Victoria Nursery

Victoria Nursery 12 Victoria Road, Harborne, BIRMINGHAM, B17 0AH

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 11/12/2014 03/01/2014

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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 wide variety of activities that are specifically tailored to children's individual next steps in learning. As a result, children make good progress.  Children are confident, relaxed and happy within the nursery because staff are kind, caring and friendly.  Staff's safeguarding knowledge is secure as they are clear about relevant agencies they need to contact if they have any concerns about a child's welfare. Consequently, children are well protected from harm.  Partnerships with parents are good because staff deploy various strategies to support them to become involved in the nursery by sharing their views and opinions. Therefore, continuity in children's care and learning is well supported.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Children are well supported to develop control, coordination and movement because staff do not plan effectively enough to ensure that relevant resources are readily available for children to practise climbing and balancing, particularly outdoors.  The supervision systems in place are not extensive enough to provide unqualified staff with a sufficiently well-targeted programme of professional development, in order to continually drive for the best outcomes for 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 indoors and outside.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held a meeting with the provider and manager and spoke to staff throughout the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessment records and the planning documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of the suitability and qualifications of the staff and the provider's evidence of self-evaluation.  The inspector took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day.

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Information about the setting

Victoria Nursery was registered in 2007 and is on the Early Years Register. It is situated in a converted house in the Harborne area of Birmingham, and is managed by a family company. The nursery serves both the local and wider area and is accessible to all children. It operates from five rooms and there is an enclosed area available for outdoor play. The nursery employs 14 members of staff, 12 of whom hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 and above. The nursery opens Monday to Friday all year round. Sessions are from 7.45am until 6pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 54 children on roll who are all in the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for two- three- and four-year-old children and supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The nursery receives support from the local authority.

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

 plan more effectively to help children to develop their control, co-ordination and movement by, for example, reviewing the range of resources available for them to climb and balance on, particularly outdoors

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

 enhance the support and mentoring offered to unqualified staff by, for example, introducing a buddy system to provide them with a more targeted programme of professional development to more rapidly improve their knowledge and understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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who attend

Staff have received extensive support and coaching since the last inspection about how to promote children's learning and development well. As a result, they plan and provide a wide variety of activities that take into account all areas of learning relevant to the age groups of children currently attending. This actively promotes children's good progress towards the early learning goals. Staff have a good awareness of how to support children to develop the skills and attributes they will need in time for school. This is because they pay considerable attention to encouraging positive behaviours, social relationships, good communication and listening skills. As a result, children develop confidence and independence throughout, in readiness for the changes ahead. Parents are well supported to engage in their children's learning within the nursery. This is because staff have implemented many changes since the last inspection to introduce more detailed

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who attend

information sharing with parents. For example, upon entry parents complete a special book all about their child's care and learning needs, including their own assessments of their child's current development. They also are encouraged to complete home activities and staff share their children's 'wow' achievements with them regularly, along with other assessment information. As a result, children benefit from continuity in their learning between the setting and home.

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who attend

The quality of teaching within the nursery is good. In the baby room there are plentiful opportunities for babies to explore and learn, whilst moving freely and with confidence around the space. Staff place activities at floor level and also make use of small tables and activity centres to encourage babies to pull themselves up. Staff are keen to develop babies' communication and social skills as they support them to play with each other rolling items along the floor and playing hide and seek in the role-play house. Equally, in the toddler room, staff facilitate different opportunities for young children to learn. They make the most of a popular play dough activity to support children to use scissors and manipulate different tools and equipment. Staff support toddlers to share their ideas and express their preferences. Staff encourage their independence as children put on their own coats and hats to go outside. They also introduce children to new experiences as they

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who attend

are supported to sing songs in both English and Spanish, developing their understanding of the world around them. In the pre-school room staff give children the choice to play indoors or outside. Children have fun outside with staff, learning about the natural world by bug hunting and using the digging area, whilst indoors children participate with staff in creative craft activities and use technological equipment to begin to write their names. Staff listen to preschool children and skilfully adapt activities to follow their lead. However, throughout the age groups, children are not well supported to develop further their control, coordination and movement because there are too few opportunities for climbing and balancing, particularly outdoors. Assessment of children's development is precise because staff know the children well. Staff use the information they obtain from parents and their own observations and assessments of children's progress to plan activities on an

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who attend

ongoing basis for each individual child. As a result, overall children's learning needs are well met.

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who attend

Staff regularly complete progress summaries of children's learning every three months, this includes the progress check for children between the ages of two and three years. These assessments are used well by staff to build an accurate picture of children's current developmental stages. As a result, all children make good progress. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported. The special educational needs coordinator is well trained and has experience in helping children that may need extra support to reach their potential. All staff are knowledgeable and use this knowledge to quickly identify where children are falling behind in their development. They consult with the special educational needs coordinator and the manager to work out appropriate interventions to help children catch up. Staff work in close partnerships with parents and relevant professionals to introduce specific support for children that need it. Therefore, all

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who attend

children make good progress from where they started.

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

Staff make use of the key-person system to support children and their families during their time at the nursery. Parents are kept well informed about who their child's key person is, throughout their progress through the nursery. Staff are kind, caring and approachable throughout. As a result, children are confident, happy and relaxed. Parents' comments demonstrate that they feel the nursery staff offer a personal approach towards the care of each child and that they have supported their children to settle well as they move between the different rooms. The settling-in procedures are adaptable and easily tailored by staff to meet the individual needs of each child. Staff build positive relationships with each family as they offer stay-and-play sessions for parents and children to get to know them before they begin. This approach promotes children's emotional well-being from the outset.

