Bemerton Childrens Centre

Bemerton Childrens Centre 1a Coatbridge House, Carnoustie Drive, London, N1 0DX

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 25/09/2013 11/06/2012

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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

 Management and staff are passionate about the provision they offer, they are constantly evaluating using the views of staff, parents and professionals and current professional tools to assist in the successful development of the provision.  Children are confident and very well motivated to enjoy the broad variety of activities and experiences available to them.  Communication and language skills are developed exceptionally well. Staff provide excellent interaction and commentaries to their actions encouraging children to develop their listening and speaking skills with confidence.  Staff are knowledgeable and well qualified for their roles. There are very strong systems in place to support and develop staff's knowledge and skills continuously.  Parents are kept well informed of developmental progress. Staff genuinely value parental participation and use parent's knowledge of the children, to enhance all

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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 the premises and resources with the manager and deputy.  The inspector observed the children and staff at play.  The inspector examined records and documents provided by the manager.  The inspector spoke to parents.  The inspector discussed the provider's self evaluation.

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Information about the setting

Bemerton Children's Centre opened in 2004. In 2007 the re-organisation of the children's centre brought together the local Sure Start programme and early years centre. It is a local authority run provision. The centre operates from purpose built accommodation. There are three classrooms available which all lead directly to a secure outside play area. The centre is situated off the Caledonian Road in the London Borough of Islington. The centre serves the local and wider community and is open Monday to Friday from 7.45am until 5.45pm for 49 weeks of the year. They also close for five training days throughout the year. Children may attend on a full or part-time basis. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and also both parts of the Childcare Register. The centre also offers a holiday play scheme for under the age of eight years of age. There are currently 63 children on roll in the early years age range. The nursery currently supports a number of

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Information about the setting

children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. There are 27 members of permanent staff working with the children. The manager holds Qualified Teacher Status in Primary education, and has a Master of Arts degree in Early Childhood Studies. He also holds the National Professional Qualification in Integrated Centre Leadership. There are three qualified teachers working in the nursery and two staff have Early Years Professional Status qualifications. Seventeen members of staff have Early Years qualifications at level 3 and four staff hold qualifications at level 2. One staff member is unqualified.

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

 explore and develop more innovative ways to develop wider links in the local community to benefit young children and their families.

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who attend

The nursery is highly successful in engaging parents to participate in their children's learning. Parents have unlimited access to their children's profile books and also many opportunities to see and add comments to their development files. Staff informally discuss the day with parents when they collect their child, ensuring important information is shared on a daily basis. Pre-school children take a book home with them to share. This simple activity helps to develop a very strong link between home and nursery. This also provides a very useful opportunity for parents to further support their child's literacy skills. Throughout the nursery, children are interested and very well motivated to explore and experiment. For example, in the baby room a toddler tries to kick a soft large ball. This encourages coordination and balance. The staff member rolls the ball back encouragingly and the child tries again eventually managing to kick it confidently. Children demonstrate

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who attend

increasing social skills as they cooperate with each other, for example, as they push their playmates along on wheeled toys.

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who attend

Staff plan enticing activities to encourage all aspects of the children's development and to help prepare and inform children about events. For example, many children have new babies in their homes and some are due to undergo their progress check at age two. Staff provide resources where children can wash and feed baby dolls and a clinic with signs and medical apparatus so they can act out being the doctor and nurse. Staff engage in the activities acting as role models and also encouraging language development. They skilfully promote communication and language exceptionally well. All the staff listen attentively and respond to children appropriate to their level of understanding and development. Sometimes they provide a narrative to their own or the child's actions, ask open questions and listen to the responses. Staff encourage children's development in all aspects exceptionally well because staff talk to children about everything. They include

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who attend

mathematical ideas, knowledge about the natural world and creative language into all that they do. Staff help children to recognise their feelings through their warm nurturing interactions and games. For example, role play provides an opportunity for an adult to pretend the baby doll is grumpy because she needs her food, the child later mimics the sounds in play with the doll and pretends to feed it. They use face puzzles and the camera to take photographs of themselves smiling and frowning. Staff talk to the children about what they see and how they look. Children have many opportunities to use a variety of writing materials, to draw and to paint. They use the computer with increasing skill and confidence to undertake age appropriate games. During the summer they have developed their knowledge of the natural world as they grew a variety of fruit and vegetables in the garden and picked and tasted them. Staff look for innovative ways to encourage children's

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who attend

interests and participation. For example, in preschool they have many new children and they need to learn each others names. So, they sing a welcome song and each child is mentioned by name. The children enjoy this and willingly participate.

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who attend

Staff undertake high quality assessments of the children's progress. They observe and identify potential achievable next steps and share this information with colleagues along with children's emerging interests. This information is used to inform a very accurate summary of development enabling staff to easily see if the child is progressing as expected through the developmental stages. This means that staff are able to identify any gaps in children's development extremely quickly and tackle these immediately. If they have concerns they will discuss with the senior staff and sensitively discuss with parents to ensure the child gets any help they may need. High quality two year progress checks are undertaken in partnership with parents. This involvement of parents in all aspects of their children's education means that staff are able to provide extremely targeted support for all children in their care. This underpins all children's excellent progress.

