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 report includes information on any complaints about the childcare provision which Ofsted has received since the last inspection or registration whichever is the later, which require Ofsted or the provider to take action in Annex C.

 

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).

 

Description of the setting 

 

Little Moonbeams Day Nursery opened in 2008 and operates from self-contained premises. All children share access to an enclosed outdoor play area. The nursery is situated in a residential area in Faversham, Kent. It is open each weekday from 08:00 to 18:00 for 51 weeks of the year.

The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register. A maximum of 46 children may attend the nursery at any one time. There are currently 65 children, aged from three months to under five years, on roll, some in part-time places. The nursery is suitable for access by wheelchair users.

There are 17 members of staff, ten of whom hold appropriate early years qualifications to NVQ level 3. Five members of staff are working towards their early years qualification to NVQ level 2. The setting provides funded early education for three- and four-year-olds.

 

 

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

The manager of the nursery has a committed approach to ensuring children experience a stimulating, welcoming environment that enables all children to make progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). She is enthusiastic in her approach and provides an excellent role model for her staff, who are motivated and keen to promote each child's development to their full potential. Regular team meetings and the key person approach ensures all staff are fully aware about children's individual needs and enables them to plan activities to address children's interests. Each staff group in the three rooms continually evaluates the room layout, activities provided and how the children use the different areas, to ensure maximum use of all the available space, to allow children room to explore and experiment within their environment. For example, staff identified that the babies enjoyed sitting on the carpet area and did not use the wooden floor area as much, so carpet was put down on two thirds of the floor. Now children enjoy much more room to crawl around in comfort to explore their surroundings.

Parents are involved with their children's learning, from the initial visit to settle the child into the nursery to the time they leave. Parents are welcome to stay with their child for as long as it takes for the child to feel secure in the new environment. Each child has a key person who records observations and makes assessment records to share with the parents. Children's daily routines, especially in the baby room, are shared with the parent in the daily contact book and on daily sheets for nappies and sleeps. Parents are encouraged to make written comments and to contribute to the assessment process at any time. Staff work with the parents and outside agencies, including the Early Years Advisory Teacher, to ensure all children's individual needs are met and information about their personal needs and culture is recorded. Inclusion is promoted throughout the nursery, although resources and posters that provide positive images of diversity to fully support the equal opportunities policy are limited. The noticeboards around the nursery and the comprehensive policies and procedures all help to ensure parents are kept fully informed about the care their children are receiving at the nursery.

There are excellent measures in place to safeguard children, such as CCTV which prevents any visitor entering the nursery without being invited. The policy contains all the relevant information and procedures to follow if the staff have any concerns about children in their care and contact telephone numbers for various agencies are available. All staff are fully aware of the policy in place to protect children and two members of staff have attended training and shared this with the rest of the staff team. Staff are observant in their approach to children and understand the importance of keeping accurate records and the importance of confidentiality. The manager is the named member of staff responsible for ensuring the safeguarding procedures are implemented, kept updated and meet the Local Safeguarding Children Board procedures. 

 

 

Children have access to an exciting range of good quality equipment appropriate to their ages and stages of development. Staff use their observations of the children's learning and choices of equipment and resources to plan future activities. For example, several children showed an interest in talking about food which was good for them at snack time, so staff provided several activities to enable children to look, taste and explore different vegetables and fruit.  Staff's enthusiastic approach encourages children to try new experiences and develops their understanding about the world they live in. Children show enthusiasm when playing in the peat, and use seeds to play with whilst planting other seeds in individual pots. Children then learn about what plants need to grow and enjoy spraying their seeds with water or using the small watering can, whilst observing the changes their seeds are making. The garden centre in the role play area further supports children's understanding in other areas, such as communication, language and literacy by learning and seeing different words connected with the theme. Children use the till to take the money in payment for the seeds, whilst developing their social skills playing with and alongside other children. Staff use written observations and photographs to record evidence of children's learning and then transfer these into each child's individual file. Staff have a good understanding of the areas of learning, but at present there is not a system to ensure all areas of learning are given equal consideration.

