Riverside Nursery

Riverside Community Nursery 1a Riverside Close, London, E5 9SP

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 19/04/2013 12/07/2010

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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 develop a good understanding of nature and the environment through the use of outdoor and purposeful activities.  Babies and young children's physical development is well promoted through a broad range of play opportunities and the use of developmentally appropriate equipment.  Children are very independent. They see to their personal needs such as washing their hands, deciding when to have a drink and serving their own food.  The staff have established strong partnership with parents, which has a good influence on children's care, development and learning.  The management and staff creates an inclusive environment that enable them to meet the differing needs of the children as well as help parents feel welcome in the setting.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Children are not always given sufficient time to think about what they want to say when staff ask them questions because at times staff intervene too soon with the answers.  Some of the children's books are not maintained well as they are torn or have missing pages.

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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 undertook a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 Inspector sampled a range of documentation that included children's assessment records, risk assessments, policies and staff records.  The inspector had discussions with parents.

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Information about the setting

Riverside Community Nursery was registered in 2004. It operates from three rooms in a purpose built building in the Upper Clapton area within the London Borough of Hackney. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area. The nursery is open each weekday from 8am to 6pm for 51 weeks of the year.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently 47 children from birth to under five years on roll. The nursery has a number of children learning to speak English as an additional language and children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.

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Information about the setting

There are nine members of staff, seven of whom hold early years qualifications to level 3 or 4. The manager has a degree in Early Childhood studies and one member of staff has Early Years Professional Status.

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

 give children time to think about what they want to say and put their thoughts into words without intervening too soon

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

 improve the maintenance of the books so that they are suitable for their purpose and more appealing to children.

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who attend

Children are keen and motivated to learn. This is because they can make decisions about their play as they have easy and safe access to toys, books and table top activities. Staff also place toys at floor level to enable babies to access play materials easily, which gives them opportunities to have choices. Children enjoy a broad range of interesting activities indoors and outdoors. For example, staff promote children's literacy skills through labelling resources, reading stories and helping children to learn to sing the letters of the alphabet. Staff also develop the use of the outdoor area to support children's learning as they place alphabet and number posters on wall displays to reinforce children's recognition of numbers and symbols. Children's progress is monitored effectively through ongoing observations and assessments of their development and achievements. Staff successfully use their information from children's assessments to inform future planning and help move

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who attend

children on in their learning and development. Consequently children make good progress in relation to their starting points.

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who attend

Babies' communication and language skills are encouraged as staff value and respond to gestures and sounds that babies makes. Young children make themselves understood through language and actions. They are also beginning to join in action songs that help develop their language and coordination. Children enjoy looking at books and demonstrate good book handling skills. However, some of the books in the pre-school room are torn or have missing pages. This makes them less inviting for the children to go and look at. Children's listening skills are good. They listen and take turns when speaking in groups during circle time sessions. Staff ask children open-ended questions during activities to develop children's language. Although at times, children are not always given the chance to demonstrate what they know because staff intervene too soon with the answers. Children are confident in counting beyond 20 and some children can recognise numbers

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who attend

one to nine. Children know the days of the week, the months of the year and they are learning about the different seasons.

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who attend

Children are introduced to wildlife outdoors and they learn about their environment through planned and purposeful activities. For example, children visit the secured pond in the garden where they discover bugs and observe algae and seaweed growing in the pond. Children dig and explore mud, and plant seeds to grow tomatoes and lettuces for their lunch. Staff bring in spiders so that children can look closely at insects. Children express their excitement and squeal with delight when the spider falls out of the container onto the floor. Children are beginning to show care and concern for animals as they help to feed and look after the rabbit. Children's understanding of the local and wider community is developing well. For example, they visit the local fire station to learn about the work of the emergency services. Children are also taken out on visits to central London to places of interests such as Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar Square.

