Busy Bees Day Nursery at Chafford Hundred

Busy Bees Day Nursery at Chafford Hundred Drake Road, Chafford Hundred, GRAYS, Essex, RM16 6RW

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 05/11/2014 22/11/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 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 3 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision requires improvement

 Children and babies are happy and settled because they form friendly and supportive relationships and attachments with their peers and with the key persons caring for them.  Partnerships with parents are a real strength of the nursery and this means information about children's individual care and learning needs is shared effectively.  Comprehensive safeguarding and child protection policies are implemented and as a result, staff have an effective understanding of their responsibilities and the procedures for protecting children.

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It is not yet good because

 Management have not fully embedded new processes, such as robust monitoring to improve staff practice and their use of resources. As a result, the quality of teaching is variable and not consistently good.  Risk assessment of the garden is not always monitored well enough, to ensure that potential hazards are consistently minimised before children go outside to play.  The organisation of mealtimes does not successfully ensure that all of the older children can eat and develop their self-help skills, in a calm and comforting environment.

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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 compulsory part 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 indoor and outdoor learning environments.  The inspector carried out a joint observation with the managers.  The inspector held discussions with the managers, staff and children.  The inspector viewed a sample of the children's development journals.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector saw evidence of suitability and qualifications of staff, self-evaluation, risk assessment and policies and procedures.  The inspector took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day.

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Information about the setting

Bury Bees Day Nursery at Chafford Hundred was registered in 2000 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. The nursery is situated in purpose-built, two-storey premises in Chafford Hundred, Essex. It is one of a large group of nurseries run by Busy Bees Day Nurseries (Trading) Limited. The nursery serves the local and wider areas and is accessible to all children. It operates from four play units and there is an enclosed area available for outdoor play. The nursery employs 29 members of childcare staff. Of these, 25 staff have an early years qualification at level 3 and two members of staff have a qualification at level 2. The nursery also employs a cook, an administrator and a housekeeper. The nursery opens Monday to Friday, from 7am to 7pm, all year round. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 150 children on roll who are in the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education

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Information about the setting

for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language.

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must:

 monitor the quality of teaching and strengthen the support, coaching and training for staff, in order to ensure that staff can plan and deliver a more challenging educational programme that consistently motivates and maximises the learning of older children

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must:

 review the effectiveness of the risk assessment of the garden, so that it is consistently applied and potential risks are always promptly removed.

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

 enhance the organisation of mealtimes to ensure that a comfortable environment is provided and children have the opportunity to develop their independent skills

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

 build on and make better use of resources that inspire and encourage children to play, explore and acquire new skills.

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who attend

Overall, staff have a suitable understanding of how to promote children's learning through play. They provide babies and children with activities and play materials that cover the seven areas of learning. The organisation of the indoor playrooms allows children to move freely and make independent decisions about what they want to play with, and where they wish to play. The garden is used as a valuable extension to the playrooms and offers activities linked to all areas of learning. As a result, children enjoy the opportunities for making individual choices and following their ideas and preferred learning styles, both indoors and outside. Progress is efficiently monitored through a variety of methods of observation and assessment and key persons identify each child's learning priorities to inform the planning. The observations are illustrated by photographs and samples of artwork in individual journals. Achievements are now beginning to be tracked more

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who attend

meticulously to ensure that children are making the expected progress. The staff also carry out the required progress check for children between the ages of two and three years to ensure that any gaps are identified in children's learning. Parents have meetings with key persons to discuss their children's progress and can see their children's journals at regular intervals. The staff give parents ideas about how to continue children's learning at home. Parents also become involved in the observation and assessment process when they contribute their comments to the development journals.

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who attend

Staff working with younger children use age-appropriate teaching strategies, together with effective support and intervention, which is matched to individual children's needs. However, the quality of teaching across the nursery is variable. In particular, the older and most able children are not always offered adult-led activities that sufficiently motivate them to extend their thinking and skills. This means that not all children display the characteristics of effective learning through high levels of involvement in their play. Furthermore, at times, the resources available are limited and this means that tasks are not consistently demanding enough to promote the highest quality learning. For example, some valuable teaching opportunities are missed because older children do not always have an extensive range of resources available to support their imagination or literacy skills. Nonetheless, this has been identified by staff. New learning materials and books

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who attend

have been ordered and some arrived during the inspection. Staff have recognised the need to specifically focus on developing children's mathematical skills. Children show great excitement when they are introduced to new play materials that encourage them to count, explore shape, colour and weight. They eagerly learn that some shapes are called hexagons and they concentrate as they predict and discover which shape is the heaviest.

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who attend

Children are steadily developing the skills they need for future learning and in readiness for starting school. Staff are suitably developing the communication and language skills of children. Babies and toddlers develop their vocabulary as staff introduce new words and encourage them to repeat what they say. In addition, baby signing is used to help the youngest children share their needs and requests. Children eagerly chat to visitors and proudly point out, and talk about, their pictures and photographs on display. The staff have started supporting the older children in designing chatterboxes, which they fill with interesting and familiar items from home to promote conversations. Children who speak English as an additional language are supported well. Staff find out useful words in the home languages of children to ensure they can support their requests and ideas. In addition, they speak to parents via translators to ensure that everyone fully understands

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who attend

the nursery activities and routines. Staff join children in messy play so they can experiment together, and explore and talk about the sensation of paint, play dough or gloop on their hands. However, sometimes staff need to be guided by management to ask more targeted questions that encourage older children to think and respond with interesting answers. Children have interesting opportunities to develop their understanding of the world. For example, they go on outings into the local community and visit the nearby nature reserve. Parents also contribute towards children's learning about the environment, for example, they collect leaves and fir cones to help enhance children's access to natural materials in their play.

