Clarence House Cambridge

Clarence House Day Nursery Cambridge Old Church Hall, Green End Road, Cambridge, Cambs, CB4 1RW

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 27 October 2015 Not applicable

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management Requires improvement Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement Personal development, behaviour and welfare Requires improvement Outcomes for children Requires improvement

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

 Supervision, coaching and mentoring of staff are not embedded well enough to help them to improve their effectiveness in providing children with consistently good quality learning experiences.  At times, staff do not deploy themselves well enough to ensure that they are able to respond to children's emerging needs and interests, and effectively guide their learning.  Staff do not always make rigorous checks of the outdoor areas to ensure that all hazards are identified and removed.  Managers have not implemented rigorous self-evaluation to identify and prioritise areas of the provision that need improvement.

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It has the following strengths

 The partnerships with parents are well established. Parents are positive about the nursery and staff. They feel well informed about their children's activities and are confident their care needs are well met.  The nursery has a warm and inclusive feel. Children's home backgrounds and languages are represented well, helping them to feel valued.  Children have good opportunities to be creative and develop their senses using a wide variety of media, such as pumpkin flesh and shaving foam.

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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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Due Date

 improve the support, coaching and training given to staff to enable them to offer consistently good quality learning experiences for all children 20/11/2015

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Due Date

 ensure that staff deploy themselves effectively so that they are able to respond to children's emerging needs and provide them with the support they need to make good progress in their learning. 20/11/2015

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Due Date

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

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Due Date

 review procedures for thoroughly checking the outdoor area so that children consistently play in a safe and healthy environment  strengthen the self-evaluation processes to ensure that areas for development are accurately identified and addressed.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector carried out a joint observation with the deputy.  The inspector observed the quality of teaching indoors and outdoors, and spoke to staff about how they plan for children's progress.  The inspector looked at the premises and the resources available to the children.  A range of documentation was looked at, including staff suitability and training, some policies and procedures and children's records.  Discussions were held with a number of parents, and their views and comments were taken into account.

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management requires improvement

Monitoring of the staff and the educational programme is currently inconsistent. The senior management team has taken some steps to address these weaknesses. A new manager is beginning to initiate improvements. For example, support meetings for staff that help to identify training and improve teaching skills have begun. Nonetheless, this process is not yet effective in addressing the inconsistencies in practice. Safeguarding is effective. Recruitment procedures help to ensure all staff are safe to work with the children. Staff are confident to identify any possible signs of abuse or neglect, and they know the procedures for reporting concerns. Nursery staff have established links with local schools which helps them to support children as they move on to the next stage of their learning.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment requires improvement

Although the majority of staff have suitable qualifications, some lack confidence. They do not make the best use of their knowledge to support children's learning, and not all children make good progress. However, there are sometimes good interactions, for example, as staff help children to create a pretend spider web in the garden. They have fun and talk about how the spiders make their webs. Young children have story times and play with books, learning to lift flaps and turn pages. Staff point to pictures and teach them new words. Some staff role model writing well and encourage older children to scribe their names on artwork. Outdoor blackboards are well used by the children to make marks and draw the things they see around them. Staff make regular assessments of children's progress and share these with parents. This helps to ensure any delays are noticed.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare require improvement

Staff deployment is sufficient so that children are supervised to keep them safe. However, staff are not always alert for when children need support and guidance. This means that, at times, opportunities are overlooked to extend children's learning and promote their good progress. Nonetheless, children enjoy playing in the stimulating, well-resourced garden. They benefit from activities that promote their physical skills, such as using the climbing frame or pedalling tricycles. Staff are kind to the children and relationships are warm. They help parents to settle their children into the nursery until they are emotionally secure. Meals are healthy and nutritious. Children sit together at lunchtime and enjoy a relaxed social experience with their friends. The nursery is secure and visitors are checked. However, checks of the garden are not rigorous enough to ensure all hazards are minimised.

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Outcomes for children require improvement

Overall, children make steady progress in their learning and development, in readiness for school. They learn tolerance and respect for each other. However, the outcomes for children are not yet consistently good.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY478404 Local authority Cambridgeshire Inspection number 981004 Type of provision Full-time provision Day care type Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 38 Number of children on roll 38 Name of provider Clarence House Day Nurseries Ltd Date of previous inspection Not applicable Telephone number 01223 778383

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Setting details

Clarence House Day Nursery Cambridge was registered in 2014 and is privately owned. The nursery employs nine members of childcare staff. Of these, two hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2 and four hold level 3. The nursery opens Monday to Friday all year round. Sessions are from 7.30am until 6.15pm. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children.

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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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