Nursery Days

Nursery Days Nursery Days, The Street, Upchurch, SITTINGBOURNE, Kent, ME9 7AJ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 4 August 2015 5 September 2011

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Previous inspection: Outstanding 1 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend Requires improvement The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children Requires improvement The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision Requires improvement The setting does not meet legal requirements for early years settings

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This provision requires improvement. It is not yet good because:

 Leaders do not use staff supervision well. They do not ensure that staff training focuses sufficiently on improving the quality of teaching. This results in children receiving variable learning experiences because staff do not always know how to extend children's learning. This slows children's progress.  Leaders do not make sure that staff know how to plan challenging activities based on children's individual interests to keep children motivated and engaged in their play. This means children sometimes lack interest in the experiences offered, which slows their learning.  Staff do not always model words to children correctly. This does not fully support children's language development.

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It has the following strengths

 Children's key persons work closely with parents to help children settle into the nursery. The two-way flow of information between them helps ensure that staff meet children's individual physical needs well.  Staff have secure knowledge of safeguarding and child protection requirements. They make effective use of their qualifications to keep children safe from harm.  Staff have positive relationships with children. Staff manage times when children change rooms well. This helps children settle into their new environment quickly.

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

To meet the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage the provider must:

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

 ensure staff use each child's individual interests and stage of development to plan challenging and engaging learning experiences  improve staff knowledge of how to extend children's learning while they play and of how to keep children motivated and engaged at all times.

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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

 make sure that staff understand the importance of saying words correctly so that children learn how to say these properly.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke with several parents and staff, and held an interview with the deputy manager to discuss the nursery's leadership and management.  The inspector observed interaction between children and staff in every area of the nursery, including outside.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the nursery's deputy manager.  The inspector looked at documentation, including the complaints file, children's attendance records, staff Disclosure and Barring Service records and children's assessment records.

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who attend. This requires improvement

Children have access to a broad range of resources which cover all areas of learning. However, staff do not always use these effectively to ensure children are consistently motivated and challenged. This limits children's progress. For example, staff provide a toy kitchen but with few related resources to motivate imaginative play. Staff consider children's interests and abilities when planning activities but do not plan ones that provide enough challenge to keep children engaged and keen to learn. Furthermore, at the inspection, staff missed chances to respond to children's evident interests, such as what staff were doing. Staff merely continued with their task, instead of seizing the chance to use children's interest as a learning opportunity. Staff do not always use the correct word in order to support children's developing language, for example, they say 'horsey' when referring to a horse. These weaknesses prevent children from gaining useful skills quickly,

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who attend. This requires improvement

in readiness for the next stage in learning.

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requires improvement

Staff promote healthy care practices, such as handwashing, and encourage children to become independent. They provide children with a wide range of healthy meals. Staff supervise children well at mealtimes. They offer praise when appropriate, for example, when children successfully use a spoon to feed themselves for the first time. Staff do not always notice and react when children are not participating in any meaningful activity. This results in some children being unchallenged at times during the day. Nevertheless, children are happy and settled. Staff teach them to manage their personal care needs, which helps prepare them for the move to school.

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provision requires improvement

Staff understand the importance of working in partnership with parents. Staff are deployed thoughtfully to use their individual skills, which means that children have opportunities to learn about nature and music. However, leaders have not trained staff to have a clear understanding of how to meet the learning and development requirements. This results in inconsistent teaching. While staff sometimes support children's learning well, there are too many occasions when they do not provide the teaching support children need. Children then lose interest. Leaders monitor children's progress and that of particular groups of children. They make sure that staff work with outside professionals to help children with additional learning needs to make progress. This helps close gaps in children's learning. Leaders have used evaluation methods well previously. While they still have the means to do so, they are not using these well now. The current lack of thorough

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provision requires improvement

evaluation has contributed to the overall drop in the nursery's quality.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY355428 Local authority Kent Inspection number 827668 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 57 Number of children on roll 87 Name of provider Nursery Days Ltd Date of previous inspection 5 September 2011 Telephone number 01634 263896

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Setting details

Nursery Days re-registered in 2007. It is located in the village of Upchurch, Kent. The nursery is open from 7.15am to 6.30pm for 51 weeks of the year. The nursery is accredited to receive government funding for early education for children aged two, three and four years. The nursery employs 20 staff, of whom 18, including the manager, hold appropriate early years qualifications.

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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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