Setting

Description of the setting

Small Wonders Day Nursery has been registered since October 1996 and is owned by an individual. It is situated in an urban area on the outskirts of Preston city centre and close to the University of Central Lancashire. It is registered on the Early Years Register. It offers full child care for families with young children from local communities and wider areas surrounding the city. The owner is the registered provider.

The nursery facilities are all on ground level. Children are accommodated in a variety of rooms at ground level. There is an adjacent outdoor area.

The provision is available each weekday for 51 weeks of the year. It is open between the hours 07.30 to 18.00. Registration is for a total of 54 children in the early years age group. There are currently 51 children on roll who attend for a variety of sessions. The nursery supports children with learning disabilities and difficulties and English as an additional language. There are 20 children in receipt of nursery education funding.

A qualified and experienced manager leads the staff team of eleven. The registered provider works alongside staff for significant parts of the day and is undertaking the level 3 award training. There are seven staff qualified to level 3 and three staff working towards the level 3 award. There is a part-time cook. The setting has membership of the National Day Nurseries Association and advice, support and training is gained from the local authority.

Effectiveness

Overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Overall the quality of the provision is good. Well developed knowledge of each child’s individual needs ensures that staff promote all aspects of children’s welfare and learning with success. Children are safe and secure at all times and enjoy learning about the world around them and how to socialise with others. Good information is sought from parents and carers to enable staff to meet children’s needs. Partnerships have been established with parents and other agencies to ensure that the needs of all children are met very well, including where any additional support is needed. The setting has begun to evaluate its own performance. The manager and provider identify areas for improvement.

Improvement

What steps need to be taken to improve provision further?

To further improve the early years provision the registered person should:

• continue to develop and provide opportunity for children to consistently build on their skills in managing their independence skills
• develop staff’s involvement in the evaluation of the setting’s strengths and areas for improvement

Leadership

The leadership and management of the early years provision

The setting ensures that all adults who care for children are suitably qualified and experienced to do so. The use of policies and procedures, and the maintenance of records demonstrate clearly how staff are recruited safely. Staff undertake induction training and identify further training as an ongoing process. This contributes to a staff team which uses improvement to provide quality care and education for children. Managers ensure that staff are deployed effectively to ensure children’s needs are fully met.

The staff team hold a good knowledge and understanding of the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are confident in using the knowledge gained from this in order to plan care and education which meets each child’s individual needs and highlights their progress in each area of development. The use of information provided by parents about children is a key strength of this provision. Staff use this alongside their own observations to quickly establish individual learning experiences for each child. This means that children make good progress given their age and ability. Effective links with parents and carers through child’s placement in the nursery are on a regular and ongoing basis. Discussion, information on topics and suggestions for further development, as well as newsletters and formal parents evenings mean that all children achieve as well as they can regardless of background. Involvement of other professionals, such as advisory teachers and specialists, with effective communication, enhance children’s experience of acquiring additional support.

Children are safeguarded effectively in the setting as they are cared for by adults who understand the local safeguarding policies and procedures and are confident to put these into place should they hold concerns about any child. All staff are confident to liaise with the appropriate agencies in the event of a concern about an adult. Staff help children to have an enhanced awareness of safety by involving them in day-to-day tasks and teaching children to read each other’s faces to detect emotions, such as anger, pleasure or sadness.

The setting has made rapid progress since the last inspection. The manager and owner initially worked skilfully and quickly to address areas identified at the last inspection. This developed into engaging staff by involving them in changes taking place in the nursery, for example, the move towards creating a continuous provision of play for children. The emerging involvement of identifying areas of development with staff, and the provision of whole staff training, has become a powerful tool which has significantly improved the quality of care and education for all children. Self-evaluation is undertaken by managers, and staff are involved in implementing improvements.

Children’s safety in the setting is assured by staff who are confident to make effective risk assessments but creative in the way they challenge children to assess risks for themselves as they, for example, encourage children to consider how many cups they can safely carry on a tray.

Standards

The quality and standards of the early years provision

Staff knowledge and understanding of children’s need to develop independent skills generally enhances children’s ability to care for themselves and maintain their continued good health. They select their own drinks, manage their own toileting and clean their own teeth. However, children do not always wash their hands following use of the toilet. This impedes the rate that children take full responsibility for their own hygiene successfully.

Children make good progress in all areas of development towards the early learning goals as staff are knowledgeable about child development and individual children’s needs. In each room of the nursery, key workers are confident to use observations of what children can already do, together with input from parents at times, to plan next steps that meet individual children’s needs. Children’s rapid progress can be charted through the effective use of a recording system which shows clearly where a child has moved to. This makes easy identification of the next steps. Adults support individual children well, using differentiated equipment. Staff support children to climb the steps of a slide. Records demonstrate the travel of progress.

There is planned, purposeful play both in and out of doors in all areas of the nursery. Staff are skilled in assisting in children’s play in a highly skilled way to challenge and ensure children learn and develop. A box of dolls and clothes left for the children to explore leads to them exploring the texture and the appropriate use of clothes for the weather conditions. Children develop their reasoning and problem solving skills as they match and sort the clothes to different sizes of dolls. They develop a better understanding of the wider world as they discuss appropriate care and skin for a doll with Asian characteristics. All children are able to develop strong healthy bodies and good physical skills as they climb, pedal, splash and dig in the outdoor area.  Children’s language skills and thinking abilities develop as they enjoy discussion about a story from a book whilst curled up close to a member of staff. Staff’s individual knowledge of children’s next steps significantly improves children’s experience of being competent learners who belong and feel valued.

Children who have additional learning and development needs are identified quickly but carefully. Where staff become aware of difficulties through observation, they speedily engage parents in the process and empower them to seek additional help. As a result, parents and key workers work together with specialist teachers as part of a team. The skill with which staff identify frequency and duration of difficulties, help children make rapid progress to overcome them, for example, in turn taking or sharing as they are praised for what is done correctly.

Summary

Report Summary

The key inspection judgements and what they mean

• Grade 1 is Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality
• Grade 2 is Good: this aspect of the provision is strong
• Grade 3 is Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound
• Grade 4 is Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

Overall effectiveness

How effective is the provision in meeting the needs of children in the Early Years Foundation Stage?	2
How well does the provision promote inclusive practice?	2
The capacity of the provision to maintain continuous improvement.	3

Leadership and management

How effectively is provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage led and managed?	2
How effective is the setting’s self-evaluation, including the steps taken to promote improvement?	3
How well does the setting work in partnership with parents and others?	2
How well are children safeguarded?	2

Quality and standards

How effectively are children in the Early Years Foundation Stage helped to learn and develop?	2
How effectively is the welfare of children in the Early Years Foundation Stage promoted?	2
How well are children helped to stay safe?	2
How well are children helped to be healthy?	2
How well are children helped to enjoy and achieve?	2
How well are children helped to make a positive contribution?	2
How well are children helped develop skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being?	2