ABC Day Nursery

ABC Day Nursery St Andrews Church Hall, Lawson Terrace, Newcastle, Staffordshire, ST5 8PB

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 09/12/2014 10/01/2014

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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

 Staff plan and provide a good variety of learning opportunities, utilising their teaching skills to support children of all abilities. Consequently, children are engaged and motivated learners, who make good progress and are well prepared for their next stage in learning, such as school.  Children are kept safe and secure as staff have a good understanding of safeguarding and implement effective policies and procedures to support this.  Leadership and management are good. Managers effectively evaluate the provision, taking account of the views of parents, children and staff. This informs decision making, in order to promote continuous improvement.  Relationships with parents are very good. Parents provide highly complimentary feedback about the nursery and staff, expressing their pleasure with regard to their children's progress and happiness.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Opportunities for children to develop their good literacy skills to an excellent level, are not yet fully maximised.  Staff do not always extend children's mathematical understanding with regard to weight and measure during activities with the children.

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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 and interactions between staff and children in the indoor and outdoor learning environments.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with one of the managers.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held meetings with the managers of the provision and spoke with staff and children at appropriate times throughout the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessment records, planning documentation and a selection of policies and procedures.

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Inspection activities

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

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents and carers spoken to on the day and from information included in the nursery's own parent survey.

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Information about the setting

ABC Day Nursery was registered in 1984 on the Early Years Register. It is situated within St. Andrew's Church Hall in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire and is privately managed. The nursery serves the local area and is accessible to all children. It operates from three rooms and there is an enclosed area available for outdoor play. The nursery has the sole use of the premises during opening hours. The nursery employs seven members of childcare staff. Of whom, six hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2 and level 3. The nursery opens Monday to Friday, all year round. Sessions are from 7.30am until 5.30pm. There are currently 25 children attending, who are in the early years age group. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It is a member of the National day Nurseries Association.

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

 extend children's very good literacy skills even further, for example, through enabling them to access their individual name cards to aid their independence in writing their own names on their drawings and artwork

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

 provide more opportunities for children to develop their good mathematical understanding, for example, by including the exploration of weight and measure during activities, such as making dough.

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who attend

Children thoroughly enjoy their time at nursery and quickly engage in an environment, which is interesting and stimulating. For example, staff provide a 'toy shop' where the children use wrapping paper and sticky tape to wrap 'presents', which they then put around the Christmas tree. This helps to develop their physical skills and imagination. Staff have a good understanding of how to implement the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are well deployed, enthusiastic and eager to help all children settle into the nursery. The quality of teaching is good and observations of the children and assessments of their progress assist in the planning of a broad range of fun and challenging play experiences and activities. Planned activities provide different levels of challenge, enabling all children to participate at a level that supports their current stage of development. For example, staff provide an activity where

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who attend

children colour and cut out a Christmas stocking. They provide different sized drawings for the different ages of children and different levels of support with scissor skills. Younger children enjoy snipping the paper as they refine their cutting skills, supported by staff, who show them how to hold the scissors correctly. Whereas, older children show high levels of concentration as they skilfully colour and independently cut out their stockings. Some of them attempt to write their names on their work, with support from staff where needed. However, there is room to promote their very good literacy skills even further. For example, through enabling them to access their individual name cards, to aid their independence in writing their own names. Regular tracking of each child's progress ensures that any need for additional support for children can be identified and acted upon promptly. There is a good balance of adult-led and child-initiated opportunities. This

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who attend

enables children to participate in structured learning experiences and to have some control over developing their own play and learning. As a consequence, children are motivated and active learners, who are well prepared for the next stage in their learning, such as school.

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who attend

Staff promote children's communication skills very well as they provide lots of opportunities for conversation and discussion. Children enjoy daily song and story sessions. Staff encourage them to request favourite songs and to join in singing and following actions. During activities and mealtimes, staff initiate discussions about events at home, valuing what children have to say. This encourages children to talk as well as listen to others. Younger children are supported to develop speaking and listening skills through activities, such as naming animals and making animal sounds. Children recognise their written names on coat pegs and when they self-register. They post their names in the happy, sad or okay boxes, giving staff opportunities to help them to express their feelings and respond to them appropriately. The easy access to writing tools encourages children to make marks and practise their early writing skills. In addition, each child has a 'mark

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who attend

making' book where their developing writing skills are recorded, showing their progress in this area over time.