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

Staff promote children's good health well. Young children are kept clean and dry, whilst older children are encouraged to manage their own self-care when ready. Staff support children's understanding of washing their hands at all given opportunities and wiping their noses to prevent germs from spreading. Staff have recently sought children's and parents views about the menu choices. As a result, they are currently renewing the choice of foods on offer to introduce a wider variety of healthy food choices to children. Mealtimes are very sociable as different age groups eat together. Staff maximise the opportunity to promote independence as children serve their own food, pour their own drinks and are positively encouraged to make healthy choices. As a result, children are learning about how to be healthy. Staff find out about and put plans in place to address children's medical and dietary requirements from the outset. These are reviewed and discussed with

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

parents, to continually support children's well-being and ensure their needs are met. Staff take the opportunities to talk to children about risks within the environment and how to use equipment safely. For example, during craft activities they talk to children about the hazards when walking with scissors and support them to use them correctly. This approach teaches children how to keep themselves safe.

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

The environment is welcoming and warm. It is suitable secure because staff use the doorbell entry system appropriately, to prevent unauthorised access. Notices and important information is displayed for parents so they know about the routines of the nursery. Children develop a sense of belonging as they all hang their coats and bags on their own, personalised pegs. Throughout each room staff display children's creative work, drawings and different information about developmental achievements. As a result, children's self-esteem is high. Resources are carefully matched to meet children's needs and are easily accessible to them. Therefore, children's are self-motivated and keen to explore the environment. Children's understanding of the behaviour expectations of the nursery is clear as they respond to simple instructions from a very young age. This is because staff use positive strategies to reinforce the expected behaviours within each

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

room. Staff skilfully support children to negotiate, play cooperatively and listen to each other. As a result, children behave well. As a result, children are becoming emotionally well prepared for the changes ahead as they move between rooms, into other nurseries and to schools.

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provision

The provider fully understands his role and responsibility to meet the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. He meets weekly with the manager of the nursery to oversee the general practice. The manager is the designated safeguarding officer for the nursery and has been influential in seeking advice and support for children within her care. Consequently, safeguarding arrangements are secure and children are well protected from harm. Both the manager and the nursery staff are highly knowledgeable about the relevant agencies they need to contact if they have any concerns regarding a child's welfare. All staff have received basic child-protection training and are confident to act if they need to. General risk assessments are in place and staff ensure they carry out daily checks of the environment, toys and equipment, to make sure all potential hazards are safely dealt with. Five members of staff hold paediatric first-aid

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provision

qualifications and the manager ensures they are well deployed to speedily intervene in an emergency. Fire evacuation procedures are clearly highlighted and practised with the children. The manager completes regular reviews of all supporting documentation, including policies, risk assessments and procedures, to ensure they are relevant, up-to- date and well maintained. As a result, children are cared for in a safe environment.

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provision

Since the last inspection the management have welcomed advice and support from their local authority improvement advisor regarding how to effectively meet the learning and development requirements within the nursery. The provider and manager have increased the monitoring of the planning, observation and assessment cycle in each room. They have ensured the educational programmes are working well to support children's next steps in their learning. Children's overall development is checked every three months to ensure all children are making good progress. Management have further strengthened this practice by improving record keeping to include further information about starting points, observations and assessments of children's development. As a result, staff and management now have a clear overview of children's progress and where additional support may be required.

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provision

The management are keen develop a high-quality workforce and to support all their staff to achieve an early years qualification at level 3 or above. In addition to this, relevant training and courses are offered to staff, so they are able to pursue areas of interest and increase their current knowledge and skills. Since attending a recent seminar, the provider and manager have begun to develop supervision systems to monitor each staff member's professional development. However, for unqualified members of staff, a more targeted approach to professional development is yet to be embedded, in order for them to improve their practice rapidly so they can contribute fully to the good provision for children. Nevertheless, on the whole, management's proactive approach has ensured that learning outcomes for all children have significantly improved.

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provision

Self-evaluation arrangements are in place and are highly focussed on the drive for improvements to the nursery. Managers encourage and take account of the opinions of staff, children and parents. The management have devised an action plan to address all weaknesses highlighted in the last inspection. The nursery staff have shared ideas and worked together as a team to meet all actions relating to learning and development that were set. Partnerships with parents are well established as the nursery deploys various methods to communicate. Feedback from parents is positive as they comment that the nursery appropriately challenges their children through a play-based approach, so they learn and have fun. The management has recently sent out parent surveys, holds parental forum events and sends out regular email messages to involve parents in the running of the nursery and to keep them up to date. Therefore, these partnerships support children's

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provision

good progress. Partnerships with other professionals, such as the local area special educational needs coordinator, social services, the local authority advisory teacher, local nurseries and schools are equally well used to support staff's practice and promote the sharing of relevant information. They ensures children have access to the all the help and support available. This supports continuity in children's learning and care in the setting and when they are being cared for elsewhere.

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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 EY365886 Local authority Birmingham Inspection number 962840

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 40 Number of children on roll 54 Name of provider DRAXCO Ltd Date of previous inspection 03/01/2014 Telephone number 0121 4264882

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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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