Woodlands Park Nursery School & Children's Centre

Woodlands Park Nursery School & Childrens Centre Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY287236 Inspection date 28/10/2010 Inspector Caroline Preston

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Setting address 74-86 Woodlands Park Road, London, N15 3SD

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Telephone number 020 8802 0041 Email woodlandsparknursery.school@haringey.gov.uk Type of setting Childcare on non-domestic premises 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

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you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way.

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T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk 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

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.

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Introduction

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

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Description of the setting

Woodlands Park Nursery is a local authority maintained organisation, run by a governing body made up of parents and community members, offering full day care and out of school provision. It was registered by Ofsted in September 2004 and operates from a one storey building and has access to six playrooms. Children have access to an enclosed outdoor play area.The nursery is in a residential area of West Green and is within easy walking distance of local amenities, Turnpike Lane tube station and local bus routes. The nursery opens five days a week, all year round, from 8am to 5.45pm. The out of school provision opens term-time only from 8am to 9am and 3.30pm to 5.45pm and during school holidays from 8am to 5.45pm. The nursery is registerd on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. A maximum of 81 children may attend the nursery at any one time. There are currently 95 children aged from birth to under five

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Description of the setting

years on roll, some in part-time places. The nursery has a number of children with special educational needs. There are 18 members of staff employed; of these, 15 hold early years qualifications to at least level 2.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Overall the quality of the provision is outstanding.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Excellent knowledge of children's individual needs ensure that staff successfully promote children's learning and welfare. As a result children are making excellent progress in alll areas of their learning and development. The very happy and friendly atmosphere helps children to thrive. Each child's uniqueness is recognised and developed, in order for them to reach their full potential. Highly effective partnerships with other agencies have been established, which supports learning and safeguards children. A key strength is the setting's outstanding partnership with parents and carers. The setting has an extremely effective self-evaluation process, which demonstrates an excellent capacity to improve.

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further?

To further improve the high quality early years provision the registered person should consider:

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further?

 develop children's independence; particularly in regard to mealtimes

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the early years provision

Children are safeguarded extremely well. Detailed written procedures for This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 safeguarding are in place and staff are very knowledgeable about the procedures to follow, if they have concerns about a child in their care. Staff have excellent access to training programmes and know how to identify and respond to concerns appropriately. The dedicated leadership and management ensures that policies are regularly reviewed, updated and records are securely stored. Comprehensive risk assessments are carried out on a regular basis to protect the children. The premises are clean and secure; there is CCTV and visitor access is controlled to ensure the safety of the children. The deployment of resources is exceptional. Staff are deployed extremely well throughout the setting to ensure that the needs of the children are met. Staff regularly work in all playrooms, which ensures children and parents are familiar

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the early years provision

with all staff and that staff are constantly updating their skills, by working across all age groups. Excellent use is made of community facilities such as local shops, parks and the library, to offer children an extended range of opportunities. Managers and staff have an in-depth understanding of anti-discrimination, enabling them to provide a service that is inclusive for all children and families. They make sure that they understand each child's background, cultures and beliefs and encourage children to recognise and respect differences. Children's self-esteem is promoted extremely well as they are offered opportunities to talk about their beliefs, families and recent experiences during island time. Staff are extremely inspiring; they use excellent questioning techniques to support children's play and learning and have a thorough understanding of early learning goals. This helps to create a positive learning environment, where both children

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the early years provision

and staff thrive. Staff are supported very well in attending further training and gaining qualifications, qualified teachers are located in each playroom. Resources are innovative and vibrant, for example, the garden area is designed to look like a medieval forest. The outside area has striking colourful draping materials that children can play under. There are also digging and planting areas and sand that contains many different play resources. Large recycling bins are available for children to put fruit and vegetable peelings in. This supports sustainability through educational activities and means leaders are aware of the importance of sustainability within the setting. Outstanding communication with all parents, including those who speak English as an additional language, results in highly effective partnership working; for example, parents are regularly asked to comment on how they feel their child is progressing and what they want to include in their child's learning

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the early years provision

programme. Parents are also invited to make suggestions for how the setting can be improved and receive written feedback.. Parents receive thorough information about the setting on a daily basis; through parents days, international days, newsletters and by attending parent committee meetings. The setting works extremely well in partnership with other professionals, such as health and local authority specialists, further promoting consistent appropriate care for the children. Staff attend training to identify their own practice development needs. There is an effective self-evaluation process that identifies areas for improvement; for example, the nursery are currently working on improving children's numeracy skills. This has impacted on children participating more in activities that promote number recognition. During the self-evaluation process it was identified that boys were not as involved in these activities, so staff moved the resources targeting

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the early years provision

numeracy closer to the doors leading to the garden; as a result, boys are now more involved. This supports children's learning in numeracy and demonstrates the This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 setting's comprehensive self-evaluation processes.