Excellent provision for outside play is provided, enabling children to develop their gross motor skills on a daily basis using a wide range of good quality equipment. They become fully absorbed in their play, being a pirate on the wooden ship, or just finding different ways to roll down the grass bank. Children have ladders to climb and enjoy sliding down the slide in different ways, observed by staff who are vigilant and aware of the dangers, but allow children to challenge themselves whilst developing their confidence on different apparatus. Children have many opportunities to make marks on whiteboards, paper and paint, both indoors and outdoors. They are able to recognise their names from their place mats, with a picture of themselves as a visual aid, and use both pictures and some labels on storage containers to put equipment away at tidy up time. The book area is used by children for small group play, story time and circle time, although this area is not used regularly by the children to share books with each other.

Children are confident individuals who approach staff to meet their needs, either to ask a question or for support with a particular task. They are extremely independent, taking themselves to the toilet, washing their hands and dishing up their own snacks and dinner. Children are building good relationships with each other and the adults, which promotes their social skills, and are learning to take ownership of their own behaviour. They learn to take responsibility for certain roles throughout the day, such as laying the table for lunch. They develop their mathematical skills counting the numbers of plates and cups they need and doing simple addition and subtraction when they have too many or not enough. Children use mathematical language with confidence, identifying the large bed in the dolls house and the small doll. They are able to differentiate between colour, shape and size and relate 2D shapes to their environment, such as the round plate and square book.

Children follow excellent hygiene routines. They are encouraged to wash their hands before and after eating, using soap and separate paper towels. They learn about germs and when not to share. For example, one child wanted to share a silver whistle that another child had used. The member of staff explained about not sharing germs and when it was washed it could be used again. When a child's fork fell on the floor at lunch time, a member of staff told the child that it may be dirty and he will need to use a clean one. Children are well protected against cross infection. Children are encouraged to use tissues, put these in the bin and then wash their hands to prevent spreading any germs. The younger children sleep during the day and have their own bedding which is washed daily. These procedures, together with thorough nappy changing routines, such as staff wearing gloves and aprons, fully support children's well-being. Children have a balanced diet throughout the day, having plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. Dietary needs are recorded and all staff and the cook are made aware of children's individual needs to ensure children are not put at risk.

Children's safety is of paramount importance at the nursery and many measures are in place to promote their safety. All visitors are identified on the CCTV camera before being allowed entry to the nursery and are asked to complete the visitors' book. All parents enter the nursery and collect children from the individual rooms, preventing any children leaving unattended. Safety measures, such as door hinge protectors and socket covers, are in place. Door handles are up high or open upwards to prevent children leaving the room without an adult. Children learn about keeping themselves safe, being reminded about not running indoors and ensuring they hold onto the hand rails of the play equipment when climbing outside. Policies are in place, together with documentation, to record accidents promoting children's safety.

All children are fully included in the setting and the partnership with parents ensures children experience continuity of care and their individual needs are identified and addressed. Each child has their own settling-in procedure to suit their needs. The key person works closely with the parent to support the separation process and make sure that both the parent and child are happy and feel secure. All children are encouraged to celebrate each other's differences and have the opportunity to join in celebration of different cultures from around the world, such as Chinese New Year and Australia Day. Staff are fully aware of children's cultural backgrounds and work with the parents to promote the child's home language using books and trying to learn simple words.

 

 

 

Overall effectiveness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This section of the report includes details of any complaint/s made to Ofsted when:

·     we took action for the provider to meet the requirements of the Early Years Register; or

·     we asked the provider to take action in order to meet the requirements of the Early Years Register; or

·     the provider had already taken any necessary action to meet the requirements of the Early Years Register.

 

We will not report on any complaint where the provider met the requirements of the Early Years Register or did not require any action by Ofsted or the registered provider.

 

 

There have been no complaints made to Ofsted since registration.

 

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.