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who attend

In the baby room, opportunities are provided to explore sensory materials. These encourage babies' exploratory skills and support them in developing small physical skills. Young babies form close attachments with key staff, who know and understand them well. Staff use lively voices and model words when interacting with babies as they play with a good range of age-appropriate resources. Through this, babies are happy and their individual needs are well met. Children have daily access to the outside play area where they enthusiastically pursue energetic play and show enjoyment in being physically active. They thoroughly enjoy exploring with binoculars and magnifying glasses, finding snails and other interesting things, which staff discuss with them. Staff allow the children to use the camera to capture images of the interesting things that they find, developing their use and understanding of technology. Children eagerly help staff to make dough to play with. They

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who attend

name the ingredients and understand about the changes that these go through, when added together to form the dough. However, children's good mathematical understanding could be developed further through such opportunities by including the exploration of weight and measure. Children learn about the community in which they live as they make trips into the local community and further afield. They also participate in various celebrations throughout the year, such as Christmas and Diwali. As a result, children develop a wide range of skills and make good progress across all areas of learning. Therefore, they are well prepared for the next steps in their learning, including when they transfer into school. Parents share information about their child's personality, interests and basic skills on entry to the nursery through an 'All About Me' document. Staff use this information to meet the needs of the child from the outset and to form an initial assessment of each child's

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who attend

abilities. Staff share information with parents about the topics and activities their children are participating in each day. This enables parents to engage in conversation with their children and to extend this learning at home if they choose. Parents receive regular updates of their child's day at nursery through verbal exchanges and written daily sheets for younger children. Staff also complete the required progress checks for children between the ages of two and three years, when appropriate. Key persons update parents every term on their children's progress and discuss next steps in learning. Parents are welcome to review their children's learning journal whenever they wish. Learning journals are a celebration of each child's progress and achievements and contain many examples of their developing creative skills and certificates of achievement. Parents are actively encouraged to share what their children are learning at home through contributing

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who attend

information on the 'achievements tree'. This supports staff with assessments of children's progress and provides updated information about their interests at home. This two-way sharing of information helps to keep everyone informed and up to date with the children's individual needs. Parents comment that they are very impressed with the skills their children have developed at the nursery and their notable progress.

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

Children quickly and happily settle into the nursery through carefully planned settling-in sessions, which are flexible to meet the unique needs of each child. All children have two allocated key persons, ensuring that their individual needs are always supported by a named person. Information about children's individual care needs is obtained from parents and parents comment that 'staff are fantastic' and that 'they make a real effort to make children and parents feel welcome'. As a result, children have strong and secure emotional attachments with the staff. This enables them to enjoy their time in the nursery and make good progress in all areas of their development and learning. When children are ready to move onto the next room in the nursery, information is shared between key persons and children are supported during visits to their new room. Equally, when children move onto school, this is also supported very well. Staff share information with teachers about

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

children's learning, with parental consent. Teachers are also welcome to visit the children in the nursery. Staff read stories and have discussions with the children about what they will do at school, to aid their understanding of this next stage in their learning. This ensures that all children are effectively supported and that their move to school is a highly positive one.

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

Children's good behaviour is highly evident, supported through the very good role- modelling of staff. Children are encouraged to share and take turns during games and activities. They help to tidy away before snacks and meals, even sweeping the floor, as staff provide them with child-sized sweeping brushes to enable this. A contributory factor to the positive behaviour of the children is the purposeful learning environment provided by the staff. For example, staff are continually monitoring the way that children use the resources and play in the different areas they provide. This results in them identifying when the children lose interest in an area, prompting staff to change an area or the resources provided. As a result, children maintain high levels of interest and engagement and do not become bored. Children develop very good independence skills through the wealth of opportunities provided by staff. At lunch time, children know that they must

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

stand in a queue to collect their food before taking this to their place at the table. Babies are supported as soon as they are ready to feed themselves using cutlery and older children collect their own cutlery and pour their own drinks. Good hygiene is promoted as children understand that they must wash their hands before snacks and meals and after using the toilet. Children have their own coat pegs, supporting even the youngest children to independently hang up or collect their coat for outdoor play. The learning environment enables children of all ages to independently select resources of their choice, supporting them to extend their play and their developing imagination. Children use very good manners, such as 'excuse me', 'please' and 'thank you', evidently due to the extremely positive role modelling of the staff, who demonstrate high levels of respect towards one another. Lots of positive praise is evident and children beam with delight as their efforts

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

are rewarded. As a result, children are polite and respectful and develop high levels of self-esteem. These personal skills in managing their emotions and developing positive relationships support children extremely well towards the next stage of their learning, such as school.

