Apricot Nursery and Jumping Jacks After School and Holiday Club

Inspection of Apricot Nursery and Jumping Jacks After School and Holiday Club 24 Wainman Road, PETERBOROUGH PE2 7BU

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Requires improvement Personal development Requires improvement Leadership and management Requires improvement Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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The provision requires improvement

Staff help children to feel safe and secure in the nursery. They take time to get to know them well. Staff are kind and loving and make children feel welcomed and respected. Babies form strong bonds with their key person and actively seek them out for cuddles when tired or unsettled. Children leave their parents easily and settle well. However, teaching skills among staff are variable in the nursery, especially within pre-school. This means that children are not consistently receiving the quality of education they deserve. Children do not always receive appropriate challenge in their learning as some activities lack purpose and are not delivered in a way that excites and motivates them to learn.

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The provision requires improvement

Children understand and can follow the rules and routines of the nursery well. Staff give children constant praise and encouragement for their achievements, which effectively helps to raise their self-esteem and confidence. Children behave well and engage in activities that promote their turn taking and listening skills, such as story times and group games. Staff support older children to think and use their memory skills as they try to work out what is missing from a tray of objects. All children spend quality time outdoors on a daily basis to benefit their health and physical well-being.

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need to do better?

n Leaders have not established a clear curriculum that staff understand and can implement effectively. Instead, staff use what they know about typical child development to plan children's next steps in learning. Key persons have input into the planning of activities, but these do not really truly reflect what it is that individual children know and need to learn next. With variations in staff skills and knowledge, and without an embedded curriculum, there is little consistency to ensure that all children are given the very best support in their learning. n Leaders fully recognise the areas they need to develop in order for children to have consistent quality learning experiences. Many of the staff team are quite new to the nursery and new staff teams are being implemented in each room. Leaders are beginning to be more consistent in their monitoring of staff practice and supervision meetings. However, these systems to support staff's

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need to do better?

professional development are not yet robust enough to help raise the quality of teaching overall. n Staff have formed effective relationships with parents, where they work closely together to meet children's needs. Parents are well informed about their child's time in the nursery and receive regular updates about their children's progress. Initiatives, such as a book borrowing scheme, help parents further support their children's communication and language development at home. Parents speak very positively about the setting.

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need to do better?

Club 5 October 2023 n Staff quickly recognise those children who need additional support in their learning. They provide tailored care to meet their needs and work closely with parents and other agencies involved in their lives, to meet their specific targets and help them make progress. n Staff understand the importance of focusing on children's communication and language. They talk to children as they play, introducing new words, such as empty and full, to toddlers as they fill containers with dough. Staff sing with babies, who try to join in and put familiar actions to the words. However, on a few occasions, staff are sometimes too quick to provide an answer when they ask a question. n Staff help children to become independent. They teach them how to dress and toilet themselves. Toddlers learn to blow their own noses and dispose of tissues in the bin. At mealtimes, older children pour their own drinks, serve themselves

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need to do better?

and scrape their leftovers from their plates. These types of activities help to prepare children for everyday life. n The nursery is safe and secure, and a process of risk assessment is in place. Staff help children to understand how to keep themselves safe, such as when walking up and down stairs, and ask them to consider what might happen in certain situations. Staff support babies in their risky play, as they help them climb and negotiate a low obstacle course.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Safeguarding is a key focus of the nursery and staff complete regular training to keep their knowledge of child protection issues up to date. Staff understand their responsibilities to keep children safe. They are alert to changes in children's personalities and family life and know the procedures for reporting their concerns within the nursery and to appropriate agencies where needed. Appropriate procedures are in place to check the suitability of adults working with children.

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Due date

develop an ambitious curriculum to ensure that it clearly identifies what it is that all children need to learn, how this reflects their individual needs and offers appropriate challenge, to help them make at least good progress 20/12/2023

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Due date

Club 5 October 2023 provide effective support, coaching and training to all staff to enable them to improve their practice and to ensure that they offer quality learning and development experiences for all children. 20/12/2023

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY495490 Local authority Peterborough Inspection number 10313074 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 83 Number of children on roll 104 Name of registered person Apricot Childcare Limited

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reference number

Telephone number 01733 390969 Date of previous inspection 8 March 2018

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Information about this early years setting

Apricot Nursery and Jumping Jacks After School and Holiday Club registered in 2016. The nursery employs 22 members of childcare staff. Of these, 16 staff hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3. The nursery operates Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm, all year round. 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 provider 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 provider. n The manager and inspector completed a learning walk together of all areas of the nursery and discussed the early years curriculum. n Staff spoke to the inspector during the inspection. n The inspector observed the quality of education being provided, indoors and outdoors, and assessed the impact that this was having on children's learning. n The inspector carried out a joint observation of a group activity with the manager. n Parents shared their views of the setting with the inspector. n The inspector looked at relevant documentation and reviewed 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

Club 5 October 2023 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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