The Pavilion Montessori School

The Pavilion Montessori School Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY318489 Inspection date 20/01/2011 Inspector Nicola Hill

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Setting address The Pavilion,, Trowlock Way, Teddington, Middlesex, TW11 9QY Telephone number 02089435476 Email 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

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

The Pavilion Montessori School was registered in 2005. It is a privately owned provision and operates from five rooms within a cricket pavilion in Teddington, Middlesex. Children have use of an enclosed outdoor play area and suitable toilet and kitchen facilities are available.

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Description of the setting

The school serves the needs of families in the area and the local community and operates in line with the Montessori approach to learning. The group is registered to care for a maximum of 42 children on the Early Years Register. There are currently 55 children aged between two and under five years on roll. The group is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education to children aged three and four years, and welcomes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language.

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Description of the setting

The school operates each weekday from 9.15am to 12.15pm and 1.45pm to 3.45pm, during school term times. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are three full-time and 13 part-time staff currently working with the children, the majority of whom hold a recognised early years qualification. The setting receives support from the local authority early years consultant, and has been accredited by the Montessori Evaluation and Accreditation Board.

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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

Children are cared for in an extremely warm, caring and inclusive environment in which staff members are fully aware of children's individual interests and capabilities. The staff demonstrate a clear understanding of, and are highly skilled in delivering the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage, whilst skilfully linking this to the Montessori approach. This is evident from the very good progress children are making in their development, their excellent behaviour and positive attitude to learning. Children's right to choose, make decisions and voice their thoughts and opinions is supported exceptionally well so that they are fully included and develop a strong sense of belonging and self-esteem. The knowledgeable and highly motivated staff work successfully together to continually evaluate the provision and make improvements, wherever possible, for all children in their care. The premises are safe and secure and documentation is mostly very

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further?

To further improve the high quality early years provision the registered person should consider: This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006  amending the current parental permission forms to ensure the consent for emergency medical advice or treatment includes permission for treatment to be sought by a qualified health professional, not just school staff.

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the early years provision

Children's care, welfare and learning are enhanced by the highly effective way in which the group is led and managed. Safeguarding is given the highest priority. The owner and staff team fully understand the importance of following the Local Safeguarding Children Board procedures in the event of child protection concerns, and comprehensive policies on safeguarding children are regularly reviewed and updated to take full account of current guidance. The owner of this setting has established robust procedures for the recruitment and retention of suitable members of staff, and there are very good arrangements in place to enable staff to act in children's best interests in the event of emergencies. Current parental consent forms ask permission for qualified Montessori school staff to administer first aid treatment in the event of an emergency, although do not clearly ask permission for the group to seek emergency medical advice or treatment from a

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the early years provision

qualified health professional. All other required documentation for the safe management of the provision is in place, well organised and stored securely. This includes thorough risk assessments, which underpin the group's existing excellent safety precautions.

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the early years provision

Strong enthusiastic leadership from the owner/manager, together with regular discussion between staff, ensures that staff are clear about their roles and responsibilities and work extremely well together. The manager effectively motivates staff and enables them to develop through the staff appraisal system and by offering staff every opportunity to attend training. Since the last inspection, the well-established staff team has continued to provide very high levels of consistency and all recommendations raised previously have been addressed. The group has exceptionally high aspirations for quality, which is evident through the constructive methods of self-evaluation. The opinions of staff and parents, as well as reviews from outside agencies, are listened to and acted upon immediately. Such reviews include the Quality Improvement Audit, by the local authority early years consultant, and the report from Montessori Evaluation and Accreditation

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the early years provision

Board. The self-evaluation form is extremely comprehensive and detailed; it shows rigorous monitoring and analysis of what the setting does well and what it wishes to improve. Actions taken by the setting are well targeted and have had a very good impact in bringing about sustained improvement to the early years provision. For example, the group has purchased more bi-lingual books and has developed the writing room into a quieter area in order to aid children's speaking and listening skills.

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the early years provision

Children benefit enormously from the well organised, stimulating and vibrant learning environment. Photographs of the children engaged in activities are on show and their artwork is also displayed by staff who value all children's efforts. Children move freely and confidently and use high quality Montessori equipment This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 appropriate to their age and stage of development. Children can access their own resources independently across the provision, which helps to develop and sustain extremely high levels of independence. Excellent systems are in place to support each child and their family, ensuring that they are fully included into the provision and are able to fully contribute to the setting. Staff take a personal interest in each child and pride themselves in helping children of all abilities and backgrounds to achieve their full potential.

