Faith Montessori Nursery Ltd

Faith Montessori Nursery Ltd 262 Stanstead Road, London, SE23 1DE

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 18/06/2013 10/06/2010

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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

 The nursery is in breach of several safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and the Childcare Register. Staff are not deployed adequately to ensure that children are in sight and sound, or in sight or sound of staff at all times. As a result, children are not kept safe from harm at all times.  The monitoring of the educational programme does not ensure a consistent approach to assessment. This results in a poor learning experience for some children, including those who may have special educational needs and/or disabilities.  Staff do not take prompt action to seek intervention when they identify a possible delay in some children's development.  The nursery staff do not find out about children's home languages, or use these in everyday play, to develop children's understanding of English from the basis of their home language.

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It has the following strengths

 Children are well nourished because meals provided are well balanced and healthy.  The setting works well with parents in preparing their children for school.

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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 inspector observed activities involving children and staff.  The inspector carried out a joint observation with the manager.  The inspector sampled children's assessments and planning.  The inspector spoke to parents to ascertain their views of the nursery.  The inspector looked at the setting's policies and procedures for safety.

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Information about the setting

Faith Montessori Nursery opened in 2004 and expanded in 2010. It is located in the Catford, Forest Hill area of the London Borough of Lewisham. The nursery operates from three floors of a large semi-detached house and there is a secure garden for children to enjoy outdoor play. The nursery is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education to children aged two, three and four and follows the Montessori educational philosophy. The nursery is registered on the early years and compulsory and voluntary childcare registers. It is open from 8.00am until 6.30pm for 51 weeks of the year, closing for Bank Holidays and one week at Christmas. There are currently 98 children on roll aged from six months to five years. The setting supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who are learning English. Access to all areas may be difficult for disabled users due to the presence of three flights of internal stairs, however,

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Information about the setting

access to the ground floor is suitable for wheelchair users. The nursery employs 20 staff, all of whom hold appropriate early years qualifications.

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must:

 ensure that staffing arrangements meet the needs of all children and ensure that children are always within sight and hearing, or sight or hearing of staff.

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must:

 take all reasonable steps to provide opportunities for children to develop and use their home language in play and learning, supporting their language development at home.

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must:

 seek swift and appropriate intervention when they consider that a child may have a special educational need. which requires specialist support and take steps to link with, and help families to access, relevant services from other agencies as appropriate.

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must:

 foster a culture of mutual support, teamwork and continuous improvement to bring about consistency in the monitoring of the educational programme and the quality of assessments for all children, so that staff can identify solutions to address issues as they arise.

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who attend

Overall the staff team understand how to implement the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Most children's starting points are carefully recorded and observations used to accurately identify some children's capabilities and areas of need. Planning is linked to most children's interests and covers the areas of learning with the addition of Montessori activities for older children. This means that overall, activities are age appropriate and that some children are able to benefit from them. Children are cared for in small groups, which helps them feel secure. Babies show that they are comfortable in their key groups as they enjoy songs and rhymes and close contact with staff. Older children enjoy the company of their friends. They are well behaved and show consideration for each other, for example helping one another with activities. However, staff have failed to use observations and assessments effectively in some cases. For

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who attend

example, for some children, where there are possible delays in their speech and language development, staff have not observed, assessed or made appropriate use of their understanding about child development, to seek further investigation into the child's individual learning needs. As a result, some children do not benefit from clear action plans to close identified gaps in their learning. This means that these children do not make sufficient progress in some areas, for example, communication and language. As staff have not gathered secure information on languages that some children learn at home, these children do not have opportunities to use their home language as a base from which to develop their understanding of English. As a result, the development of these children's communication and language skills is not sufficient. This means that for these children, the development of their skills to support them in future learning, is not good enough.

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who attend

At the moment, children are learning about world travel and staff have planned a range of interesting creative activities, such as making musical instruments and necklaces. This promotes children's abilities to understand expressive arts and design. Children also have the freedom to express themselves during role play and adults support them as they play shops in the garden. Robust physical play in the garden fully supports children as they enjoy games of basketball and ride bikes. Older children learn to write their names and are writing recognisable words often linked to counting games and activities. They learn about number, shape, space and measurement through planned activities. This means that some children are learning appropriate skills to help prepare them for school.

