The Cressex Day Nursery
Inspection report for early years provision
Unique reference number	EY422624
Inspection date	14/09/2011
Inspector	Glenda Pownall
Setting address	Cressex Day Nursery, Holmer Lane, HIGH WYCOMBE, Buckinghamshire, HP12 4QA
Telephone number	01494474844
Email	info@cressexdaynursery.co.uk
Type of setting	Childcare on non-domestic premises

The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) 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 Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way.
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© Crown copyright 2011

Introduction

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under Sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of the registered early years provision. ‘Early years provision’ refers to provision regulated by Ofsted for children from birth to 31 August following their fifth birthday (the early years age group). The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and welfare, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

The provider must provide a copy of this report to all parents with children at the setting where reasonably practicable.  The provider must provide a copy of the report to any other person who asks for one, but may charge a fee for this service (The Childcare (Inspection) Regulations 2008 regulations 9 and 10).

The setting also makes provision for children older than the early years age group which is registered on the voluntary and/or compulsory part(s) of the Childcare Register. This report does not include an evaluation of that provision, but a comment about compliance with the requirements of the Childcare Register is included in Annex B.   

Please see our website for more information about each childcare provider. We publish inspection reports, conditions of registration and details of complaints we receive where we or the provider take action to meet the requirements of registration.

Description of the   setting    

 
The Cressex Day Nursery is privately owned by Cressex Day Nursery Limited. It opened in 1996 and has been under the current management since 2011. It operates from purpose built premises in the grounds of Cressex Community School, High Wycombe. A maximum of 54 children may attend the nursery at anyone time. The nursery is open each weekday from 7.45am to 6.00pm for 51 weeks of the year. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area.  
  
The setting is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. There are currently 85 children in the early years age group, on roll. Children are aged from three months to under five years. Children come from a wide catchment area, as some parents travel in to work in the area. The setting receives funding for the provision of free early education to children aged two, three and four years. The nursery currently supports a number of children with special educational needs, and also supports a number of children, who speak English as an additional language. 
  
The nursery employs 23 staff. The manager and 21 staff hold appropriate early years qualifications. There are five staff working towards a qualification. The nursery also employs two kitchen staff. 

The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

 Overall the quality of the provision is outstanding.

 Children are flourishing in this relaxed but enriching environment, where they appear at home and overall have their individual needs extremely well met. The well-established and well-qualified staff team are committed to continually improving practice in order to continue to provide the highest standards of care and education for children. The highly effective partnerships with parents and other professionals help to ensure that children make extremely good progress in their learning and development.

What steps need to be taken to improve provision further?

To further improve the high quality early years provision the registered person should consider: reviewing the system for monitoring the records of learning and development to identify any gaps in their completion so that there is a clear record of children's progress    developing the system for informing staff about the languages children speak at home, so that opportunities can be provided for all children to develop and use their home language in their play and learning.

The effectiveness of leadership and management of the early years provision

The dedicated leadership and management team demonstrate excellent organisational skills with regard to daily procedures and documentation, enabling the nursery to run efficiently and safely. There are robust systems in place to safeguard children. The comprehensive safeguarding policies are regularly reviewed to check they are in line with current guidelines and any amendments are circulated to the whole staff team. As a result, staff at all levels have an extremely good understanding of the nursery procedures and their responsibility to protect children and report any concerns. Rigorous procedures for the recruiting and vetting of staff, help to ensure their suitability to work with children. Children's safety is prioritised at all times through the detailed risk assessment procedures, that cover all aspects of the nursery environment and outings. The risk assessments are regularly reviewed and action is taken immediately to minimise any potential hazards. Overall, staff are meticulous in carrying out the daily safety checks, enabling children to play in safety.  
  
The nursery demonstrates a high level of commitment to working in partnership with others involved in children's lives. Staff are proactive in establishing links with other professionals in order to promote children's care, learning and development. Parents express their gratitude for the very good progress their children have made as a direct result of the extra help the nursery initiated with other professionals. Parents are very keen to share how pleased they are with the level of care and education their children receive. They particularly like the staff, the friendly environment and that the nursery caters for the individual needs of their children. Staff develop excellent communication links with parents. This helps to ensure that extremely good levels of information is shared to support children's continual progress. For example, very good daily feedback from key workers keeps parents well informed about their children's routines and activities. Parents have access to their children's records of learning at anytime. They are able to discuss their children's progress informally and through the regular parents' evenings. Staff are proactive in encouraging parents to take the records of learning home at least once a month to review their children's progress and to add to the records what their children can do at home.  
  
The detailed information obtained from parents, when children first start, together with the ongoing two-way exchange of information, helps staff to have an excellent knowledge of each child's background and individual needs. Staff plan activities to increases children's awareness of their own backgrounds as well as developing their understanding of the cultures and beliefs of others. For example, the staff team are able to speak a number of different languages. They enthusiastically share cultural celebrations that are important in their own lives with children. Overall, there are effective systems in place to support children in using their home languages in their play. Children access an excellent range of high quality resources that stimulate their interests and imaginations. Staff are extremely skilful at organising the environment to provide children with rich play experiences through both adult-led and child-initiated play. 
  
