Newpark Montessori School & Nursery

Newpark Montessori School & Nursery Inspection report for early years provision

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EY344187 Unique Reference Number 08 March 2007 Inspection date Arda Halls Inspector

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450 Uxbridge Road, London, W12 0NS Setting Address

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020 8746 7944 020 8762 0111 Telephone number shepherdsbush@newparkchildcare.co.uk E-mail Newpark Childcare (Shepherds Bush) Ltd Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day care Type of care

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This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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ABOUT THIS INSPECTION

The purpose of this inspection is to assure government, parents and the public of the quality of childcare and, if applicable, of nursery education. The inspection was carried out under Part XA Children Act 1989 as introduced by the Care Standards Act 2000 and, where nursery education is provided, under Schedule 26 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. 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.

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

For more information about early years inspections, please see the booklet Are you ready for your inspection? which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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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.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are good.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The Newpark Montessori School and Nursery is one of three nurseries privately owned and run by Newpark Childcare. It opened in 2006 and operates from four main base rooms in a Church Hall in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. A maximum of 82 children may attend the school and nursery at any one time. The nursery is open each weekday from 7:00 to 19:00 for 50 weeks of the year. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area. There are currently 14 children from one year to under five on roll. Of these three children receive funding for nursery education. Children come from the local and wider community. The nursery employs five staff. All of the staff, including the manager hold appropriate early years qualifications. The nursery uses Montessori teaching methods.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children develop a firm understanding of good hygiene practices and personal care at the nursery school. They are becoming confident and independent in their self care skills, for example taking themselves to the toilet and knowing which cloth is used to dry their hands. However, some children need to be reminded to wash their hands.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are familiar and feel confident with the routine of the nursery, for example when children finish with an activity, they know what to do next. Children of all ages are confident to put away their equipment when finished. They enjoy the responsibility and eagerly choose something new to do.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children have opportunities to play in the fresh air each day. They run around and expel energy with their friends. Staff encourage children to play with one piece of equipment at a time to prevent children falling from their bikes or tripping over the balls. Children have ample space outside. They use cars and bikes for pedalling and exercising their legs. They kick balls with confidence. They use the painted oval line on the floor for learning to balance. If the weather is bad, staff are able to continue the children's awareness for being healthy and taking exercise by using space available within the nursery school. Children under three travel with control as they negotiate around the room, babies choose resources and carry them about to show staff what they have found. When they are tired, they crawl on the soft carpeted floor in the baby room.

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Helping children to be healthy

A hot meal is provided for children under 2 years of age who are in attendance full time. The children enjoy their food and are attempting to feed themselves as they sit at a low table and chairs. Staff sit with the children during meal times which helps to make it a relaxing and social occasion.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children have opportunities to learn about healthy eating as they are offered a nutritious fruit snack throughout the morning. They have access to a drink of milk or water at any time they like. Staff are aware of individual dietary requirements and take care not to have restricted foods on the snack table.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Staff offer an environment that is safe and secure for children in a bright and well decorated detached church building. There is a warm and welcoming atmosphere for children, with various posters and displays of child centred art work at a low accessible level. Children have access to four main rooms, which are all located on the ground floor. There is a separate well equipped kitchen as well as a snack preparation area that is also used for messy play. Children have access to child sized toilets contained within one room off the main entrance to the school.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

There is a range of safe and appropriate resources available to children at the school. Wooden shelving provides spacious storage for a good selection of Montessori play materials, these are appropriately grouped and presented in easy to carry containers or trays and are available at child height. Children return equipment from their activities to their appropriate place, without needing reminding. Children are adept at self selecting on their own initiative.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 Staff ensure children are safe when at the nursery school. Fire prevention procedures are in place and children practise safe evacuation on a regular basis, using alternate routes of escape. Staff carry out informal observational risk assessments, for example staff identified that dogs and cats are not desirable in the outdoor play space and provided a system to detract them from the area. However, not all hazards are cleared away at the time of the inspection. Policies state that children will be taken to a doctor's surgery in an emergency.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Staff keep children safe because most staff have an awareness of child protection procedures and the necessary action to take if there were any concerns about children.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children are happy and having fun. They have access to a good range of Montessori activities. Opportunities are presented individually to children to ensure they are appropriate to their stages of development. Children enjoy playing outside in the garden area, which has opportunities for riding bikes and playing ball. Children also enjoy digging in the flower beds.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Staff value and listen to what the children have to say. They become involved in their play, for example when playing outside the children are not stopped from transferring soil onto the artificial grass. They are allowed to experiment and work together with other children to fill the buckets and deposit the soil where they believe it is most needed. This gives the children a good sense of achievement. Indoors, the school adheres strictly to the Maria Montessori educational principles which includes several interesting ways in which children's gross and fine motor skills are challenged. For example, children sweep and mop up the floor with a good understanding of what needs to be done. Traditional nursery school equipment such as climbing frames are not used in the nursery school room for children aged over three years who attend one session per day. Babies under two years play freely on baby sized climbing frames where

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

they are encouraged and supported as they climb up and down.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are building positive relationships with each other and with the staff. They are confident and helpful, for example at snack time they pour their own drinks and select the fruit from the snack they have previously prepared. Children are encouraged to assist with the preparation and sharing of the snacks.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. The staff are a new team working in the setting for three months. The staff team increases as the number of children in attendance rises. The supervisor has a good knowledge of the Foundation Stage combined with Montessori teaching. New staff have yet to attend Foundation Stage training to assist them with their work with children.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

