Kloisters Kindergarten

Kloisters Kindergarten Arethusa Road, Rochester, Kent, ME1 2UR

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 11/03/2014 03/10/2012

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 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 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 Children are confident and settled due to the good relationships with their key person.  Children play with a good variety of toys and resources, both indoors and outside. These help to support children's development across the seven areas of learning.  Partnerships with parents and outside agencies are strong and effective in meeting children's individual needs.  The leadership and management team is committed and enthusiastic to promoting continuous improvement through accurate monitoring and self-reflection.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 The rooms are not divided into areas and therefore do not fully promote flexibility for children's play or enhance the learning environment.  Children have access to books, but book areas are not cosy or inviting to encourage children and adults to share books together.

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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 the inspection observing the interaction between the staff and the children in all of the rooms and outside.  The inspector carried out joint observations with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 Documentation was reviewed, including the safeguarding procedures and children's observation and assessment records and data.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector obtained nine parent's views through discussion on the day of the inspection.

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Information about the setting

Kloisters Kindergarten registered in 1976, but opened in these premises in 2007, and is privately-owned. It operates within the grounds of Warren Wood County Primary School in Rochester, Kent. It serves the local and wider community. The kindergarten operates from four rooms and there is a secure outdoor play area. The building is accessible via a ramp with three other ramps leading into the outdoor play area. There is also a toilet for disabled persons. Parking is available at the nursery.

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Information about the setting

The kindergarten is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is open each weekday from 8.15am to 5.30pm for 46 weeks of the year. There are currently 184 children in the early years age group attending. The kindergarten receives funding for the provision of free early education to children aged two, three and four years old. The kindergarten currently supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and also supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language.

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Information about the setting

There are 28 staff employed at the nursery, including the owner and the manager. Of these, 17 hold appropriate early years qualifications equivalent to National Vocational Level 2 and 3.

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

 develop the book areas in each room to provide a cosy place for children and adults to share books

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

 improve the indoor environment so that it is more flexible and interesting, to encourage children to explore, build, move and role play.

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who attend

Children make good progress in their learning and development because staff have a good understanding of the requirements of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Staff provide a good range of activities both indoors and outdoors to meet children's interests and extend their learning. They make regular observations using current technology, allowing staff to spend their time more productively with the children. This system enables staff to upload photographs and to link children's activities directly with the areas and aspects of learning. This in turn feeds into a main summative assessment on the office computer. This provides excellent data for the leadership and management team to promote monitoring of children's learning. Parents are fully included in their children's development and encouraged to contribute to their children's learning journals through written comments and photographs. Summative assessments are

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who attend

provided for the parents on a regular basis to ensure information is shared and children's individual needs are addressed.

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who attend

Children have a wide range of unusual and varied play equipment outside to develop their large physical skills. Children enjoy challenging opportunities to work out how to balance on the large airplane rocker, or how to slide down the fireman's pole from the high platform. Resources are available to make various sounds with opportunities to use role play resources, made out of wood to extend children's play outdoors. A further opportunity to play in the large boat or sit on the large rocker indoors enables children to develop their physical skills well. Children demonstrate good fine motor skills as they join the building bricks together or draw pictures holding their pencil in a tripod grip. Young children use their hands to explore the rice and paint to develop their fine motor skills and hand and eye coordination.

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who attend

Staff are very aware of the importance of promoting children's communication and language skills throughout the nursery. Staff interact with the very young children giving them lots of eye contact and repetitive phrases to support their understanding. They label objects for children, supporting their babbling and offer actions, such as 'wave bye bye'. Staff provide a running commentary on what young babies are doing to provide language for the children. Older children are encouraged to listen in group sessions or to stories and show an understanding of the spoken word when following instructions. Those children with particular speech needs are given additional input from outside agencies to enable them to achieve. As a result they develop good listening and speaking skills ready for the next stage in their learning.

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who attend

Staff provide a range of messy play activities to encourage children to explore and experiment. For example, older children thoroughly enjoy using the paint on the black sacks on the table to mix and make marks with. Many children can write some familiar letters with several writing their name in the paint. They draw pictures for the adults to guess, demonstrating good hand and eye coordination. Children enjoy the opportunity to dress up in different outfits, pretending they are someone else or act out roles from home, such as cooking. Staff provide a good range of sensory play materials for very young children to explore and learn about, such as rice and paint. Consequently, all children are developing the skills necessary to support early writing.

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who attend

Children use books to look at in the various rooms, but there are no cosy book areas to encourage children to sit and share books with their peers or adults. Each room has a sufficient range of books, but these are not used to support all areas of learning. Children are beginning to recognise some letters and sounds, with a few children labelling their work. Mark making is offered and accessible, but is not given a particular area where children can access tools to support their literacy skills or display their creations.

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who attend

Staff provide interesting resources that can be transported around the nursery and outdoors such as wooden planks and milk crates. Children use these to learn about gradients and to build different structures to climb on and to run the cars along. Small world play is a firm favourite in all rooms with children using the play houses, farms and train tracks. Beautiful small world trays are placed on tables, which can occasionally seem overbearing as they are large and use the whole table. Children see some numbers in their environment and staff encourage children to use mathematical language in their play. For example, children ask for more paint or talk about the long track or the small penguin. Many children count to five confidently, with several children counting well beyond this. Staff use a variety of resources well to support children's mathematical understanding and familiarity.

