Marsham Street Community Nursery

Marsham Street Children's Centre 121 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4LX

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 13/12/2013 21/06/2013

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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

 Staff provide parents with high-levels of information which helps them support their child's individual well-being and learning needs at home.  The nursery's multi-sensory approach to learning is highly successful in meeting the needs of all children and in promoting all areas of learning.  Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make rapid progress. This is because staff identify concerns early on, secure early intervention for children and work very effectively with parents and external agencies to help children progress.  Staff make excellent use of the local area and city to support children's understanding of the world.  Leadership is experienced and makes excellent use of self-evaluation to identify and target priorities for improvement.

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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 quality of teaching and children's play and learning in all three rooms and the garden. The inspector observed a child's therapy session with their parent and key-person.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held meetings with the nursery manager and senior members of the organisation's management team.  The inspector spoke to a number of parents and took account of their views.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled a range of documents including children's records, some safeguarding procedures, risk assessments, staff suitability records, and the nursery's self-evaluation.

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Information about the setting

Marsham Street Children's Centre Community Nursery was registered in 1992. It is one of 23 nurseries run by London Early Years Foundation (LEYF). The nursery operates from the ground and first floor of a four-storey building. The organisation's head office is located on the top two floors. All floors are served by a lift. Children have access to an outdoor play area. There are currently 63 children in the early years age group on roll. The nursery offers both full-time and part-time places for children. The nursery is in receipt of funding for children aged two, three and four years for the provision of free early education. The nursery is open each weekday from 8am to 6pm for 51 weeks in the year. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who are learning English as an additional or dual language. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The

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Information about the setting

organisation currently employs 16 staff including a manager. Of these 13 have an appropriate early years qualification, including two who have Early Years Professional Status. LEYF is a registered training provider for National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) in childcare and education. Three of the current staff team are on the training programme working towards achieving an NVQ at Level 3.

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

 consider increasing opportunities for older children to engage in small-scale projects.

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who attend

Children make terrific progress in their learning and development. Staff's knowledge and understanding of the areas of learning and child development is highly secure. Assessment of children's progress, including the 'progress check for children age two years, is precise. This is based on thorough and astute observations of children. Staff evaluate these very effectively to inform and guide their planning, which is often spontaneous as planning follows children's interests and ideas. For example, washing up bowls and soapy water are added to the home corner after children comment that the plates are dirty. Older children's interest in using the camera recently led to a series of activities throughout the week relating to photography which fascinated children. For instance, they made viewing boxes which they used to look at the bark of a tree. However, this was 'a one-off', and the learning potential of small-scale projects is not fully exploited.

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who attend

The team maintains high levels of communication with parents and all the external agencies involved with children to meet children's diverse needs. For example, parents and the key person attend children's individual therapy sessions at the centre. Staff maintain consistent dialogue with parents about their children's progress, giving them ideas for extending children's learning in the home. Staff also meet with parents at set times throughout the year to formally review children's progress and to agree and set future targets. Arrangements for completing the statutory progress check for children age two years are well established and effective in identifying underachievement and initiating early intervention. The high priority given to partnership working by the team ensures that children receive consistent support. Staff skilfully use open-ended questioning to challenge children to think of ways to solve practical problems and to represent and implement their

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who attend

ideas, such as a model from recyclable packaging.

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who attend

Staff make excellent use of the local central London community to support children's progress in all areas of learning. For example, children learn about current and future technology through visits to the science museum. They know that the chime of Big Ben tells us the time. Staff use buildings and monuments to help children learn about shape. Babies learn to recognise different transport vehicles because they see and hear them every day. Children enjoy nature expeditions to national parks.

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who attend

Children dance to music they create themselves by pressing large buttons on a wall mounted system. They are mesmerised by the calming music and fibre-optic lights in the sensory room and knowingly press buttons to produce moving images of London buses on the wall. Babies explore everyday objects, materials and packaging that all look and feel different. Staff introduce and inspire children to create and design using different techniques, such as making a mosaic after observing this in nearby buildings, or producing a painting to express how different music makes them feel. Staff engage children in practical experiments, such as making a bubbling volcano and magnetic fishing rods.

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who attend

Staff use sign language and a Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) to support their spoken language to children. These strategies are particularly successful in helping children learning English as an additional language and children with communication and language delay make progress. Staff also use props to encourage children's listening and attention skills during stories and circle time discussions. Children enjoy searching for items beginning with a specific letter sound and learn to recognise their name very quickly because this is promoted in different ways. Children, including boys, make good use of the widely available pencils to create marks and patterns and to write for different purposes.

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who attend

The team advocates really strongly for children to receive the very best support available. In the words of parents 'this is a fantastic nursery', 'the staff are amazing; so caring and dedicated'.

