Gan Kinneret Nursery

Gan Kinneret Edgware United Synagogue, Parnell Close, Edgware, Middlesex, HA8 8YE

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 16/09/2013 17/03/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 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 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 All children make exceptional progress in the nursery from their starting points as planning responds directly to their needs and is clearly focussed on the learning intentions for each child.  Staff have a meticulous knowledge about the individual learning styles and needs of each child in their care and children are very secure and settled as a result.  Staff are very enthusiastic. As a result, children have immense fun in the nursery and enjoy many opportunities to play exciting, engaging games.  Safeguarding and risk assessment procedures are extremely secure and thoroughly understood by all staff in the nursery. As a result, they promote children's safety and well-being to the very best of their ability at all times.  The management team are very ambitious, extremely dedicated and hard working. As a result, they are able to make very targeted changes, that swiftly improve outcomes for all children.

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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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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children and staff in the nursery.  The inspector took part in a planned fire drill.  The inspector viewed and discussed the nursery self evaluation form.  The inspector carried out joint observations of activities with the nursery manager.  The inspector spoke to staff, children and parents about the nursery.

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Information about the setting

Gan Kinneret registered in 1980. It is situated within Edgware United Synagogue, located in Edgware, London. The areas of the nursery used by the group are three rooms in which children aged from one to five years are grouped according to their age. They also use the kitchen area, toilets, a nappy changing area and an office. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area. Access to the provision is via steep steps immediately off the synagogue's car park. There is also a disabled access and ramps leading to the back of the provision. Once inside, the accommodation is on one level. The group operates each week day during term time only between 8am and 5pm from Monday to Thursday and 8.30am to 12pm on Fridays. The nursery offers flexible drop off and collection times. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register. There are currently 64 children on roll in the early years age group. Children come from a wide catchment

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Information about the setting

area. The nursery currently supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language. The nursery employs 17 staff and all of these hold early years qualifications, including the manager. The manager holds both qualified teacher status and Early Years Professional Status and another member of staff holds Early Years Professional Status. The nursery receives support from the local authority and is in receipt of early education funding for children aged three and four.

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who attend

All children in the nursery, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who learn English as an additional language, make exceptional progress from their starting points. Staff use a very effective planning system, that focuses specifically on the learning intentions for each activity, to promote children's excellent development. Assessments of children are sharply focussed and enable staff to identify any gaps in children's learning very quickly. As a result, staff are able to plan to close these gaps very early on, and to seek early intervention for any children who need it.

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who attend

Staff plan very strongly for children's language development, and their all round communication skills. For example, staff use their body language and tone of voice to demonstrate what they are saying, as well as their words This means that they communicate very clearly with all children, including those who may have a delay in speaking, and children who learn English as an additional language. All staff make very strong use of open questions to encourage children to solve problems and think for themselves. Staff always give children plenty of time to reply, and as a result children clearly, and thoughtfully reply to questions posed. For example, when playing in the sandpit, children are exploring capacity of different bottles and boxes as they fill them with sand. Staff ask them 'what do you think will happen if we add more?' and 'how much sand do you think will fit in this one?' Children take plenty of time to answer, secure in the

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who attend

knowledge that their thoughts and ideas are very important and valued. They reply with their highly logical predictions, for example 'it might spill,' and then eagerly test this out, with great encouragement and praise from staff.

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who attend

There is a very careful balance between adult and child-led learning in the nursery. All children feel exceptionally secure throughout the nursery, even those who are currently settling in. Staff ensure that children have plenty of opportunities to be independent and direct their own play and strike an excellent balance between supporting children's play, and standing back to let children lead things themselves. For example, during a story time a member of staff reads with a small group of children. Most of the children are highly engaged in the story being read, but one child goes to the bookcase, selects their own book, settles down in a comfortable chair and avidly reads the book they have chosen. Staff skilfully recognise that this child wishes to direct their own learning and respect their choice. As a result, the child is engrossed in their book, the group is not at all disrupted, and the group story time continues to flow. Children feel very secure and eager to explore

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who attend

and investigate, because they know that their wishes are constantly respected.