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

Children and babies are happy and have positive relationships with each other and staff. Their emotional needs are met by affectionate staff, who offer plenty of cuddles to reassure and comfort them. The key-person system is used effectively to promote children's emotional well-being. There are clear settling-in procedures, enabling the staff to build attachments with children and to get to know them before they start to attend. Parents are fully involved in the process and encouraged to share information at the initial visits, in order that appropriate care and education can be tailored to children's needs. Children's routines at home are fully discussed, so that these can be implemented to ensure that the transfer from home to the nursery goes smoothly. As children progress through the nursery, they receive plenty of support to build their confidence in their new environment. For example, they make visits to their new room along with their key

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

person, which ensures they receive sensitive support during times of change. The transfer to school is managed well as staff invite teachers to visit children and share important information about each child. In addition, the move is discussed with children to ensure they are emotionally well prepared.

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

Priority is given to helping children develop a healthy lifestyle, which has a positive impact on their future health. Frequent opportunities are provided for all children to enjoy daily fresh air and they take part in a range of activities to promote their physical development. For example, children enjoy circle games in the garden and take part in exercises that encourage them to stretch and engage in a wider range of energetic movements. Babies have ample space to develop their mobility by crawling and learning to walk, in both the playrooms and their own dedicated outdoor area. The environment is appropriately clean and staff and children follow sound hygiene routines to prevent the risk of cross-infection. Children learn about healthy eating as the nursery provides nutritious meals and snacks. Any special dietary requirements are well known and specifically catered for. Children are able to access drinks through the day so they do not become thirsty or dehydrated. Babies

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

and toddlers are sensitively supported as they learn to feed themselves in a calm environment. However, mealtimes for older children are not efficiently organised. Staff spend time serving the food onto plates from the trolley, rather than supervising and supporting children sitting at the tables. This means that some children become restless or upset as they spend time waiting to eat. In addition, sometimes children are not offered the cutlery or support they need, to assist them in developing their self-help skills.

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

Children are mainly well behaved in the nursery and praise is used effectively as staff support children to share and take turns when playing with the toys. Staff calmly negotiate any disagreements between children and carefully explain how they need to play nicely with their friends. Within each room, there are various interest areas to engage children's learning. Toys are stored in accessible trays to enable children to make choices and to encourage them to help with tidying the toys away, which they are keen to do. Children are also learning about their personal safety through regular routines. They learn to keep safe as effective procedures are used, such as lining up sensibly to go outside, helping to sweep up sand from the floor and practising evacuation routines. Therefore, children are developing an understanding of potential dangers and how to assess risk.

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provision

The manager and staff have a sound understanding of how to meet the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Documentation is efficiently organised. Detailed policies and procedures are regularly reviewed and shared with staff and parents to ensure the safe and efficient management of the nursery. All staff receive safeguarding training and can explain the procedures to follow in the event of a safeguarding or welfare concern. The nursery follows robust recruitment procedures to ensure that all staff working with children are suitable to do so. This includes taking up of references and obtaining the relevant background checks, following a comprehensive interview and selection procedure. In addition, the nursery rigorously checks the ongoing suitability of staff to fully promote children's welfare. Risk assessment, daily checks of the premises and frequent analysis of any accidents ensure that children generally remain

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provision

safe. Staff follow effective practices to keep children secure with controlled entry to the premises and a robust signing-in system. However, the effectiveness of the risk assessment for the garden is not consistently monitored to ensure that potential risks are always minimised before children go outside to play. Nevertheless, once hazards are pointed out, they are removed to ensure children play in a safe outdoor environment.

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provision

The management and staff team have an energetic drive for continuous improvement. Self-evaluation provides a comprehensive overview of the strengths of the nursery and identifies where it could do better. Furthermore, regular spot checks and audits are carried out by Busy Bees' regional management, which result in well-targeted action plans for further development. Staff have the opportunity to attend in-house courses because the nursery has its own training facility. As a result, staff regularly update their knowledge and skills in relation to safeguarding and first aid. There have been some recent changes in the deployment of staff within the nursery. Although staff are all very enthusiastic about these changes, not all staff have the knowledge and skills to securely plan and deliver activities matched to the children's different ages and abilities. The management has recognised the need to develop the expertise of staff in delivering the learning and development

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provision

requirements. The Busy Bees organisation has very recently devised targeted coaching methods to improve the staff's personal effectiveness when delivering the educational programme. However, these coaching systems are not embedded in practice, so that all the children's learning is fully and effectively supported. Despite this, the management maintain a clear overview of the progress of both individual children, and groups of children, using a computer-tracking tool. This means that nursery management can effectively target any areas where children's progress is less than expected.

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provision

Parents and carers are actively involved in the nursery, either directly by joining the parents' forum or through supporting the events and activities of the nursery. A wealth of information is displayed and daily communication books, emails, texts and newsletters are distributed to keep parents fully information about their children's time in the nursery. Parental input is constantly sought, for example, through surveys and discussions held at forum meetings. The parents spoken to during the inspection were extremely positive about the nursery. They are eager to explain how much they really appreciate the genuine care and sensitivity of the staff. Parents say they value the extra support they are given, particularly when families are experiencing personal difficulties. Partnerships with other agencies are also effective and this helps to support children in the progress they make. For example, staff confidently signpost parents to the nearby children's centre, to ensure

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provision

that families receive any necessary additional advice or support. The partnerships with the local schools are effective in helping children make a smooth move into full-time education.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory 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 204367 Local authority Thurrock Inspection number 864079

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 98 Number of children on roll 150 Name of provider Busy Bees Day Nurseries (Trading) Limited Date of previous inspection 22/11/2011 Telephone number 01375 482277

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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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