Linden Children and Family Hub Nursery

Linden Children's Centre Nursery 86-92 Rectory Road, LONDON, N16 7SH

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 17/09/2013 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

 Excellent teaching and kind and caring support for every child, fosters children's care learning and development impressively. Children make outstanding progress in all areas of their learning and development and are very happy, confident and motivated learners.  Resources are extremely well organised, which means that children can easily select the resources they need in their games and enthusiastically help to tidy them away after use.  The outdoor learning environment is highly stimulating and help those children who learn best outdoors to thrive. Children relish opportunities to explore, investigate and engage in the extensive range of activities available outdoors.  All staff actively encourage parents to participate in their children's learning. They work successfully, in partnership to ensure children's achievements are maximised.  The centre teacher and the senior management team lead an extremely strong staff

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This provision is outstanding

team, who work exceptionally well together for the benefit of all the children.  Plans for improvement and systems for monitoring the nursery are very rigorous. They show a clear determination to improve provision even further.

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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 children at play in different situations both indoors and outside.  The inspector carried out joint observations with the centre teacher.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector met and had discussions with the centre teacher, several members of staff, parents and children.  The inspector looked at a selection of documentation.

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Information about the setting

Linden Children's Centre Nursery is managed by the London Borough of Hackney and is located in Stoke Newington. The early years provision, including a creche has been established since 1986 but re-registered in 2012 due to a change in ownership. The premises are arranged over two floors. The children are grouped by age in base rooms on the ground floor, with en-suite bathrooms and direct access to outside play areas. The day care provision is open Monday to Friday from 7.45am to 5.45pm, for 49 weeks of the year. There are currently 42 children in the early years age range on roll. The nursery currently supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language. The centre provides free early years education for three and four-year-olds and is part of a pilot scheme offering free childcare for some two year olds. The nursery is led by a team of qualified professionals. The head of the children's centre holds a National Professional

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Information about the setting

Qualification in Children's Centre Leadership (NPQICL) and the senior children's centre officer holds a National Vocational Qualification at level 4. A fully qualified children's centre teacher leads the nursery staff in the delivery of the educational programmes. The centre employs 16 staff, both full time and part time. All staff hold appropriate early years qualifications. The nursery benefits from the support of several domestic and administrative staff. The nursery collaborates with a multi-agency/disciplinary team in the children's centre, which further benefits all the children and their families.

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

 review arrangements for group activities, so that opportunities for every child's participation are always maximised.

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who attend

Children enjoy highly stimulating experiences and an extensive range of activities. Resources are extremely well presented and organised, which enables children to be independent and confident in selecting their own activities. Adults enthusiastically join in children's play and constantly extend their thinking and understanding. They know where each child is in their learning and instinctively offer the best possible support and challenge to help them to make progress in their all-round development. This results in all children making rapid improvement in their learning from their starting points. The learning potential of activities is embraced and staff take full account of children's interests when planning. For example, children love to cook. A member of staff works with children to make a checklist of necessary ingredients so they can make a real cake. For this children use representative pictures of cake ingredients, such as sugar, milk, eggs and

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who attend

flour, as well as their own attempts at 'writing'. This means that the youngest of children begin to reflect on their work, practising purposeful use of pencils to record what they are doing. The children recall prior experiences of cake making in their discussions.

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who attend

Babies play with an extensive variety of resources. They excitedly explore the contents of treasure baskets and use wooden spoons and real kitchen utensils to explore the texture of mash potato in a large open tray. Two-year-olds join in and make shapes, imagining these are eggs and they describe their creations, using simple sentences. They show extremely good progress in their language development.

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who attend

In the nursery garden is an immensely exciting place for children to explore and learn about nature. For example, some children closely examine an earth worm with a member of staff, looking at it through a magnifying glass and comparing what they see with pictures of other worms in a book. This means that children begin to act as young scientists, observing and reflecting on characteristics of living creatures. The garden offers children a wide variety of activities. Adults prepare inspiring experiences, which foster children's imagination and help them play together extremely well. Some children 'hide' in the tent rigged up earlier by adults and use torches to search for their toys in the semi darkness of the den. This experience is exciting for the children. They learn through playful and fun ways about using everyday technology to light up the dark corners of the tent.

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who attend

During 'circle time' children reflect together about their play experiences, which re- enforces their discoveries. Children compare their own private experience of using a bedside lamp at night time with the game they have just been playing in the nursery tent. This discussion helps extend children's thinking and understanding.

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who attend

Musical instruments strategically positioned invite children to explore sounds. Children listen and learn to recognise sounds in words, beginning to associate these with letters of the alphabet. Pre-school children learn to identify initial letter sounds in words during regular 'phonic' sessions led by adults. Children confidently use numbers for counting objects and learn about ordering numbers to 20 and beyond. This means that they are extremely well prepared for the later stage in their learning in school.

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who attend

Children who learn are learning English as an additional language make very good progress in all areas of learning and development. Staff encourage such children to use home languages in their play and learning. Most are encouraged to play an active part in group discussions and activities. Staff highly value all the home cultures of the children and their families and include these in the planning of activities.

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who attend

Adults are meticulous when assessing children's learning and development needs. They study children's interests and levels of skills, knowledge and understanding, using this information to plan play experiences. This results in children being constantly busy, eager to learn and happy in their activities. The planning for next steps in learning builds on what children can do and know at any one point, which means that children are comfortably assimilating new skills and knowledge. Each child is assigned a key person who is responsible for monitoring the child's progress in learning and development. Key persons record observations and compile progress folders for each child which are used in regular discussion with parents..

