North Stars Nursery

North Stars Nursery 73 North Way, Kingsbury, London, NW9 0RA

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 05/03/2013 23/03/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 Previous inspection: 2 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 4 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 4

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This provision is inadequate

 Some staff have a poor understanding of the learning and development requirements.  Systems for observing, planning and monitoring children's learning and development are not effective or consistent in supporting all children to make progress.  The key person system is not well embedded to meet the needs of the children.  Children are not effectively engaged or able to sustain their interest in chosen tasks.  Staff do not consistently support children who learn English as an additional language.  Some staff are not confident and consistent in their approach when dealing with children's behaviour.  Partnerships with parents are weak, resulting in lack of continuity of care and learning for their children.  Self-evaluation is weak and has too little impact.

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It has the following strengths

 Children have access to a warm and well-resourced environment with a wide range of toys and activities.  Children enjoy flexible indoor and outdoor active play, which promotes their health and well-being.  Staff are kind and caring with the children as they play and explore their environment.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections of registered early years provision are:  scheduled at least once in every inspection cycle – the current cycle ends on 31 July

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Information about this inspection

 scheduled more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged inadequate  brought forward in the inspection cycle where Ofsted has received information that suggests the provision may not be meeting the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage or where assessment of the provision identifies a need for early inspection  prioritised where we have received information that the provision is not meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and which suggests children may not be safe  scheduled at the completion of an investigation into failure to comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Information about this inspection

The provision is also registered on the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. This report includes a judgment about compliance with the requirements of that register.

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Inspection activities

 The majority of inspection time was spent observing children in the nursery. This took place in the main area of the nursery and in the outdoor play area.

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Inspection activities

 Joint observations and ongoing discussion took place with the deputy manager throughout the visit.

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Inspection activities

 Safeguarding, partnership with parents and other agencies, and self-evaluation were discussed with the deputy manager and written policies were sampled.  Children's information and development records were sampled.  Discussions took place with parents.

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Information about the setting

North Stars Nursery registered in 2001 and operates from three rooms of the ground floor in a converted house. Children have access to an enclosed outdoor play area. The nursery is situated in a residential area in Kingsbury, within the London Borough of Brent. It is open each weekday from 8.45am to 3.30pm for 48 weeks of the year. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The nursery currently supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who are learning English as an additional language. The nursery receives government funding for the early education of two-, three- and four- year-olds. There are currently 36 children in the early years age group on roll. The nursery employs six members of staff, including the manager, most hold appropriate early years qualifications. There is one unqualified member of staff.

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must:

 ensure the systems for observations, planning and assessment are effective and consistent to provide challenge for children's learning and build on their progress

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must:

 implement effective strategies to engage with all parents, in order to encourage their contribution and involvement about their child's learning and development

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must:

 implement procedures to promote equality of opportunity and inclusive practices for all children, especially those who learn English as an additional language by, for example, learning key words in their home languages to help them feel included and valued and to support their communication and language skills

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must:

 implement effective supervision of staff to provide support, coaching and training to develop their knowledge and understanding in order to meet the requirements of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage

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must:

 implement an effective key worker system to ensure every child's care and learning is tailored to meet their individual needs and build a relationship with their parents

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must:

 deploy staff effectively to ensure all children's needs are met as they play and explore

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must:

 ensure staff have the knowledge and skills to deal with behaviour issues and to respond to changes in children's behaviour.

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who attend

Staff do not demonstrate a secure knowledge and understanding of how to promote the learning and development of children. Although children have suitable access to a wide range of resources and activities they are not always supported by staff as they play, therefore, do not sustain interest in their chosen task. For example, some children begin to experiment and explore with play dough, rolling and cutting; however, due to lack of adult input they soon become distracted and begin to run around.

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who attend

Some children enjoy painting and gluing shapes at the arts and crafts table. However, staff are unable to fully extend their experiences and language for thinking because they attempt unsuccessfully to distract the other children who are running around. Consequently, children are not able to engage in purposeful play. Additionally, other staff do not support each other or use effective strategies to manage children's behaviour. As a result, those children who are more capable lose interest in their activity because no staff are at hand to support and extend their learning. Children enjoy developing their mathematical skills as they build and construct with bricks and blocks. However, they do not fully see their activity through as staff are not deployed effectively to extend children's concentration and attention skills, and miss many chances to count with children as they play. Children have access to many worthwhile activities, such as circle time, where they

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who attend

sing action songs, learn the days of the week, talk about emotions and learn the letters and sounds of the alphabet. However, staff miss key chances during this time and throughout the day to support children who are learning English as an additional language in order to promote their communication and language skills and to help them feel valued and included.

