Islamic Montessori School

Islamic Montessori School Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number 509007 Inspection date 16/05/2011 Inspector Jennifer Devine

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Setting address Huseini Islamic Centre, Wood Lane, Stanmore, Middlesex, HA7 4LQ Telephone number 0208420 7921(mob)07976 697 043 Email sajidarashid@yahoo.co.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.

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You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as 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

The Islamic Montessori School opened in 1989 and operates from four rooms on the first floor of a building that is owned by the Hussaini Shia Islamic Community situated in Stanmore. The school is open each weekday from 9.00am to 1.00pm, term time only.

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Description of the setting

A maximum of 35 children may attend at any one time. There are currently 35 children in the early years age range years on roll, of these 22 children receive funding for nursery education. The setting currently supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The school is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register.

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Description of the setting

The school employs seven staff, all of whom hold an appropriate early years qualifications.

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Description of the setting

The setting operates Montessori teaching methods. They are members of the Pre- School Learning Alliance and receive support from the Local Authority.

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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 made to feel extremely welcome by a highly dedicated staff team. They are able to make excellent progress in their early development as the staff provide individual support which is tailored to each child's unique abilities and stages of development. Overall, the staff team are organised and plan suitable and exciting activities covering all areas of the curriculum. The partnership with parents is exceptional and ensures all adults work together to support and meet children's individual needs. Comprehensive self-evaluation processes ensure the staff team frequently review their practices, ensuring improvements are continually made.

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further?

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

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further?

 reviewing the organisation of group times to ensure children's concentration and listening skills are fully supported This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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the early years provision

The setting is exceptionally well led. Clear and robust recruitment procedures are in place, which ensures adults working with the children are suitably checked. Staff are aware of their roles and responsibilities with regards to safeguarding children and understand the procedures to follow if they were concerned about a child. Risk assessments are in place and daily safety checks are conducted by the staff before the children arrive in the morning to ensure high levels of safety are maintained. Security cameras have recently been installed to ensure safety and prevent any unwanted intruders entering the school. Staff are deployed appropriately in the setting and when outdoors to ensure children's safety is paramount at all times. All required documentation is in place to support the efficient running of the setting.

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the early years provision

The manager's clear vision and ethos for the development of the setting demonstrates a firm commitment to ongoing improvement. Self-evaluation is accurately recorded and used effectively by all staff to review practices and target areas for improvement. The staff team are kept well informed and are involved in decision making. They support each other very well and make good use of training opportunities to increase their knowledge and enhance existing good practice.

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the early years provision

The setting is well equipped with a good range of safe and suitable furniture and equipment. A warm and welcoming environment enables children to settle quickly and they are eager to come into the setting, greeting their friends and adults on arrival. Children's independence is fully promoted as they can access a full range of innovative activities and equipment from low level storage units.

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the early years provision

Staff have a strong commitment to equality and diversity which is actively promoted. Staff have an excellent knowledge of each child's background and needs and are highly effective in ensuring all children are integrated into the school. Children with English as an additional language are well supported as all staff speak additional languages and provide key words particularly during the settling-in time to gain children's trust and confidence. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are integrated fully and are given support by the staff as required. For example, picture signs are used to help with routines to complement and support communication.

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the early years provision

The school is highly committed to working in partnership with other agencies involved with individual children to ensure continuity of learning, development and welfare. The school has a highly positive relationship with parents and carers. They are made to feel extremely welcome in the setting and are encouraged to share information to ensure continuity of care. Regular parents meetings are held to enable parents to discuss their child's achievements in more depth. Children take a lead role in these meetings and look forward to showing their parents and talking about the numerous displays around the school. The setting provides tailored workshops for parents to attend on different aspects of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage framework and this enables them to fully support their child's learning at home. Through these workshops parents are knowledgeable about the importance of sharing their child's interests with the school to feed into the

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the early years provision

This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 planning process. Parents are heavily involved in decision making within the school, recently giving their views on developing the outdoor area. Parental feedback is sought on a regular basis; comments indicate parents are very happy with the service provided.

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and outcomes for children

Children make excellent progress in their development because of the high quality teaching, comprehensive assessments and the staff's genuine interest in children's success.

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and outcomes for children

The whole staff team have an excellent understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage and incorporate the curriculum successfully with the Montessori philosophy of teaching. Staff have developed effective planning methods which takes into account each child's needs and interests exceptionally well. Observation and assessment methods are well developed and clearly identify children's achievements and their next steps for learning. The staff team are committed to updating these progress profiles and take considerable time adding well documented information and an abundance of photographs demonstrating children clearly enjoying themselves and achieving well as they play.

