Auckland House Nursery

Auckland House Day Nursery Auckland College Independent School, 65-67 Parkfield Road, Aigburth, LIVERPOOL, L17 4LE

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 01/12/2014 19/12/2013

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: 3 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 The quality of teaching is good. Practice is based on a secure knowledge and understanding of how to promote children's learning.  Children enjoy secure and trusting relationships with the staff, which helps them to become confident individuals.  Effective partnership working is established with parents in order to support continuity in children's progress.  Staff have a good knowledge and understanding of how to effectively safeguard children through their knowledge of child-protection issues and the effective implementation of the nursery procedures.  The staff team demonstrate a strong commitment to continually improve the quality of their provision, in order to improve the learning and development outcomes for children.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Children are not always well supported to learn about good hygiene practices as the staff do not implement hand-washing routines consistently, particularly for children who are having their nappy changed.  Processes for monitoring the quality of the educational programmes are not identifying when play materials are incomplete, which reduces their educational value, this is with particular reference to jigsaw puzzles.

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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 observed activities in the indoor and outdoor environments.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the manager.  The inspector held meetings with the manager.  The inspector looked at observation and assessment records of the children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of suitability and qualifications of staff working with children, the self-evaluation and improvement plan.  The inspector took account of the views of the parents spoken to on the day.

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Information about the setting

Auckland Nursery opened in 2008, and reregistered under a new organisation in 2010. It is attached to Auckland College Independent School in the Aigburth area of Liverpool. The nursery serves the immediate locality and also the surrounding areas. The nursery opens five days a week from 7.30am until 6pm all year round, except for bank holidays and a week at Christmas. Children attend for a variety of sessions. Children are cared for across six rooms and have access to two enclosed outdoor-play areas. There are currently 87 children on roll. All of whom are in the early years age range. The nursery receives funding for the provision of free early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English is an additional language. There are currently 23 staff working directly with the children. Of these, 20 have an appropriate early years

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Information about the setting

qualification. Three of the staff have appropriate qualifications at level 6, two at level 4, 11 at level 3 and three at level 2. The manager holds Early Years Professional status. The nursery receives support from the local authority. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register.

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

 involve children more consistently in good hygiene procedures, particularly after having their nappy changed, to further support their understanding about the importance of personal hygiene from an early age

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

 extend the monitoring of the educational programmes to include monitoring the condition of the play materials, with particular reference to checking that items, such as jigsaws puzzles, are complete.

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who attend

Teaching is good and as a result children make good progress in their learning and development. Staff have a good understanding of the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage, which helps them to plan effectively around children's individual interests and abilities. Staff demonstrate that they understand how young children best learn through play. The routine of the nursery day offers children good opportunities to become absorbed in play and to initiate their own ideas. Children make independent choices from the continuous provision of a play materials and equipment in each play room. As a result, children from an early age are developing the characteristics of effective learning. For example, mobile babies confidently move around their playroom to play and explore a wide range of resources, including sensory materials. However, staff do not always recognise when resources as incomplete and this reduces

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who attend

the educational benefits of the resource. For example, children are unable to succeed in completing jigsaw puzzles because some of the pieces are missing. The quality teaching and the range of opportunities children experience results in them being well prepared for the next stage of their learning.

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who attend

Parental involvement in their child's learning is greatly valued and encouraged. Staff establish their key children's starting points with parents and complete regular observations to inform the planning for next steps. Parents have opportunity to access and contribute to their child's record of learning at any time. This is in addition to the meetings arranged with their child's key person to talk in detail about their achievements. The children's weekend diary is another method for parents to record what their child is doing at home and their observations about their development. The partnership working enables key persons to gather as much information about the individual child as they can, to ensure teaching matches children's stage of development and learning. As a result of this, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported by staff. The communication systems keep parents very well informed about their child's progress and

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who attend

provides them with guidance to be able to continue their child's learning at home. Key persons complete the required progress check for children between the ages of two and three years. This is completed, in partnership with parents, in a timely manner to support the assessment completed by health visitors.

