Guildford Montessori Nursery School - All Saints Hall

Guildford Montessori Nursery School - All Saints Hall All Saints Hall, Vicarage Gate, Onslow Village, Guildford, GU2 7QJ

p.1

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 04/02/2014 Not Applicable

p.1

early years provision

This inspection: 1 Previous inspection: Not Applicable 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

p.1

This provision is outstanding

 The environment provides children with excellent opportunities to choose their play materials and follow their individual learning styles.  Children relish their time at nursery and are very happy and relaxed. They are able to thoroughly enjoy a wide range of exciting activities which stimulate and motivate them.  Children feel extremely safe and secure in the nursery and arrangements for safeguarding the children are robust.  Children benefit hugely from the highly successful partnership between the staff and parents which ensures the sharing of key information.  Children flourish at the nursery; they thoroughly enjoy their learning and achieve extremely well in relation to their starting points.  The staff demonstrate an excellent understanding of child development and use this information very effectively to challenge and stimulate the children.

p.1

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

p.2

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.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector discussed the format of the inspection on arrival.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in the indoor and the outdoor learning environment.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessment records and sampled other documentation.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the manager of the provision.  The inspector took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day.

p.2

Information about the setting

Guilford Montessori Nursery School - All Saints Hall, registered in 2007 and re-registered in 2013 at a new site. It is one of four privately owned nursery schools. The nursery school operates from All Saints Hall, Onslow Village, in the Guilford area of Surrey and serves the local community and surrounding areas. Children have supervised access to an outdoor area and field. The nursery school follow the Montessori philosophy. The nursery opens on Mondays and Tuesdays during term time from 9.15am to 12.45pm and on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 9.15am to 2.45pm. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register. There are currently 38 children in the early years age group on roll. The setting is in receipt of early education funding for two-three-and four-year-old children. It supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children learning English as an additional language. There are seven members of staff working with the

p.3

Information about the setting

children, six of whom hold relevant childcare qualifications.

p.3

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

 provide added opportunities in the outdoor area for children to explore, build and role play, to further enhance their learning.

p.3

who attend

Children are flourishing at the nursery school; they are achieving exceptionally well under the care of the extremely knowledgeable and inspirational staff team. All staff have an exceedingly good understanding about how children develop and learn. They have an excellent awareness of each child's care and learning needs, ensuring all children make exceptional progress. Excellent systems for assessment and planning are in place to ensure activities and learning experiences fully support children's interests and the next steps in their learning particularly well. The nursery school ensures the monitoring of children's progress towards all the early learning goals is very effective. The staff team promote children's development through an excellent balance of child-led play, planned activities and interesting resources. For example, staff demonstrate a very secure understanding of the children, facilitating extensive opportunities for them to be wholly

p.3

who attend

involved and contribute their own ideas.

p.3

who attend

Children are very active learners. They develop new skills and grow in confidence and rise to the challenge of trying something new. Children are provided with extensive opportunities to explore their external world through high quality sensory experiences. Staff use excellent teaching methods as they skilfully use these learning experiences to introduce and talk to the young children about the names of the items they are exploring. For example, as they learn about what the earth consists of they are able to use their senses as they handle some earth, catch air in a jar and touch and pour the water. They discuss and discover textures and smells, talking about who lives in water or on the land and in the air. This excellent interaction exposes young children to new language and develops their thinking and communication skills. Very effective systems are in place to ensure that children have many opportunities to consolidate or further their learning.

p.3

who attend

Younger children are beginning to use tools, such as paint brushes, with confidence. Older children are becoming confident in naming colours and shapes, and the oldest are progressing to writing their own name and understanding simple mathematical concepts. Each child receives an extremely enjoyable, challenging experience across all areas of learning. Staff use high quality teaching methods to support and challenge children's learning as they help children to sound out and follow the shape of the different letters with their fingers. They give lots of praise and encouragement for children's emergent writing which in turn greatly boosts children's self esteem and confidence and prepares them very well for school.

p.4

who attend

The nursery school has implemented the progress check for children aged two highly successfully and all related documentation is in place. As a result of the highly effective assessment records, parents receive a very clear picture of where their children are in their learning and are actively encouraged to be involved in their children's learning and development. Parents are kept very well informed about the life of the nursery school via the notice boards, parent meetings and through daily chats to staff. They state they have seen their children make exceptional progress while at the setting.