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

Staff take excellent care to promote children's well-being. Staff fully understand the importance of providing children with a very strong sense of security. They do this by ensuring children have familiar people caring for them who understand their individuality at all times. Strong, familiar routines also help children to feel secure and confident. Children explore confidently and show curiosity in all that is around them. Staff are vigilant and manage undesirable behaviour calmly and patiently. They are proactive and promote children's positive behaviour at all times. They distract children whenever necessary and talk about appropriate behaviour with children to reinforce positive messages. Staff undertake many activities to encourage children to discuss their feelings and recognise the different feelings of others around them. This fully supports children to develop empathy and to recognise how others are feeling.

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

Staff take many opportunities to talk to children about safe behaviours both in the nursery and when they go on outings. This means that children develop a swift awareness of how to manage their own safety. Staff provide the children with many opportunities to use utensils in activities and at mealtimes, enabling them to safely develop their skills. They regularly practise the fire drill ensuring the premises can be swiftly evacuated in emergency. Staff supervise the outdoor area very closely as the children mingle together in their play. Children are learning about a healthy lifestyle through activities. For example, growing healthy food and learning to wash their hands and blow their noses at appropriate times. Staff thoroughly support children during potty training, working very closely with parents and provide information for parents to help them with this and any other issues.

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

The high quality resources in each room are easily accessible to the children, and for the majority of the day they have free flow access to the attractive garden. This means that children are able to exercise their choices at all times, and to explore their own ideas. This supports children's strong independence skills and thoroughly supports them for the move to school. Staff ensure there are a variety of interesting activities for the children to engage in and also adapt to the children's interests, fetching resources to further enhance the children's play. This means that staff thoroughly support children's limitless play.

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

Staff take many opportunities to prepare children thoroughly for the move to school. For example, staff talk to children about where they will move onto in the nursery or to another nursery or school. Staff also support children's rapidly developing independence in partnership with parents, so that children are thoroughly prepared for greater responsibility. Also, staff arrange visits to children's new schools and children take their very clear assessments for with them. This means that children are able to continue their excellent progress at their new setting.

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provision

There are highly developed systems in place to enable staff to protect children from harm wherever possible. Staff have a very clear understanding of the signs and symptoms which would give them concerns and the action they would take to report concerns. Appropriate policies and procedures are in place to support safeguarding practice. Staff have regular opportunities to refresh and update their awareness of safeguarding issues through training. Recruitment and induction procedures for all adults within the nursery are very robust. This indicates the suitability of staff is checked thoroughly before they work with the children.

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provision

Comprehensive risk assessments are undertaken and staff continuously risk assess informally. They observe the children and their behaviour and adapt when necessary to manage children's increased curiosity and mobility for example. If children are very lively or boisterous they will supervise closely in order to manage the behaviour effectively and ensure the safety of all. The majority of staff hold a first aid certificate. Clear procedures are in place for the reporting of accidents, the administration of medication and the management of sick children. The accident records are reviewed regularly to help inform risk assessments and appropriate action is taken to manage any reoccurring events.

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provision

The management team is passionate about the provision provided. Their enthusiasm is clearly evident and encourages both staff and parents to engage fully in the service. They are proactive in looking for ways to make self evaluation meaningful and achievable. In order to do this they seek parental opinions in addition to staff opinions. Parents and staff have been engaged in using an early years audit tool to assess the setting. This has enabled staff and parents to see the setting in a different way and has lead to improvements in practice. This is an ongoing process as different people have the opportunity to undertake the activity. Regular staff meetings provide an opportunity for staff to share their views and ideas for continuous development of the service.

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provision

Clear policies and procedures are in place and understood by all staff. These are reviewed regularly and reflect the high quality provision offered. There is a strong commitment towards staff development. Staff have regular appraisals and opportunities to attend short courses and develop their qualifications. Currently all staff except one have relevant qualifications. Staff have the skills to observe and assess children's development knowledgably. They plan activities and experiences relevant to the children's developmental needs and skilfully support and challenge their development. Consequently all children make good progress.

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provision

The nursery serves a diverse community. Staff are extremely conscious of making everyone welcome and take time to meet and welcome individuals enabling them to feel confident in the setting. The wide variety of languages children bring to the nursery is also reflected in the languages spoken by the staff team. This helps to ensure children have very good opportunities to develop their communication and language abilities. Comprehensive systems are in place for the early identification of children's learning needs and to ensure well planned assistance is sought and offered. This helps to ensure every child has excellent positive learning opportunities in nursery.

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provision

The well maintained secure environment is very well planned. It provides interesting playrooms and an exciting outdoor environment where children can freely engage in a variety of activities. Furniture, equipment and resources are all excellent quality and displayed to encourage children to use them independently. The nursery has excellent working partnerships with other professionals such as health visitors, local schools and the social care team. As part of the children centre they have easy access to these professionals. They make contact with settings children move onto and staff are welcome to visit to see the child in the nursery environment. The management team are keen to develop the nursery's profile in the area and they attend local fetes and activities. However, there is scope to develop further links with the local community, to provide more opportunities for children to explore the community around

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provision

them and learn more about different ways of life.

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provision

Parents hold the nursery in high regard. They comment exceptionally favourably on the warm caring relationships staff develop with children and they feel very well informed. Parents feel confident and able to discuss any concerns they may have. They feel involved in their child's learning and well informed about what they do each day. Some parents mentioned favourably the story books children take home to share. This provides them with a wonderful opportunity to share a learning opportunity from nursery with their child. Children benefit from this excellent continuity of care and learning between nursery and home.

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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 EY291873 Local authority Islington Inspection number 924511 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 80 Number of children on roll 63 Name of provider London Borough of Islington Date of previous inspection 11/06/2012 Telephone number 020 7527 4806

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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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