The Park SW2 Kindergarten

The Park Kindergarten, SW2 Telford Park Tennis Club, 35a Killieser Avenue, London, London, SW2 4NX

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 18/09/2013 17/01/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: 3 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 1

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This provision is good

 Management has superb systems in place to help ensure that staff provide high quality care and learning.  Children are happy and settled because staff know them well and respond well to their needs.  Staff prioritise the safety of children. They have regular safeguarding training and have excellent knowledge of how to keep children protected from harm.  Staff provide a broad range of stimulating and challenging activities, which are based on children's skills and interests.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Although children have some opportunities to be independent, these are not as extensive as they could be, particularly during snack times.

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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 carried out a joint observation with the manager of an adult-led group activity.  The inspector tracked the progress of several children.  The inspector held a discussion with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to parents, children and staff and took their views into account during the inspection.  The inspector sampled a range of documentation.

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Information about the setting

The Park Kindergarten, SW2 registered in September 2010. It is part of a group of ten settings owned by The Kindergartens Limited. It operates in the pavilion of a tennis club situated in Streatham in the London Borough of Lambeth. There is access to an outdoor play area. There are currently 20 children on roll in the early years age range. The nursery operates from 9am to 4pm, term time only. The nursery employs four staff to work with the children, three of whom have appropriate early years qualifications. Of the four staff, one staff member is a qualified teacher and two staff members hold level three National Vocational Qualifications in early years. One staff member is unqualified and is working towards a relevant early years qualification. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and receives funding for the provision of free early education for children aged three and four years. The nursery supports children who learn English as an additional

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

 maximise opportunities to develop children's independent skills, particularly during snack times.

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who attend

Staff plan well to meet the individual needs of children in this highly organised nursery. They provide a broad variety of interesting activities, which stem from children's interests and skills, and cover all areas of learning well. A range of specialist teachers, including teachers of music, drama and tennis, enriches children's learning. These experiences support children's creative skills, personal and social development, and physical coordination skills, respectively. Staff enable children to choose freely from a wide variety of resources to create their own play. This helps children to be independent. Staff balance children's experiences by offering structured learning opportunities. As a result, children make good progress.

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who attend

Children demonstrate good technological skills as they operate simple maths programs on a large, interactive whiteboard. They learn to recognise numbers and to match them to correct quantities. Staff use opportunities to maximise children's learning well during a cooking activity. For example, they link the cooking activity to a previous task and ask the children to recollect the ingredients they used to make biscuits. Staff introduce children to a wide range of new vocabulary to describe texture of mixtures and actions involved in the process of cooking. Staff extend children's learning well by discussing how flour is made from wheat. They challenge children effectively by asking children to compare weights of different food ingredients and introduce mathematical vocabulary, such as 'more or less than'. Children play imaginatively and cooperatively while they engage in pretend play. They put on helmets and jackets independently when they decide to take on the role of

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who attend

police officer. Staff support children well to learn about nature through regular trips to woodland areas. Staff, who are trained in how to use the outdoor environment to support children's learning, offer children challenging outdoor experiences. For instance, children learn how to solve problems, work safely and cooperatively with each other using the natural environment.

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who attend

Children learn to recognise their names when they arrive at the nursery and practise writing their names on their pictures. Staff introduce children to letters and their corresponding sounds through fun, interactive activities, which keep children engaged and promotes early reading and writing skills. Children explore colour, shape and texture while creating imaginative pictures from natural and manufactured materials. These activities help children to develop good skills for later use in school.

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who attend

Children climb over obstacles, across frames and move in different ways with confidence over a good range of outdoor equipment. They balance across stepping stones and along planks, and jump confidently through hoops. Staff help children to develop coordination skills as they throw and catch balls. As a result, children develop good physical skills.

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who attend

Staff use a good range of methods to support children who learn English as an additional language. For example, staff display key words in a child's home language throughout the nursery environment to help children communicate. The staff team speaks a range of languages, which helps to support children's communication skills.

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who attend

Staff use information from detailed assessment records well to determine children's next steps for their learning. Staff carry out good quality observations regularly, which they evaluate alongside other evidence of children's skills and abilities. This helps to inform planning successfully. Progress checks for children aged between two and three years are completed and written summaries are provided to parents.