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the early years provision

The excellent partnership working between this setting, other providers delivering the Early Years Foundation Stage and other agencies involved with the children contributes significantly to a consistent approach towards the children's care and development. The staff liaise closely with them and the children's parents to share their planning and assessment information and ensure children's individual needs are fully met. The manager is very proactive in establishing and maintaining links with a number of schools in the area in order to help promote continuity and transition in children's care and learning as they move on to other early years settings. An excellent partnership with parents contributes significantly to children's wellbeing in the nursery. Parents are extremely enthusiastic in their praise for the nursery, commenting that the staff are always happy to speak to them and provide a nurturing environment that also gives children the independence to be able to go

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the early years provision

out into the big wide world. A wealth of information is available for parents, and parents are strongly encouraged to become involved in their child's learning. They are kept fully informed of their child's progress through regular discussions and access to their child's developmental records, and often come into the school to read to the children, talk about their jobs and celebrate festivals.

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and outcomes for children

The atmosphere at this Montessori school is one of harmony and industry. The children clearly love being at the school, they confidently make their own choices about what they do and play with, and as a result are highly motivated. Children are very eager to learn, concentrate well and readily make decisions on where and how they want to play and explore. All activities are child-led as much as possible as the focus is on spontaneous learning. Staff are skilled observers, identifying which children would benefit from a one to one activity to focus their learning and which children are better off left to explore an activity on their own. The group does, however, plan some small group activities, such as French lessons, gymnastics, cookery and music lessons, which the children thoroughly enjoy. The children engross themselves in painting activities, model with play dough and add water to sand so that they can mould it into shapes. Children display very good

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and outcomes for children

counting skills and use the Montessori equipment confidently, counting out the correct number of counters for each written numeral on a board. Younger children also confidently and quickly stack the pink blocks into a tower in order of size. Some children use inset cards; tracing around a shape using the inside of the frame as a guide. This helps to refine coordination to help with handwriting, but staff also introduce colours, artistic design and the idea of symmetry. Many of the older children can write their own names and all children listen attentively to This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 stories as staff use their voices well to capture the children's imagination. Children enjoy many opportunities to learn about the wider and natural world through visitors to the nursery, planned activities and local outings. They feed the ducks by the river, talk about the days of the week and the weather and plant hyacinth

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and outcomes for children

bulbs to watch how the roots grow. Role play is supported well through the use of practical life activities, such as polishing silver and setting the table, using 'real' materials, including crockery and glasses.

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and outcomes for children

Staff are very effectively deployed, so that they continuously ensure that children feel secure and well cared for. Staff are tireless in ensuring sessions are stimulating and rewarding. They very clearly enjoy being with the children and are extremely dedicated and committed to ensuring the quality of care and education is continually improved for all children. Staff make very good use of time and resources, utilising all learning opportunities. Activities are well planned and sessions are enjoyable and run smoothly. Staff work very carefully with parents to gain an initial understanding of each child's individual interests and abilities on entry to the setting. They then continue to make very detailed observations of children's changing interests and skills. This enables them to carefully assess individual children's progress, linking the Montessori learning programme to the six areas of learning within the Early Years Foundation Stage. Consequently, staff

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and outcomes for children

have a clear and detailed understanding of the priorities for each child's continued learning.

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and outcomes for children

Arrangements for ensuring children's health and nutrition are exemplary. Children develop a very good understanding of healthy eating as they make selections from different fresh fruits at snack time and take part in cooking activities, such as making vegetarian sausage rolls. They show an excellent awareness of health and their own bodies as they talk about foods that are good for them and help themselves to drinks after the gymnastics session without prompts from staff. Children make the most of the outdoor facilities to play out in the fresh air, learn new skills and enjoy investigating and exploring their surroundings. Their independence in using the toilet and during hand washing is fostered very well. All children show a strong sense of security and feel safe within the setting. They show an excellent understanding of what standards of behaviour are expected and apply these in order to keep themselves and others safe. Their understanding of

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and outcomes for children

safety issues and how they demonstrate this is exceptional. Children are encouraged to be polite and to use good manners so they acquire effective social skills, and are provided with lots of praise and encouragement to develop their self-esteem. Staff consistently provide children with the necessary resources, activities and opportunities they need to help them gain important skills for the future. 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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