Archway Children's Centre

Archway Children's Centre Vorley Road, Archway, London, N19 5HE

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 19/08/2013 29/11/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: 1 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

 Staff implement a very robust settling in process and strong key person system, so children are happy, settled and keen to learn.  Staff plan a good variety of stimulating, meaningful play activities, based on children's interests and their abilities to maximise children's learning and development. Therefore children are making good progress in their learning.  Staff work with other agencies who are involved in the care of children very well; as a result, they protect children and enhance their development well.  The management team encourages staff's professional development and the whole staff team works together very well to continually improve outcomes for children.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Staff do not always maximise opportunities for older children to improve their counting and addition skills in everyday play activities.  Tools and resources that encourage children to investigate living things in more detail, such as magnifying glasses, are not always readily available.

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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 and the quality of teaching in all the rooms and outdoor play areas.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled children's assessment records, planning documentation and policies and procedures.  The inspector spoke with staff and children throughout the visit.  The inspector undertook a joint observation with the deputy manager.  The inspector had a long discussion with the deputy manager.

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Information about the setting

Archway Children's Centre was registered in 2001 and is managed by the Early Years Department of Islington Council. It operates from purpose built premises, which are located in Archway in the London borough of Islington. Children have sole access to five classrooms all on the ground floor with direct access to an enclosed garden. Children also have access to additional rooms within the children centre for specific group activities. The nursery serves the local and wider community and is open for 49 weeks of the year, closing for two weeks over the summer. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The nursery is open Monday to Friday from 8am until 6pm. The nursery is in receipt of funding for providing early education for children aged two, three and four. There are 38 children on roll, all of whom are in the early years age group. The provision currently supports a

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Information about the setting

number of children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. There are 26 permanent members of staff, of these five hold Early Years Professional Status and six hold Qualified Teacher Status. The majority of all other staff hold relevant early years qualifications to level 2 and level 3.

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

 review the organisation of tools and resources that enable children to investigate daily and to maximise their learning during outdoor activities

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

 increase opportunities for older children to do more counting and simple addition during everyday play activities.

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who attend

The skilled staff team have a good understanding of the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. They get to know children's abilities very well through robust settling in procedures and detailed information from parents at the start. Staff spend significant time with parents, when children first start at the setting, and gather very detailed information. The setting involve the parents, outside partnerships and children at the start to gain a complete and accurate picture about children's previous and present needs, abilities and interests. Children are provided with a wide range of exciting and challenging learning opportunities in all areas of learning. This is because staff are very knowledgeable and demonstrate a good understanding of how children learn. Accurate and focussed observations are made to ensure an individual approach to planning for children's next steps in learning.

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who attend

Therefore, staff plan meaningful activities, which build on children's existing skills and interests. Parents have good access to their children's development records. They are encouraged to add their own observations of their children's development at home to maximise planning for future activities and development. Parents have regular meetings to discuss children's development with their child's key person. Staff encourage parents to extend children's learning at home through their daily discussions and children's journals that include various photographs and observations. This allows parents to record details on what their child did at home. Staff also complete the children's progress check at age two and parents are effectively involved in this process. As a result, children are very well supported in making good progress in their learning and are developing good skills for their future learning.

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who attend

Children are happy and motivated to learn. There is a good balance of adult-led and child- initiated play. For example, children have great fun using their imagination. They imagine they are on a boat, looking for treasure, as they play on very large wooden blocks in the garden. They use props, such as treasure maps they have drawn and counters that are used as 'gold and silver'. They direct their own play, as staff nearby skilfully ask some questions that prompt children to develop their language and communication and imagination. For example, they are asked what could happen if they fall into the ocean, and give them time to respond and make up their own stories and endings.

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who attend

Most staff use numbers and reinforce learning of shapes, size and volume in everyday play. For example, as younger children play with sand, staff encourage them by talking about size and weight and capacity, as they fill their buckets with sand and create several sandcastles. Whilst other children begin to collect snails and group them in order of size. Although, not all staff maximise opportunities for older children to learn simple addition. For example, older children bring 'lots of treasure' and show the counters to the staff, as begin to talk about how many each of them have got. Most staff do encourage children to become confident with numbers and counting skills. However, some staff do not fully maximise learning opportunities to fully extend more capable children to learn simple addition by adding the counters up.

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who attend

Staff provide many opportunities for children to explore and investigate outdoors and take good opportunities by using spontaneous activities to extend learning. For example, children delight in looking for snails. They collect and explore the snails as staff talk about the different sizes, and help children to learn about the habitats. They observe the snails, and talk about its features. However, children do not have access to investigative tools, such as magnifying glasses, to see what they can find more closely.

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who attend

Staff plan impromptu visits to the park to collect leaves and then children decide they want to make perfume from them. Staff encourage the children to experiment in the garden and collect sticks, leaves, soil, and water from the pond. Children gather soil, grass, leaves and water in a variety of containers and enjoy mixing them all together. When asked what they are making a child replies confidently "lemon perfume". Staff encourage the children to notice changes in the materials as they become wet and they talk about what is happening, helping the children understand about cause and effect. As a result, children's understanding of the world is developing as they make meaning to new concepts.

