Little Learners Nursery

Little Learners Nursery United Reformed Church, East Lane, WEMBLEY, Middlesex, HA9 7NN

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 26/04/2013 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 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 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 Partnerships with parents are exemplary and fostered through two-way communication, to ensure all parents are fully informed of their child's on-going progress.  Children flourish in the very safe, welcoming and inclusive environment. They settle extremely quickly, show very high levels of confidence and independence and are extremely motivated to learn.  Staff have high expectations for children and exemplary awareness of how young children learn. As a result, children make rapid progress in relation to their starting points.  A very effective key person system helps children form secure attachments, and this promotes their well-being very effectively. Excellent interaction and care experiences have a positive impact on children's all-round development and well-being.  Leaders, managers and staff work very closely as a team to ensure procedures are robust and that there is a clear focus on continuous improvement, achieved through

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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 staff and child interactions in both rooms of the nursery and outside.  The inspector spoke to parents and took account of their views of the nursery.  The inspector had discussions with the management team and members of staff.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at a selection of documentation, including evidence of staff suitability, key policies to support the safety of the children and children's learning and development records.

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Information about the setting

Little Learners Montessori School re- registered in 2012 and is run by a private provider. It operates from the United Reformed church hall in Wembley, in the London Borough of Brent. The group has use of three rooms and there is a secure garden for outdoor play. Little Learners Montessori School is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 3pm during school term times. The group is registered on the Early Years Register, and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. There are ten staff working with the children, all of whom hold relevant childcare qualifications. The area manager holds Early Years Professional Status. The group follows the Montessori philosophy of teaching. There are currently 103 children on roll The setting receives early education funding for children aged two three and four years old.

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

 further enhance children's opportunities to explore all areas of imaginative arts, offering them chances to experience live performances by local artists or nearby schools.

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who attend

A team of experienced and dedicated staff make excellent use of Montessori teaching methods and equipment to support children's progress towards the early learning goals. Staff knowledge and understanding of the areas of learning, and how children are expected to achieve for their age is extremely secure. Children are allocated to a key member of staff who assesses children's level of ability in all areas of learning on entry. They complete the progress check for children between the ages of two to three and continue to track and assess children's progress. Gaps in achievement are successfully identified and closed in readiness for school. Staff continue to track and assess children's progress making sure children are continuously challenged to reach their full potential. Children make terrific gains in all areas of learning and development. By the time children are ready for school many have exceeded the expectations for their age. Staff recognise

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who attend

bilingualism, and promote this to parents as an asset. Children who speak English as an additional language and those with communication and language delay are very well supported by staff. Staff use picture cards to help children's listening, understanding and speech develop rapidly. Staff are skilful in deciding when to step into children's play and learning and when to allow children the time to solve practical problems for themselves. They ask open-ended questions which make children think. For example, a child is asked if they think the rug they have selected is going to provide enough space for them to build their model using wooden blocks. Children consider this and then decide that the rug is too small and they need a bigger one. Outdoors, staff delight the children by joining in their role play, for instance by asking how much it will cost to have their car washed today. Children help themselves to buckets which they fill with sand or soil and then add water from the

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who attend

outside tap to see how it changes the consistency. Older children confidently identify flat and solid shapes, for instance a square and a cube or a triangle and a prism. Children use terms such as 'a linear' to describe certain shaped leaves. Their knowledge of letters and sounds is developed through fun games such as making a 'sound soup'. They learn to recognise letter shapes by moving their fingers around sandpaper letters. Children learn about the wider world through exciting experiences such as nurturing chick eggs in an incubator and then watching them hatch.

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who attend

Children enjoy working with staff to create dens where they take pencils and tape to make letters, cards and signs. Children enjoy role-play tremendously. Children make pretend dinner using real china and cutlery in the 'Little Learners Cafe.' This is superbly resourced with photographs and equipment to prompt conversation and to inspire ideas. A 'waiter' takes orders and 'the chef' cooks the food. Staff extend children's thinking and understanding by pretending to be a customer who needs help to read the menu. Children enthusiastically then begin to work out the words by sounding out the letters. Children clearly enjoy acting. However, staff have not given them opportunties to see real performing artists, such as theatrical actors, musicians and dancers, to fully support their enjoyment of expressive arts.

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

The key person system is highly effective in supporting children when settling into the nursery environment and in preparing them to start school. Staff use symbols showing emotions to encourage children to talk about and identify their feelings. Children quickly develop in confidence and learn to manage their own play and learning. They help themselves to a carpet mats which they roll carefully out onto the floor to mark out their personal space, and to form a base for whatever equipment they have chosen to work with. For example, a child begins to place thin wooden rods and small cylinders in order according to length or depth. Children respect their nursery and take part in keeping it safe and tidy. For example they independently sweep up spilt sand and put rubbish in the bin. The calmness within the nursery is remarkable. All children, including boys, for example, sit for sustained periods working with the Montessori teaching equipment. Staff

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

teach children to negotiate and therefore squabbles are rare.

