Fitzsimmons
Place Nursery About this inspection This report details the main strengths and any areas for improvement identified during the inspection. The judgements included in the report are made in relation to the outcomes for children set out in the Children Act 2004; the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding; and, where nursery education is provided, the Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage. The report includes information on any complaints about the childcare provision which Ofsted has received since the last inspection or registration or 1 April 2004 whichever is the later. The key inspection judgements and
what they mean THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE
CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION The quality and standards of the care are good. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding. The quality and standards of the nursery education are good. WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT? It is registered to provide care for 128 children under eight years, with no more than 36 under two years. The day nursery cares for children aged three months to five years, and the holiday playscheme for school age children under eight years. There are currently 120 children from three months to four years on roll. This includes 27 funded three and four year olds. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The group make provision for children with special needs and/or those who speak English as an additional language. The group opens five days a week all year round except for Christmas and bank holidays. The play scheme operates during school holidays. The core hours for day care are 08:00 to 18:00 hours, with additional care available from 07:00 to 08:00 hours, and 18:00 to 19:00 hours. Children can attend for morning and/or afternoon sessions. 19 full time staff work with the
children, 15 of whom have an early years qualification, four
who are currently on training programmes and two who work part
time. The setting receives support from the Early Years Childcare
Service. Children stay healthy because staff follow appropriate and well documented health and hygiene policies and procedures; for example when dealing with accidents and administering medication. Staff have relevant first aid training. Children follow good personal hygiene routines that help prevent the spread of infection; for example older children independently wash their hands before eating. Younger children are protected as staff follow appropriate procedures when changing nappies. Older children benefit from regular physical play, they enjoy opportunities to participate daily in activities developing their co-ordination and skills; for example when using wheeled toys in the outdoor area and when playing ring games in the hall. Babies benefit from sufficient space to move around enabling them to practise and develop their crawling and walking skills. They benefit from spending time in the fresh air as the staff regularly take them outside in the nursery garden and into the local community. Protecting children from harm or
neglect and helping them stay safe Children are protected as the staff have a good knowledge and understanding of child protection issues; for example the staff have the required policies and documents in place to safeguard children. There is a clear arrival and departure procedure to ensure children are only released to authorised known carers; for example parents are asked to provide information about anyone other than the parents who may collect their child. Children move confidently around a welcoming environment and make choices about their play. Children benefit from the space available in each room and use it effectively. For example they have space to explore, which allows them to play freely, developing their confidence and independence. Children have opportunities to be active; for example when playing in the garden and during singing and dance times. Children enjoy a variety of play areas; for example on table tops and on the floor. Children enjoy comfortable areas on the floor to look at books. Helping children achieve well and
enjoy what they do Children are confident and secure in their relationship with the staff, they receive meaningful praise, which increases their sense of belonging and encourages them to be independent. Children benefit from the relationship staff have with their parents; they talk to the children about their family and what they have been doing at home. Children benefit from the key worker system that is in place to enable them to build secure relationships with the staff and develop a strong sense of trust. Older children develop good communication skills as they contribute to group discussions. They become competent learners. For example staff and children talk about the activities available each day before they engage in play. They actively occupy themselves playing independently, in pairs and in small groups. Children enjoy opportunities to express imagination through singing, playing instruments and dance. Children explore their senses through the use of a range of media and materials. For example the children enjoy painting with brushes and using their fingers. Children benefit from staff monitoring and recording their progress, staff plan for the children's next step of development and share this information with their parents informally regularly and more formally at parents evenings. Children have access to a good range and balance of toys, equipment and activities which help them progress in all areas of development, these are shared and rotated between the rooms when appropriate. Nursery Education The quality of teaching and children's learning is good. There have been some recent changes in the staffing of the pre-school room but there are effective systems in