Minibugs St Austell

Inspection of Minibugs St Austell 17a Moorlands Road, St Austell, Cornwall PL25 5BS

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Overall effectiveness Outstanding

The quality of education Outstanding Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Outstanding Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Not applicable

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The provision is outstanding

Children develop exceptionally high levels of confidence and self-esteem in the care of the highly skilled and dedicated staff team. Children are extremely happy. They flourish and excel in everything they do in this amazingly calm, engaging and nurturing environment.

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The provision is outstanding

Babies share exceptionally close relationships with their key person and staff. They confidently explore and investigate their surroundings, showing high levels of emotional security. Older children experience an extensive range of learning opportunities to support their excellent understanding of how to behave. Staff help children further in recognising and discussing their emotions, so they are highly skilled at managing minor conflicts for themselves and have an excellent understanding of their own feelings and the feelings of others.

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The provision is outstanding

Staff have high expectations of all children. They precisely and meticulously plan an exciting and highly effective curriculum so that every child makes the best possible progress. Babies are exceptionally animated and skilled at communicating verbally, and they use sign language very successfully when responding to staff. Toddlers' progress in their personal, social and emotional development is inspirational. They have extremely secure bonds with the staff and excellent relationships with one another. This is attributable to the exceptional way in which the highly trained and experienced staff interact with them.

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need to do better?

n A highly committed and inspirational manager leads the dedicated staff team. She has an incredible insight into each member of staff and their skills and knowledge. She monitors performance extremely effectively to maintain exceptionally high standards. Staff are highly successful at using skills gained from training opportunities to extend and promote children's learning and development very effectively. They continually develop high-quality outdoor learning experiences to enrich children's curiosity further and ignite their imaginations extremely well. This is highly beneficial for those children who prefer to learn outdoors. n Children excitedly engage in a wealth of highly stimulating activities and learning experiences which build on their excellent vocabulary. For example, older children explore and investigate the properties of flour as they listen to a story about a little red hen and making bread. They make marks in the flour, which

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need to do better?

supports their early writing skills. They use props and talk about the characters in the story. Staff very successfully support children's language as they develop their play and learning further when children pretend to make bread from play dough for members of their family.

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need to do better?

29 October 2019 n Staff interact with children superbly to inspire and engage them successfully. They use their extensive knowledge of each child to expertly enhance and extend children's learning and understanding. For example, toddlers enthusiastically explore using their senses as they scoop out the inside of pumpkins, watch the seeds float or sink into the 'gloop' mixture and pretend to make pumpkin soup. n Children's behaviour is impeccable. They cooperate extremely well with each other. Children show an excellent understanding of the need to share and take turns so that they ensure play is harmonious and do not upset others. n Staff actively and enthusiastically teach children to understand that there are different communities and experiences beyond their own. They skilfully use stories, dance, language and creative activities to help children learn about different festivals from around the world. For example, during the inspection

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need to do better?

older children listened to Indian music and watched videos of people dancing to gain a better understanding of different cultures. They thoroughly enjoyed moving in time to the music and exploring the different sounds as they thought about the similarities and differences between this music and the music which is more familiar to them. n Partnerships with parents are extremely strong. The manager uses highly effective methods to involve parents in their children's learning. These include providing workshops which give parents ideas of how they can support their children's learning at home. They have 'take home' activity packs, and the manager and staff provide advice on subjects such as potty training. Parents have the utmost praise for the manager and staff, their support and what they provide. n Managers and staff are highly reflective and strongly committed to reviewing and developing their practice to ensure that every child has the best possible

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need to do better?

experiences. Older children thoroughly enjoy taking part in the school readiness programme. They develop superb independence skills, excellent language and communication skills, and are extremely well prepared for school. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those in receipt of additional funding.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Managers and staff have an excellent understanding of child protection issues and knowledge of safeguarding. They keep their knowledge up to date through regular training and are extremely confident in recognising the signs or symptoms which may indicate a child is at risk from harm. They are aware of how to report concerns, including the whistle-blowing procedure. Managers and staff make excellent use of robust risk assessments to minimise risks and keep children safe. They work very well in partnership with other professionals and agencies responsible for safeguarding to ensure children's safety.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY546035 Local authority Cornwall Inspection number 10099488 Type of provision Childcare on non-domestic premises Registers Early Years Register Day care type Full day care Age range of children 0 to 4 Total number of places 61 Number of children on roll 87 Name of registered person Minibugs Nurseries Limited

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reference number

Telephone number 0161 831 9722 Date of previous inspection Not applicable

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Information about this early years setting

Minibugs St Austell registered in 2017. It is situated close to the centre of St Austell, Cornwall. The nursery is open Monday to Friday from 7.30am to 6pm all year, apart from bank holidays and the Christmas period to New Year. There are 16 members of staff, including a manager and a chef. Three members of staff are qualified to level 6, two hold qualifications at level 5, and 10 have a qualification at level 3.

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Inspection activities

n The manager and the inspector completed a learning walk and discussed how the curriculum is used to support children's learning. n The inspector spoke to parents, children and staff at appropriate times throughout the inspection. n A joint observation was undertaken by the manager and the inspector, and a follow-up discussion was held about staff's teaching and children's learning. n A meeting took place with the manager to discuss safeguarding, recruitment and staff support. n A sample of documentation was reviewed, including records relating to the suitability of staff.

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Inspection activities

We carried out this inspection 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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Inspection activities

29 October 2019 regulates and inspects to 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 and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, 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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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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