Elm Park Nursery

Elm Park Nursery Elm Park Nursery School, 90 Clarence Avenue, LONDON, SW4 8JR

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 10/04/2013 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: Not Applicable 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 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 Leaders and managers are very strong and effective in motivating and enthusing staff and in driving improvement.  Well organised assessments and planning are used effectively to enable children to make good progress in their learning and development.  Children have warm and trusting relationships, particularly with their allocated key person.  The warm and welcoming environment and good range of resources and activities inspire children to be motivated and engaged in their play and learning.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Children are not always given the opportunity to develop their creativity while exploring different media and materials.

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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 compulsory part of the Childcare Register. This report includes a judgment about compliance with the requirements of that register.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in the classrooms and the outdoor area.  The inspector held meetings with the proprietor and manager of the provision.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessment records, planning documentation, evidence of suitability of staff working within the nursery, and a range of other documentation.  The inspector undertook a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents and carers who were spoken to on the day of inspection.

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Information about the setting

Elm Park Day Nursery is one of two nurseries owned by the same company. The setting is a combined private nursery school and day nursery. It opened in 1991 and is located in a large converted house, with purpose built classrooms and a large enclosed garden. The nursery is situated in Clapham in the London and caters for children between the ages of three months and five years. Currently there are 167 children on roll. The setting runs from 8am to 6pm from Monday to Friday throughout the year with short breaks at Christmas, Easter and in August. Children can attend for a variety of sessions. The provision is registered on the Early Years Register and both the Compulsory and Voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It provides funded early years education for three and four-year-olds. It supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those with English as an additional language. A total of 33 three staff are employed to

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Information about the setting

work with children. Over half the staff have a relevant early years qualification. The proprietor is a qualified teacher and the manager has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Early Years Teaching. The nursery works closely with the Local Authority and has links with other registered providers, schools and children's centre. Some Montessori methods are used within the nursery.

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To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 provide opportunities for children to use media and materials in original ways using them to represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings.

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who attend

The nursery is warm and welcoming. Rooms are clean and inviting with interesting resources and activities which capture children's enthusiasm for learning. For example, children enjoy exploring musical instruments, concentrate well while building with construction blocks and develop their skills using Montessori materials.

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who attend

Children are making good progress in relation to their developmental starting points. Overall staff have a secure knowledge about children's learning and development and provide appropriate challenges to meet their individual needs. Assessments and planning are well organised and effective. Staff note individual children's interests, observe their achievements and use this information to identify children's next steps for learning and how these can be achieved. Progress checks at age two are being introduced in order to track younger children's development and early intervention sought, should this be necessary. Equality is well promoted. Children with special needs/or disabilities are well supported because staff work closely with external agencies and professionals to be able to identify and meet their needs. This is particularly evident when staff implement strategies agreed with speech and language specialists to aid children's communication

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who attend

and language. All children are gaining confidence in their use of verbal and non-verbal communication. They make their needs known and actively engage in conversation with staff and their peers.

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who attend

The nursery has established positive relationships with parents who state that overall staff know their children well. Staff work with parents to support children to settle into the nursery very well. They seek information about each child and this enables the key person to find out about their initial needs. Feedback is regularly provided and parents are encouraged to be involved in the life of the nursery as well as their children's learning and development. Generally parents are happy with the service they receive and say that staff enjoy teaching and take their role very seriously.

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who attend

Staff's knowledge of children's interests means that daily routines are enjoyable and used to help children's development. For example, singing sessions with the babies is especially well organised. All the babies thoroughly enjoy listening to the songs and are fully absorbed in the session. Younger children use malleable materials, such as, corn flour and sand which provides good opportunities to develop their exploratory and investigation skills. Although children enjoy using different mediums and materials for creative work, much of the art work is drawn by adults and decorated by the children. This means that children are sometimes restricted in expressing and communicating their own original ideas.