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

There are significant weaknesses in the deployment of staff around the nursery buildings, that impacts on children's safety and well-being. While children benefit from working in small groups, older children are in a classroom with one member of staff. This means that staff are unable to provide constant supervision. For example, on the day of the inspection a member of staff left children unattended in a classroom to attend to assist another child for some minutes. There are unclear arrangements in place for supervision of children when staff have to use the toilet. This means that children are unsupervised at some points during the day and that they are not always within sight and hearing, or sight or hearing of staff. This is a breach of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and undermines children's safety and well-being.

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

Documentation in place overall supports health and safety. For example, risk assessments are used to minimise hazards inside the building and in the garden area. However, key weaknesses in staff deployment have not been identified in these risk assessments, which means that arrangements to promote children's safety are not robust. Adults encourage children to take manageable risks to develop their independence. For example, they enjoy climbing and balancing in the garden with staff close by to offer support and help when needed. Children are polite to one another due to the positive encouragement of staff. They are able share and take turns and behave well during adult lead activities and games of their own making. This helps them learn social skills in preparation for school.

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

There is a clear daily routine, which ensures that children have a balance of indoor and outdoor activity, play and rest. Meals provided are of good quality and nutritious, they are combined regular healthy snacks and drinks to ensure that children are well-nourished. Babies are helped to feel safe because the baby room is well organised and staff are able to spend time directly with them to help them settle, feel secure and contented. There is a specific area of the garden for babies to play outside which is safe and stimulating. Babies enjoy outside activities, such as painting and explore shape and texture using play dough. Arrangements for changing nappies are appropriate and hygienic and younger children have the opportunity to rest after lunch. This contributes to the younger children's welfare and supports their overall development.

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provision

Evidence gathered at the inspection demonstrates that the provider is failing to meet a requirement of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation stage and the Childcare Register. The issue relates to the failure of staff to provide direct supervision to children at all times. This is because the deployment of staff around the building, to promote children's safety, through appropriate supervision is poor.

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provision

The nursery director and manager have an appropriate understanding of child protection matters, and signs and symptoms that would cause them to be concerned. All required documentation is in place and shows that staff have been checked to ensure their suitability. Policies and procedures are shared with parents and this helps to protect vulnerable children. Systems used to check for daily hazards inside and in the garden are generally used well, along with regular risk assessments to identify hazards and reduce risks. However, the nursery management have failed to identify issues within the deployment of staff and these have led to children being left unsupervised.

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provision

Self-evaluation is in place and shared with the staff team to identify their views and plan for improvements. This enables all staff to think about what they do well and reflect on what they could do better. However, this is not sufficiently rigorous as there are significant weaknesses in the assessment of some children, and the supervision of some children, which negatively impacts on the development and safety of some children in the nursery. The nursery has some drive to improve. For example, staff have regular appraisals, clearly linked to their on-going professional development and training provided by the local authority. This means that the nursery has the capacity to improve because the manager understands the importance of staff development. However, the monitoring of the educational programme is not consistent and means that staff do not always pick up on information, such as children's home languages to appropriately support all children in the

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provision

The nursery has secure links with the local authority to access training and partnerships with other professionals working in the community. This means that the nursery is able to access support for some children who need it. However, they have not successfully sought intervention for all children who may require additional support, so that they can benefit from local services. Staff share information with parents when completing the two-year check and encourage them to seek further advice when needed. The setting works with parents when it comes to preparing children for school. This means that most children are able to benefit from this approach to shared working.

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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 receiving childcare are kept safe from harm (compulsory part of the childcare register).  ensure that children receiving childcare are kept safe from harm (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 EY278613 Local authority Lewisham Inspection number 923199 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 70 Number of children on roll 98 Name of provider Faith Montessori Nursery Ltd Date of previous inspection 10/06/2010 Telephone number 0208 291 8580

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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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