West Lodge Day Nursery

Inspection of West Lodge Day Nursery Pipewell Road, Desborough NN14 2SH

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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 Outstanding

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The provision is good

Staff care for the children attentively, supporting their emotional well-being. Children seek out staff for reassurance when needed. Staff offer warm hugs and speak softly to all children. They sing as they rock the youngest babies to sleep. Children have strong relationships with staff and feel safe and secure at the nursery.

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The provision is good

Children are eager to explore and they develop a real thirst for learning. Staff provide good opportunities to support children's development. Children roll balls over ramps and through tunnels, curiously rushing to see where they have gone. Children develop their large-muscle skills. For example, they paint the fence in the garden, using water and brushes. They competently climb steps and manoeuvre around furniture. Older children benefit from forest school sessions, where staff challenge children to take risks and explore their capabilities while climbing up and down the 'mud slide'. Children enjoy sitting together as they sing songs and enjoy hot chocolate. This enhances their social skills.

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The provision is good

Children throughout the nursery show a love of rhymes, books and stories. Younger children enjoy choosing songs to sing together. They learn about rhythm and tone as they sing 'quietly' and 'loudly'. Older children listen with interest to stories and talk about the characters they see. They enhance their literacy skills as they re- enact familiar stories as they play. For example, they use a familiar phrase from a story as they mix potions outside in the mud kitchen. They use a sweeping brush as a 'broomstick' and pretend to fly to the dragon.

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need to do better?

n Staff plan experiences to help enrich children's lives and broaden their knowledge and understanding of the wider world. For example, children have ample opportunities to visit the on-site farm park, to help care for the animals. Furthermore, they grow and harvest their own fruit and vegetables and watch the tractor in action. Children take part in activities to mark a range of multicultural festivals throughout the year. This helps children to respect other cultures while embracing their own. n Overall, children's behaviour is good. They understand the expectations of their behaviour from the set rules and boundaries that are in place. However, during daily transitions, staff do not always consistently interact with children and plan how they deploy themselves effectively. For example, on occasion, they are preoccupied with other tasks, such as tidying up resources and getting ready for mealtimes. As a result, some children forget the rules, run around and the noise

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need to do better?

levels rise. n The newly formed leadership team are reflective and want to continually develop

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need to do better?

30 October 2024 in the nursery. One of the improvements has been to enhance children's communication and language through developing high-quality interactions between staff and children. Staff provide a commentary for children's play and engage in conversations with them. They allow plenty of time for children to think creatively and answer questions to build on their emerging skills. However, staff have not yet considered how to introduce and reinforce the use of new words to extend children's vocabulary further. Some words that staff use in conversation with the children are basic for the children's age and stage of development. n The nursery menu has been carefully considered to reduce sugar content and use home grown produce. This contributes to children being offered healthy and nutritious meals to promote their good health. n All staff show a commitment and passion in raising the standards for children's

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need to do better?

learning and care. Robust staff supervision and practice monitoring arrangements help develop staff's knowledge and skills. Together, leaders and staff implement an ambitious curriculum that captures children's curiosity and focuses on what they need to learn next. This helps all children make good progress from their starting points. n Leaders are knowledgeable about supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They work closely with other agencies to make sure that children get the appropriate support. Staff provide children with targeted help to enable them to make good progress in their learning. Any additional funding is used well to support learning. n Parents comment that they feel involved and well informed about their children's learning. They value the settling-in procedures of the nursery and report that their children settle quickly and feel secure. Parents particularly like the online

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need to do better?

app, which provides them with suggestions to support children's learning at home.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

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should:

n strengthen staff deployment further to support daily routine transitions and enable children to remain highly focused n support staff to introduce and use new words to increase children's vocabulary and enhance their communication and language skills.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY543583 Local authority North Northamptonshire Inspection number 10370198 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 92 Number of children on roll 201 Name of registered person West Lodge Rural Centre Limited

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reference number

Telephone number 01536764868 Date of previous inspection 20 August 2019

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Information about this early years setting

West Lodge Day Nursery registered in 2017 and is located on the site of West Lodge Farm Park in Desborough, Northamptonshire. The nursery employs 23 members of childcare staff. Of these, one holds an appropriate early years qualification at level 6, two hold a qualification at level 5, 13 hold qualifications at level 3 and three are qualified to level 2. The nursery opens from Monday to Friday for 51 weeks of the year. 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 The nursery manager and the inspector 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 was carried out by the inspector and the manager. The inspector observed children playing indoors, outside and at forest school. n The inspector observed interactions between staff and the children and the impact these have on children's learning. n The inspector reviewed relevant documentation, including the arrangements for paediatric first-aid training. The inspector had a discussion with leaders about the evaluation of the setting and plans for improvement. n The inspector spoke to parents, staff and children during the inspection and took account of their views.

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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

30 October 2024 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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