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who attend

Staff provide children with very free access to resources to fully support their growing independence. Areas are very carefully organised to enable children to choose things for themselves. Staff use their wide knowledge of individual children to plan and provide resources throughout all rooms and outdoors, that excite and interest children. As a result, children become very engrossed in activities and concentrate very well in relation to their ages and stages of development. For example, children who are painting spend a great deal of time designing and creating their pictures. They readily select the equipment they need to complete their paintings. Children eagerly make many different movements with their brushes as they experiment with different techniques such as dabbing with their brushes, shaking the brushes to splatter, and making large painting movements to make broad strokes. As a result, children are able to use creative activities such as these to

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who attend

express their creativity freely and explore their limitless imaginations. The member of staff who is with them commentates throughout this activity, using actions and changing the tone of her voice so that all children can understand and interpret her meaning. As a result, all children swiftly learn to link words to their meaning. Younger children eagerly join in singing time with staff. Children sing songs that they know, using all the actions as staff encourage them to sing songs slower, or faster, louder, or more quietly. Staff are thoroughly enthusiastic during singing activities and younger children become very involved, as they absorb the enthusiastic and joyful atmosphere. These activities progress children's language development swiftly, while ensuring that children feel thoroughly welcomed and valued in the nursery. Overall, planned activities are extremely well delivered, to engage children's interests throughout. However, occasionally, for example,

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who attend

at the lunchtime collection time, group times are not quite as well managed as at other times. As a result, this individual activity is sometimes disrupted as parents collect their children, which means that some children are not as focussed as during all other activities.

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who attend

Parents are constantly involved in their children's learning and staff promote all possible opportunities to share learning with families at home. Regular concerts and parents' mornings mean that parents can spend time with the children in the nursery, to see at first hand how their children have grown in confidence and skill. Staff have embraced the idea of the progress check at age two, and have added it to their already substantial and targeted assessments to share with parents. The check is thoroughly cooperative between parents and staff, and the assessments contain lots of information from parents about things that children have, or have not done at home. This means that assessments are highly targeted and, as they are used in planning, thoroughly underpin all children's individual progress. Staff constantly monitor the activities and resources that they provide. All activities and assessments are reviewed weekly by all staff and they amend any future

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who attend

planning as a result of this review. This means that there is a constant strive to improve the educational programmes for children, and that all plans continue to meet the ever changing needs of children in the nursery. As a result, children continue to make exceptional progress from their starting points in all areas.

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

The management and staff team provide an extremely welcoming, child-led environment where all children know their feelings and ideas are thoroughly valued. As a result, children are very settled and secure, even those who have recently joined the nursery. Staff use bright displays of children's work, and display many photographs of people they know to make children feel at home and safe in the nursery. Plentiful displays of children's own work, and many low level activities, mean that children know that their contributions are always valued in the nursery. As a result, children's personal, social and emotional development is very strong. Children have completed their own 'self-portraits.' These are highly individualised and clearly demonstrate how children feel about themselves. They point these out with pride, demonstrating that they know that their feelings are thoroughly valued in the nursery.

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

The staff in the nursery consistently give the very highest priority to safeguarding children in their care. Staff complete daily risk assessments and are fully aware of their roles and responsibilities, which means that they supervise children very well at all times. Staff know exactly where they should be at all times, which means that children benefit thoroughly. The nursery has a security guard, who oversees all visitors to the nursery so that no unauthorised persons can enter. Children are all very aware of the process to follow in an emergency evacuation, and as such, are able to leave the building very quickly if there is a need. Children show that they feel very safe, for example, they confidently approach visitors and know that they can always seek reassurance from their key person and other staff in each room if they need to. Staff challenge children very well, while ensuring that they know safe ways to behave. For example, children readily use scissors with gentle

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

support from staff, who only step in to maintain children's safety. This means that children are able to develop their cutting skills, and hand control very well, while demonstrating that they know the appropriate way to handle scissors.

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

Children have excellent opportunities to develop their physical skills and their ongoing awareness of healthy lifestyles. For example, staff rotate equipment in the outdoor area on a daily basis, so that children always have new challenges in this area, including different height slides, smaller and larger climbing frames and plenty of ride on toys. As children do not know what they will find when they go outside, this means that they are constantly intrigued by resources on offer. Children take great pride in their developing physical skills and are all keen to 'have a go' at climbing the slide ladder, riding more challenging bikes and tricycles, and digging in the planting areas.

