Springfield Montessori Nursery

Springfield Montessori Nursery 59 Springfield Road, Aughton, ORMSKIRK, Lancashire, L39 6ST

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 17/03/2014 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 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 3 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision requires improvement

 All staff have a good understanding of how young children learn and develop. They observe their children well and plan a wide range of enjoyable and effective activities aimed at ensuring children make good progress in their learning and development.  Children are safeguarded appropriately in the nursery. This is because suitable checks are carried out for all staff and children's welfare is monitored well.  Children's needs are quickly identified and very well met through effective partnerships between parents, local schools and external agencies and services.

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It is not yet good because

 The nursery does not maintain an accurate record of all children's hours of arrival and departure. This does not fully promote children's safety.  Children do not always have sufficient opportunities to explore living things and learn about the natural world by using additional resources in the outdoors.

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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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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children's play and staff interaction, indoors and outside.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to the registered person, managers and staff at appropriate times throughout the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of suitability and qualifications of staff working with children and the nursery's self-evaluation form.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at documentation including children's records, learning and development information and a selection of policies and procedures.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector and one of the managers undertook the joint observation of an activity in the pre-school room.  The inspector took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day.

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Information about the setting

Springfield Montessori Nursery registered in 2013 on the Early Years Register. It operates from a two-storey detached building in Aughton, Ormskirk and is managed by Learning Steps Education Ltd. Children have access to five rooms on the ground floor and two rooms on the first floor. There are enclosed areas available for outdoor play. The nursery employs 31 staff who work directly with the children. Of these, 29 hold appropriate early years qualifications. One member of staff has Qualified Teacher Status and one holds Early Years Professional Status. Two have qualifications at level 6 and 25 members of staff have qualifications at level 3 or above. There are currently 165 children on roll in the early years age group. The nursery is open from Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm, 51 weeks a year. It provides funded early years education for two-, three- and four-year-old children.

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must:

 ensure that a daily record of the names of all children being cared for on the premises is maintained.

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

 enhance the use of the outdoors so that children have rich opportunities to investigate the natural world or observe things closely through a variety of means, such as using magnifiers and binoculars.

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who attend

The owners and staff are secure in their knowledge of the learning and development requirements. Staff support children's learning effectively. They have a good knowledge and understanding of how children learn and develop. Therefore, they provide stimulating and interesting activities, which engage all children in purposeful play and motivates them. Staff use age-appropriate teaching strategies, together with good support and intervention, which is matched to individual children's needs, including those children with English as an additional language and those requiring additional support. Systems for observing children, recording their progress and identifying priorities are good and staff regularly reflect on how this process moves children onto their next steps for learning. Staff maintain regular and accurate assessment of children's achievements which are fed into planning systems. A progress check at age two is in place and is completed by staff in

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who attend

consultation with parents. This enables staff to identify any individual falling behind their peers or below their expected achievement levels. Staff help children to learn through planned activities and child-initiated play.

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who attend

Children's mathematical development is promoted well through the daily routine. Children take an interest in numbers and counting, using them spontaneously through number rhymes and everyday play activities. For example, children show an awareness of shape and colour by successfully matching coloured blocks. Children complete jigsaws, as they are carefully encouraged to fit the shapes into the inset tray. Displays include numbers and aid children's number recognition. This helps children to develop their mathematical skills, and demonstrate a good approach to learning. Staff praise children's efforts as well as their achievements, which helps to raise their self-esteem and, as a result, children are motivated to 'have a go'. Children's creativity is promoted appropriately as they choose to play with a variety of art and craft, small world, construction and role-play resources. A group of older toddlers in the role-play area eagerly organise resources they need to make

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who attend

their 'tea'. Staff provide activities that encourage children to listen such as, reading stories that capture their attention and introduce new words through discussions, songs and rhymes. Staff take advantage of spontaneous activities and routines to maximise pre- school children's conversational skills. For example, snack time and lunch time are occasions when staff clearly attempt to make links with what children already know. They encourage children to name a selection of fruit and give constant guidance on using cutlery correctly for cutting and eating their food. This also enables children to be challenged appropriately to take risks under supervision. Staff promote communication and language development with younger children and babies by constantly talking to them about what they are doing, and using appropriate facial gestures. Children develop fine handling skills appropriately, as they handle tools to expand their learning. Paintbrushes

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who attend

and play dough tools help younger children to learn how to hold and use tools appropriately. This helps them to develop early writing skills. An appropriate range of writing materials is made available indoors and outdoors, which increases opportunities for children to freely make marks. A good selection of activities and resources are set out for the children to play with and staff encourage them to pursue their own interests. Consequently, children are able to make independent choices about what they play with. Children in the pre-school room are familiar with the routines of the setting and readily take part in circle time, singing, and counting activities, which promotes their readiness for school. The provision of interesting resources effectively supports younger children's natural instincts to explore and investigate. As a result, from an early stage, babies show interest in a range of materials, which stimulate their senses. They feel the texture of soft

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who attend

and hard objects and show interest when staff model how to make sounds with metal objects before they copy and squeal with delight as they succeed. The experiences outdoors provided by staff are interesting and well thought out for the children to keep them motivated and engaged. However, children do not always have sufficient opportunities to explore living things and learn about the natural world. For example, there are few easily accessible magnifying glasses and binoculars to enable them to find bugs and insects and observe them close up.

