The Kindergarten at St Joseph's Ltd

The Kindergarten at St Joseph's Limited St. Josephs Catholic Primary School, Rosebank, EPSOM, Surrey, KT18 7RT

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 13/09/2013 28/05/2012

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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 feel safe and secure within the welcoming nursery environment and enjoy a wide range of interesting learning opportunities.  Children are greeted warmly on arrival by the friendly staff team. They have developed secure relationships and the staff know all the children well.  Strong partnerships with outside agencies help to meet all children's needs. Staff have formed good relationships with local schools and have a variety of ways to support and prepare children as they move on to their next stage of learning.  Staff have a calm and consistent manner with the children and are good role models. They afford children time to undertake activities at their own pace and ensure they are all able to contribute.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Children do not always have good opportunities to practise their early writing skills as they play.  The children do not have a named secondary key person who is able to help support their needs when their main key person is not 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 routines in the playrooms and the outside area.  The inspector talked with some staff and children during the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held discussions with the manager/provider and undertook a joint observation of a teaching activity.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at a sample of available documentation such as observations, the safeguarding policy and risk assessments.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents through discussion with them on the day of the inspection.

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Information about the setting

The Kindergarten at St. Joseph's Limited registered in 2011. It operates from a self- contained unit in the grounds of St. Joseph's Catholic Primary School in Epsom, in Surrey. Children have access to two playrooms, a log cabin, a kitchen area for cooking activities and two enclosed gardens for outside play. The kindergarten serves the local community.

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Information about the setting

The kindergarten is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently 62 children on roll between the ages of two years six months and the end of the early years age group. Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. The kindergarten is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two, three and four years.

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Information about the setting

The kindergarten is open Monday to Thursday from 8.55am to 11.55am and 12.35pm to 3.05pm, and Fridays 8.55am to 11.55am, during term time. A lunch club is organised in the last term of the academic year for children moving on to school. The out of school club, known as D2D, is open each weekday during term times from 7.45am to 8.50am and from 4pm to 6pm.

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Information about the setting

The kindergarten employs 12 members of staff who work with the children, including the owner/manager who holds Early Years Professional Status. Eight members of staff hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 and above including one staff member with qualified teacher status.

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

 strengthen further the partnership with parents, for example, by identifying a secondary key person to step in when the primary key person is absent

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

 extend the range of opportunities to support children's interest in literacy, for example, by making sure that there are consistent opportunities to make marks and write in the garden and in role play areas.

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who attend

Children arrive at the kindergarten and are greeted warmly by the friendly staff team. Although this is the beginning of term, they are aware of the procedures to find their name cards and hang their coats up independently. They quickly engage in the good range of activities available to them. Children's individual key persons assess and monitor their progress and they show that they know their key children well. Written plans are primarily focused on the resources the team need to set out each day. However, there are discussions within the team about the learning intentions for children behind these activities. The staff record observations of the children in their daily contact book and produce summaries of children's progress, which they share with parents. Staff are proactive in assessing and supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. There are good systems in place to support children's move on to school. For

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who attend

example, before the summer holidays, they operate a lunch club where children visit the school to eat their packed lunch. This helps them prepare for the school environment. They have photographs of teachers and a box of school uniforms for children to investigate. Resources are of good quality and children can access them easily. The children have opportunities to move between the two rooms after registration, and later the outdoor area to learn through play. This term the staff team have created a space for one to one and small group work to support specific children and their needs.

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who attend

Regular cooking activities are organised very well and the children enjoy cooking pizzas in small groups. They are all given time to explore each part of the activity, in order to extend their learning across a number of areas. The children learn about safety and hygiene through discussion with the staff member. They are encouraged to refer to a recipe book that includes clear pictures as well as text, which supports their literacy skills. The children talk about the ingredients and link their experiences from home to the activity. They squeeze, measure, stir and roll the ingredients and have the opportunity to decorate the pizzas how they wish. The activity is repeated in order that each child has the opportunity to take part.

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who attend

Children can access pens and pencils from low-level shelves in one of the rooms in order to write to develop their literacy skills. However, there are fewer opportunities for them to write in other areas, for example to label their pictures and to practise writing as they play in the garden. Children sit in a cosy area and look at books independently as well as listening to large group stories read by staff. Children study a poster in the garden and act out being the teacher, asking the others to find specific letters, praising their friends excitedly when they get it right. Children at the out of school provision use the computer programs skilfully. When children discover a spider on one of the large ride-in toys, they observe this closely and then go on a hunt to find other insects on the rest of the equipment, developing their understanding of the natural world.

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who attend

Staff encourage children to use mathematical language. The children busily count items and match them to numerals. Activities such as sand play support children's knowledge of measuring and volume. Children spend time in the home corner engaging in imaginative role play based on their own first-hand experiences. They pretend to cook and take dolls for walks in their buggies. Although well equipped, there are fewer opportunities in the kindergarten for children to explore other areas of the curriculum, such as writing shopping lists and making notes in diaries to support their literacy development. The dressing up clothes are well used and children enjoy wearing these throughout the session to engage in make-believe play. Children are able to express their ideas through painting and have the opportunity to closely observe and explore items, such as fruit, which they paint.

