Les Petites Etoiles Bilingual Montessori – Tufnell Park

Les Petites Etoiles St George's Hall, Crayford Road, LONDON, N7 0ND

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 29/04/2013 05/04/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 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 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 Children enjoy their play and learning because staff understand how children learn and provide stimulating experiences to support their all-round development.  Staff promote children's communication and language skills very well through the use of books, by speaking regularly to them, and asking open ended questions.  Children have secure, trusting relationships with their key person. Consequently, they are settled and growing in confidence.  Children benefit from the strong partnerships that exist between the staff and parents because information is regularly shared to support children's care and learning.  Staff understand their duties and responsibility towards following all the policies and procedures relating to the protection and safeguarding of children.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Older children do not have access to a wide range of learning opportunities at the beginning of the day because the rooms are not sufficiently prepared by staff in order to create an enabling environment.  Children do not have access to information and communication technology in order for them to develop their knowledge and skills in how to operate such equipment and learn about its purpose and function.

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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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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in the children's rooms and garden.  The inspector had discussions with parents and staff.  The inspector undertook a joint observation with the manager.  The inspector sampled a range documentation including children's records.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector discussed safeguarding issues, behaviour management and recruitment with the manager.

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Information about the setting

Les Petites Etoiles Limited is a bilingual French and English speaking nursery school. The provision registered with Ofsted in August 2010 and opened in January 2011. The nursery operates from a church hall which has been refurbished to create an accessible learning environment for children. The nursery is close to Tufnell Park and Holloway Road stations, both of which are situated in North London.

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Information about the setting

The nursery has access to two large playrooms and a smaller room which is currently used for the care of one to two year-olds. There is a secure outside play area. The nursery is open for 47 weeks of the year closing for a week over Easter, two weeks in the summer and two weeks over Christmas. The provision is open every day from 8am until 6pm.

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Information about the setting

The nursery provides free early education for three and four-year-olds. There are currently 48 children aged from one to five years on roll. The nursery offers both French and English learning environments and many children are bilingual, although the nursery is open to all children.

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Information about the setting

There are 17 members of permanent staff working with the children alongside one full time chef. The manager holds a BA in Education Studies. All other staff either hold, or are working towards relevant early years qualifications, and one member or staff holds a BA in Early Childhood Studies and is working towards the Early Years Professional Status.

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

 reorganise the routine at the start of the day to ensure that an enabling environment is created in all the rooms in order to maximise children's learning opportunities.

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

 improve opportunities for children to learn the purpose and function of information and communication technology to develop further their skills in understanding the world.

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who attend

Children enjoy their play and make good progress in their learning and development in the bilingual nursery. Staff have a good knowledge of the learning requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and the French curriculum and provide experiences and activities for the children that are challenging and stimulating. Families are offered a home visit before children join the nursery. This provides an opportunity for the allocated key person to meet and observe the children in their familiar surroundings and to gain a valuable insight into their individual needs and how to meet them appropriately. The effective system of observation and assessment ensures that the next step in each child's learning journey is accurately identified and included in the planning of activities. Parents have regular opportunities to monitor the children's progress in order to support their learning at home, and to discuss any issues with their child's key person. The information gained

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who attend

from the observations and assessments is also used to complete each child's progress check at age two years.

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who attend

Language and communication are well promoted. The routine of the week enables children of all ages to hear and speak English and French. Staff use open-ended questioning skilfully to encourage children to think critically and respond. For example, the children enjoy listening to a favourite story that features counting. They are asked to think about where they might see numbers in use. Children confidently reply that they can see numbers on buses, on doors and on money. This demonstrates that staff understand that activities such as this can successfully cover many learning areas, including mathematics and understanding the world. Children's personal and social skills are also well promoted, such as through the 'hello' song at registration. During the song each child is greeted by name and asked how they are feeling. This helps children develop good self-esteem and also encourages them to learn the names of their friends. Children enjoy their play and

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who attend

welcome the positive interaction they have with staff. Staff who are in the room for the youngest children provide warm and nurturing care. The children enjoy snuggling up to them for a story. Together they look at books and encourage the children to repeat the sounds that the animals in the pictures make. Older children have some programmable toys and old mobile phones to play with. However, their understanding of the world is relatively limited compared to their other skills because they do not have access to equipment, such as a laptop or tablet computer, in order to learn how to operate information and communication technology or to learn about its purpose and function.

