Hemsley House Day Nursery

Hemsley House Baby Unit 7 Terrace Road, Maidstone, Kent, ME16 8HU

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 15/12/2014 09/10/2009

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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

 Children receive high quality support as they play because staff members are effectively deployed and skilled at further stimulating the children's explorative natures.  Children explore the world around them by using some excellent sensory equipment to stimulate their vision and hearing. There is a strong emphasis on supporting children's communication and language, using an excellent range of initiatives and techniques to give them the best start.  Highly positive relationships are formed with children, parents and carers, with exceptional care given to children who are settling in.  Children are extremely confident and self-assured by the time they move on to the setting's sister nursery when they reach the age of two.  Highly effective leadership and strong teamwork lead to staff having high expectations of themselves and of 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 watched the interaction between staff and children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled the range of paperwork including the safeguarding procedures and children's records  The inspector took account of parents' written views and a discussion with a parent.

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Information about the setting

Hemsley House Baby Unit is an established nursery first registered in 1984 and re- registered under new ownership in 2003. The nursery provides full day care on five days a week, all year round, for children up to two years of age. It operates from a large Victorian house, located near Maidstone town centre. There is a self-contained flat on the top floor that is presently unoccupied. The setting is registered on the Early Years Register. There are currently 18 children on roll. Two floors of the house are used to care for children. Generally, the younger children are looked after upstairs, and when they become more mobile, they are cared for downstairs. One room upstairs is used solely for sleeping children, and another for nappy changing. There are rooms available on both floors for messy activities, and there are carpeted playrooms and designated dining areas. All children use the garden regularly. The garden is fully enclosed with a grassed area and

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Information about the setting

a separate all-weather section. Most children attend on a part-time basis but for full days. When children become two years of age, they usually transfer to the toddler unit located in a separate building a short walk from the baby unit. Two permanent staff, including the deputy, are employed to work in the setting. The deputy is a qualified early years teacher and the senior nursery nurse holds a recognised qualification at level 3. The majority of the bank staff are also qualified to level 3, with others about to begin training. Line management for the baby unit is shared with the day nursery and comprises of the baby unit deputy and a nursery manager who previously managed the unit. These staff and a core of regularly used bank staff are available to provide cover when needed.

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

 enhance the range of sensory activities in the outdoor area, to match the excellent opportunities available indoors.

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who attend

The babies and toddlers are making excellent progress in their learning and development in this vibrant and welcoming nursery. They settle extremely well into the daily routines, which are organised to create innovative and challenging opportunities for them to learn and develop. Excellent teaching techniques, combined with the care staff take to establish all available information about each child's starting points, mean children settle well and develop into happy and confident learners. The educational planning successfully builds on children's interests. Staff effectively plan activities to stimulate children, as they always have regard to meeting the children's changing needs and interests. The staff provide many challenging activities in the prime areas of learning but also introduce many excellent activities from the specific areas too. This enables the toddlers to explore activities and make excellent progress in all areas. The children are able to learn at their

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who attend

own pace. A highly effective balance of adult-led and child-initiated activities ensures that children are the primary instigators of their own learning. As a result, they all make excellent progress.

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who attend

Children develop excellent habits as active and inquisitive learners through their access to an excellent range of resources, including an extensive variety of natural materials and sensory equipment. They use excellent physical control as they build towers of bricks and show concentration as they watch which ball comes out of which tube. The sensory room has a wealth of equipment that is well used by the children. In the garden, they explore water and have a crawl-in sand pit; however, there is scope to enhance even further the range of sensory activities in this area. The learning environment is well organised and accessible, with colourful designs and posters that provide children with a text-rich environment. Photographs, labelling, signs and pictures help even the very youngest children develop high levels of independence and confidence as they make choices from low-level, labelled toys. The toddlers have immense fun using and exploring paint on their

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who attend

bodies and marvel at how the paint can squish between their fingers. Staff continually teach the children about different creative materials, so that they learn to use them imaginatively when making items for their parents.

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who attend

Staff establish positive partnerships with the parents and others, to ensure children's individual needs are met. They give the highest priority to welcoming not only the children, but their whole family into the nursery. Parents are fully included in all aspects of their child's care and learning, and often adopt the nursery's routines for their children at home. Excellent procedures are in place to support children's moves from the baby room to the toddler room, and on to the toddler unit. Children are receiving exceptional care.

