Upperthorpe Nursery

Upperthorpe Nursery 90 Woodland Road, Darlington, DL3 7PZ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 13 June 2016 Not applicable

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This inspection: Good 2

Effectiveness of the leadership and management Good 2

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This inspection: Good 2

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good 2

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This inspection: Good 2

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good 2

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This provision is good

 Managers and leaders have a very clear and focused vision, to ensure that children are safe, happy and make the best possible progress. The whole staff team works together very well. Their effective room improvement plans, evaluations of activities and detailed development plans are very clearly focused on helping to raise quality.  Children who have special educational needs or disability are supported very well. Key staff work together very closely with parents and other professionals to offer support that is specifically tailored to children's needs. This contributes towards all children making good progress from their starting points.  Key persons form good relationships with children. They are on hand to offer continued comfort and reassurance to help children feel happy and settled. Effective settling-in, transitional reviews and close links with schools contribute to children feeling assured

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This provision is good

when moving between rooms and to other settings.  Leaders and managers have effective methods in place to monitor children's progress. Systems, such as the monitoring analysis tool, help them to swiftly identify and support any early concerns in learning for individual or different groups of children.  Partnerships with parents are good. Staff keep parents informed of their children's learning and progress. Effective parent packs, regular newsletters and helpful sensory recipes provide opportunities to help parents extend their children's learning at home.

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It is not yet outstanding because:

 Staff make accurate assessments of children's learning, but this is not yet used most effectively to help children make rapid progress in their learning.  Performance management arrangements are not rigorous enough to provide a sharp focus on enhancing teaching practice to the highest levels.

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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

 strengthen the newly established assessment systems, and use the information from these more precisely to plan highly challenging activities that help children to make rapid progress  structure performance management opportunities more rigorously and provide a sharper focus on enhancing teaching practice to the highest levels.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector toured the areas of the nursery.  The inspector held discussions with the provider, the manager, the special educational needs coordinator, the staff and children throughout the inspection.  The inspector examined a range of documents. These included, evidence of suitability, policies and procedures, risk assessment records, documents in relation to the support provided for children who have special educational needs or disability, a record of staff qualifications and training and children's observation and assessment records.  The inspector observed children in each age range during their freely chosen and routine activities, both indoors and outside.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the manager during a planned activity with the pre-school children.  The inspector took account of the views from parents spoken to on the day of the inspection.

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management is good

Safeguarding is effective. All staff have a good understanding of the procedures to follow to protect a child's welfare. Recruitment procedures are robust and help to ensure that staff are skilled and suitable for their role. Staff show a high regard for the safety of children in their care. Children are supervised very well. Ratios of staff to children are well maintained. They are exceeded in times of need, such as following lunchtime in the baby room when children are becoming tired and unsettled. Areas of play are clean and safe. Thorough risk assessments, secure areas and stringent three times daily health and safety checks contribute to children remaining safe at all times. Managers and leaders invest in staff. They are keen to support staff to extend their good knowledge and skills through purposeful professional development opportunities. The staff value the feedback they receive from children, parents and others, and actively use this to drive improvement.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

Staff are responsive to children's learning needs. They inspire children to play, learn and develop in a fully inclusive environment. Babies crawl freely with confidence. They pull themselves up on carefully placed furniture and enjoy observing features of their natural world. Staff are on hand to ask questions and model language to help children develop their breadth of vocabulary. Staff take interest in children's home lives and encourage them to reflect on their own experiences. Children who have special educational needs or disability explore areas, such as the woodland independently. They seek out others to share experiences and use available resources, such as crates, to sit on to observe cars passing. Staff quickly extend this learning indoors, offering a range of transport resources to help enhance children's play.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are good

Staff provide time for children to prepare for changes to their routine, such as when taking coats off following outdoor play, to help them feel assured. Good links with local schools help children to feel emotionally ready for their move. For example, teachers are invited into the nursery, so that children can become familiar with them in an environment where they feel settled and secure. Staff provide a good range of activities that help children to become physically active. For example, children enjoy playing with equipment, such as parachutes in the movement room and move in a variety of ways in response to familiar stories outdoors. Staff act as good role models. They use effective behaviour management strategies, such as, praise, a toy owl and reward charts, to help children adopt positive behaviour. This contributes to children being respectful and caring towards others.

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Outcomes for children are good

All children make good progress in their learning. Babies are self-assured and thrive in an environment that nurtures their exploration and physical skills. Older children develop good social interaction skills when linking up with others to share their experiences. Tailored support helps to ensure that children with special educational needs or disability make good progress. This prepares them well for their next stages in learning, including school.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY482638 Local authority Darlington Inspection number 1053242 Type of provision Full-time provision Day care type Childcare - Non-Domestic Registers Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register, Voluntary Childcare Register Age range of children 0 - 9 Total number of places 99 Number of children on roll 103 Name of registered person Upperthorpe Nursery Ltd

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reference number

Date of previous inspection Not applicable Telephone number 01325 482111

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reference number

Upperthorpe Nursery Ltd was registered in 2015. The nursery employs 15 members of childcare staff. Of these, 12 hold appropriate early years qualifications at levels 2, 3 and 5, including a member of staff with early years teacher status. The nursery opens from Monday to Friday all year round, with the exception of bank holidays and one week over the Christmas period. Sessions are from 7am until 6pm. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. The nursery supports a number of children who have special educational needs or disability and children who speak English as an additional language.

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reference number

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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reference number

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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reference number

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reference number

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reference number

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

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