Children 1st @ Buckinghams

Inspection of Children 1st @ Leek (Buckinghams) Buckinghams Nursery School, Buxton Road, Leek, Staffordshire ST13 6NE

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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 show that they feel safe and happy in the well-organised, welcoming provision. Staff promote and sequence children's physical development well. Babies become fascinated with tipping a big wooden bowl. The bowl's satisfyingly noisy wobble helps to maintain children's interest and they repeat the movements. Older babies meet further challenge. They work hard to climb up steps to the top of the little slide. Staff gently encourage and help them to descend. This promotes children's sense of achievement and motivation. Children eagerly participate in short sessions of yoga. This helps them to gain increasing control of their movements. Staff have high expectations for children's learning. Children make good progress from their starting points.

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The provision is good

Staff gave support to parents whose children were absent from nursery due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Parents and carers comment that staff worked to ensure that nursery felt normal when children returned. In addition, staff liaised with parents to reassess children's development and establish fresh starting points for their learning. This all helped to promote continuity for children's care and education. Staff create a purposeful and cheerful atmosphere in the nursery. Children learn to take turns and share resources during activities. For example, pre-school children politely ask each other to pass the colour of paint that they need.

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need to do better?

n Leaders and managers identify strengths and areas for development in the provision's practice. Staff feel supported to improve their professional skills and knowledge. However, managers sometimes do not pay really close attention to the detail of staff's interactions with children. Targets to help staff improve their teaching lack precision. This slows staff's progress towards achieving the highest quality of teaching that promotes children's swiftest progress. n Staff support children to understand their feelings. This is exemplified well, for example, when children experience feelings of frustration. Staff help children to identify their emotions and find solutions to problems. They talk with children about what made them feel cross and what to do next time they have those feelings. Children, therefore, begin to control and manage their emotions as they grow. n Some two-year-old children successfully stand on one leg during a yoga session.

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need to do better?

Other children, despite trying really hard, find it too difficult to do this. They solve the problem by placing their hands on a low surface to complete the move. This demonstrates children's capacity to think and find solutions. All of the children work towards developing their balance and core strength. n Staff promote children's spontaneous learning well. They help pre-school children to carefully capture a spider and a rich conversation develops. Staff

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need to do better?

25 August 2022 make skilful use of a reference book to extend children's knowledge. Children become confident to ask questions. They ask staff, 'how do you know spiders have hairy legs?' Staff return to the page in the book where they read the new fact. This teaches children that books give them useful information. n Staff sequence children's learning as part of daily routines. Younger children progress from using one, then two pieces of cutlery at mealtimes. Older children learn to use knives and forks. Pre-school children demonstrate their ability to initiate and develop self-chosen play, individually and in groups. Children are ready to start school confidently when the time comes. n Staff continuously help children to extend their vocabulary. Babies hear and begin to use words that match their actions, such as 'wheee' as they descend the slide. Pre-school children enthusiastically cooperate to create a car from a

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need to do better?

huge cardboard box. The activity helps them to learn and apply words such as 'indicator' and 'dashboard'. n Staff make effective use of assessment to check and promote children's development. When children's progress gives cause for concern, staff consult with parents. Staff plan and implement programmes of intervention effectively. This enables staff to seek timely advice from specialist professionals. Children in receipt of additional funding are supported well. Gaps in children's development and progress close steadily. n Parents say that staff's written and spoken communication with them is a strength of the provision. They comment that staff are knowledgeable and respond sensitively to any concerns that parents share with them.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Managers benefit from the support of senior leaders. This helps them to feel confident to follow procedures that protect children from harm. Staff demonstrate well-developed knowledge of child protection matters. They know the action that they must take if they are concerned that children are at risk of abuse. Staff understand the 'Prevent' duty guidance. They know that they must be alert to signs that colleagues' behaviour is being influenced by extreme views. Staff act on information from parents. They follow clear systems for making sure that children with allergies to a particular food are catered for safely.

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should:

n pay closer attention to the detail of staff's interactions with children, so that targets for staff's development show precisely what they need to do to improve their teaching.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY562237 Local authority Staffordshire Inspection number 10194191 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 140 Number of children on roll 104 Name of registered person Breedon House Nurseries Limited

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reference number

Telephone number 01538730150 Date of previous inspection Not applicable

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Information about this early years setting

Children 1st @ Leek (Buckinghams) registered in 2018. The nursery employs 15 members of childcare staff. Of these, one member of staff holds a qualification at level 4, ten members of staff hold qualifications at level 3 and one holds a qualification at level 2. The nursery opens from Monday to Friday, all year round. Sessions are from 7.30am until 6pm. 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 nursery manager and the inspector completed a learning walk of the nursery. They conducted three joint observations of practice. n The inspector held meetings as appropriate with the nursery manager and two senior managers. n The inspector took account of parents' views. She spoke with staff and children during the inspection. n Examples of relevant documentation were sampled and reviewed by the inspector. She checked evidence of the 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

25 August 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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