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who attend

Staff promote children's communication and language skills well. They provide lots of activities, which help children distinguish between different sounds, word patterns and rhythms, such as stories, songs and rhymes. Staff use story sacks and puppets well to engage younger babies and children to enjoy reading from an early age. Staff use simple words and encourage babies to babble as they learn new words and sounds. Staff talk with the children throughout the activities and give them time to think and respond in their own words. They show children how to pronounce and use words correctly by responding and repeating in the correct way.

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who attend

Early writing skills are encouraged. Children have great fun using chunky chalks to make marks in the garden. They experiment using their hands to paint and make patterns. Children's artwork is displayed and children take pride in their efforts. Staff have high expectations for all the children in their care and are committed to offering a broad variety of learning opportunities. As a result, children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress.

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

Children develop strong bonds and warm relationships with the friendly, caring staff. The key person system that is in place is strong and staff understand their key children's specific needs exceptionally well. Each child receives consistently good levels of support, which helps them feel safe and secure. As a result, children settle easily and quickly, gaining the confidence they need to explore independently. This effectively promotes their learning through their play. Staff support children effectively during the move from their home into the nursery and to other early years settings. 'Transition forms' are completed so that other early years providers are fully aware of children's stages of development.

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

Staff promote positive attitudes and manage children's behaviour successfully. They implement a behaviour management system through which children learn about the consequences of their actions and the feelings of others. In light of previous concerns for some children, staff asked for training to address different behavioural needs for variety of children in the setting. The management is very proactive and has planned new training for all the staff to ensure that behaviour is continuously managed well and consistent at all times Staff are good role models who provide consistent messages appropriate to children's developmental stage. As a result, children behave well and are learning to keep safe.

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

Staff provide opportunities for babies and older children to develop good risk-taking skills as they play on the large apparatus developing their climbing and balancing skills. For example, the garden area has challenging climbing frame and slide for older children, whilst babies can crawl into a cave area and use tunnels and slides that are all age appropriate.

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

Staff promote children's healthy lifestyles effectively. Children benefit from lots of free access to outdoor play where they enjoy the fresh air. Good hygiene practices are followed by the children. Staff change babies regularly and praise the children as they happily wash their hands after playing outside, before eating lunch and after visiting the toilet. Children enjoy healthy and nutritious snacks and meals. Children are developing good self-care skills. For example, they serve themselves at lunch time and snack time and have access to fresh drinks of water throughout the day. As a result, this increase their confidence and helps develop their independence skills. Children are encouraged to make decisions. They are developing a good understanding and responsibility of caring for their friends and their environment. They listen to and follow simple instructions. This prepares them very well for when they move onto school.

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provision

Arrangements for safeguarding children within the provision are good. Management and staff all have a secure knowledge and understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. The staff are fully aware of their responsibilities in regards to safeguarding children. They demonstrate they are aware of what to do if they have a concern about a child in their care or in the event of an allegation being made against a member of staff. The senior management team carry out full reviews on any concerns raised. Staff are effectively deployed to meet the needs of the children present. The manager routinely reviews staff performance. The room leaders also follow up with extra meetings with all staff to identify any training needs, so that behaviour management, and safeguarding issues are all clearly understood and all staff practice remains consistent. All policies and procedures are up-to-

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provision

date, including those relating to recording of incidents, complaints and accidents. These help to maintain good standards of health and safety within the nursery. There is a detailed risk assessments completed to identify areas of potential risk, so these can be addressed. The management team are strong and understand their responsibility to ensure that Ofsted are informed of any significant events. The safety of the children within the setting is fully considered.

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provision

Management follow robust vetting procedures to help ensure staff are suitable to work with children. Effective staff supervision, appraisals and peer observations successfully monitors the impact of the staff team's practice on children's care and development. Management and staff demonstrate a commitment and drive to maintain continuous improvement in the quality of care and learning for children. This includes continuous evaluation of each child's progress, evaluation of planned activities and discussion at staff meetings. In addition, management obtain the views of parents and children to complete their evaluation of the provision. The nursery have made various improvements since the previous inspections. The premises has been further secured to ensure children's safety. As a result, children directly benefit from continuous improvements to their care and development. Partnerships with parents are good. Parents are provided with very detailed information,

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provision

including how staff implement the Early Years Foundation Stage to promote their child's learning. Staff keep parents informed well through displays, daily feedback, emails and newsletters. Staff work together successfully with the other early years providers that some children also attend to help ensure continuity of care and education. The 'transition books' that are used ensure that information is exchanged regularly to support individual children's needs.

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provision

The manager oversees the educational programme and each child's development, focusing on any gaps in learning, which are then put into the planning for that particular child. This ensures the gaps are closing well. Staff have also established successful links with the external professionals involved in children's care. For example, the health visitor, social workers and speech therapist are all heavily involved from the beginning if required and they continue strengthening their links with professionals and parents throughout their time at the nursery. Staff also work with child psychologists, nurses, speech and language therapists, social services and the local authority development workers. Consequently, the children are well supported.

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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 131663 Local authority Islington Inspection number 932998 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 76 Number of children on roll 77 Name of provider The London Borough of Islington Date of previous inspection 29/11/2011 Telephone number 020 7527 4827

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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

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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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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