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who attend

Children learn about the features of living things as they look after the nursery rabbit. Older children draw and make marks in the role play area. Letter and name recognition is encouraged through use of name cards and name mats. Children develop good control of their movements and learn to negotiate space during physical play in the outdoor area. Children are able to practise using wheeled toys, climb and balance and practice their throwing and catching skills. Children learn to count and identify numbers through activities such a completing number puzzles. Children develop their social skills as they play cooperatively with friends and communicate confidently. Staff actively promote children's imagination during story times and value their contributions in order to build up their confidence.

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

Children are happy and settled and confident in the setting. Warm and trusting relationships are evident and key people take responsibility for providing care and support to the children. Effective systems are in place to help children with transitions from home to the nursery. Children have several visits to help them adjust to their new surroundings and begin to form relationships. For those children who have difficulty in settling or are upset for any reason, staff offer verbal reassurance and cuddles. As children move through the nursery effective methods are used to enable children to settle into their new room. This includes providing children with opportunities to visit their new room, informing parents about the move and introducing them to their new key person.

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

Children are well mannered and behaviour is very good. Staff share consistent expectations for good behaviour with gentle reminders to children to remember to say 'please' and 'thank you'. Children are secure in their knowledge of routines and rules of the nursery. For example, staff explain that children need to slow down when they are running indoors. Children are beginning to learn about safety as staff teach them about potential hazards. For example, reminding children to pick up toys on the floor in case someone trips and hurts themselves.

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

The environment is organised to enable children to make their own choices of activities and resources. Staff support children to become independent; they feed themselves and freely access the bathroom and wash their hands.

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

Staff enable children to gain a good understanding of the importance of a healthy lifestyle that involves physical exercise, good hygiene and a healthy diet. Children enjoy playing in the garden where they can run and get plenty of fresh air. Children are provided with healthy snacks and meals and fresh drinking water is readily available. Extra care is taken with the preparation of baby feeds and when providing milk-based foods. All welfare requirements relating to food and drink are met. Meal times are seen as a social time where children can sit and chat with their friends. After lunch, children have a short period of time where they engage in quieter, more restful activities, which helps aid their digestion.

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provision

Leadership and management of the nursery is very strong because the management team have a clear vision to provide a good service. They provide clear leadership and ensure staff have a good understanding of their responsibilities to meet the requirements of Early Years Foundation Stage. Self-evaluation takes into account the views of, staff and parents. The setting has well targeted plans for future improvement, including updating the outdoor area. Recommendations raised from the last inspection have effectively been addressed.

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provision

Policies and procedures are used effectively to support the running of the nursery and the nursery has an appropriate complaints policy and procedure. Parents know how to make a complaint and all complaints made to the nursery or Ofsted are recorded and dealt with appropriately. All required documentation is in place to support children's safety and welfare. Clear recruitment and vetting procedures are followed to check suitability of staff. Staff attend safeguarding training to keep their knowledge updated. Staff have a good understanding of safeguarding issues and procedures to follow in the event of a concern about a child in their care. Safety and security of the nursery is generally very good. Staff are well deployed and children are supervised appropriately. The ratio of staff to children is appropriate and on many occasions the number of adults caring for children exceeded the number required. As a result, children all receive the support they need and their

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provision

individual needs are met well. Weekly staff meetings are conducted to share information and plan activities for children's future learning. Staff induction, alongside regular staff meetings and annual appraisals make sure that staff have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities. On-going staff training is actively promoted and effective use is made of coaching and mentoring. The management team reviews activities to ensure that the full educational programme is being covered and supports children's development in all seven areas of their learning.

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provision

A strong partnership has been developed with external agencies to support children's care and development. The nursery has made good links with local schools and invite them in to the setting to meet the children. This helps them to be ready for the move to school.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met

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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 EY455615 Local authority Lambeth Inspection number 907133 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 90 Number of children on roll 167 Name of provider Elm Park Nursery Limited Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 0208 6781990

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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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