Footsteps Day Nursery and Preschool

Footsteps Day Nursery and Preschool 40 Reading Road, Farnborough, Hampshire, GU14 6NB

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 19 December 2016 30 April 2013

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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 Outstanding 1

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This provision is good

 Managers evaluate what works well within the setting and what the children get out of the activities they provide. The managers identify their own strengths and priorities as well as areas where they can continue to raise outcomes for children.  Staff have a robust knowledge of the action to take should they have any concerns about a child's welfare or protection. They are alert to potential risks to children as they explore their wider community and diligently follow detailed policies and procedures for safeguarding and welfare.  Highly qualified and experienced staff provide inspirational teaching in the pre-school rooms where children make excellent levels of progress in their communication and language skills in particular.  Staff plan and provide a vibrant, secure and exciting nursery indoors and outside, where children are very happy and keen to explore, investigate and be imaginative.  Children thrive as they make healthy choices about the food they eat and learn how to

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This provision is good

balance treats and nutrition. They are inspired by rich 'hands-on' experiences such as when the chef filleted a fish and they helped him turn it into fish fingers.

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It is not yet outstanding because:

 Teaching and learning are not consistently of a very high standard across all age groups, as new staff teams focus more on establishing high-quality care and welfare.

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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

 use the skills of the early years teacher across the setting to raise the quality of teaching and learning in the younger age groups to an even higher level.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed care routines and teaching, and the effect of these on children's development and learning.  The inspector reviewed records and procedures relating to safeguarding and risk assessment, and discussed a range of other procedures relating to children's welfare with the staff and their managers.  The inspector looked at children's records, and discussed staff's planning and evaluation of activities, and how staff exchange information with parents.  The inspector talked with parents to gain their views about the provision.  The inspector undertook a joint observation with the regional manager and met with the special educational needs coordinator.

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management is good

Strong leadership successfully bridges changes in senior staff and provides continuity for parents, staff and children. Safeguarding is effective. For example, managers follow clear policies and procedures to recruit, check, mentor and support new and existing staff to ensure they remain suitable for their roles. They understand the matters that must be notified to Ofsted. Staff training prioritises areas of safeguarding and welfare such as child protection, first aid and safe behaviour. Managers ensure ratio requirements are met and carefully review any accidents, injuries or complaints about children's welfare to improve practice. For instance, effective risk assessment, including for outdoor areas, minimises risks and first-aid trained staff are deployed across nursery play areas.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

Senior staff monitor the delivery of teaching and learning, planning and assessment effectively across the different age groups. They quickly identify children's individual needs and put in place timely interventions through innovative and focused partnership working with parents and outside agencies. The quality of teaching varies slightly across the nursery but all staff provide a wide variety of learning opportunities and successfully target specific goals in developing children's physical skills. For instance, as children use a diverse range of equipment in the soft-play centre, dance studio, on the football pitch or during outings to the park.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are outstanding

Excellent relationships between staff, parents and children inspire confidence and enable children to flourish in an extremely nurturing environment. Staff practice is highly inclusive and significantly benefits children who have profound special educational needs, or social or medical needs, as well as those learning English as an additional language. Staff provide practical activities that excite children's curiosity and help them to assess and manage risks as they become increasingly independent. The chefs are instrumental in this, for example, as they teach children to peel and chop food safely from a young age.

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Outcomes for children are good

Children are confident to explore and question. For instance, they transfer skills learnt in their mud kitchen to digging, planting, harvesting and cooking produce from their vegetable garden. As they do so, they develop skills that help their future learning. For example, they work together and learn to negotiate, understand and adapt, and to accommodate each other's ideas and creativity. Children show an interest in making marks with different tools and develop the early skills for writing. For example, they manipulate one-handed tools, such as scissors, and use sticks to make letter formations in the mud. Children are well prepared for their move to school.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY374122 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 1062170 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 - 4 Total number of places 104 Number of children on roll 140 Name of registered person Casterbridge Nurseries Ltd

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reference number

Date of previous inspection 30 April 2013 Telephone number 01252 511655

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reference number

Footsteps Day Nursery and Preschool registered in 2008 and is now part of the Bright Horizons Family Solutions. It is situated in Farnborough, Hampshire. The nursery operates each weekday, from 7.30am to 6pm, excluding Christmas and bank holidays. The pre- school is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education to children aged two, three and four years. Including the chef and his assistant, there are 39 staff currently working with the children, 20 of whom hold appropriate qualifications at level 3 or above. The pre-school room leader holds early years professional status.

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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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