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who attend

Partnerships with all parents are nurtured by the managers and staff. An extensive and innovative system of communication, using a wide variety of media is implemented to actively promote two-way information sharing. This results in parents being helped to contribute fully to their children's progress in learning. Parents routinely receive information about their children's achievements. Staff offer parents ideas for activities they can do with their children at home to reinforce concepts and skills learnt . Together they work to ensure that all the children have equal chances to fulfil their potential.

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

Children form particularly secure attachments with their key person, which makes them feel safe and happy. Children are extremely self-confident and independent in their explorations. The nursery has very clear and well-established routines and children know what is expected of them at all times. Staff implement the nursery's comprehensive behaviour management strategy highly effectively. They model friendly and respectful relationships and as a result, children are kind towards one another and play extremely well together. Children demonstrate that they have excellent self-control and know how to adapt their behaviour to various situations. The nursery has a particularly friendly and welcoming atmosphere which has a very positive effect on children and visitors.

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

Adults are highly effective in supporting children to become independent and learn about having responsibilities. For example, children are 'special helpers' at lunch time and share out water drinking cups to their peers. The organisation of resources is exceptionally good and this enables children to make independent choices about what they need for their explorations. They independently tidy up at the end of a play session, because they know where everything goes.

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

Staff give the highest priority to the safety of children. Staff teach children about the importance of minimising the risk of spreading infections. For example, children know to put used tissues in bins, washing their hands afterwards. Children have a very healthy life style. They enjoy fresh air and physical exercise daily, playing football, climbing and being active in the outdoor play spaces. They wear rain coats and welly boots when it rains, learning about the weather by experiencing it.

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

Mealtimes are highly sociable occasions where adults join the children for lunch, chat about daily events, enjoy eating with the children and help them if necessary. Tables are inviting with flower vases and table cloths. The children are very independent and confident to help themselves from centrally placed dishes and to pour their own water from the jug into their cups. They eat nutritious, fresh meals prepared on the premises. At lunch time they start their meals with salads made out of fresh vegetables. Morning snacks are healthy with a variety of fruits. This helps children learn about making healthy choices. The nursery offers children spaces to relax and be comfortable as well as be active and explorative. Younger children who need a sleep rest in their rooms in comfort on individual mats.

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

There is a very effective programme to support children in their move from one age group room to the next, or into other early years settings. For example, as children move to other rooms in the nursery, adults organise a variety of activities through which children can gently get accustomed to new environments and comfortably settle in new groupings. Adults who care for the children work very closely together and exchange detailed information about each child's needs. This ensures continuity in children's care and education.

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

At the end of each academic year the nursery celebrates the learning achievements of children and staff. They organise graduation ceremonies for those members of staff who complete new studies and for the children who move into school. This contributes to raising both staff's and children's self esteem and maintaining positive attitudes to learning. Children are extremely well prepared for the next stage in their lives. Parents are fully consulted in this process and invited to participate in the 'move to school programmes'.

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provision

The senior management team supports the children's centre teacher so as to closely monitor all educational programmes and to ensure that these are of the highest standard. The children's centre teacher guides room leaders and members of staff in the planning of activities and experiences that meet each child's individual needs. The assessment of children's progress in learning is highly effective and helps identify early if children have any additional needs. The children's centre teacher is proactive in planning specific activities for such children, which closes any gaps in children's achievements and enables all children to make significant progress from their starting points.

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provision

The children's centre teacher monitors closely children's progress in learning and development. She compiles data which helps form a comprehensive overview of how well children are doing. Such data helps identify areas of provision which need improvement so that children's chances to develop and learn are maximised. The senior management team work closely together to further plan and implement new ideas and change. This shows that all the members of the senior management team, as well as all staff, are determined to continuously improve the provision so that all children reach their full potential in their learning and development.

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provision

The senior management team and staff make children's safety their priority. There are rigorous recruitment systems to help ensure all adults are suitable to work with children. The nursery is in an exceptionally good position because one of the local authority child protection officers is on their advisory board. This enables staff to constantly update their knowledge of child protection issues. The senior management team monitors staff as they carry out comprehensive checks of the environment to minimise hazards and the risk of accidents. Staff use highly effective systems to account regularly for all the children in their care. They are extremely vigilant in their supervision.

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provision

There are excellent systems for self-evaluation. The senior management team take full account of the views of parents, staff and children as they evaluate the provision. Although this is the first inspection under this registration, the management team have responded fully to the recommendations made to the previous owners at the last inspection and have several plans to develop and improve the provision further. The management team are proactive in supporting staff to participating in training projects, enabling them to develop their knowledge of early childhood care and education. They ensure that new learning is shared with all staff and together they plan how to implement the new ideas. All the staff have been studying towards higher professional qualifications and continue to study further.

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provision

The senior management team offer regular supervision to each member of staff to monitor the quality of their practice and ensure that they interact appropriately with children. In addition, the centre teacher observes sessions with children and gives staff feedback. This contributes to staff self-confidence and increases their awareness of how their practice impacts on children's learning and development.

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provision

The nursery has developed very strong collaborations with outside agencies including speech and language therapists, educational psychologists and the local authority advisers. Such partnerships lead to exceptionally effective programmes to support all children, especially those with special educational needs.

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provision

The nursery has been part of a pilot project in which health professionals work jointly with the nursery staff to integrate children's care. The very successful outcomes of this project, as well as other successful initiatives in the nursery, are regularly shared with neighbouring nurseries. This helps raise standards elsewhere too.

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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 EY450405 Local authority Hackney Inspection number 884287 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 52 Number of children on roll 42 Name of provider London Borough of Hackney Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 020 7254 9939

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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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