Tara Kindergartens

Tara Kindergartens 310-314 Hertford Road, Edmonton, London, N9 7HB

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 15/01/2014 26/03/2013

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 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 4 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 4

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This provision is inadequate

 The key person system is not embedded into practice. Staff lack understanding of how to support children to settle and this impacts on the relationship with parents.  The way staff manage children's behaviour does not enable children to learn how to behave and the difference between what is right and wrong.  The deployment of staff is disorganised at mealtimes and impacts on children's health and emotional needs.  Although staff complete observations and assessments on the children, these are ineffective and hinder children's learning. Staff do not consistently ask open-ended questions that encourage children to think and extend their vocabulary.  Staff do not ensure there is appropriate equipment and resources available for babies to fully explore the outdoors.  The management team are ineffective in monitoring the nursery provision and do not have secure systems in place to manage staff performance.

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It has the following strengths

 The outdoor area for older children has been improved to support children who prefer to learn outdoors.  The nursery offers very flexible childcare sessions to parents.

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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 spent the majority of inspection time observing the children in the nursery as they played.  The inspector sampled children's information and development records.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector had discussions with the manager throughout the visit. Safeguarding was discussed with the manager and staff and a sample of the policies viewed.  The inspector discussed the nursery with a sample of parents  The inspector and manager completed a short joint observation together.

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Information about the setting

Tara Kindergarten Day Nursery registered in 1997. It is one of five privately-owned nurseries and operates from premises in Edmonton in the London borough of Enfield. The nursery is open Monday to Friday from 7.30am to 6.30pm all year round. There are 98 children in the early years age range on roll. The nursery is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two and three years. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. The nursery employs 13 permanent staff, of whom 12 hold a relevant childcare qualification. The manager holds Early Years Professional Status. The nursery also has bank staff who provide cover to the nursery. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register.

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enforcement action:

We will issue a Welfare Requirements Notice requiring the provider to:

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enforcement action:

improve the procedures in place for managing children's behaviour and improve staff's understanding of age-appropriate strategies they can use to deal with different types of behaviour.

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must:

 improve the key person system, so that key persons support the children for whom they take special responsibility, especially when settling new children

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must:

 improve the organisation of meal times to ensure children are adequately supervised so that children have a positive experience and any dietary requirements are strictly adhered to

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must:

 improve the observation and assessment methods so that staff can accurately observe and assess children to understand their level of achievement and then plan challenging learning experiences for each child across all areas of learning

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must:

 ensure all staff have good knowledge of how to help children develop their communication and language well by increasing children's vocabularies and developing listening skills through asking more open-ended questions and providing more encouragement for children to talk and comment on their play activities

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must:

 improve the outdoor physical play opportunities for babies to enable them to fully investigate their environment

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must:

 improve the arrangements for the supervision of staff who have contact with children and families; ensure this fosters a culture of mutual support, teamwork and continuous improvement which encourages the confidential discussion of sensitive issues with parents.

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who attend

Staff's knowledge about the learning and development requirements is limited, and the quality of teaching is weak. Consequently, children are not making sufficient progress across all areas of learning. Although staff attempt to observe and assess children's progress there are gaps in their understanding about what to record. Children's developmental folders lack information about each child's progress across the prime and specific areas of learning. Consequently, staff do not always identify children's next steps for learning.

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who attend

Staff set up the playrooms and make sure there is a range of resources covering the areas of learning. Children have opportunities to explore natural materials and enjoy playing with the couscous where they feel the texture, mould it and run their fingers through the mixture. A group of children take part in a matching board game. They learn to share and take turns and match pictures together. However, children are not supported enough in developing language and communication skills. This is because not all staff are confident in encouraging children to talk or in extending children's vocabularies and conversation skills during activities. Children take part in group singing times and join in with their favourite songs. However, staff do not plan effectively enough for these focussed group activities to make sure all children are able to have equal chances to participate. For example, when asking questions to a group of children, staff do not enable quieter

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who attend

Children have free access to the outdoor environment for most of the day and they thoroughly enjoy the outdoors. The larger garden is well resourced and children enjoy riding the tricycles or scooters and using the climbing frame and slide. The younger children have a designated area sectioned off to enable them to explore safely. However, this area is not as well set up as the larger garden and staff do not fully consider the need for all babies to be physically active. For example, some mobile babies remain in their pushchairs while outside in the garden, as staff do not enable them to join in active play. This does not support their physical development and good health.