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

Children enjoy fresh air and exercise frequently, through the use of the outdoor area or walks in the local environment. A range of equipment is available to support children to be physically active and to explore the natural environment outdoors. Indoors, children play with hoops, balls and bean bags and staff support them to use these for a range of physical activities, such as hopscotch, encouraging them to throw a bean bag onto a particular number. This supports the children in carrying out physical exercise in a fun way and helps to develop their mathematical skills in relation to numbers and counting. Opportunities for fresh air and exercise are extended through walks in the local environment and visiting a local park. This also provides opportunities for staff to develop children's understanding of how to keep themselves safe. Staff reinforce road safety with the children during these outings and water safety is explored, through visiting the pond

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

in the park. Staff also invite professionals, such as the local crossing person, in during topics about people who help us, to reinforce messages about safety with the children. Staff support children well in understanding the importance of a healthy diet through topics and discussions. The nursery has a healthy eating policy in place, which underpins the provision of healthy snacks and meals. Staff encourage the children to try a range of foods and they know that eating well helps to make them become 'big and strong'. Outdoors, children grow strawberries and vegetables, learning about how to care for living things and how these support their health.

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provision

The joint managers of the nursery have a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities in ensuring that the nursery meets the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. At the last inspection by Ofsted, an action was raised regarding the implementation of the progress check for children between the ages of two and three years. These checks are now completed thoroughly for all children where relevant and parents are fully involved in contributing to these. In addition, two recommendations were raised with regard to developing children's independence at mealtimes and implementing a self-evaluation process, in order to identify and act upon improvements to the nursery. Opportunities for children to be more independent at mealtimes are now in place. The staff team have worked together to evaluate all areas of the nursery practice and to develop an action plan to drive improvements forward. As a result, management have met

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provision

the previous action and recommendations, reflecting the strong leadership and management of the nursery and assuring the children's well-being. A robust recruitment procedure is in place for new staff, which is followed by a thorough induction and probation period. This ensures that staff are familiar with the nursery's policies and procedures, so they comply with expectations for good working practice. Staff continue to be monitored through regular one-to-one meetings, to support their professional development and to help improve outcomes for children. Peer observations have recently been introduced, as a means of reviewing and feeding back on one another's direct practice with the children. Staff work very well as a team and share with each other any knowledge they gain through attendance on courses, so they all work cooperatively and consistently. Staff all attend first-aid training, so they can manage children's illness and

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provision

accidents well. Through child protection training, they learn to identify the types of injuries that may not be accidents and other signs, which might indicate a child is at risk of harm. Staff are knowledgeable about the action that they must take to safeguard the welfare of any child in their care. Policies and procedures underpin the safe practices in place, assuring the health and safety of the children attending the nursery.

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provision

Staff attend training provided by the local authority, to update their knowledge of early years care and practice. New knowledge is shared with other staff, in order that new initiatives can be developed, improving the provision for the children. Staff encourage parents to share their views on the nursery through annual questionnaires. They also seek the views of the children about their likes and dislikes at the nursery. These contribute to the evaluation of nursery practices and are used to identify areas for further development. Parents are highly complimentary about the nursery and state that they are completely happy. Management are fully involved in implementing and monitoring the learning and development programme, to ensure that this is appropriate in meeting the needs of the children attending. The staff team are committed to constantly improving the quality of care and learning for children and evaluate what they are doing constantly. Management

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provision

are developing a system to track the progress of individual and groups of children. This will enable them to identify any gaps in learning or the provision. These measures reflect the commitment of management and staff to provide the best possible provision and outcomes for the children in their care.

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provision

Parents report that they are very happy with the standard of care that their children receive and the visible progress that they are making in their learning. Parents receive regular updated information on notice boards about what the children are doing at the nursery and how they can support this at home. Staff also offer frequent updates on their children's progress, where their next steps in learning are shared, enabling parents to support learning at home. Staff understand the importance of working closely with other professionals, to support children, who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Attendance at network meetings organised by the local authority provides opportunities to receive updated information on early years initiatives and opportunities for networking with staff from other settings. Effective partnerships are in place with local schools that children move onto, to promote continuity of learning.

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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 218401 Local authority Staffordshire Inspection number 957891

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 32 Number of children on roll 25 Name of provider Mrs Ann Gregory and Mrs Angela Ashley Partnership Date of previous inspection 10/01/2014 Telephone number 01782 613100

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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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