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who attend

Parents have very good opportunities to contribute to their children's learning. For instance, parents visit the nursery to read stories to children. They also share observations of their children with staff, which helps staff to plan effectively for children. Staff keep parents well-informed of their children's progress through regular parents' meetings where they review assessment records and discuss their child's development with staff.

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

Children are content and secure in this warm nursery. Staff get to know children well because they find out about children's personalities, likes and dislikes when they first arrive at the nursery. Staff use this information to plan interesting activities for children to help them to feel at home in the nursery. Routines for the children meet their needs well and children show good awareness of daily nursery events, which helps them to feel secure.

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

Children benefit from a very well-organised and carefully resourced environment. Children behave in safe ways, by handling tools and materials, such as scissors safely. Staff support this further by using outdoor learning in woodland areas to show children how to carry logs carefully and other ways to assess risk for themselves. Children have good self-care skills. They put on some items of clothing by themselves and use the bathroom independently. Children wash their hands at appropriate times and show awareness of reasons why hands need to be washed.

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

Children eat freshly prepared snacks, which cater for special dietary needs. Although children select fruit snacks for themselves, during snack time staff pour children's drinks and prepare fruit for children. This means that children's opportunities to develop independent skills are not as extensive as they could be. Children develop healthy habits because they get fresh air and exercise each day in the garden by using a range of equipment.

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

Children's behaviour is good because staff manage children's behaviour effectively. Staff have clear ground rules, which they agree with children. As a result, children know what is expected of them and conduct themselves well. Staff are fair and gentle with children and encourage children to think of ways to solve any minor disputes with other children. Staff praise children to motivate good behaviour. Children are well prepared for the move to school because staff have good links with local schools. Teachers visit the children to build relationships with them and this helps children to settle well at school.

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

Staff discuss and celebrate special events with children to teach them about difference. For instance, during Chinese New Year children make craft items to celebrate the occasion.

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provision

Staff have excellent knowledge of how to keep children protected from harm because they receive regular safeguarding training to keep their skills and knowledge up-to-date. Staff have thorough knowledge of signs to be aware of and procedures to follow should they be concerned about a child. Management has a strong portfolio of policies and procedures to keep children safe, such as risk assessments covering all aspects of the nursery, including outings, which are regularly reviewed for effectiveness. Management has robust recruitment procedures to ensure thorough vetting of staff to establish suitability for their roles. Children's safety is supported extremely well because all new staff are allocated a member of staff as a mentor. This is to help ensure that staff have good knowledge of all safeguarding and welfare requirements and to offer support and advice.

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provision

Staff have regular and very effective supervision, which identifies any issues of underperformance very efficiently. Management devises comprehensive support plans for staff, where needed, to offer training, coaching and advice. Management carries out regular and highly effective staff appraisals, which identify individual staff training needs. This information is used to select courses, which are relevant to staffs individual needs. For example, staff attended a course in letters and sounds, which led to a wide range of fun and interactive sessions to support children's learning in this area.

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provision

Management has excellent systems in place to help ensure consistency of quality of staff practice, planning and assessment. Members of the management team carry out 'listening walks', which involves visiting group rooms to focus on language and questioning used by staff when they talk to children. This provides management with superb insight into the ways that staff support children's understanding and language skills. Management monitors the provision extremely well by going on 'learning walks' where staff practice and learning environments are observed. This gives management direct evidence of how well staff meet the needs of children. Management carries out regular audits of planning and assessment and this provides detailed insight into the quality of planning and assessment. A comprehensive system is in place to track the progress of children. This means gaps in their learning are identified and responded to as required, which helps to ensure that all

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provision

children have equality of opportunity to make progress.

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provision

There are highly effective links with others involved in children's care and learning. Staff work well with members of the local community to develop children's understanding of the roles of people who help us. For instance, local doctors visit the nursery to talk to the children about keeping healthy, and visits to the library support children's early reading skills very well. The nursery has strong links with local teachers who visit to support pre- school children before they move to school.

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provision

Management has excellent awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the nursery and has identified highly ambitious priorities for development. For instance, they plan to enhance the outdoor environment by providing further learning opportunities for children. Previous recommendations have been met, such as having a clear plan in place for key priorities for development of 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 EY405767 Local authority Lambeth Inspection number 816257 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 5 Total number of places 20 Number of children on roll 20 Name of provider The Kindergartens Ltd Date of previous inspection 17/01/2011 Telephone number 01622833331

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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

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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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