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who attend

Because the nursery is bilingual, the English and French languages are both spoken fluently by different staff members that the children have contact with throughout the week. This helps to ensure that both languages are fully promoted and children develop their communication skills in both. Children who have another additional language are also well supported to learn English and French. Key words in their first language are learned by staff and used to help them settle and grow in confidence.

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

The key person system is effective and this enables staff to get to know children well and for the children to form a strong emotional attachment. Children behave well because staff are positive role models and children learn what is expected of them. Any squabbles that arise are managed appropriately by staff who use age appropriate and positive strategies. All staff are aware of the behaviour management policy which clearly states that physical punishments must not be used.

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

Children have good opportunities to learn the importance of adopting a healthy lifestyle. They regularly play outside in the secure garden to benefit from physical exercise. They climb on the equipment, learn to peddle bikes and generally run around. Meal times provide children with a nutritious, balanced diet that supports their individual dietary needs. Lunch times are social occasions where children and staff sit together to eat. Children's growing independence is supported because they learn how to serve themselves. Children also explain with confidence why it is important to their health to wash their hands before eating. Children's understanding of healthy eating is further promoted because they grow their own vegetables. Children visit the local shops to buy the seeds, sow and tend them and then enjoy eating the fruits of their labour. Children develop an awareness of how to keep themselves safe because they are shown where and

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

how to cross roads safely when out on local trips.

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

The nursery has a wide range of play equipment and resources that are generally used well by staff to promote each area of learning. The nursery rooms are organised effectively, providing good challenges for children who are at different stages of development. For example, older babies have low-level steps and a slide to negotiate, while younger babies have plenty of space in which to crawl and investigate the play equipment. However, during the first hour of the day the availability of resources is limited for the older children because the rooms used by them are not fully set out by staff. Consequently an enabling environment for the children to explore is not initially created for those who arrive early each day.

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

Children are well prepared for their move from one room to another within the nursery. The timescale of the change is planned to make the transition as smooth as possible and is fully discussed with the parents. Usually a group of children will move up from the baby room at the same time. This helps ensure that children have familiar faces around them in their new environment to help them feel secure. Older children are also well prepared for their next stage of learning at school. Staff prepare reports for the school about the children's stage of development to enable them to start planning for their arrival. Nursery staff help the children to be ready for school by enabling them to learn essential skills, such as how to dress themselves and take care of their personal needs.

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provision

The manager is the designated member of staff for safeguarding in the nursery. She has attended appropriate training organised by the local authority to equip her with the necessary skills and knowledge to carry out the role effectively. She is fully aware of the requirement to report any safeguarding concerns to the regulator. The manager also has appropriate measures in place to ensure that all staff, including part time agency staff, are fully aware of their duty to protect the welfare of the children and how to report any concerns. Staff also know the procedure to follow should they have any concerns about the conduct of a colleague that could affect the well-being of a child. The robust recruitment procedures ensure that all staff have the appropriate suitability checks to work with children. The safety of children has high importance. Risk assessments of the premises are thorough and contribute towards ensuring that all obvious hazards to

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provision

The manager monitors the work of her staff effectively in order to ensure that the learning and development requirements are delivered appropriately. This enables each child to make good progress towards the early learning goals. Staff are encouraged to attend further training to develop their skills and knowledge for the benefit of the children. The nursery has a culture of reflective practice. The manager and staff identify areas of the provision to develop by routinely assessing and evaluating their work. Action plans are devised and actively followed. For example, the garden is currently being enhanced with additional equipment in order to provide a richer learning experience for children.

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provision

Staff establish highly effective partnerships with parents. Parents receive a weekly dairy that details how their child has spent their time and any topical issues. Meetings are held with parents to discuss the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and the French curriculum and how they are both implemented in the nursery. This enables parents to understand how children learn through play and suggests ways that they can support their child's learning at home. In addition, parents hold regular meetings and feed back any ideas and suggestions they have for developing the provision. The manager welcomes and considers their initiatives. On the day of inspection, parents commented that they like the service the nursery provides for the children, and the level of communication they have with their child's key person.

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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 EY412485 Local authority Islington Inspection number 910181

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 1 - 5 Total number of places 58 Number of children on roll 48 Name of provider Les Petites Etoiles Limited Date of previous inspection 05/04/2011 Telephone number 0207 697 8110

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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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