place to ensure that newer staff receive good levels of support and guidance from an experienced room leader, whose knowledge and understanding of the Foundation Stage curriculum and the way children learn is very secure. Children are making good progress as they participate in a varied range of activities that have regard for all areas of learning. They benefit from staff’s active involvement in their play, use of open-ended questioning that encourages them to think and because staff respond to their interests. The nursery’s outside play area is used to good effect as a learning environment. Staff take many activities outside and children particularly enjoy spending time in the garden. All staff working with funded children are now contributing to planning in some way. Children’s progress and achievements are monitored through observation. However, arrangements for transferring this information to children’s records are not yet sufficiently well developed in all cases to provide a clear and up-to-date picture of where children are at and to identify the next stages in their learning. Currently, not all staff working with funded children are involved in this process. Children are relaxed and happy and they display positive attitudes to learning. They enjoy the activities on offer and remain well-occupied. They are sociable and make positive relationships with others. They display good levels of independence, and manage their self-care needs well, for example, going to the bathroom and persevering to put outdoor coats on by themselves. Children happily help staff, and take on roles of responsibility. For instance, they help lay the table for lunch and hand out meals. They go with a member of staff to fetch buckets of water for the sand-pit so they can make sandcastles, and help tidy away toys and outdoor play equipment. This approach enables children to take on roles of responsibility and play an active part within the setting, whilst building further on their independence. Staff help children understand the expectations for behaviour as they encourage good manners and talk to them about using their “listening ears” and “sitting beautifully.” Children behave generally very well, with minor squabbles being resolved with a minimum of fuss. Their self-esteem is well fostered by the staff’s good use of praise to acknowledge their efforts and achievements. Children’s spoken language and listening skills are developing well. They chat freely amongst themselves and enjoy listening to stories, joining in with familiar refrains. However, the organisation of some of these sessions means that on occasion, children miss part of the story because staff withdraw them, for instance, to get ready for outside play. This devalues the importance of storytime and spoils children’s overall enjoyment. Children observe adults writing, they explore emergent writing themselves, and ascribe meaning to their marks. Children enjoy good opportunities to consolidate and extend their knowledge of letters and letter sounds. For instance they talk about the letter of the week and participate in a fun activity where they hunt for the letters that make up their names in a tray of compost. Children pretend they are on a treasure hunt, and respond with excitement as they find a letter they need. They recognise their written names and some children are able to write these using correctly formed letters. Children spend time looking at books, both individually and in small groups. They handle these with care. Children move around confidently indoors and outside with good levels of co-ordination and control. They carefully walk up and down stairs and climb up the hill to reach the garden area. Children manoeuvre a variety of wheeled toys, negotiating space, changing direction and avoiding collisions. They climb, swing, and balance using the varied range of equipment provided. This caters for differing ages and levels of competence. They develop their hand/eye co-ordination as they fill buckets with sand and turn these out to make sandcastles, play “Jenga” and handle paintbrushes, pens, and pencils and build with construction toys. Children explore different media and materials, using their senses, for example as they play with the sand and help make playdough. They choose what colour they want the dough to be and decide whether they should add a flavouring to make it smell. They discuss how the dough feels. Children enjoy painting pictures of mini-beasts and chat about the different colour paints they have. They enjoy singing and join in enthusiastically. Children have a repertoire of songs and make suggestions about what they would like to sing. Pretend play is popular, both inside and outdoors. Children act out simple stories, such as going on a picnic or pretending to be Peter Pan searching for treasure. They allocate roles for one another. Children are developing their mathematical skills through everyday activities and use of the daily routine. They identify written numerals as they complete number games on the computer and play the “beetle game.” They count well using one to one correspondence, and are developing problem-solving skills. For instance, children count the number of children present, and the number of skittles they knock down. They are aware how many children can use different resources at the same time. For example, they know that eight children can play together in the sand-pit at any one time, and tell a member of staff that there are seven children playing, so there is room for one more. Children are later observed counting how many children are playing with the sand to see if there is space for them to join in. They recognise and name colours and shapes. Children sort and match as they complete puzzles and help tidy up. Children’s knowledge and understanding of the world is supported through topic work, exploration, and investigation. They grow seeds, cook, and help to take care of the nursery pets. Children enjoy exploring magnets and express delight when they discover that the bumble bees on a new toy will stick to the magnetic board in one of the classrooms. They enjoy exploring the properties of wet and dry sand, remaining engrossed as they make sandcastles, and pour sand through sieves and sand-wheels. Children chat freely about their experiences of going to the beach to an interested adult. Helping children make a positive