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

Staff manage moves within the nursery, and to other settings, with great skill. For example, staff used a project with caterpillars to introduce children to the idea of time progressing. Children monitored their caterpillars, regularly recording the changes they observed in pictures or simple writing. As the caterpillars made cocoons, and then began to hatch, the children observed these changes, noting that it meant that their time to move on was also approaching. The children then released the butterflies at their own 'graduation' ceremony, and this enabled children to recognise that they were moving on, in the same way as the butterflies. Children who move within the nursery benefit from many visits with the key person to the next room. Staff maintain great consistency, for example, grouping children together at mealtimes, so that children can all mix together and see staff from other rooms. This promotes a great feeling of continuity within the

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

nursery and adds to the very welcoming and warm atmosphere. As children feel so safe and secure, they behave extremely well, cooperate eagerly with their friends and thoroughly engage in activities.

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

Staff take great care to promote children's understanding of the importance of a healthy lifestyle. For example, children follow extremely secure routines, which mean they know exactly when to wash their hands to promote their good health. Older children eagerly point out food pyramids on the wall that give them great visual support to identify healthy choices. Children have many opportunities to grow and explore where food comes from in the garden. This means that they are very interested in their food and discuss it eagerly with staff. Children chat with staff throughout mealtimes and discuss how rice will give them lots of energy to play. Staff make sure that lunch times are very sociable, and a great opportunity for children to sit with their friends, and with children from all areas of the nursery. This means that children have an exceptionally positive attitude towards mealtimes. Staff have very high expectations of children and encourage them at all points.

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

As a result, even the youngest children use cutlery skilfully to feed themselves.

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provision

The management team are extremely dedicated and have high ambitions for the future of the nursery. The manager and her team have an excellent understanding of The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. The manager is a qualified teacher and she is extremely focussed on enabling staff to provide high quality teaching for all children in all age groups. The management team regularly appraise and observe staff and use weekly meetings and ongoing, frequent individual meetings, to share their high ambitions for all areas of the nursery. As a result, staff practice is consistently of a very high standard. Children benefit at all times from a highly qualified, experienced staff team, who work very closely to meet all of the children's needs. The management team involve parents, staff and children in reviewing all aspects of the nursery. They use very secure procedures to monitor the ongoing development of the nursery, to support all staff to

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provision

progress in their practice, and to identify and tackle any weaknesses. As a result, all staff are highly motivated and focus closely on the individual needs of all children in the nursery. Planning for all areas of learning, and all ages of children is extremely focussed on learning outcomes, and as a result, all staff know exactly what the aim of each activity is. All staff use this information on a weekly basis, to evaluate the success of all activities. This means that staff are able to improve all activities quickly, to underpin all children's excellent progress. As a result, even the most able children in the nursery are challenged very well on an ongoing basis.

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provision

Staff have a very clear understanding of how to promote children's safety and well-being. For example, all staff are extremely familiar with the safeguarding procedure of the nursery and are very focussed on monitoring children's ongoing health and safety. Staff demonstrate that children's safety is their highest priority at all times, through very close supervision and an excellent understanding of the procedure to follow to recognise, record, monitor and report any concerns they may have. Staff are all completely clear about risk assessment procedures in the nursery, and as a result, they are able to maintain the suitability of all areas that children use at all times. Children are exceptionally well protected by staff's thorough approach towards teaching themselves to manage their own safety. They benefit extremely well from the consistent staff team, most of whom have been at nursery for a number of years. As a result, children are very familiar with all

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provision

staff and they feel equally supported by their key person, and other staff in the nursery.

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provision

Partnerships with parents are very strong in this nursery. Many of the parents attended the nursery themselves as children and they speak very highly of the welcoming, warm atmosphere and very stable staff team. Staff take all possible opportunities to work with parents and involve them in their children's learning and care. Children's assessment records demonstrate that parents are constantly able to contribute to any observations that staff have made of their children, and that they are eager to continue activities at home. This ongoing exchange of information means that staff are able to make even more accurate assessments of children's achievements, and these feed back into ongoing planning, that is highly focussed on all children's needs. The nursery is the driving force behind partnerships with any outside agencies or professionals involved in children's care. There are very secure systems for sharing information, with an excellent regard for the

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provision

confidentiality of information about children. The nursery use any information shared, to secure support for any children who require it, and to improve the quality of the care and education that they provide to children in the nursery. This directly supports the excellent progress that all children make from their starting points, during their time in the nursery.

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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 147541 Local authority Barnet Inspection number 925710

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 64 Number of children on roll 64 Name of provider Dina Samson Date of previous inspection 17/03/2009 Telephone number 07721 527 215 or 07931 770559

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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

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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