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

Children settling into the kindergarten at the start of term are supported by staff to understand the routine to help them feel secure. The diversity of the staff team means that they are able to speak with some children learning English as an additional language in their home language. This helps to give them a sense of belonging. Staff support children's well-being by ensuring that they have opportunities to play in the garden every day. There are raincoats available to enable them to experience the outdoors in all weathers. Staff are in the process of developing the garden areas and have been inspired to research ideas based on 'Forest Schools'. The children have grown vegetables such as pumpkins and tomatoes, which helps them to learn about where food comes from. They enjoy harvesting these to eat and are careful to pick only the red tomatoes. There are opportunities for physical activities each day. Children negotiate space on ride-on toys and

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

push their friends to help them go faster. They roll and pummel the dough with gusto to mould it into different shapes with their hands.

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

Children are happy in the kindergarten and have made good relationships with their key person and other staff members. Children are developing friendship groups and some share ideas with each other. They go around the kindergarten pretending to take photographs of other children, staff and visitors while pushing their buggies through the nursery. Children behave well as staff members are skilled at managing behaviour. They are good role models as they are calm and respectful to the children and each other. Children offer help to others and respond positively when adults suggest that they share their dough as they have more than the others. During small group activities children are all given an opportunity to have a turn. Staff actively listen and respond to them. As a result the children are fully engaged in the activity, which extends their learning.

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

The kindergarten provides food for the out of school provision to support their good health. For example, they have a choice of cereals, toast, jams and fruit each morning. They have a nutritious tea, such as soup and bread, pizza and pasta each day. Kindergarten children bring fruit in to share with their friends. Snack times are organised so they do not interrupt children's play and promote their independence. They can go to the snack table and pour themselves a drink when they are thirsty and eat when hungry. The staff know children's dietary requirements and they monitor snack times, to make sure children eat appropriate food for their needs. Children are keen to wash their hands prior to handling food and after toileting. Staff explain the reasons why this is important so that the children gain an understanding of good hygiene practices.

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

Staff give children gentle reminders about safety during the day. For example, when children are cooking, the staff member establishes children's understanding of not touching hot ovens. Regular fire drills introduce children to how to keep themselves safe when leaving the building in an emergency.

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provision

Children's safety and security is supported as the staff and managers have a good awareness of safeguarding issues. The premises are within the school grounds. The staff monitor the two entrances to the kindergarten gardens and the entrance to the playrooms at the start and end of each session. During the day the gates are secured with locks and the doors are locked unless a staff member is outside with the children. As a result children are prevented from leaving the premises unsupervised and unauthorised persons do not enter the kindergarten when children are present. The children who attend the out of school provision are escorted to and from their classes for their safety and welfare. They wear high visibility vests to enable staff to supervise them effectively during this time.

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provision

Children are safeguarded by the organisation's robust recruitment and vetting procedures, including the successful induction of new staff. There is evidence that all staff hold required checks to show they are suitable to work with children. Signs remind staff, parents and visitors that mobile phones cannot be used in the kindergarten, to help protect children's well-being. Ongoing safeguarding training is in place for staff and managers and they also highlight safeguarding as an agenda item at each staff meeting. This helps to ensure that staff maintain a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities to safeguard children and report any concerns about their welfare or allegations against a member of staff. A number of staff hold valid paediatric first aid certificates in order to treat children appropriately in the event of an accident.

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provision

Overall the staff have a good relationship with parents. Regular newsletters are shared with parents to keep them informed about the kindergarten and the care of their children. Parents have meetings with key persons to share information and assessments of their child's progress. The provider is aware that this is less frequent for younger children and is addressing this. There are regular parents' meetings where parents are able to learn about how the kindergarten operates and how activities support children's learning. This is being strengthened by the introduction of parent representatives as a link with management. Parents' questionnaires are carried out to seek feedback to identify areas for development. Daily feedback is given verbally as well as recorded in a contact book. Parents report that the key strength of the kindergarten is the friendliness of staff and the homely feel. They feel security at the kindergarten is very good. They appreciate the regular newsletters,

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provision

information books about their child and emails they receive. This gives them ideas of how they can support their children's learning at home.

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provision

A number of staff work on a part-time basis. As a team they work together to ensure that they meet children's needs and they carry out observations on all children to share with the key persons. However, parents are not clear who is acting as a 'special person' for their child when their key person is not available. This is because they do not have a back- up key person and this has an impact on the care of the children and partnerships with parents. There are strong links with the school and other settings that children attend. The provider has been proactive in forging relationships with other agencies to support children's individual needs. They welcome visits from other professionals, such as speech therapists, which aides the nursery staff to provide continuity of care and learning for every child.

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provision

The provider has identified strengths and weaknesses of the kindergarten and is effectively monitoring the effectiveness of the educational programmes to make sure children are making good progress across all areas of learning. The staff have clear priorities and plans for improvement and demonstrate that they have a strong drive to secure better outcomes for children. Supervision and mentoring of staff was previously undertaken on an informal basis but there are now effective systems, which include regular appraisals. Staff meetings take place regularly, and before opening each morning the team chat briefly together to share information. As a result, staff work well individually and as a team for the benefit of the children.

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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 EY429414 Local authority Surrey Inspection number 928624

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 8 Total number of places 40 Number of children on roll 81 Name of provider The Kindergarten at St Joseph's Limited Date of previous inspection 28/05/2012 Telephone number 01372 720381

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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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