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and outcomes for children

Children enter the school enthusiastically and settle quickly. They are very confident and familiar with daily routines .On arrival they find their name cards and place them on the board. They know where to hang their coats up and place their snack on the trolley. Children sit together for circle time on arrival and are eager to tell their news about their weekends. The setting promotes a listening culture and staff are skilled to empower children to talk and share their experiences in circle time. However, the organisation of this time is slightly disrupted by some children not always fully listening to their friends and by children arriving and joining the group later.

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and outcomes for children

Children's independence is promoted continually and children are accustomed to making their own decisions as they make choices from the wide range of resources, both indoors and outside. Staff plan a well-balanced curriculum that includes adult and child-initiated play. For example, children thoroughly enjoyed investigating the properties of corn flour and staff intervene to support children's learning and pose questions to make them think and extend their learning. Children initially felt the corn flour running though their fingers and then the staff introduced different types of spoons so they could experiment with transferring the liquid using the most suitable utensil helping the children to explore the property of liquids and enabling them to solve problems for themselves.

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and outcomes for children

Children have fantastic opportunities to practice their mark making and emerging early writing skills. Children's artwork is displayed through-out the school and staff fully understand and support children's imagination in allowing their natural thinking and creativity to develop. Children concentrate well, for example, they sit for long periods of time drawing their own pictures, finding objects to draw around This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 and understand about writing or attempting to write their own names on their work. Children have great opportunities to use computers as it is an integrated part of the provision. Children learn about how to find information on the computer, for example, when studying about ladybirds they searched to find out if orange ladybirds were poisonous. They also have plenty of other resources to support their skills for the future and enjoy using the digital camera and other

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and outcomes for children

Children's personal, social and emotional development is excellent. Staff promote and role model kind and caring attitudes which results in a calm and loving environment for children to develop firm relationships. Siblings who are very close to each other are not immediately separated and given choices to spend time in the same play rooms together. Children's behaviour is handled sensitively and they respond well to praise and encouragement. Children have a good understanding of using the sand timer and use it confidently for taking turns with favourite activities.

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and outcomes for children

Children thoroughly enjoy the freedom of playing outdoors. As the school is situated on the first floor, outdoor play is built into the routine of the day to ensure children experience fresh air and regular exercise. The outdoor area has recently been introduced and staff have further plans to develop this area in the future as a supportive environment that promotes children's progress across all the areas of learning. Children have a wonderful time playing on the wide range of equipment and make excellent progress in their physical skills. They confidently ride and manoeuvre the tricycles around the garden, they take turns driving the cars and really enjoy rolling the balls down the guttering pipes, trying to run and catch the balls before they drop into the bucket. The children also thoroughly enjoy using the soft play gym room and excitedly take off their shoes before they go in and have great fun as they bounce on the trampoline and climb and roll around on the

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and outcomes for children

soft foam shapes. Children are encouraged to develop a love of books and enjoy sitting on the comfortable cushions looking at books together. They also enjoy sharing stories as a group and enjoy using props to develop their imagination and encourage them to re-tell the story in their own words.

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and outcomes for children

Children are developing healthy lifestyles as they show exceptional understanding of following good personal hygiene routines. Children independently take themselves to the toilet and know why they need to wash their hands. Children can choose to have their own snacks through-out the morning as they wish and have a drink of milk or water together. A healthy, cooked lunch is provided by the nursery at mid-day. Various themes are planned to promote children's good health and currently children are preparing for sports day and getting ready for a sponsored charity walk. Children enjoy taking part in exercise sessions and learn about the effects of taking exercise as they feel their heart beat and take deep breaths to get air in their lungs.

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and outcomes for children

Children are learning to take responsibility for their own safety and the safety of others and are able to move around the school safely, confidently and independently. They learn the golden rules of the school and have pictorial reminders displayed such as not running indoors. Children's safety is further protected by the staffs' very good understanding of appropriate supervision both indoors and outside. Children take part in regular fire evacuation practices which This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 teaches them about the importance of getting out the building safely and calmly. The school has had visits from the local fire brigade to support children's understanding and plan themes around safety. For example, during a recent safety week children acted out crossing the road safely at the pretend zebra crossing and parents commented on how this learning had reinforced the children's safety when

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and outcomes for children

in the street. 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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