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who attend

High priority is placed on supporting children's language development and children learn to be confident communicators. Staff have completed specific training on building blocks for communication. They effectively use the guidance from this training to inform their teaching strategies to support children's communication and language skills. Staff model language, extend sentences and introduce new vocabulary. Children, who speak English as an additional language are supported effectively as staff learn key phrases in their home language to use these in their teaching. Children's enjoyment of books is promoted well. Books are positioned in different areas of the nursery to trigger children's interest. Staff plan first-hand experiences that enhance children's learning. For example, children enthusiastically explore the outdoor area, and they use magnifying glasses to study the bugs and worms they find as they dig in the soil. Staff's questioning encourages children

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who attend

to describe what they have found. Children learn about numbers through songs and rhymes and through counting in everyday situations. When children play in the sand and water they count and compare items. They measure volumes of water into different containers and gain an awareness of shape and size. The pre-school children have made their own number poster. This is displayed at a low level to stimulate children's interest in counting and calculating. Staff demonstrate skill by knowing when to interact with children to extend their learning and when stand back and allow children to explore and make decisions. For example, the older children make models using a variety of recycled containers and successfully create their own design with minimal staff involvement. The children are very proud of their achievements and staff acknowledge their hard work. Children have many opportunities to be creative and to use a range of materials to

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who attend

express their own ideas. For example, in the outdoor-play area children model play dough and gather twigs and leaves to use for the mast and sails of the umbrella boat they have made. The children take their boat on an imaginary journey to an island they create from the natural resources in the play area. The older babies' emerging pretend play is well supported as they show care and attention to the dolls. They fill bags with resources from the role-play home corner and push the prams around the playroom, babbling and talking as they play. From this early age they confidently change the direction of their play as they notice a story is being read to a small group of children. They choose to sit with the group and listen to the story, continuing to hold the doll and their bags, and return to their role play at the end of the story.

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

Staff are caring and supportive in their practice, which contributes to children feeling safe and secure and forming trusting relationships. The settling-in procedure significantly supports the successful relationship building between children, key person and parents. Key persons use the information gathered from parents about children's routines and interests to help children feel emotionally secure. Key persons encourage parents to provide photographs of the important people in their child's life. These are positioned at low level in the playrooms for children to freely access and look at. These further promote children's self-awareness and self-confidence and offer comfort if needed. Children are very well supported when they move to the next stage in their learning within nursery. Staff work closely with parents and the handover between key persons is seamless, to ensure children's well-being during times of change.

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

Children's behaviour is good. Staff support children's developing social skills and are positive role models for children's behaviour. Through effective, gentle reminders, consistent boundaries and clear explanations, staff reinforce behavioural expectations. In this caring and secure environment children develop their self-confidence and enjoy the social aspect of their play as they make friends. Staff use day-to-day opportunities to discuss safety with the children. For example, they gently remind children to walk slowly down the ramp to the outdoor-play area to avoid slipping over. Regular fire drills are practised with children. This process ensures they are familiar with the procedure and raises their awareness and understanding of how to stay safe. Children fully engage in their activities and experience varied learning opportunities. This includes involving children in fund-raising events to support charitable organisations. These experiences help

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

develop children's understanding for the needs of others. Throughout the nursery there are resources and colourful displays to help raise children's awareness and respect for the diversity of society. The playrooms are well organised to meet children's needs and resources are easily accessible. Children have good opportunities to make active choices and decisions about what they would like to do, within a safe, risk-assessed environment.

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

Children benefit form a nutritionally balanced diet and food is freshly prepared by the nursery cook. Information is gathered from parents about children's specific nutritional requirements and allergies, to ensure that each child's individual dietary needs are met. Mealtimes are valued by staff to continue to support children's social skills and learning. Staff sit with the children at the tables and they chat happily together, with staff continuing to use their questioning to promote children's language development. Older children serve own their food, deciding the amount they want to eat. This further promotes independence in their self-care skills. Overall, good personal hygiene routines are implemented to effectively support children's understanding about the importance of hygiene practices. Older children independently wash their hands before mealtimes and after using the toilet. However, the staff do not wash children's hands following the

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

nappy-changing procedure, to nurture their understanding of health and self-care from an early age. Arrangements for first aid in emergencies are effective as a high number of staff have up-to-date training. Staff are attentive to the individual needs of children and show concern for children's well-being. For example, when children are not well, parents are informed immediately and all medications for children are accurately recorded, administered safely and stored appropriately. Children enjoy energetic and lively play activities in the fresh air on a daily basis. They develop their physical skills and coordination as they run, steer riding toys around obstacles and balance on the bridge they have built from large blocks. Babies have a separate outdoor play area where they can safely move around as they play and explore.