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

Staff support children highly effectively by using excellent settling-in procedures, which allow children to form strong emotional attachments with their key person and group room staff. Children are extremely happy and secure within the setting, separating from their parents well and forming close bonds with the staff team. The highly effective key person system effectively promotes children's feelings of security and belonging. Staff deployment throughout the setting is excellent and staff to child ratios exceed the required levels. This enables staff to provide a high level of one-to-one support to encourage children's individual development.

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

The nursery has secure and highly effective measures in place to promote children's ongoing safety in both the indoor and outdoor environments, as well as on outings to the setting's sister nursery. Risk assessments are thorough, and clearly identify hazards and any action taken to minimise these.

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

Behaviour within the setting is extremely good and the staff team effectively supports and encourages toddlers to behave appropriately, share and take turns, through continuous praise and encouragement. This builds children's confidence and self-esteem, and increases their concepts of appropriate and expected behaviour. Children are extremely familiar with the daily routine and demonstrate a clear understanding of what comes next in the format of their day. For example, they enthusiastically join in with tidying activities away in the storage baskets and boxes, when they know lunch time is approaching.

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

Children thrive in an environment where staff maintain a very high standard of hygiene practice for themselves as well as the children. The staff teach children about good hygiene routines through the use of wipes, which they offer children regularly throughout the day, for example after messy play and before snack and meal times. Children enjoy valuable social experiences during snack and mealtimes. Staff sit with the children and talk to them about what they have been enjoying. Staff take these opportunities to make excellent use of the Every Child a Talker programme. Parents provide all their children's food, to cater for any individual allergies and dietary needs. Staff have a thorough knowledge of children's individual allergies, cultural and religious restrictions, and dislikes, which they clearly display so that they can check them at any time. Children are able to sleep or relax according to their individual needs and daily routines.

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provision

The providers are passionate about the quality of care they offer to children and their families. The manager and staff are a very enthusiastic and committed team, who work exceptionally well together. All of the adults working with the children are aware of their responsibilities towards safeguarding and keeping children safe from abuse. Each member of staff holds an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau or Disclosure and Barring Service check. The manager is well aware of the need to continually check staff for disqualification by association, to confirm that staff are fit to work with the children. The rigorous and robust recruitment and vetting procedures, induction periods and regular supervision ensure all new staff are suitable to be with children. The rigorous risk assessments and attention to detail in all aspects of record keeping ensure children's well-being in all areas.

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provision

The manager, deputy and staff team at the setting are inspirational, dedicated and very caring. They are all highly experienced and have worked together for a considerable time. The provider acknowledges and values their expertise. All staff are encouraged to achieve qualifications and are very well supported in any additional training they request to attend. This includes regular training provided by a range of outside professional agencies, as well as in-house training and discussions with other professionals. Regular one-to-one supervision sessions completed by the manager and deputy enable staff to highlight any further development or training they would like to participate in. Staff readily share and cascade information gained from their training to other members of staff, to help them develop their skills and knowledge further. There is a low turnover of staff at the nursery, which ensures children have excellent consistency in the adults caring for them.

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provision

The deputy manager is responsible for monitoring the educational programme. With staff, she evaluates all activities to see if they can improve outcomes for children. She monitors and collects information from the children's learning records on a regular basis, to ensure they are all meeting their expected stages of development, given their starting points and capabilities. The on-line tracking system allows her to see how groups of children are progressing. For example, she can see how boys and children with English as an additional language are meeting their targets and can quickly put in place additional support if there are indications they are not. There are excellent and robust self-evaluation systems. Managers complete these with the help of staff, parents and outside agencies to help ensure the nursery's continuous development. These systems also help to identify areas for further improvement, such as ways to improve the routines for the children.

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provision

Partnerships with parents are outstanding. The highly comprehensive two-way flow of information, knowledge and expertise between them and staff is integral to meeting each child's needs. Parents provide very positive comments in written references, both at the nursery and on the internet. These include comments about how happy their child is at the nursery, the friendly, approachable staff and the range of information they regularly receive regarding their child. All parents appreciate the individual learning plans their children have, the progress their child makes at the nursery and the high quality support their family receives.

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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 EY260069 Local authority Kent Inspection number 837245 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 2 Total number of places 24 Number of children on roll 18 Name of provider Hemsley House Childcare Limited Date of previous inspection 09/10/2009 Telephone number 01622 677702

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Setting details

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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