Apples Nursery

Apples Nursery Saga Pavillion, Enbrook Park, Sandgate High Street, Folkestone, Kent, CT20 3SE

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 29 April 2015 7 April 2011

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This inspection: Outstanding 1

Previous inspection: Good 2 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend Outstanding 1

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This inspection: Outstanding 1

The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children Outstanding 1

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This inspection: Outstanding 1

The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision Outstanding 1

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This inspection: Outstanding 1

The setting meets legal requirements for early years settings

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This provision is outstanding

 The enthusiastic and committed staff team provides highly stimulating and exciting learning experiences. Their excellent knowledge of how children learn, together with their recognition of each individual child's needs and interests, ensures all children are engaged and eager to explore and learn.  Children form very strong bonds with their key person, as well as other staff. This means that children feel happy and confident to explore. Staff have highly impressive strategies in place to support babies and children moving on to the next stage of their lives.  The management team is dedicated to reflecting on their practice. This means that they are constantly seeking ways to further improve and deliver additional innovative ideas to strengthen their already existing excellent quality of teaching.  All staff demonstrate that they are motivated to provide babies and children with high- quality care and learning experiences. Opportunities for children to enhance their

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This provision is outstanding

understanding of letter sounds are slightly less evident.  The managers and staff have an outstanding understanding of child protection and how to safeguard and protect children.  Staff are very well qualified and extremely experienced. They use accurate observations and assessments of children's progress to plan and provide challenging activities. As a result, all children make significant progress in their learning.  Children's good health and well-being is supported exceptionally well by staff who provide them with healthy, nutritionally balanced food at all mealtimes.

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

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

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

 further develop children's literacy skills by sounding out simple letter and words, such as children's names.

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Inspection activities

 The manager gave the inspector a tour of all areas of the building used by the children.  The inspector observed staff and spoke to them at appropriate times throughout the inspection.  The inspector completed a joint observation with the managers.  The inspector spoke to parents about their views on the service that they receive.  The inspector sampled a range of documentation, including children's records, safeguarding procedures, planning and policies.

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who attend. This is outstanding

Staff have an exceptionally detailed knowledge of all learning areas and they demonstrate a passion to continue to build upon their impressive teaching skills. They provide the children with an environment which is rich in print, to support them to learn that words have meanings. Overall, staff promote children's literacy skills effectively. For example, they make excellent use of repetition, and increase children's vocabulary as they reinforce words with actions. Staff support babies to use their senses as they sit with friends to explore the texture of the cornflour. As a result, they develop their social skills very well. The excellent provision to support children's communication and language, in partnership with outside professionals, enables children to achieve very well. Staff establish very strong partnerships with parents, who state how exceptionally well informed they feel about their children's development.

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outstanding

All babies and children establish exceptionally close attachments with the staff. Consequently, they are content and thoroughly enjoy their time at nursery. The key- person approach is excellent and all staff know their key children extremely well. As a result, babies and children make excellent progress in their personal, social and emotional development. Children's behaviour is exemplary. They interact tremendously well with friends, taking turns riding bikes and showing friends how to make their kites fly high. They show very high levels of confidence and self-esteem. The children walk carefully and safely up the stairs to the restaurant to have their freshly cooked lunch. Staff sit with the children at mealtimes to support their independence as they serve themselves and pour their own drinks. Children learn about a healthy lifestyle, due to the expert teaching they receive from the staff.

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provision is outstanding

The management of the nursery is exceptional. They use an excellent system to provide high-quality supervision, training and guidance to support staff. As a result, staff are enthusiastic and motivated to provide outstanding care and exciting learning and development experiences for all children. They continuously monitor children's progress to ensure they quickly identify and target any gaps in children's learning. High levels of support are then put in place, with the help of other professionals where required. The managers, with the support of the organisation, ensure that rigorous and robust procedures are in place for the recruitment and vetting of staff. This ensures that all staff working with children are suitable to do so. The management team uses highly effective systems for evaluating the service they provide to families. This enables them to target areas for improvement exceptionally well and to provide high-quality care and learning.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 126975 Local authority Kent Inspection number 840592 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 102 Number of children on roll 114 Name of provider SAGA Group Ltd Date of previous inspection 7 April 2011 Telephone number 01303 776300

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Setting details

Apples Nursery registered in 1998. The nursery is owned by Saga Group and is situated in Sandgate, near Folkestone, Kent. The nursery is open Monday to Friday, from 8am to 6pm, all year. The nursery is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education for two-, three-, and four-year-old children. They support children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, and also support children who speak English as an additional language. The nursery employs 34 staff, of whom 30 hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 or above.

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Setting details

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

procedures set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. 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, safeguarding and child protection.

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Setting details

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Setting details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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