Timbers Nursery School

Inspection of Timbers Nursery School Oakridge Hall for All, Forsythia Walk, Oakridge Village, BASINGSTOKE, Hampshire RG21 5RL

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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 Outstanding

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The provision is outstanding

Leaders and staff are extremely committed to providing an inclusive environment. They use their comprehensive knowledge and experience to plan a rich and varied selection of well-organised activities, across the curriculum. These engage children and they focus for extremely long periods. All children, including those that speak English as an additional language and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make the best possible progress. They are curious, highly motivated to learn, and eager to find out new things.

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The provision is outstanding

Staff are exceptionally nurturing, and children's care and learning needs are given top priority. Children demonstrate that they are happy, settled and feel secure, as they become engrossed in their play and explore and investigate with enthusiasm.

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The provision is outstanding

Children's behaviour is exceptional. They thrive on the praise they receive from the staff and show extremely high levels of emotional well-being. Staff are tremendous role models and have high expectations of children's behaviour. They implement highly effective behaviour strategies, which support children to have an excellent understanding of right from wrong, from an early age. Children learn about feelings, how to manage these and the impact that their actions have on others. For example, they are encouraged to compliment each other's achievements, to help them to understand that being kind to others can make them both feel happy.

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need to do better?

n The extremely experienced team provides a vast range of activities that promote children's enjoyment and learning effectively. For example, when children explore guttering and cardboard tubes in the garden, staff encourage them to use different resources to see which travel the fastest. Children predict that a cylinder will go faster than a cuboid, but cars will go superfast. n Partnerships with parents and other professionals involved in children's learning are very successful. They share effective strategies to ensure any gaps in children's learning are closed rapidly. Parents are supported extremely well to extend children's learning. Additional funding has been used to provide resources for parents to share with children at home, including story books to encourage parents to boost children's love of reading. n Staff demonstrate a superb understanding of how children learn and develop. They have interesting conversations with them and listen carefully to what

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need to do better?

children have to say. For example, when children show them a paper butterfly and tell them that butterflies' wings are symmetrical, they ask what this means. Children respond and tell staff that it means they are both the same. n Staff provide a language-rich environment and promote children's early speaking skills through innovative and successful strategies. For instance, young children

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need to do better?

19 November 2019 participate in small language groups, and develop extremely good listening and attention skills. They become engrossed in listening to stories and singing songs and rhymes. Older children demonstrate a considerable understanding as they use pictures to build stories and predict what might happen next. Staff use wide- ranging words to extend children's vocabulary. For example, children learn that 'sad' can also be described as 'unhappy', 'sorrowful' and 'gloomy'. n Staff are extremely effective in building on children's interests, to help extend their thinking skills further. For example, during discussions, staff and children talk about ways to get across a river. Children make suggestions, such as they could swim or build a bridge. Staff develop this further and provide materials for children to build their own bridges. Children spend long periods exploring and investigating different ways of building bridges that are strong enough to

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need to do better?

balance a toy dinosaur. n Staff carry out in-depth assessments of children's learning. They use these to accurately identify any emerging gaps and plan activities to target specific areas of learning. They have exceptionally high expectations of the children and ensure that they provide challenging activities that motivate them to learn. n Children have a considerable knowledge of the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle. For instance, during snack they talk about the milk that they are drinking containing calcium and know that this makes their bones and teeth strong. They also clean their teeth to maintain good dental hygiene. n Leaders are highly committed to staff's ongoing professional development. They ensure they attend regular training and cascade the information throughout the setting, to help enhance all staff's knowledge and skills. n The leadership team is proactive in making positive changes. They use a variety

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need to do better?

of methods to evaluate their provision, including seeking the views of parents and children. This helps them to maintain the wonderful teaching and care.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure that staff keep their safeguarding knowledge up to date. Staff are very aware of their roles and responsibilities in keeping children safe. They complete regular training as well as discussions during staff meetings, to help them to recognise the signs that might indicate a child is at risk of harm. Regular risk assessments enable staff to identify and minimise any potential risks to children and ensure they are kept safe in the environment. Robust recruitment procedures ensure that adults working with children are suitable.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY457530 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 10108841 Type of provision Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Registers

Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register Day care type Full day care Age range of children 2 to 4 Total number of places 38 Number of children on roll 39 Name of registered person Timbers & Lychpit Ltd

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reference number

Telephone number 01256 475833 Date of previous inspection 3 April 2014

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Information about this early years setting

Timbers Nursery School registered in 2002 and re-registered in 2012 to become a limited company. It is situated in the Oakridge area of Basingstoke, Hampshire. The nursery is based within the Oakridge Community Hall for All. The nursery is open from 8.30am to 3.30pm, each weekday. It operates during term time only, offering morning, afternoon or full-day sessions with a lunch club. The setting receives funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two, three and four years. The nursery employs five members of staff to work directly with the children. Of these, two staff hold an appropriate qualification at level 3, two hold qualifications at level 5 and one at level 6.

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Inspection activities

n The inspector and the senior manager completed a learning walk across all areas of the nursery to understand how the early years provision and the curriculum are organised. n A joint observation of an activity was completed with the manager. n The inspector asked the staff questions throughout the inspection to establish their understanding of how to safeguard children, and how they assess and plan for children's learning. n The inspector observed the interactions between staff and the children and considered the impact on children's learning. n Documents were sampled by the inspector, including staff qualifications, children's records and evidence of paediatric first-aid training. n Discussions were held with parents and their views considered.

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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

19 November 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

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