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who attend

There are overall, satisfactory systems in place to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Parents have regular opportunities to meet with staff to discuss their children's achievements and progress.

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

The nursery has a key person system in place. However, not all staff fully understand the purpose of this role and therefore, it is not successfully embedded into everyday practice. This is particularly noticeable for new children who are settling and results in some children being upset and quite distressed at times. Staff do not understand how to work with parents during the settling in time to build up their relationship with the child so they feel comfortable and ready to separate from their parent. For example, parents are asked to complete an 'all about me' form for their child to help the key person get to know the child. However, this form is ineffective, as key persons do not refer to it. The form asks if the child uses a favourite toy or comforter, but staff do not routinely encourage parents to provide this during the settling-in process. Overall, staff are kind and caring and speak to children appropriately. Some children are

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

beginning to build up friendships as they play and learn to take turns and share. However at times when staff are disorganised, children's behaviour deteriorates and there are episodes of unkindness between some children. Furthermore, behaviour management strategies used by some staff are poor. For example, some staff use negative language such as telling children 'no' rather than using positive reinforcement. In addition, rather than taking children by the hand to guide them, some staff steer the children by handling their upper arm or wrists. This shows staff's lack of understanding of children's developmental needs and does not help children to learn how to behave appropriately. Children are provided with a freshly cooked hot lunch, but staff deployment during these busy times is disorganised and results in meal times being chaotic. Staff do not sit with their key groups to teach children how to sit and eat together socially. Although children's

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

specific health, dietary needs and allergies are recorded, not all staff are fully aware of these and other staff have to quickly remind them and intervene when serving the food. This compromises children's good health. In addition, this time adds to the new unsettled children's distress preventing them for trying the food. As a result, some new children refuse to eat. Snacks of fruit, breadsticks, crackers and dips are available through out the morning and children can help themselves to drinks of milk and water.

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

The nursery is comfortable and has ample space for children to move around. Staff conduct daily checks on the premises and effective risk assessments procedures are in place to identify any hazards in the environment. The nursery has effective security systems in place and any visitors need to ring the doorbell and show their identification before entering the premises. In addition, each playroom also has a security coded entry system. These procedures help to keep children safe.

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provision

Leadership and management of the nursery are currently ineffective. Although most of the staff are qualified, there are still many inconsistencies in staff's understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements and the learning and development requirements of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. In particular, staffing is disorganised at meal times and does not take into consideration or meet the individual needs of all the children. In addition, although a key person system is in place this is ineffective. Staff do not understand their role as key person in supporting new children to settle by working sensitively with the parents in the separation process.

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provision

Nonetheless, suitable recruitment and vetting procedures are in place to check the suitability of all adults employed by the setting. Staff have a satisfactory knowledge and understanding of the procedures to follow in the event of having to make a safeguarding referral. They implement appropriate procedures for the use of mobile phones and cameras, which contributes to the protection of children. Management are clear about the procedures to follow in the event of concerns, including the agencies to notify. The manager has a system in place for performance management to monitor staff and provide support for their further professional development. However, the system is ineffective. For example, the system does not address staff weaknesses in how to support children's behaviour positively, which is also a breach of the Childcare Register requirements. Self-evaluation is ineffective as they do not identify the weaknesses of the

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provision

Overall, partnership with parents and carers is weak. Parents report that staff are friendly and keep them informed about their child's day. In addition, they say their child enjoys the nursery. However, newer parents are not given adequate support by the key carer to help them in the settling in process. Furthermore, staff do not ensure they communicate fully to enable them to meet children's individual needs. For example, not all staff find out key words for children who speak English as an additional language or communicate the importance of children being suitably dressed to play outdoors.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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actions)

The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

 improve the partnership with parents to ensure communication is effective (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that children's behaviour is managed in a suitable manner (compulsory part of the Childcare Register).  improve the partnership with parents to ensure communication is effective (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that children's behaviour is managed in a suitable manner (voluntary part of the Childcare Register).

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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 135405 Local authority Enfield Inspection number 950733 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 70 Number of children on roll 98 Name of provider Raj Nagendran Date of previous inspection 26/03/2013 Telephone number 020 8804 4484

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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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