Adventure Valley Day Nursery

Inspection of Adventure Valley Day Nursery Union Hall Farm, Brasside, Durham, Durham DH1 5SG

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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 enjoy the time they spend at this warm and welcoming nursery. They form strong attachments with staff and demonstrate that they are emotionally secure. Children show that they feel comfortable as they play alongside adults or enjoy sitting on their laps when listening to stories.

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The provision is good

The curriculum is rich and exciting. Children take part in an excellent range of activities. Staff make full use of the nearby adventure area to enrich children's experiences. For example, children regularly make trips to the farm to see and feed the animals. Children recall these experiences with excitement and enthusiasm. The highly qualified staff team consistently brings children's learning to life, making it interesting and fun. For example, when learning about transport, staff arrange for children to ride on a bus.

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The provision is good

Children benefit from effective settling-in processes. Staff know their key children well. They confidently talk about children's individual characteristics, including their abilities, likes and dislikes. Staff give children's safety the highest priority. They are extremely vigilant and help children to understand about possible dangers, especially during visits within the local community. Staff have high expectations for all children. They encourage good manners and are good role models. All children behave well and play cooperatively with others.

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need to do better?

n Staff are skilled at finding out about the experiences which children have at home. They plan to broaden these. For example, children use their imaginative skills to pretend to be firefighters. Staff extend children's knowledge, and organise a real fire engine and firefighters to visit the setting. Children wait patiently in turn to use the fire hose. n Staff in the baby room introduce new experiences to enhance babies' sensory development. For example, babies develop their physical strength as they stretch forward and use their hands to scoop slices of lemon and fruity tea bags from the water tray. They enjoy using their senses to explore them. n Staff skilfully support children to develop their communication and language skills. They encourage children to extend their vocabularies when they play. Children delightfully count and name the dinosaurs in the tuff tray. Staff introduce and repeat interesting words, such as 'stomping' and 'crunching'.

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need to do better?

n Children have good attitudes to their learning. They are curious, inquisitive and keen to take part in all activities. Children show high levels of cooperation and respect for one another. They take turns and share equipment. For example, children count the number of scissors available for the activity. They problem solve to work out there is not enough for all of them.

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need to do better?

8 March 2022 n Staff support children's independence skills. They help children to learn how to take safe risks. For example, children cut vegetables with knives. Staff verbally guide children about how to use the knives and supervise them closely. n Staff play very close attention to promoting children's good hygiene. For example, they encourage children to wash their hands regularly. Staff have a robust approach to ensuring that children's needs are consistently met. For example, they serve children's food from the kitchen on coloured plates according to their dietary requirements. n Staff report that they feel well supported, both personally and professionally. Some steps have been taken to reduce their workload. However, on occasions, staff are not consistently available to interact and focus on children's care and learning, due to completing excessive paperwork. n Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the nursery. During the COVID-19

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need to do better?

pandemic, staff kept in touch with all families. They shared ideas to extend children's learning at home. Parents comment that they feel 'privileged' that their children attend. n The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) completes relevant training. She carries out her role effectively. The SENCo ensures that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive the additional support that they need. For example, staff use visual aids and sign language to help some children's understanding. n The passionate manager and deputy lead their staff team very well. They offer valuable support and training for staff's professional development. However, managers do not fully embed training for newer and less-experienced staff, to help strengthen their good practice further.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure that staff undertake safeguarding training and attend meetings to keep their safeguarding knowledge up to date. Staff are very knowledgeable about how to keep children safe. This includes the broader aspects of safeguarding, such as female genital mutilation and the 'Prevent' duty. Staff know the signs to look out for in children and their wider families. They know who to report these concerns to, including to agencies outside of their organisation. The provider follows robust recruitment procedures to ensure that those they employ to work with children are suitable to do so. The premises are clean, safe and secure, and staff carry out checks to maintain good standards.

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should:

n ensure that all staff are consistently deployed, so that their time is spent with

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should:

8 March 2022 children and focused on their learning n strengthen and embed support for newer and less-experienced staff to help raise their good level of practice higher.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 2548520 Local authority Durham Inspection number 10214322 Type of provision Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Registers

Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register, Voluntary Childcare Register Day care type Full day care

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inspection

Total number of places 86 Number of children on roll 142 Name of registered person Adventure Valley Day Nursery Limited

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reference number

Telephone number 0191 384 5540 Date of previous inspection Not applicable

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Information about this early years setting

Adventure Valley Day Nursery registered in 2019. The nursery employs 22 members of childcare staff. Of these, 21 staff hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 or above, including two staff with early years teacher status and three staff with early years professional status. The nursery opens from Monday to Friday, all year round. Sessions are from 7.30am until 6.30pm. 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 setting received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the provider and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the setting. n The manager and inspector completed a learning walk together of all areas of the nursery and discussed the early years curriculum. n Children and staff spoke to the inspector during the inspection. n The inspector spoke with the nominated individual, manager and deputy manager about the leadership and management of the setting. n The SENCo spoke to the inspector about how they support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. n The inspector carried out joint observations of group activities with the manager. n The inspector spoke to several parents during the inspection and took account of their views. n The inspector looked at relevant documentation and reviewed evidence of the

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Inspection activities

suitability of staff working in the nursery.

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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

8 March 2022 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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