A clear range of planning is available, which links to the stepping stones. The plans are displayed in the nursery room and information about the learning goals is supplied for each parent inside their children's complete guide. Staff use the guide to record the children's development. It is shared with parents at the end of each week. Parents make their own observations accompanied by photographs from home to contribute to the record of their children's achievement. This acts as a good starting point for assessing children as well as a clear record to evaluate children's learning. The information provided is fascinating and makes a complete record available for parents to keep when their children leave the school. Staff ensure children have an opportunity

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 to participate in all activities including activities that have not yet been "presented to the children". They understand that children enjoy the experimentation of an activity and they encourage the children by allowing them to "play" with the activity before they are ready to work through it at a later date. Staff carry out regular observations on children which are consistently dated and entered in their books. This impacts on their effectiveness in assessing children's progress and provides an accurate and valuable record.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Currently the school supports a few children with English as an additional language. The children benefit greatly from the opportunity to speak in English as well as their mother tongue.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children's personal, social and emotional development is good. They are confident and helpful. Staff develop children's self esteem with positive reinforcement for example, as they praise children saying "good boy", "well done" and "thank you for sharing and waiting".

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are making good progress in their language development. Children are confident to contribute to group discussions, recalling events from home. They ask questions and make comments about their work; they ask adults to lift their feet when they are sweeping. They explain confidently that mops are for cleaning the floor, not the tables or the toys, only the floor.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Most children recognise their name. They have names as well as pictures on their coat pegs; they ask for their names to be added to their paintings before they place them in the painting rack. Although children have some opportunities for mark making they do not write their own names as they are still practising early writing skills such as making patterns from left to right.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children have opportunities for counting and measuring as they play. They learn simple calculation as they prepare the fruit for the rest of the class. They have opportunities for learning about space and volume as they develop their skills using Montessori equipment. In the garden they play independently in the earth. They fill buckets with soil to move to another spot in the garden.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children learn to be investigative through activities such as playing with sand paper letters. Staff respond to children's stages of development by following their lead. The children are prepared to do each activity in order. Further opportunities for the child to extend or develop an activity grows as the children's skills increase. Children make good progress in relation to their physical development when playing out of doors. They have good opportunities in the garden to develop their large motor skills. They develop their fine motor skills when scooping up soil in the garden.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are offered a range of experiences to be creative. Children express themselves freely at the painting easel. They have some opportunities to engage in messy play and role play.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children and parents have a sense of belonging as staff welcome them to the nursery and school. Staff acknowledge individual needs of the children, for example careful monitoring of new children to the group to ensure that they settle at their own pace. The school respects the multi-cultural society in which they are based. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered. Children are aware of other cultures through resources, displays and topic work, such as foods from other cultures. They are becoming familiar with the wider community,

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Helping children make a positive contribution

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 photographic evidence recalls people who work in the community. Plans are made to ensure that children experience visits into the community such as outings to the local parks.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Staff encourage positive behaviour, this is reinforced with posters displayed, through discussion and in practice. For example, children are given positive choices to make. They are given time to think about the choices they want to make, they are asked to look at the teacher when she speaks and are given alternatives if they do not want to take up the suggested activities. This makes children feel valued and builds their self- esteem. Children have good role models within the school as they listen to staff speaking softly to them. Children are asked if they think they should clean up the floor for others. They readily conclude that they should clean up the floor, they offer to clear up the chairs and they discuss how to do it and how they are being kind. Children become thoughtful and make good decisions about how to behave as staff constantly ask them questions that are thought provoking. However, the behaviour management policy

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Helping children make a positive contribution

does not include information about bullying.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnership with parents and carers is good. Children are cared for by staff who work with parents to meet individual children’s needs and ensure they are familiar with what is happening in the school. The prospectus for parents contains information relating to the setting and includes details about the areas of learning. Staff are available at anytime to talk with parents and there are opportunities at the end of each week to discuss their children's progress. Staff welcome assistance from parents and encourage them to do their own observations of their children. The school asks for feedback from parents on all aspects of the setting. Parents comment at the inspection about their experiences in the school. The response is high and the comments are positive. Parents comment on how happy their children are, how well informed they are about their progress and how eager their children are to come to school. Parents

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Helping children make a positive contribution

comment very favourably on the "complete guides" stressing what a good system it is for sharing information about their children.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. Leadership and management are good. The manager and her 'new team' have been working together since January, 2007. The manager has made a very good start but acknowledges that there is more to do as the school is growing larger every week. There is an impressive selection of resources, some of which the manager and staff team have devised themselves. The range of resources is constantly being extended for the benefit of the children. The staff and manager demonstrate good commitment to the school and have identified areas for improvement, such as extending physical play both indoors and out.

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Organisation

The manager works closely with the director in the recruitment of staff. Secure vetting and recruitment processes ensure that children are well protected and cared for by staff with knowledge and understanding of child development. An effective appraisal system, to evaluate staff development is in place.

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Organisation

All aspects of the organisation of the school are highly effective and children are consistently challenged. Staff take appropriate measures to keep children safe and secure whilst at the school, both indoors and out. The staff team work well together to use the available space for the children's benefit.

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Organisation

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 Policies and procedures are successfully in place and work well in practice. Records relating to children's care are completed and totalled at the end of the day. The provider meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides.

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Complaints since the last inspection

Since registration there have been no complaints made to Ofsted that required the provider or Ofsted to take any action in order to meet the National Standards.

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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.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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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.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are good.

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The quality and standards of the care

To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • ensure good hygiene practices are in place regarding hand washing • improve risk assessment of outdoor play space identifying action to be taken to minimize identified risks • ensure the behaviour management policy includes a statement on bullying

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

To improve the quality and standards of nursery education further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • develop planning for physical play opportunities indoors.

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

set out in the leaflet Complaints about Ofsted Early Years: concerns or complaints about Ofsted's role in regulating and inspecting childcare and early education (HMI ref no 2599) which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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