Little Angels Pre-Prep School and Day Nursery

Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated. Little Angels Pre-Prep School and Day Nursery Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY286121 Inspection date 14/07/2009 Inspector Catherine Greene

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Setting address 70 Bredgar Road, London, N19 5BF

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Telephone number 020 7281 3514 Email Type of setting Childcare on non-domestic premises This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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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.

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Introduction

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).

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Introduction

Children only attend this setting before and/or after the school day and/or during the school holidays. The judgements in this report reflect the quality of early years provision offered to children during those periods.

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Introduction

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. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Description of the setting

Little Angels Pre-Prep School and Day Nursery operates from a single story building in the Archway area in the London borough of Islington. The pre-school consists of three rooms for children, a kitchen, office, staff room, adult and children's bathrooms, a changing room for children, a milk kitchen, sleep area and reception area. There are three outdoor play areas. There are presently 32 childcare staff, a cook and an administrator. Over half of the childcare staff hold childcare and teaching qualifications.

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Description of the setting

The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register to care for 65 children including children aged up to eight years. There are currently 95 children in the early years age group on roll.

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Description of the setting

The pre-school and nursery is open every day from 08:00 until 18:30, for 49 weeks of the year and closes for five inset days.

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Overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Overall the quality of the provision is good. Children are making excellent progress in their learning and development. There is a strong commitment to include all children and effective ways of doing this are achieved. Staff's very good understanding of how to promote children's learning and development through the Early Years Foundation Stage means that they are able to meet children's learning and development needs on an individual basis. The senior leadership team's evaluation of provision accurately matches practice within the setting. Areas for improvement are identified and self-evaluation captures the setting's areas for development. Children's welfare is promoted through many positive policies and procedures which help to keep them safe.

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further?

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

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further?

 continue to extend the partnership with parents to develop effective ways to share information and to complement and support children's progress through the early learning goals  continue to develop 'the babies' and toddlers' outdoor' area and improve the risk assessment to cover anything with which a child may come into contact, including concrete posts on fencing and how the equipment is organised in the limited space. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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provision

Senior leaders give priority to ensuring that systems to monitor and evaluate the quality of the provision identify key areas for development and include all staff in this process. In addition, monitoring of staff's developmental needs and support for new and temporary staff is made a priority. Consequently, staff morale is very good and their ability to effectively support children's individual learning and development has been fully supported.

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provision

Staff build relationships with parents and share information about children's care and their achievements. This provides a very good basis for the continued development of partnership work with parents. The setting includes parents in planning and assessing children's learning and development and they have identified this in their self-evaluation as an area they are keen to further improve on. When staff identify that additional support is required they work closely with parents and other professionals to ensure continuity and consistency in what is being offered.

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provision

Staff have a suitable knowledge of how to safeguard children and there are systems in place to support them in doing this. Staff effectively implement these systems and ensure those working unsupervised with children are suitable. There is a system in place to alert staff to visitors to the premises and the position of the office enables staff to see and respond to visitors, to ensure children's well-being remains safeguarded. A procedure is in place for parents to record their children's times of arrival and departure, staff monitor this to ensure that an accurate record of children's hours of attendance is maintained. There are clearly defined procedures in place for emergency evacuation of the building and these are known to all staff. Children develop awareness of their personal safety because they have regular opportunities to practise the procedures including using different exit routes from different areas of the building.

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provision

The environment is well resourced and child friendly with a balance of adult-led and child-initiated activity. This ensures that children make progress whilst enabling them to develop their independence skills. Opportunities for children to learn outdoors are provided and staff ensure planning for the use of the outdoor area is included. The current redevelopment of one of the outdoor spaces has been welcomed by the enthusiastic staff team and they are making good effort to ensure the small space does not limit their creativity. Risk assessments successfully identify safety issues, however, the safety fencing and organisation of equipment on the day of inspection had not been adequately risk assessed prior to toddlers going out into the garden which resulted in a tripping hazard and some children getting wet and having to be taken straight back in.

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provision

Parents are provided with information about the setting and how the Early Years Foundation Stage is incorporated. The key person system is effective in giving children a secure base and a structure for assessing children’s individual needs. Key workers aim to get to know children and their families with the aim of providing valuable support and are aiming to build on their existing system to This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 further encourage information sharing. Children's links between home and nursery are strengthened because they each have a scrap book that contains information and pictures from home as well as photographs of them enjoying nursery activities. The addition of the bear and diary to take home provides an invaluable home to school link and discussion point for children at circle time.

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The quality and standards of the early years provision

The staff team demonstrate a confident knowledge and understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage framework. They plan a broad range of exciting and stimulating activities and experiences for children which support them to make excellent progress towards the early learning goals. Individualised planning is geared around children's interests and abilities whilst ongoing assessments chart their progress and highlight future learning opportunities. Very good team work between adults means that all staff know the children well. There are successful systems in place to implement consistent support and educational opportunities for children with specific learning needs including those who are gifted and talented. Children are made to feel very welcome and settle quickly, staff give priority to making sure they feel safe and cared for in a friendly and secure environment. They are able to make autonomous choices about their play and exploration. The

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The quality and standards of the early years provision

staff team effectively support children's learning as they skilfully follow their interest and challenge them within their play.