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and outcomes for children

Children make excellent progress towards the early learning goals. They develop significantly in relation to their starting points because staff are very skilled at observing and assessing their development. All rooms are very well organised for the different age groups, with a high ratio of staff to children. This helps to ensure that children have plenty of individual attention, which motivates them and gives them confidence to try new things. The way that adults talk with the children and model sentences aids their understanding, develops challenge and helps them to work well together, to promote excellent personal development. Staff use their knowledge of each child to make the best use of their individual learning styles to promote development; for example, by ensuring that the outside play area offers as many learning opportunities as inside. This is because staff have observed that some children learn better because they prefer to be outside. The environment is

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and outcomes for children

very attractive and accessible, enabling children to make independent choices; for example, younger children have easy access to the older children's outdoor play area, extending their opportunities to socialise and take risks. Staff are very skilled at offering learning opportunities through purposeful play and through detailed planning that follows children's interests. Children are able to work independently; for example, in the garden as they mark-make with chalks, role play at the seated area and take part in clay modelling. Children have fantastic opportunities to learn how to adopt healthy lifestyles. They learn how to grow various plants and fruits in the garden and learn about life cycles and recycling foods, such as vegetable and fruit peels. Children learn about their own safety through various activities, discussions and behaviour boundaries; children play both indoors and outdoors and are aware of how to play safely. They learn about

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and outcomes for children

road safety as they visit local shops to purchase organic foods and multi-cultural foods when celebrating different festivals. Free-flow between the inside and outside of the nursery is very effective. A real strength of the setting is the high quality investigation activities; for example, children are provided with opportunities to explore different textures such as shaving foam, wet sand, clay and water. There is a selection of outstanding musical toys for children to access and develop their enjoyment of music, rhythm and rhyme; for example, wooden hanging instruments in the medieval forest, African instruments and music tapes. Key staff hold weekly singing sessions with all groups, where children learn new nursery rhymes and songs. As a result, they develop imagination and creative skills successfully. Children are encouraged to show their own initiative and independence by choosing activities for themselves.

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and outcomes for children

Adults help them to develop perseverance and make learning fun as they take part in board games, construction activities and listening to stories. Children are given opportunity to play outside in all weathers and are provided with all-in-one rain suits and wellington boots. This ongoing activity also provides them with an understanding about the the different seasons. There is a focus on being healthy, with children being offered healthy snacks and regular drinks of water. Well balanced and nutritious hot meals are provided at This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 lunch times, such as baked potato, tuna and sweetcorn. Children are learning about healthy foods and are provided with a varied menu, incorporating foods from different cultures. Foods from children's cultural backgrounds are brought in by parents as they celebrate 'International Day'. Children miss some opportunities

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and outcomes for children

to be independent, as food is served to them; they do however empty their own plates and clear away their own dishes. Children are competent in carrying out personal hygiene routines. They use the exceptionally well planned garden for physical play. The garden is designed as a medieval forest, with outdoor musical instruments, an area to sit and chat, small bridges, a growing and digging area and small wooden houses. This means that children have fantastic opportunities to be creative, independent and social. Children have easy access to wheeled toys and climbing apparatus, which promotes physical development. Children play very well together and have strong friendships, all children sit together at lunch times and younger children interact well with older children. They have extremely effective relationships with staff and each child has a nominated keyworker, co-worker and welfare assistant; parents

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and outcomes for children

and children are familiar with all staff. Children who speak English as an additional language are well supported and make excellent progress. They are supported in developing their knowledge of English but staff also value their own language, using key words and books in dual languages to ensure children feel valued and included. The setting also provides documentation in many different languages. This supports parents' partnership with the nursery and their trust in the staff . Children have access to a range of high quality resources including information and communication technology , such as computers, cameras, and programmable toys. This supports their understanding in the use of everyday technology. Children learn about other cultures through celebrating various festivals that reflect the community that they live in and listening to stories and songs. Children are actively engaged in learning about their own skin colours through listening to story

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and outcomes for children

tapes and through discussions. The nursery are currently celebrating 'Black History Month', which supports their understanding of black history. They also learn about their local environment, by drawing and painting the different buildings in the area and discussing where they live. This adds to their feelings of identity and being part of a community. Children display high levels of confidence through their play showing a strong sense of well-being and feelings of safety within the nursery. Children develop their creativity, mathematical and social development; for example, as they make a display called 'all about me', sing various songs, play with sand, clay, paints and foam. They handle books enthusiastically, recognising that print has meaning and learning different stories. They dress up in various costumes, showing creativity through role play. They build and construct, which promotes their mathematical and problem-solving skills. Children attend the

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and outcomes for children

nursery gardening club on a weekly basis, where they grow apples, raspberries and learn to cut, prune and water the plants; they also learn about different types of plants and the seasons they grow in. Parents also join the children, which motivates parents to extend their children's learning at home. 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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children in the Early Years Foundation Stage?

The capacity of the provision to maintain continuous improvement

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Early Years Foundation Stage

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

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Stage

The quality of the provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage 1

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Stage

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

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Stage

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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