures that staff are aware of and follow policies and procedures in relation to safeguarding children and receive the necessary training and checks. Children are supervised at all times and correct adult-to-child ratios are adhered to.

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provision

Induction arrangements are in place for staff and ongoing staff development is actively encouraged. The manager evaluates the quality of practice and provision, taking into account the views of staff, children and parents. She has identified areas for development through ongoing meticulous self-evaluation. The manager is fully committed to creating, maintaining and improving the nursery so that it meets the highest standards and offers the best experience for children. All staff use their skills and expertise well to support the learning and development of all children, regardless of their age or ability. For example, individual staff members have attended Forest School training and have set up a Woodland Stick Children's Club at the request of the children. Staff feel supported by the management and are helped to improve their knowledge, understanding and skills. The manager has a good understanding of her role in the monitoring of the delivery of

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provision

educational programmes and a good overview of the continuous provision for children in the indoor and outdoor learning environments. Her drive, passion and exemplary leadership ensure that all staff have the highest expectations and secure nothing but the best outcomes for the children in their care. Plans are in place to make further use of peer mentoring training, ensuring that the newer staff are actively involved in observing and feeding back regarding teaching practices. Assessment and planning documentation is detailed and provides an accurate summary of children's abilities and progress. The consistency of documentation across all three rooms, clear differentiation on an individual basis and detailed next steps are exemplary and worthy of dissemination to others.

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provision

Good staff communication ensures that children's individual needs are quickly identified and well met through very strong partnerships between the nursery, parents and external agencies. Feedback from parents is used to help the nursery self-evaluate and further improve the facilities and teaching and learning that it currently provides. Good use is made of information provided by external agencies. For example reports from health and educational professionals are used to plan individual targets for children with additional needs. Managers and staff share detailed information regarding children's needs, abilities and progress with other providers.

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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 EY227187 Local authority Suffolk Inspection number 869901

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 46 Number of children on roll 97 Name of provider Street Farm Day Nursery Limited Date of previous inspection 03/03/2009 Telephone number 01359 240592

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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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