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who attend

Key persons place strong importance on working with parents and other professionals to ensure that they are fully informed and equipped to meet children's individual needs. Parents are fully involved in providing information about their child's likes, dislikes and starting points on entry to the nursery. This means that key persons quickly build up a detailed knowledge of the children in their care and this helps them to fully support their learning and development. As a result, all children are making good progress in their learning in relation to their age and starting points. Parents are also actively involved with the ongoing assessments of their children. There are plentiful opportunities for parent's involvement in children's learning. For example, information is shared by key persons through discussion, daily diaries and sharing children's records of learning. Parents have opportunities to attend parents' evenings, nursery open days and they receive a monthly

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who attend

newsletter which informs them of future nursery events. Parents also inform the nursery of activities and significant events at home that contribute to their child's progress.

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

Children enjoy their time at nursery, participating in a wide variety of fun and interesting activities that stimulate their natural curiosity and interests. They talk happily with staff and each other. This shows that children feel emotionally secure at the nursery. The effective key person system contributes to achieving these close emotional attachments. Less confident children are managed well by staff. For example, staff comfort and support anxious children well when separating from their parent and when they are unsettled during the day. Consequently, they are quickly reassured and parents are happy to leave them. Staff provide a strong focus on supporting the children's personal, social and emotional development and effectively support and reassure children. Consequently, children from an early age become confident and self-assured learners. Transition procedures between nursery rooms are well implemented. Staff respect the individuality of

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

each child and plan to support their smooth transitions. Parents are actively involved in this process. Transition to school are also well supported with visits from the teachers in the local primary schools, helping to prepare children for this important step.

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

Children benefit from being outdoors in the fresh air regularly. The pre-school children are encouraged to learn about the benefits of health and physical exercise as they do their 'warm up' actions and participate in the obstacle course activities. This helps children to learn about keeping healthy in a fun way. Younger children love to explore the natural materials outside in the large garden, such as sand, water, hay and animal figures and all children enjoy balancing on the tyres, climbing through tunnels and walking over the small bridge. Children receive a range of healthy meals and snacks that are freshly prepared by the nursery cook. The menu provides plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. Children's self- help skills are encouraged and effectively supported as they serve their own food and drinks at mealtimes. Children are learning about good hygiene routines as they are reminded to wash their hands before eating and after using the toilet. Children are

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

supported with developing independence when toilet training and putting on their own coats before playing outside.

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

Staff consider children's safety and welfare in the nursery by helping them to understand how to keep themselves safe from harm. Staff teach children safe practices and how to keep themselves safe by taking part in the fire evacuation procedure so they know what to do in an emergency. A safe and secure environment is provided, both indoors and outdoors. Appropriate risk assessments and daily checks of the environment help secure children's safety. However, during inspection some of the registers recording children's attendance had not been accurately maintained. This is a breach of a specific requirement of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Staff encourage children to play and learn cooperatively and to respect and tolerate each other. Therefore, children overall are well behaved and well mannered. Staff deploy themselves effectively to support children and are good role models. During activities, they stay close to children and use positive

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

strategies to help support further good behaviour. As a result, children gain the social skills necessary in preparation for their move to the next stage of their learning.

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provision

The inspection was prioritised by Ofsted following concerns being raised and a subsequent notification from the provider. This prompted a full inspection, as concerns were raised in relation to the supervision and safety of children, and risk assessment. This was due to a child being left unsupervised on the nursery minibus following an outing. The owner stated they acted promptly to ensure children's safety. They have taken immediate steps to prevent this from reoccurring by reviewing the outings' policy and procedures, use of an attendance list and conduct regular head counts. In addition, further risk assessments have been conducted for outings and staff have been retrained on their responsibilities to keep children safe on entering and leaving the minibus when undertaking trips. This ensures that children's safety is maintained. However, there is a breach of requirements concerning the maintenance of accurate records of children's attendance as mentioned

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provision

elsewhere in the report. All the policies and procedures to support children's safety and welfare have recently been reviewed and updated in line with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. The use of mobile telephones and cameras is carefully restricted to protect children. The arrival of any visitor is carefully checked. The safeguarding children policy has been updated and is in line with the procedures of the Local Safeguarding Children Board. All staff have an awareness of the procedures to follow if concerned a child is being abused. There are effective recruitment and selection systems in place to help ensure that staff are suitably vetted and suitable to work with children. All staff are vetted through the Disclosure and Barring Service checks and written references are obtained to ensure staff are suitable and safe to work with the children. A full and detailed induction is completed for new staff. These arrangements contribute in a positive

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provision

way to the safety of children. The provider demonstrates an appropriate knowledge in his understanding of when Ofsted must be notified of events. Therefore, children's safety and well-being is maintained in almost all respects.

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provision

Staff teaching practice is good. There are good processes in place to monitor children's overall progress in their learning and development. The managers and staff know the children well. The managers carefully check children's development and progress reports to ensure that they correctly reflect the assessment of each child's individual development and learning. Tracking documents identify how children are making progress and detect any delay or gaps in development, so that intervention is secured quickly. The owners, managers and staff have a strong commitment to continuing to offer the best quality care, teaching and learning experiences for all children. They reflect on their practice through self-evaluation, local authority support, and regular staff meetings promote discussion on improvements to be made. The nursery owners and the staff team are committed to implementing changes to sustain improvement.

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provision

Relationships and partnerships with parents are strong. Parents express a high regard for the staff and service provided. The positive comments received from parents during the inspection include reference to how well they are kept informed about children's daily activities and progress. They find the staff friendly and approachable and their children enjoy attending. Staff understand their responsibility to work closely with other childcare professionals, as appropriate, to support any special educational needs and/or disabilities a child may have. The managers and staff have been proactive in their approach to sharing information with other settings children attend. This ensures good quality information regarding children's learning and development is used effectively to maintain continuity for each child.

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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 EY466054 Local authority Lancashire Inspection number 960976 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 97 Number of children on roll 165 Name of provider Learning Steps Education Limited Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 01695 423367

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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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