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

The nursery has high-quality play and learning resources that are well presented and stored accessibly to inspire and enable children to think creatively. Staff organise visits from the police, fire and school crossing patrol officers to talk to the children about safety issues. Older children have great fun acting as 'safety spies' when they help staff to carry out risk assessments. Staff have introduced a traffic light system to help children recognise and manage their own risks. For example, they know that a red flag means danger, such as wet floor which may become slippery. When entering the 'creative room' children take responsibility for reminding each other to place the red circle on the door. This visual reminder lets staff and children know how many children are in the room, so it does not become too crowded.

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

Children keep healthy and active through excellent outdoor play opportunities. The daily fruit snacks, healthy lunch boxes from parents and mealtime conversations with staff encourage children's interest in healthy food. Staff provide excellent opportunities for children to access all areas of learning outdoors but in different ways to indoors. For example, the role play area is a car wash and children have great fun making mud soup and observing insects through a magnifier. They practise climbing and balancing on the large fixed play equipment, weaving the bikes along the concrete path and making harmonies with the musical instruments. Children use small equipment, such as tweezers to pick up grains, and use glue spreaders and sticking tape as well as kneading dough when making cakes. Activities such as these help young children develop the control needed for holding a pencil properly.

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provision

Children's welfare is exceptionally well supported by strong leadership, effective management and a highly committed and experienced staff team. Safeguarding policies and procedures, such as child protection, risk assessment and behaviour management, are rigorously implemented by staff and monitored by management. The management ensure that staff with lead roles, such as for Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities, behaviour management and safeguarding, are well trained. Children in the nursery are cared for by suitable adults through the robust staff recruitment and vetting procedures in place. Comprehensive risk assessments cover all aspects of the premises and there are well thought through procedures in place for keeping children safe on outings. Door security is given high priority during arrival and departure times. A very effective of two- way radio system is used to enable staff to call for assistance. This means that children

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provision

are able to move safely and freely around the building. Staff are highly effective in delivering the Early Years Foundation Stage. They use their expertise to combine this with the Montessori method of education. Their extremely close monitoring of children's progress helps them successfully identify any gaps in children's learning. Staff work closely with external professionals to support children with additional needs and have established strong links with the local schools.

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provision

Leadership and management of the nursery set high aspirations for quality, and this underpins all aspects of care, teaching and learning in the nursery. Excellent teamwork and focused leadership are highly successful in inspiring staff. Very successful and meticulously detailed supervision meetings and annual appraisals take place, to ensure a clear focus on high quality care and education. Staff regularly undertake training with outside agencies and on inset training days to update their knowledge and skills. The team all demonstrate a strong commitment to supporting parents and involving them in children's learning. Parents are extremely well informed and consulted about all aspects of children's learning and development. They work in complete partnership with their child's key person to support children's individual development and educational plans. Parents are very familiar with the setting's Montessori teaching methods. They are particularly

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provision

supportive of the focus on encouraging children to develop independence and practical life skills. Management have the nursery newsletter translated into the languages spoken by parents to ensure all parents have equal opportunity to be involved in children's learning. They run informal coffee mornings and provide a practical induction session for new parents to introduce them to the Montessori approach and to explain how they use this to support them in delivering the Early Years Foundation Stage requirements. Parents are invited to come in to the nursery to read children stories and to assist with activities, such as cooking. Parents hold the nursery in the highest regard. They are amazed at how quickly children settle in and extremely impressed by how independent children become. Parents of children learning English as an additional language say children make rapid progress in their development of English. This means that all children have excellent

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provision

chances to reach their full potential in the nursery.

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provision

Management, parents, children and the staff are all involved in the settings' self-evaluation process' which is extremely effective as a tool for driving continuous improvement. The area manager visits regularly to monitor and evaluate the quality of leadership. The manager evaluates the outcomes for children through direct observation and regular scrutiny of staff systems for tracking children's progress and planning for their next steps in learning. Staff carry out observations of each other's teaching practice and they evaluate the success of their planning each week. Children's views are sought through small group discussions and parents' through questionnaires. Priorities for improvement are carefully considered and proactively targeted. Current priorities are focussed on erecting a canopy in the garden so children can play outside in all weathers and completing the plans for preparing children for starting school. Teachers are invited to the

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provision

nursery to meet the children and plans are in place to put school uniforms with the role play clothes. This is a highly effective nursery with excellent capacity to continue to improve.

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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 EY450440 Local authority Brent Inspection number 885607

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 8 Total number of places 50 Number of children on roll 103 Name of provider Little Learners Montessori Ltd Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 0208 9011001

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Type of provision

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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