Stepping Stones Nursery

Stepping Stones Nursery 168 Bramhall Moor Lane, Hazel Grove, Stockport, Cheshire, SK7 5BA

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 6 July 2018 18 August 2017

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This inspection: Good 2

Previous inspection: Requires Improvement

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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 practitioners have worked hard to improve the nursery since the last inspection. Managers have planned and implemented changes and demonstrate a strong commitment to achieving the best outcomes for children. Children make good progress in their learning and development.  The manager regularly checks the performance of practitioners and helps them to keep improving. She inspires practitioners to find their own solutions and try out their own ideas when an area for development is identified.  Practitioners guide and encourage parents really effectively to continue children's learning at home. This is a key strength of the nursery and is illustrated by the monthly 'parent project'. For one of the projects, parents made stop and go signs with children and practised crossing the road. This helped to promote children's early literacy and they talked and learned about road safety.  The key-person system works well. Practitioners are friendly and attentive and children

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This provision is good

demonstrate that they feel secure. Parents of younger children welcome the information they receive about children's care routines and the day's events.

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It is not yet outstanding because:

 Sometimes, practitioners do not use information from assessment to identify, as precisely as possible, what children need to learn next. As a result, children's learning is not always meticulously planned for.

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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

 make the most of what is known about individual children's achievements so that plans for teaching focus even more precisely on what children need to learn next.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed the quality of teaching during activities indoors and outdoors. She assessed the impact this has on children's learning.  The inspector spoke with practitioners and children during the inspection.  The inspector completed a joint observation with the nursery manager.  The inspector held a meeting with the nursery manager and a nursery manager from a linked nursery. She looked at relevant documentation and evidence of the suitability of practitioners working in the nursery.  The inspector spoke to parents and took account of their views.

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management is good

The well-qualified team continuously improve their professional knowledge and understanding. This is demonstrated when practitioners learn to use a screening tool to assess children's communication skills. Practitioners' growing expertise is helping to ensure that children in need of support are identified at an early stage in their development. Safeguarding is effective. Practitioners know what to do if they consider that a child may be at risk of abuse or neglect. The manager carefully follows well-established procedures for recruiting and vetting new employees. The nursery building is secure and practitioners are vigilant in their supervision of activities and routines.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

Practitioners gather information about children's development when they first attend the nursery. This helps them to observe and monitor the rate of children's progress from accurately established starting points. Children who speak English as an additional language are supported well. Practitioners demonstrate this when they ask parents to teach them to say some words in children's home language. Practitioners provide varied activities that engage children's interest. For example, children plant and harvest vegetable and salad crops. Older children learn that the beans and peas can be eaten or saved to grow more food next year. This helps them to understand the world.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are good

Practitioners give children time and opportunities to explore and investigate in their play. The youngest children demonstrate this when they move freely around the room and confidently climb into and out of an inflatable play area. Practitioners follow robust policies and procedures that help them to keep children safe. For example, when children have accidents, practitioners record the details and report them to parents. Children follow consistent routines that help them to develop self-control and independence. For instance, toddlers know that at group time they must find and sit on a round cushion. This routine helps them to be ready to listen and participate.

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Outcomes for children are good

Children are eager learners who acquire the skills, knowledge and attitudes to learning that prepare them well to start school. Children understand that plants need water and light to grow. They gain important knowledge about food production. Children demonstrate what they know about the world when they invent role play. For example, older children initiate and sustain a lively conversation about favourite ice-cream flavours. They begin to understand that other people may have different preferences. Children know that written words carry meaning. They begin to link written letters to the sounds they represent. Older children confidently go to the toilet by themselves.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY314799 Local authority Stockport Inspection number 1112428 Type of provision Full-time provision Day care type Childcare - Non-Domestic Registers Early Years Register Age range of children 0 - 11 Total number of places 45 Number of children on roll 51 Name of registered person Domalo Limited

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reference number

Date of previous inspection 18 August 2017 Telephone number 0161 483 5475

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reference number

Stepping Stones Nursery registered in 2005. The nursery employs 10 members of childcare staff. Of these, six practitioners hold qualifications at level 3 and two at level 2. A further practitioner holds qualified teacher status. The nursery opens from Monday to Friday all year round. Sessions are from 8am until 6pm. The nursery also offers a before- and after-school club. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children.

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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

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

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