p.4

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

Children relish their time at the nursery school. They are welcomed into a warm and friendly setting by staff who meet their welfare and learning needs with great success. An excellent key person system is in place and children develop strong emotional bonds and secure trusting relationships with their key person. This superb relationship helps children to develop high levels of self esteem and confidence, preparing them well for their next stages in learning. Staff make excellent use of the extensive range of resources; the indoor areas are very well organised to ensure children can take part in a wide variety of activities. However, the range of resources for physical play and role play in the outside area is not extensive and so does not further enhance children's learning experiences. Children play extremely happily alongside each other and demonstrate excellent turn- taking skills as they share the resources. Staff interact exceptionally well with the children

p.4

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

at their level, skilfully asking them why it is important not to run indoors. Children are giving lots of time to think and respond and successfully state 'because we might fall over or hurt someone'. This demonstrates staff are extremely effective in supporting children's growing understanding of how to behave in order to keep themselves, and those around them, safe.

p.4

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

Excellent systems for managing children's behaviour are in place and children behave extremely well. They are learning to share and play very well together. They are developing very good relationships with each other and interact well throughout the nursery. The parents provide an excellent variety of healthy and nutritious snacks to share. Snack time is a happy social time for the children where they sit together and chat. Staff skilfully ask open-ended questions about the food to further extend the children's learning. For example, they ask children why they think fruit is good for them and children respond, stating 'bananas are good because they make us strong' and 'apples are good for our teeth'. This demonstrates children's excellent awareness of the benefits of healthy eating on their bodies. Children bring their own packed lunches and staff are excellent role models as they sit alongside the children teaching them to eat their food nicely. Children

p.4

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

learn about good hygiene routines and are able to independently take themselves off to wash their hands. They all know they must wash their hands after using the toilet, before eating and after messy play.

p.5

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

Excellent partnerships have been developed between the nursery school and the local schools. Staff liaise extremely well with the local schools that children will move on to; this ensures a smooth transfer, consistency of care and learning and reassurance for each child. Staff teach children the skills needed to be confident and independent, and have provided children with resources, such as books and uniforms. This high quality organisation ensures children are extremely well prepared for school. Children with special educational needs and /or disabilities, and those learning English as an additional language are very well supported by staff. Children are secure and safe in the nursery and feel a strong sense of belonging, fostered by consistent care from staff and the provision of excellent resources.

p.5

provision

The leadership and management of the nursery school are excellent. The manager and owner work together highly effectively to ensure high-quality supervision is undertaken for the staff team. This excellent monitoring of staff ensures consistency in the nursery school and the outcomes for the children are continuously improving. The registered provider is extremely committed and highly dedicated to maintaining the highest levels of achievement for the children and their families. Arrangements for safeguarding children are robust. All staff undertake training in child protection and have a very good understanding of safeguarding procedures and how to protect children. Clear procedures are in place for the recruitment and vetting of new staff and this ensures all adults working with the children are suitable to do so. The management team has high aspirations for quality. There are very good systems in place to monitor and evaluate the

p.5

provision

setting, to ensure any strengths and areas for development are highlighted. One of the nursery school's strengths is how well the staff team work together. Regular staff meetings ensure that information is shared and that they are included in decision making. This enables staff to take pride in their surroundings and enhances their practice. This has a positive impact on the children and their learning. Thorough and effective risk assessments are in place to ensure children are kept extremely safe throughout the nursery school. Partnerships with other settings that the children attend are excellent. Staff liaise extremely well with the other providers of the Early Years Foundation Stage for the children who attend more than one setting. The excellent partnership between the nursery school and parents ensures all relevant information is shared between them. Parents are kept informed about daily routines and activities through e-mails, notice boards and

p.5

provision

newsletters. Parents express enormous confidence in the very high standard of care, communication and their child's preparation for the future. They feel extremely welcomed into the setting and are immensely happy with the progress their children are making. The information available to parents ensures they are kept fully informed about nursery life and their children's progress.

p.6

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

p.7

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.

p.7

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.

p.8

Setting details

Unique reference number EY466920 Local authority Surrey Inspection number 928665 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 5 Total number of places 30 Number of children on roll 38 Name of provider Elena Buchholdt Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 01428 713854

p.8

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.

p.8

Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

p.8

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.

p.8

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.

p.8

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.

p.9

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,

p.9

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’.

p.10

Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

p.10