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

Children are cared for in a very welcoming and highly stimulating, but tranquil, environment. Babies sleep at times consistent with their home routines in comfortable cots. Gentle music and the soft colours in the room soothe them. Soft furnishings provide areas for babies to relax and for staff to feed babies in comfort. The walls are adorned with children's artwork and photographs of children engaged in activities with the nursery, at home and on outings. Staff hold half termly 'planning meetings' with the older children to find out what they have enjoyed, what their new interests are and what ideas they have for the following terms activities. This helps children feel a sense of belonging to the nursery. 'Key persons' across the nursery form very strong relationships with the children so that they are happy and self-confident. The nursery's settling-in procedure for new children is well thought through to minimise any anxiety children and parents may feel

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

when experiencing separation from each other for the first time. There are many opportunities for the children to interact with one another as they mix together throughout the day. For instance, a couple of children from each room may go on a trip to the park together with their key person. Staff work closely with children and parents to prepare them for change, such as moving rooms and leaving nursery to start school. Staff use pictures and symbols where necessary to help children understand the routine of the day and behaviour rules. Staff share their expertise with parents for managing challenging behaviour so that they can use these strategies at home. The success of these strategies is clearly demonstrated by the cooperative way in which children play and learn together.

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

Children have many opportunities to be active and develop a healthy lifestyle. They have great fun learning to use exercise equipment designed for children to encourage coordinated leg muscle movements. They enjoy music and movement and have regular opportunities to run around in wide-open natural spaces. Picture reminders encourage children to wash their hands properly after using the toilet and before eating. Staff eat with the children and encourage sociable conversation, good eating habits and independence skills. Babies feed themselves and older children serve their own portions. Children take their responsibility of 'daily helper' very seriously, for instance, each collected plate is carefully scraped and the cutlery placed in the sorting trays 'to help cook'. Staff sit with children for meals, using the time well to engage children in sociable conversation and to encourage good table manners.

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

Staff teach children where it is safe to cross roads and how to behave on a train platform. Staff explain to children how to use playground apparatus safely. This makes children feel safe. As a result, they confidently challenge themselves by taking carefully considered risks to climb and balance. Babies move around the well-equipped base room, climbing up and over and crawling through and under different equipment. Babies quickly become mobile because they are keen to reach interesting resources. Children use metal knives safely to cut up vegetables in the home corner and during snack time. They know scissors are for cutting paper and material only and that they must remain in the creative workshop area, not carried around. Children with delays in their physical development are well supported through the provision of specialist equipment and innovative teaching strategies. For instance, children use large tongs and pipettes to help develop finger and

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

hand muscles, and curved easy to handle cutlery.

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provision

Leaders are highly successful and proactive in driving improvement. Following the last inspection, which was recent, management installed a low level sink in the younger children's room. This has reduced the frequency of younger children needing to walk through the pre-school room to access the bathroom. A planning application has been also submitted to change a cupboard in the younger children's room into a toilet. As an interim measure, older children now go outside to play before lunch and during this time younger children use the toilet. There is now minimal disruption to pre-school children's play and learning. Improvement plans are firmly based on thorough observation and evaluation of teaching practice, consultation with staff, children, external agencies and parents, as well as research. These strategies are being brilliantly applied to plan and fund the redevelopment of the nursery garden. On the day of inspection a group of children were

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provision

out visiting local businesses to promote their fundraising and to collect raffle prizes. The plans, which include a 'mud kitchen' and area for scientific exploration, are very exciting.

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provision

Senior management's knowledge and understanding of child development and the different theories and concepts, are extensive and well shared with staff and parents. Parents attend workshops to learn skills such as Makaton signing and about ways to deal with 'tears and tantrums'. They are provided with ideas for fun ways to help children develop pencil control skills and to strengthen finger and hand muscles. The nursery operates a 'take a book home' scheme which is currently being extended to include specialist teaching equipment. Every parent is given a 'development wheel' to help them understand what children might typically be able to do for their age. All staff have a yearly appraisal and a personal development plan. They receive regular professional supervision to review these plans along with those they have in place for children. Staff and students have access to high-quality training, mentoring and coaching often delivered by members

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provision

of the senior management team. This is clearly evidenced by the impressive teaching practice of students and newly qualified staff.

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provision

Management's understanding of their responsibility to safeguard and promote children's welfare is highly secure. There are rigorous procedures in place for recruiting, fully vetting and inducting staff. There are also clear procedures in place for dealing with any underperformance, allegations against staff, and parental complaints. New staff do not start work until their Disclosure and Barring Service check has been completed. Children's welfare is closely monitored by their key person. Management reviews all records on children to ensure that possible emerging concerns are not missed. Child protection and behaviour management training is mandatory for all staff who update this at least every three years. Staff fully understand their individual responsibility to act on concerns about children's welfare and for sharing information, where appropriate, with external agencies. Management ensure that risk assessment is consistently carried out on the premises and

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provision

for outings and that this takes specific consideration of the needs of individual children. For example, if one piece of equipment poses a specific risk to an individual child particular safeguards are put in place or the item is removed on the days they attend. There are clear and effective procedures in place for staff to follow to ensure children's safety on outings. Adult to child ratios are increased to a minimum of 1:3 but more usually 1:2.

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provision

Management work extremely hard to sustain effective partnerships with social services, local authority early years advisors, health and education by making sure they always attend multi-disciplinary meetings. This is a highly effective early years provision with good capacity to further improve and therefore sustain excellence.

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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 Requires improvement The provision is not giving children a good standard of early years education and/or there are minor breaches of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected within twelve months of the date of this inspection. 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

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Grade Judgement Description

the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected again within six months of the date of this inspection. 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 135060 Local authority Westminster Inspection number 943615

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 55 Number of children on roll 63 Name of provider The London Early Years Foundation Date of previous inspection 21/06/2013 Telephone number 020 7834 0562

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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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