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

Children arrive happily and settle quickly because the staff are warm, friendly and attentive to their individual needs. Children behaviour is good and they play well together. Staff support younger children in sharing and taking turns. The manager and staff are committed to providing an inclusive service for the children and their families. For example, they make the nursery welcoming to parents. Staff encourage parents to share their knowledge about their child's culture, language and abilities. Staff use this information to recognise, understand and meet the children's specific care and learning needs. The manager and staff display posters and photographs of adults and children from diverse backgrounds. They also display a suitable range of dual language books representing some of the community languages in the nursery's hallway. This helps to support children's understanding and acceptances of differences. Staff help children to

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

learn how to stay safe and be aware of safety issues. For example, staff remind children to sit nicely on the floor so that other children do not trip over their legs. Children are also encouraged to help with tidying up and children respond to staff's requests. Children demonstrate good hygiene habits as they wash their hands before lunch, after arts and crafts and outdoor play. Children's independence is encouraged as they help themselves to drinking water throughout the session. Children serve their own food at meal times and choose to eat with a fork or a knife and fork. Children enjoy varied and nutritious lunches and snacks that help them to develop good eating habits. Staff keep the babies milk kitchen area clean and tidy and they ensure that babies' bottles and toddlers' beakers are labelled to reduce the risk of cross infection. Staff follow babies individual routines for eating and sleeping. This promotes continuity of care and contributes to their

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

physical well-being. Children enjoy outdoor play to experience fresh air and take part in physical games, such as, riding tricycles, balancing on beams and using the climbing wall equipment. Babies and toddlers gain physical skills appropriate to their stage of development. For example, babies use low level furniture to pull themselves up to a standing position and push and pull along toys to aid their mobility. Young children are learning to ride tricycles and begin to pull themselves up on low level climbing frames.

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provision

Children's welfare is safeguarded as staff have good knowledge of child protection issues and know how to proceed if they have any concerns about a child. The manager ensures that the premises are kept secure and good procedures are in place to prevent unwanted visitors gaining access to the children. The nursery has a strict policy in place regarding the use of mobile phones and cameras, which staff adhere to and this further promotes children's well-being. The children's safety is consistently monitored. For example, staff carry out daily visual checks to minimise potential hazards to children. Also, comprehensive risk assessment records shows that any identified potential hazards that have been identified are quickly addressed. This helps to ensure that the environment remains safe for children to play and learn. The leader and manager have effective recruitment procedures in place. This means that suitable persons are employed to look

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provision

The manager takes responsibility for making sure that new staff take part in the induction process so that they quickly gain knowledge of the procedures for the safe management of the children. The leader and the manager actively encourage staff to undertake ongoing training in order that they have the relevant information to provide care and support children's development. The manager offers staff regular appraisals that identifies their training needs and supervision that guides them in their role. There are clear systems in place for assessing staff's practice and ongoing suitability to work with the children. This helps to support and promote the children's welfare and education in the setting. The management team and staff have good understanding of their strengths and they continuously take part in ongoing self-evaluation processes to assess and improve the outcomes for children.

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provision

Staff work closely with external agencies to ensure that children with learning or physical disabilities gets the support they need. The manager and staff's relationship with parents are well established. Staff greet parents and make them feel welcome on their arrival. They give daily feedback to parents about their child's general wellbeing at the beginning and end of the day. Staff complete a daily diary for parents giving information about their child's food and drink intake, nappy changes and sleep. This promotes continuity of care for the children. The manager and staff have successfully addressed the previous inspection's recommendation to improve parents involvement in their children's learning. For example, parents contribute to their child's assessments at open day; they are invited to share their hobbies or skills with the children during activity sessions and to attend the nursery's annual seaside trip. This has a positive impact on children's development and

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provision

learning. Parents say that they are happy with the care and learning that their children receive. They say that the staff give their children good support to help them be ready for school. Parents also say that they are made to feel welcome and the staff are approachable.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met The requirements for the voluntary 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 EY278939 Local authority Hackney Inspection number 909503

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 42 Number of children on roll 47 Name of provider Riverside Community Nursery Ltd Date of previous inspection 12/07/2010 Telephone number 0208 806 7143

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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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