Little Sparks Ltd

Little Sparks Ltd 5 Super Street, Clayton le Moors, ACCRINGTON, Lancashire, BB5 5ST

p.1

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 13 January 2017 19 September 2012

p.1

This inspection: Outstanding 1

Effectiveness of the leadership and management Outstanding 1

p.1

This inspection: Outstanding 1

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding 1

p.1

This inspection: Outstanding 1

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding 1

p.1

This provision is outstanding

 The management team is extremely experienced, committed and truly inspirational. They lead a motivated team of staff who are passionate and dedicated to their role. The new managers have made vast and rapid changes to raise the quality of the provision to the highest level.  Partnerships with parents are outstanding. Parents speak extremely highly of the management team and staff. Parents are immensely involved in all aspects of their children's care and learning. They attend parent forums and have frequent opportunities to review their children's next steps in learning and development needs.  Staff use their expert knowledge of how children learn superbly. They provide a magnificent range of highly stimulating and challenging activities that ignites and motivates children to learn. Children are absorbed in their learning and show an abundance of curiosity as they explore the wonderful environment.

p.1

This provision is outstanding

 Robust, collaborative working with other professionals effectively contributes to consistency and continuity of care and learning. Children are remarkably well supported to move to other settings, including school. Frequent meetings, enhanced visits and a 'passport for school' help children to feel safe and secure as they embark on the next stage of their learning.  The leadership team has an uncompromising vision for excellence. Self-evaluation arrangements are thorough and capture the views of staff, children and parents. Meticulous action plans are created and shared to gain a complete and unbiased view of the service provided.

p.1

What the setting needs to do to improve further

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

p.2

What the setting needs to do to improve further

 evaluate the forthcoming improvements to children's experiences with technology.

p.2

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 spoke with staff and children during the inspection.  The inspector completed a joint observation with the nursery manager.  The inspector held a meeting with the nursery managers. She looked at relevant documentation and evidence of the suitability of staff working in the nursery.  The inspector spoke to a number of parents during the inspection and took account of their views.

p.2

Effectiveness of the leadership and management is outstanding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. The entire staff team has a robust and comprehensive understanding of their role in protecting children. They place a huge emphasis on providing an extremely safe and secure environment for children to thrive in. Leaders use an excellent range of incisive monitoring systems to ensure excellence in all areas. Rigorous monitoring of children's achievements helps to ensure that any additional support is swiftly identified and obtained. Managers have recognised how they wish to strengthen children's opportunities with technology even further and have ambitious plans in place to introduce new equipment and resources. A culture of reflective practice is truly embedded within the setting. Managers video staff practice as part of their supervision arrangements. Targeted professional development opportunities are identified together to ensure this has a positive impact on learning outcomes for children.

p.3

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is outstanding

Staff conduct meticulous assessments when children start at the nursery and throughout their time at the setting. Staff use their observations to precisely identify children's next steps in learning and continually offer challenge in a fun and stimulating way. For example, young children categorise animals, matching them to picture cards and counting how many they have found. Older children develop their own learning as they suggest a treasure hunt, counting and weighing what they find. Staff extend children's learning further as they create messages in bottles and carry out their own experiments to establish if they will sink or float. Children make marks for a purpose as they design and construct their own buildings. Staff engage with them, igniting in-depth conversations about cement, bricks and the tools they are using. This helps support children's communication and language exceptionally well.

p.3

Personal development, behaviour and welfare are outstanding

Children form warm relationships with staff and flourish. The key-person system is highly effective in supporting and nurturing children's emotional well-being. Children's behaviour is exemplary. Staff support them to develop the rules of the setting and offer gentle reminders as they play together. Children begin to understand democracy as they vote for what fruit to have at snack time. Together they scrape out the seeds of a melon and chop bananas to share with their friends while following stringent hygiene procedures. Children's physical development is given significant priority in a fun and interactive way. Young children hunt for tigers in the garden area and splash in puddles. Older children safely navigate different surfaces as they move around in a variety of ways.

p.3

Outcomes for children are outstanding

Children make excellent progress, including those in receipt of additional funding. They display superb social skills as they work harmoniously together to solve simple problems. Children are confident and show a positive attitude to learning. They create new ideas together to further their learning and are exceptionally well prepared for school. They manage their self-care skills with maturity, count and write numbers, create tally charts and begin to recognise familiar sounds in words.

p.3

Setting details

Unique reference number EY389477 Local authority Lancashire Inspection number 1059833 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 50 Number of children on roll 54 Name of registered person Little Sparks Limited

p.4

reference number

Date of previous inspection 19 September 2012 Telephone number 01254 399266

p.4

reference number

Little Sparks Nursery Ltd was registered in 2009. The nursery employs 13 members of childcare staff. Of these, eight hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 or above, including the managers who hold early years professional status and early years teacher status. One member of staff holds qualified teacher status. The nursery opens from Monday to Friday all year round. Sessions are from 7.30am until 6pm. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children.

p.4

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.

p.4

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.

p.4

reference number

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/, write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.5

reference number

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our website for news, information and updates at www.ofsted.gov.uk/user.

p.5

reference number

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

p.5