Little Acorns Day Nursery & Pre-School

Little Acorns Day Nursery & Pre-School Little Acorns Day Nursery, 83-85 Hall Road, Hull, HU6 8QL

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 21 October 2015 7 October 2010

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This inspection: Outstanding 1

Effectiveness of the leadership and management Outstanding 1

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This inspection: Outstanding 1

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding 1

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This inspection: Outstanding 1

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding 1

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This provision is outstanding

 Staff know children exceptionally well. They have high expectations of what children can achieve and plan very successfully for their future development. Children are highly motivated, inquisitive and independent learners.  Highly effective arrangements are in place to ensure parents play a full and active role in their child's early learning. Information about the progress children are making in the nursery and at home is shared extremely well.  Staff provide an environment that is exciting for children. Role-play areas are particularly well resourced. Children have first-rate opportunities to be physically active and take part in a wide range of exciting outdoor play activities, which provide measured risk and challenge.  The key-person system is exceptional. Parents and children have excellent relationships with their key person who plays a very important part in the life of individual families.

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This provision is outstanding

Children's move into the nursery is supported extremely sensitively. This contributes significantly to providing security and stability for children and reassurance for parents.  Management constantly evaluate the quality of the service. They meticulously gather the views of the staff team, children and parents to set clear targets for future improvement and enhance the outcomes for children.

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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

 enhance opportunities for children to learn even more about the diverse society in which they live.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed the quality of teaching during activities indoors and outdoors, and assessed the impact this has on children's learning.  The inspector completed a joint observation with the nursery manager.  The inspector held a meeting with the nursery manager, the deputy manager and the owners of the nursery. She discussed self-evaluation and looked at relevant documentation, such as evidence of the suitability of staff working in the nursery.  The inspector spoke to a small selection of parents during the inspection and took account of their views.

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management is outstanding

Staff are well qualified. They are highly motivated and share their individual skills extremely well. They are led by a manager who has very high expectations. She is a very good motivator and mentor. She undertakes regular and highly effective observations of the quality of staff's teaching and conducts robust supervision sessions. Staff's future training needs are discussed and courses arranged. Staff skilfully implement new ideas they gain from training to enhance the outcomes for children's care and learning even further. The arrangements for safeguarding are highly effective. Staff have a very good shared understanding of their responsibilities to protect children.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is outstanding

The quality of teaching throughout the nursery is extremely high. Staff very skilfully model curiosity and imagination, which contributes to children becoming fully immersed in their learning. Staff listen with great interest to what children are telling them and use a variety of highly effective questioning techniques to extend children's conversational skills. Partnerships with external agencies are very well established and make a strong contribution to meeting the needs of children with special educational needs. Staff find many highly effective ways to support children who speak English as an additional language, to develop their vocabulary and skills in communicating in English. Children's learning is monitored robustly. Key persons track individual children's progress very precisely. They accurately identify and support the next steps in children's development. Progress records are regularly moderated by the manager and senior staff, to ensure

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is outstanding

assessments are accurate. Any gaps in children's learning are swiftly identified and prompt action taken to bring about improvement.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are outstanding

Routines and care practices are very well established and consistently implemented. Staff have high expectations of children. Older babies confidently find their own coat and very willingly have a go at putting on their own boots before outdoor play. Toddlers and older children help to prepare the food for snack and decide when to access this, according to their needs. Staff give children lots of specific praise and encouragement. This contributes significantly to raising children's self-esteem. Children's behaviour is exemplary. They show an extremely kind and caring attitude to each other. The atmosphere is calm and nurturing throughout the nursery. However, staff are considering innovative ways to help children learn even more about similarities and differences.

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Outcomes for children are outstanding

All groups of children, including those for whom the nursery receives additional funding, make very good progress in readiness for school. Babies and toddlers develop high levels of curiosity as they explore a wide range of materials of different textures. Older children skilfully work out mathematical problems. They count accurately, and very confidently use simple calculation to establish how many chairs and items of cutlery they need as they set the tables for lunch.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 509972 Local authority Kingston upon Hull Inspection number 848045 Type of provision Full-time provision Day care type Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 65 Number of children on roll 122 Name of provider Little Acorns Day Nursery [Hull] Limited Date of previous inspection 7 October 2010 Telephone number 01482 470535

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Setting details

Little Acorns Day Nursery & Pre-School was registered in 2001. It employs 18 members of childcare staff. Of these, 14 hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3, two at level 5 and two at level 4. The nursery operates, Monday to Friday, from 7.30am to 6pm, all year round, except for bank holidays and one week at Christmas. It provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children and supports children who speak English as an additional language, disabled children and those with special educational needs.

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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

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Setting details

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