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

The key person system in the nursery is effective and well-embedded. Staff build good relationships with their key children and know them extremely well. Children demonstrate attachments as they ask to be held or to be picked up. Staff respond in a caring, warm manner and provide activities to meet their key children's interests. They obtain meaningful information from the parents, such as children's sleep routines and likes and dislikes enabling a smooth transition from home to nursery. Children generally behave well throughout the nursery, because staff implement good strategies for managing behaviour and adapt these to address each child's needs. They offer lots of praise and encouragement to support children's understanding and to help build their self-esteem and confidence. Children are encouraged to develop their independence beginning with the young children feeding themselves, to the older children using the toilet and washing

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

their hands. Children learn to eat with knives and forks as they reach the older rooms and learn to open different packets or peel their fruit if they have packed lunch.

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

Children learn about keeping themselves safe because staff allow children to take controlled risks. For example, children can climb to the high platform on the climbing equipment and learn how to use both hands and legs to grip to the pole to slide down. Children are offered gentle reminders about sitting on chairs properly in case they tip and to stand away from the very hot serving dishes at lunch time. Staff are good role models and carry out daily checks to ensure the environment is safe for children to use. Extensive, thorough risk assessments are in place and reviewed regularly providing a secure place for children to play. For example, no un-invited visitors can enter the premises due to CCTV and the locked door.

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

Children benefit from a balanced diet from outside caterers who use locally sourced produce. All children's particular dietary needs and any allergies or requirements are taken into account to meet children's specific needs. Children enjoy a range of fresh fruit for snack time and access milk or water to drink. Children follow effective hygiene routines such as washing hands before eating, enabling them to learn self-care skills to promote their good health. Daily opportunities to benefit from fresh air and exercise further support their healthy lifestyle. Staff are good role models and implement good hygienic routines for nappy changing to prevent cross infection.

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

Children access a good range of resource both indoors and outdoors. All equipment is stored in low level storage drawers and easily accessible by the children. Staff plan some activities but encourage children to self-select to make choices that meet their interests. However, the environment is fairly static which prevents flexibility. For example each room has several tables with chairs and no specific areas to make it interesting. Staff place many resources on tables which restricts children playing in different ways.

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

Staff place good emphasis on the children's move to school. Children are well prepared as they are encouraged to be independent and follow self-care routines. Children learn how to put their coats on and begin to learn how to work the fastenings, such as zips and buttons. They are encouraged to recognise their name with many children beginning to write some letters or all of their name. Visits from teachers from the local school help children to become acquainted with their teacher and then attend a visit at the school. Several of the staff team attend these visits helping children to settle into the new environment. Parents are involved in this preparation providing continuity of care and information to support each child. Children with specific educational programmes have these shared with the school to enable the plan to be continued.

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provision

This inspection was brought forward to check that the provider continues to meet the requirements of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. This is because in 2013 Ofsted received information that raised concerns about safeguarding and suitability matters. An investigation visit was completed in April 2013 and subsequently an action was raised to ensure the complaints procedure is consistently implemented. This inspection finds that the provider does now ensure effective implementation of this and other procedures. The leadership and management team of the nursery is motivated and committed to providing a well-resourced, welcoming environment for all the children. They value parents' contribution to the nursery and constantly reflect, evaluate and monitor the provision to inform and develop the self-evaluation process. All staff are actively involved with the decision making process and contribute their ideas and suggestions through

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provision

regular staff meetings. All staff are encouraged to attend regular training to further promote the strong practice within the nursery. Consequently, continuous improvement is fully promoted.

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provision

The management team alongside all the staff, place emphasis on safeguarding children in their care. Excellent security procedures are in place, such as the CCTV and the safe procedures for the arrival and departure of all the children. All staff have attended training and update this every two years. The safeguarding policy is implemented effectively alongside the whistle blowing policy and complaints policy. As a result, systems to protect children and ensure their safety are robust and effective. This is further supported by systems to recruit new staff. Precise and robust procedures are implemented for the recruitment of new staff to ensure their suitability. All staff receive a thorough induction and probationary period to fulfil their role as a member of staff. Regular appraisals and supervision provides constant monitoring of staff's ongoing suitability. Partnership with parents and outside agencies is extremely well developed. All parents

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provision

spoken to were very happy with the care their children were receiving and felt they were well informed about their child's learning and development. Several parents contribute to the learning journals through written information and photographs, although the nursery has found that parents prefer to send in photos electronically which has improved parental contribution. All the policies and procedures are shared with the parents either electronically or through the file available on site. Staff are clear about their responsibilities to maintain confidentiality. Parents attend for settling-in visits with their children and complete forms offering full information to enable the key person to plan for children's future development. Parents give written consent for aspects of care, including sharing information with outside agencies. The nursery works closely with many agencies to meet children' specific needs to prepare targeted programmes of support. Consequently, an

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provision

inclusive environment is fully promoted.

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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 156066 Local authority Medway Towns Inspection number 919986 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 87 Number of children on roll 184 Name of provider Carolyn Dennis Date of previous inspection 03/10/2012 Telephone number 01634 880298

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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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