Ashbourne Day Nurseries at Leighton Buzzard

Inspection of Ashbourne Day Nurseries At Hedgeland Vandyke Gardens Residents Co Ltd, Community Hall, Hornbeam Close, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire LU7 3FE

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Overall effectiveness Good

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

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The provision is good

Children happily play and explore in the nursery. They confidently look inside baskets to find the equipment they want to use during their imaginary games and experiments. This helps them to develop their creativity. Empty tables and play spaces allow children to move equipment around, encouraging them to stretch their understanding in a location and at a pace that suits them. Children's physical development is supported while they carry objects and negotiate around furniture and other children. Staff embrace children's curiosities. They add small challenges and give different ideas to help children build on what they already know. For example, children use scissors to cut fresh flowers. They feel and smell the petals before deciding to use the flower heads as paint brushes. Staff encourage children to talk about what they are doing, offering more descriptive words to help build on children's vocabularies.

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The provision is good

Babies enjoy playing peekaboo games with the receptive and nurturing staff. Babies pop their heads above a low-shelf unit and smile when staff respond with expressions of surprise, promoting repetition and delight. This helps strengthen early communication skills. When they are tired, babies snuggle up and are cradled by the caring staff. Babies are comforted by familiar objects from home, such as a special blanket or soft toy. This helps them to feel secure and settled right from their early days in the nursery.

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need to do better?

n Managers and staff welcome the advice and guidance they receive from support agencies and other professionals working with children. This helps staff to provide good-quality care and education to all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. n Children begin to learn how to keep themselves and others safe. They take turns to help staff check the garden before they announce to their friends that it is safe to play outside. They look to see if the gate is locked and that toys and equipment are not broken. This helps children to develop a sense of responsibility and an awareness of potential hazards. n All staff, including managers, are effectively supported and supervised in their roles. They are given opportunities to build on their own knowledge and understanding through a variety of training courses and visits to other nurseries within the chain. This helps them to bring new and exciting ideas to the nursery,

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need to do better?

helping to support children's learning even more. n Children who speak English as an additional language are effectively supported according to their individual needs. Parents are involved with decisions to help make children's transitions into the nursery as smooth as possible. For example, some parents like staff to use visual cues to help children understand, while

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need to do better?

23 September 2021 other parents write down key words for staff to use. n Staff find interesting ways to build on what children already know. For example, following reading a story about colours and emotions, children mix different colours together. They watch what happens to sand as it soaks up the liquid. Staff check to find out what children remember from the story, helping them to extend children's understanding at a suitable pace. n Staff effectively use their judgement to help assess when to step back, allowing children who are deeply absorbed in their experiments and explorations to continue without interruption. This helps children to benefit from time and space to consolidate what they already know before they try something new. n Children are well behaved. They respond positively to requests and explanations that staff give them, helping them to understand what is expected of them. Children are motivated to learn and discover. They quickly build trusting

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need to do better?

relationships to their key person and other staff, asking questions and proudly showing them what they have been doing. n Children enjoy quiet times to listen to stories. However, sometimes, they are distracted by other children enjoying more lively activities in close proximity to them. This impacts on their ability to concentrate and learn. n The enthusiastic staff ask children questions about what they are doing. However, they do not always give children enough time to think through their answers before they offer their own solutions and predictions. This means that children do not use their own thinking skills as much as they could.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

The owners ensure that robust policies and procedures are in place, helping all managers and staff to clearly understand their roles and responsibilities to keep children safe. Staff regularly update and refresh their knowledge and understanding about safeguarding, including wider issues, such as extreme beliefs. Staff confidently know how to report concerns they might have about children's well-being. This helps to ensure that children are kept safe from harm.

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should:

n review when and where children access quieter activities and opportunities so that they are less likely to be distracted and interrupted by other groups of children; this particularly relates to story times and talking and listening activities n improve staff's understanding of questioning techniques to allow children time to solve problems and predict outcomes, and help strengthen their thinking skills.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY561636 Local authority Central Bedfordshire Inspection number 10194304 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

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inspection

Total number of places 47 Number of children on roll 38 Name of registered person Ashbourne Day Nurseries Limited

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reference number

Telephone number 07943788347 Date of previous inspection Not applicable

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Information about this early years setting

Ashbourne Day Nursery At Hedgeland registered in 2018. It is one of a chain of nurseries. The nursery is open Monday to Friday from 8am until 6pm for 51 weeks of the year. The nursery employs seven members of staff, of whom six have appropriate qualifications at level 3 and above. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children.

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Inspection activities

n This was the first routine inspection the nursery received since the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with managers and has taken that into account in her evaluation of the nursery. n The manager explained why and how the curriculum is planned and delivered in the nursery and discussed with the inspector how children's learning is supported. n The inspector observed interactions between staff and children during adult-led and self-chosen activities. She spoke to managers, staff and children at appropriate times throughout the inspection. n The evidence for staff suitability and qualifications was checked by the inspector. She looked at a range of documents, including children's information. n The inspector carried out a joint observation with the manager. They discussed the impact on children's learning. n Emails and parental questionnaires were read by the inspector. She took their

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Inspection activities

views, and those of parents spoken to on the day, into consideration.

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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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23 September 2021 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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