The leadership and management team successfully support the professional development of the staff and this helps in providing a high level of care and learning for children. Staff feel highly valued and involved in the development of the nursery. They all contribute to the self-evaluation process and undertake 'peer observations' to help their colleagues identify targets for personal development. The views of parents are actively sought through the annual questionnaire to help form an accurate account of current practice. Staff are observant of children's interests and value what they have to say. They use this information to inform planning and enhance children's learning experiences. Overall, the monitoring process is highly effective in identifying specific areas for development. For example, ensuring each child's record of learning is up to date.  

The quality and standards of the early years provision and outcomes for children

The nursery environment is very well organised to cater for the different age groups of children. 'Sibling time' provides opportunities for siblings to participate in a variety of activities together. The free-flow ethos of the nursery means that all children spend much of their time learning outside, participating in a stimulating variety of activities covering all areas of learning. Overall, staff have an extremely good knowledge of how young children learn and of the individual needs of the children in their care. They use this knowledge to provide varied and stimulating experiences that supports all children in making very good progress. Staff intuitively know, when to engage with children and when to leave them to play. Very occasionally, information about a child's home language is not readily accessible to staff, so that they can support the child in using the language in their play and learning. There is a comprehensive observation and assessment system in place, which overall, staff implement very effectively to help ensure that planning incorporates the development needs of every child. Occasionally, some learning journals are not kept fully up to date to provide a clear written record of the progress children are making. 
  
All children have an extremely good understanding of good personal hygiene routines and even young children in Cubs talk about "soap hands" before washing their hands. Extremely good use is made of the outdoor environment. Babies in Ducklings, crawl across the soft surface and show delight as they pull themselves up to standing on the outdoor equipment. Cygnets find imaginative ways to move across a balancing beam and most can jump down from the end, independently. Overall, mealtimes are social occasions, where children sit with their friends and tuck into freshly prepared meals. A recent development has been to encourage children to try a wider variety of healthy foods. Children have visited the local farm shop to buy fruit and vegetables and helped to prepare meals, such as making fruit salad. This is proving successful with children, trying new tastes, such as sardines and crackers. They also try foods associated with different countries increasing their awareness of other cultures. Babies own sleep and feeding routines are followed to provide continuity of care. This helps to ensure their individual needs are met.  
  
Children are competent in communicating how to handle equipment safely to their friends. For example, a child reminds a friend to be careful when putting the spade into the bucket as he himself is only using his hand to get the sand out "in case you hit my hand". Babies and young children are extremely content and settled in the nursery because of the warm relationships they form with staff. They develop confidence to explore their surroundings with effective praise and encouragement from staff. Older children develop excellent relationships with staff and other children. They cooperate very well in adult-led activities and collaborate very effectively in self-chosen small group activities. Self-esteem is nurtured extremely well, through staff identifying what children have done well and offering meaningful praise and encouragement. As a result, children's behaviour is exemplary.  
  
Children are very keen to learn and most children make outstanding progress in developing valuable skills for their future lives. Children enthusiastically use their problem-solving skills to respond to the challenge of filling the cement mixer with water from the other side of the garden in order to make "chocolate". They place a large container under the drainpipe from the water tray and use a coconut shell to pour water down the pipe. They then concentrate on walking slowly so as not to spill the water and then with precision pour the water into the mixer. Children develop an interest in reading books for pleasure, as staff make themselves available to read children's self-chosen stories on request. Children in Piglets, snuggle in to staff, to listen and are eager to respond to open-ended questions pointing to different characters and lifting flaps. Staff find innovative ways to encourage young children who are uncertain about getting messy, to experiment with paint.  
  
Children confidently experiment with rollers and their fingers to mix colours, make marks and create patterns in paint protected by cellophane. Babies explore an interesting range of different textures and natural resources in the 'bath bag'. Children's imaginative play is developing extremely well as they use the theatre and puppets to develop a play with their friend. "Once upon a time there was a lion" "and the lion met a tortoise". Children have many opportunities to practise their mark making skills outdoors. They write shopping lists in the playhouse, make large circular movements with chalks on the board and use water to paint lines on the ground. 
   

Annex A: record of inspection judgements

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

The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

How well does the setting meet the needs of the children in the Early Years Foundation Stage?	1
The capacity of the provision to maintain continuous improvement	1

The effectiveness of leadership and management of the early years provision

The effectiveness of leadership and management of the Early Years Foundation Stage	1
The effectiveness of leadership and management in embedding ambition and driving improvement	1
The effectiveness with which the setting deploys resources	1
The effectiveness with which the setting promotes equality and diversity	1
The effectiveness of safeguarding	1
The effectiveness of the setting’s self-evaluation, including the steps taken to promote improvement	1
The effectiveness of partnerships	1
The effectiveness of the setting’s engagement with parents and carers	1

The quality of the provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage

The quality of the provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage

1

Outcomes for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage

Outcomes for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage	1
The extent to which children achieve and enjoy their learning	1
The extent to which children feel safe	1
The extent to which children adopt healthy lifestyles	1
The extent to which children make a positive contribution	1
The extent to which children develop skills for the future	1

Any complaints about the inspection or report should be made following the procedures set out in the guidance available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

Annex B: the Childcare Register

The provider confirms that the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are:

Met