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The quality and standards of the early years provision

Babies enjoy experimenting with a wide range of different media. They explore different textures and are encouraged to take part in creative activities. Displays of their creations in the group room using sand and clay and mobiles made with brightly coloured material make the room attractive and interesting to them. Older babies have many different opportunities to make marks and symbols. They use brushes to paint freely and they make marks in dry sand with a range of tools and look at the different marks they have made with brushes of different sizes. Children listen and respond very well to stories and songs. They enthusiastically listen to their favourite stories and enjoy singing out the rhyming parts of the songs they are very familiar with. They learn to express feelings because they talk about the characters in the story and respond with claps and smiles. Children make good progress because staff in the group rooms all plan appropriate

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The quality and standards of the early years provision

activities linked to the Early Years Foundation Stage framework and observe children closely to identify targets for their individual learning and development.

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The quality and standards of the early years provision

Children's welfare is promoted through many positive practices within their daily routines. They are developing important personal hygiene skills as they wash their hands at appropriate times throughout the day and learn why this is important to their good health. Children enjoy eating nutritious and healthy foods which are seasonal and freshly cooked by the chef on the premises. All special dietary requirements are catered for, including accommodating vegetarian diets and any known allergies that children may have. Babies and toddlers enjoy meal times as they sit well supported in their chairs with staff sitting at their level. Consequently, babies receive important eye contact and communication to encourage them to eat well. Children are encouraged to drink water throughout the day; older children have independent access to drinking water whilst younger children are offered This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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The quality and standards of the early years provision

Children are happy and busy as they confidently move between the indoor and outdoor environments. They enjoy considerable opportunities to develop their physical skills as they climb, jump and run in the outside play areas. Older children run under the parachute and enjoy the enclosure as it floats down on top of them. They have access to climbing apparatus and slides in the pre-school garden whilst in the baby and toddler garden they enjoy practising their balancing and coordination skills as they jump on the trampoline and throw balls to staff and each other. Children receive lots of praise for their excellent skills and coordination, they respond positively to this attention as they thoroughly enjoy themselves. Children are enthusiastic to participate in adult-led creative activities as they roll out the play-dough. They are keen to share their knowledge of the tools that are required to make the shapes in the dough. Children enjoy creative experiences as

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The quality and standards of the early years provision

they explore their senses whilst they play with corn-flour mixed with water. They spend considerable time at this activity as staff sit closely by supporting them to manipulate the mixture. Further opportunities to learn through their senses are provided by the provision of heuristic treasure baskets and supervised water and sand play. Pre-school children have extensive opportunities to develop their communication, language and literacy skills. Using individual white boards children express themselves in their drawings and early mark-making and older children are beginning to draw and write with purpose. They enjoy both large and small group story sessions where they demonstrate attentive listening skills with staff who read in an expressive and interesting way, engaging children and holding their concentration. Fun and challenging language activities are presented to children with good quality resources as they learn the sounds and names of letters of the

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The quality and standards of the early years provision

alphabet, consequently early reading skills are beginning to develop.

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The quality and standards of the early years provision

Children have valuable access to information and communication technology (ICT) resources, as they confidently utilise the computer and programmable toys within their self-initiated play. Throughout the provision children are developing excellent social skills as they learn about the importance of playing cooperatively as they share resources and develop close relationships with their friends. Staff consistently give children lots of praise as they tell them how helpful they have been. Children display very good behaviour as they understand that being polite and respectful is valued within the setting. Consequently children are developing many important learning and development skills which help to set secure foundations for their future learning.

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The quality and standards of the early years provision

Children have many positive opportunities to learn about nature and the wider world. They have recently been involved in developing a bright and colourful growing area in the garden where they have planted bulbs and seeds with the support of staff. Children learn about each other's home-backgrounds and cultures as they celebrate a wide variety of festivals within the setting. Parents play a large part in this aspect of the curriculum as they share their expertise and traditions followed at home and help to get involved in practical activities to support this. Parents' contribution to the nativity play resulted in a fantastic performance enjoyed by parents, staff and children. In addition to this further collaboration in the sponsorship for the London Marathon resulted in an impressive donation for the National Autistic Society. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Annex A: record of inspection judgements

The key inspection judgements and what they mean

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Annex A: record of inspection judgements

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

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of children in the Early Years Foundation Stage?

How well does the provision promote inclusive practice? 2 The capacity of the provision to maintain continuous improvement.

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Foundation Stage led and managed?

How effective is the setting’s self-evaluation, including the steps taken to promote improvement? How well does the setting work in partnership with parents and others? How well are children safeguarded? 2

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Years Foundation Stage promoted?

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? 1 How well are children helped to make a positive contribution? How well are children helped develop skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being?

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Years Foundation Stage promoted?

procedures set out in the guidance available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

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

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

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

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