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provision

Staff have a good understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. All staff have recently undertaken in-house safeguarding training. They demonstrates a thorough knowledge of the signs and symptoms of abuse and of the procedures to follow in the event of a child-protection concern. Monthly team meetings include a focused discussion on safeguarding and welfare procedures, to promote consistency in practice and to protect children from harm. Robust recruitment and vetting procedures are completed to check that staff are suitable to work with children. Procedures are in place to monitor their ongoing suitability. New staff complete a comprehensive induction procedure. This is to ensure they are competent in their role and have a full understanding of their responsibilities. They are also allocated a buddy from the staff team, to offer them support in their new work place and to help them feel part of

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provision

the team. This helps to sustain a relaxed atmosphere and consistent childcare practice for children during the periods of staff changes. Risk assessments are documented to help monitor potential risks. Staff effectively deploy themselves to maintain a high level of supervision for children's safety. Additional members of staff are employed for the lunchtime period to offer children continued support and supervision during this time of the day. Legally required records for children's welfare are accurately maintained.

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provision

The manager demonstrates a very strong commitment to continuously improve the quality of the nursery provision. There is a nursery action plan in place to drive future improvements. This includes staff undertaking forest-school training, to further enhance children's outdoor learning experiences. The manager embraces guidance and support from the local authority advisor. The actions from the last inspection have been fully met. Procedures are now established to gather information from parents about their child's stage of development when they start attending nursery. This information and subsequent parent-and-key-person meetings fully involve parents in the initial assessment of their child's abilities. Assessments and ongoing observations are effectively used to identify any gaps in a child's learning and development. Key persons are supported by the manager to plan effectively to narrow these achievement gaps. Children's individual records of

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provision

learning are monitored by the manager to ensure planning is appropriate and sufficiently challenging to support their progress across the seven areas of learning. Since the last inspection, further resources have been purchased to support children's understanding and respect for the diversity of society. Improved partnership working with parents of children who speak English as an additional language results in staff more effectively supporting these children's communication skills. The improved organisation of play resources results in children having good opportunities to follow their interest and make independent choices in play indoors and outside. This includes children continuing to enjoy playing when other children are sleeping in the playroom. The recommendations from the last inspection have been appropriately addressed. Age-appropriate tables and chairs have been purchased to support babies' independence in their self-care skills as they learn to

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provision

feed themselves. The manager monitors and analyses the key person's tracking of children's progress. The information gathered from this monitoring process shows that gaps in children's learning are narrowing. This is a result of key persons completing regular and precise assessments to plan effectively to support children's good progress in relation to their starting points. Lastly, as recommended, arrangements for staff supervision and an annual appraisal clearly identify specific training needs. There are now good opportunities for staff to continue their professional development. For example, the special educational needs coordinator is undertaking specific level 4 training for this role. Following training, staff share their gained knowledge with the team to improve the quality of the whole team's childcare practice and teaching skills.

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provision

Parents are very complimentary about the staff team and make it clear that they are extremely pleased with the progress their children are making. Many parents have had more than one child attending the nursery, which reflects their confidence in the provision. Effective partnership working with other professionals involved with children's care or learning is established. Information is shared with providers who deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage to the children at other settings they attend, to promote continuity in their learning and development. Positive partnerships are established with local schools to help ensure children are well prepared as they move on to the next stage of their education.

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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 EY408483 Local authority Liverpool Inspection number 994767

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 72 Number of children on roll 87 Name of provider Auckland College Ltd Date of previous inspection 19/12/2013 Telephone number 0151 727 0083

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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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