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who attend

Children's starting points are recorded in their registration forms when they first start. However, these are not accessible to staff to use with their own observations when planning for children's interests. Some staff carry out observations of children and some evidence is available to show that children's interests are included in the weekly planning. However, observations and links to tracking children's development are not precise and often do no transpire in practice, due to some staff's insufficient understanding of learning and development requirements. Staff have a limited understanding for the required two- year-old checks and how to support children who are performing at less than their expected age and stage of development. As a result, children do not benefit from targeted interventions to support learning that matches their individual needs.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children arrive into a warm and well-resourced environment with pictures and names on individual pegs to promote their sense of belonging. Children show confidence as they arrive, separating happily from parents. Children develop their independence and self-help skills as resources are organised effectively to promote their independent choice. However, this is not consistent because staff are not effectively deployed to sustain children's interest in their chosen activities. Although each child is assigned a key person to support them in their learning, this system is not effective in practice and does not ensure that every child's care and learning is tailored to meet their individual needs.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children learn to develop their self-care skills as they learn to take their coats on and off, attend to their personal needs when going to the toilet and also learning the importance of washing hands before snack and mealtimes. These are useful skills that help to prepare them for their move on to school. Parents provide all snacks and packed lunches for their children and they enjoy developing their social skills at snack and mealtimes, as they sit with their friends and chat. Children help themselves to water when thirsty, promoting their health and well-being. Children are generally well behaved and show kindness and consideration to each other. However, when they are not engaged in purposeful play their behaviour deteriorates, resulting in them running around and disrupting other children. Staff supervise children appropriately ensuring that they are always within sight or hearing, to promote their safety. Suitable steps are taken to ensure the environment,

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

indoors and outdoors, is free from hazards to children. However, children learning English as an additional language do not always understand what is happening and why because staff do not use appropriate strategies, such as learning key words in their home language, to effectively communicate. This means overall, these children do not gain a secure understanding of safety issues. Children enjoy fresh air and exercise as they play flexibly indoors and outdoors. Children develop their physical skills, as they jump, run and climb on the various apparatus and equipment available.

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provision

The provider's understanding of their responsibilities in meeting the learning and development requirements, including how they monitor the planning and delivery of the educational programmes; the consistency of assessment; and the monitoring of children's progress is weak. Staff have little understanding how to monitor and identify groups of children who may need extra support to close gaps in their learning. As a result, some children miss key chances to be fully engaged in supportive purposeful play that is geared to meet their individual needs.

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provision

Self-evaluation systems are in place but are ineffective. Although the nursery looks at what is working and what needs improving, identified areas to improve are not sufficiently targeted. As a result improvements are limited. Some training and development opportunities are in place to support staff; they access local authority training workshops. However, the provider does not successfully, and effectively, make sure that all staff have the knowledge and skills to deliver the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. When the manager is not on site, staff are not confident or clear about their roles in practice. This has a direct impact on effectively meeting children's individual needs and requirements. The provider welcomes and develops links with the local authority's early years team. This team identifies and highlights clear targets and priorities for improvement. However, this does not translate or materialise into practice, which means

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provision

Staff have suitable knowledge of safeguarding procedures, and the identity of visitors is checked on entry to the nursery as they sign in. Suitable systems are also in place for vetting staff, which ensure children are safeguarded. Generally, required policies and procedures are in place. For example, accident/incident logs and medication records are well maintained to promote the welfare of children.

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provision

The nursery supports a number of children attending who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. However, their needs are not adequately met as staff do not have sufficient understanding of how to provide appropriate and tailored support for these children. In the main, partnership with parents is weak as all communication with parents is directed through the manager. This means staff and parents are not able to communicate regularly about the children's care, learning and development, in order to fully promote the continuity of care and learning between the home and nursery. Parents have some information about the nursery, which they can view by referring to the parents' information board. Newsletters are sent to keep parents informed about the nursery's business and the manager meets with the parents when requested and produces annual summaries of their child's progress reports. Parents report they are happy with the

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provision

feedback given to them via the manager and like the warm and welcoming environment.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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actions)

The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

 ensure that children's behaviour is managed in a suitable manner (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that the childcare is accessible and inclusive by taking all reasonable steps to ensure that the needs of each child, relating to their childcare, are met (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  make information available to parents about the activities the children will undertake (compulsory part of the Childcare Register).  ensure that children's behaviour is managed in a suitable manner (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that the childcare is accessible and inclusive by taking all reasonable steps to ensure that the needs of each child, relating to their childcare, are met (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  make information available to parents about the activities the children will undertake (voluntary part of the Childcare Register).

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 Satisfactory Satisfactory provision is performing less well than expectations in one or more of the key areas. It requires improvement in order to be good. Grade 4 Inadequate Provision that is inadequate requires significant improvement and/or enforcement action. The provision is failing to give children an acceptable standard of early years education and/or is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be inspected again within 12 months of the date of this inspection.

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Grade Judgement Description

Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider does not meet the requirements for registration.

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Inspection

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 137828 Local authority Brent Inspection number 846491 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 8 Total number of places 26 Number of children on roll 36 Name of provider North Stars Nursery Limited Date of previous inspection 23/03/2009 Telephone number 020 89056449

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Setting details

set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

Full-time provision is that which operates for more than three hours. These are usually known as nurseries, nursery schools and pre-schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the higher fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Sessional provision operates for more than two hours but does not exceed three hours in any one day. These are usually known as pre-schools, kindergartens or nursery schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the lower fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Childminders care for one or more children where individual children attend for a period of more than two hours in any one day. They operate from domestic premises, which are usually the childminder’s own home. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Type of provision

Out of school provision may be sessional or full-time provision and is delivered before or after school and/or in the summer holidays. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Where children receive their Early Years Foundation Stage in school these providers do not have to deliver the learning and development requirements in full but should complement the experiences children receive in school. 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,

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Type of provision

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Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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