contribution Children with special needs are supported by staff who work in close partnership with parents and outside agencies when appropriate, to ensure their needs are met. Children behave well; they are polite and show care and concern for each other. They know right from wrong as staff act as positive role models. The nursery has realistic expectations and is consistent in its approach. Good use of praise and encouragement helps build children's self esteem and manage children's behaviour. Children’s spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development is fostered. Children explore their own and other cultures through planned topic work and access to resources that reflect different cultures and positive images. For instance, older children enjoy sharing a book with a member of staff about how people in different countries say hello. This is made more meaningful because staff link it to children within the nursery who speak other languages. Older children work well both independently and in small groups where they co-operate and negotiate with one another, for example as they devise scenarios for the role-play area. They become familiar with their local community as staff take them out, for example on nature walks and to choose books from the library. Recently, some children were taken to watch the procession when the Queen visited Guildford on Maundy Thursday. The partnership with parents is good. Parents are very happy with the nursery and feel they are well informed about their children. Relationships between staff and parents are warm and friendly. Parents have opportunities to share in the life of the nursery as the setting organises parents’ evenings and social events. Newsletters are informative and interesting. There are systems in place to build home/nursery links and encourage parents to share in their children’s learning. For instance, pre-school children take “Bobby Bear” home for weekends or on holiday with them. Children and parents are encouraged to write a diary about the bear’s adventures, which staff read out to the group. Children enjoy this; they become quite excited and want to know when it will be their turn to take the bear home. The parents of babies receive information about their child’s day through the use of daily diaries, parents are encouraged to write information about their child to enable staff to provide continuity of care. Organisation Leadership and management are good. Both the nursery owner and manager are highly visible and play an active role in the setting. Children and parents are greeted upon arrival by the owner and manager and they spend time within children’s base-rooms. Children stop to chat to the nursery owner and manager en route to the garden and again, when they come back inside. It is evident that children know them well. There are appropriate recruitment, vetting, and induction systems in place to ensure that staff caring for children are suitable to do so. The value of ongoing training for everyone is recognised and staff attend both in-house training sessions and external courses. The nursery evaluates its provision through self-evaluation. This demonstrates a commitment to the ongoing improvement of care and education for all children. All policies and procedures required are implemented effectively to promote children's health, safety and welfare. The provision meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides. Improvements since the last inspection Children benefit from the positive steps taken to address the key issues identified at the last nursery education inspection. Children have daily access to each of the three pre-school rooms and can choose where they wish to play. This enables them to make use of the full range of facilities available, including the writing corner and computer area. Children enjoy mark-making and give meaning to their writing. They record their names on the white boards that are placed alongside some activities to indicate that they wish to have a turn. Children are keen to use the computer and electric typewriter and their skills are developing well. Staff make a point of taking such resources as magnetic drawing boards out into the garden with them. Children use these freely. For instance, a group of children draw a map, with the support of a member of staff. They then use this when they go on a bear hunt around the garden. Staff respond to children’s requests for pen and paper when they are playing outside and later build on this interest by providing paper and envelopes. Children spend time “writing” letters. Children’s learning of shape and size is promoted through specific topic work and general activities. For example, children participate in shape hunts around the classroom and staff encourage them to talk about the different shapes and sizes of cutters they are using as they play with the playdough. Complaints since the last inspection The provider is required to keep
a record of complaints made by parents, which they can see on
request. The complaints record may contain complaints other
than those made to Ofsted. The quality and standards of the care are good. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding. The quality and standards of the nursery education are good. WHAT MUST BE DONE TO SECURE
FUTURE IMPROVEMENT? To find this report online please click on: |
