Bright Horizons Kenton Day Nursery and Preschool

Kenton Day Nursery 9 The Ridgeway, Kenton, Harrow, Middlesex, HA3 0LJ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 04/06/2014 18/04/2013

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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

 Partnerships with parents are strong. This means that staff and parents are successful in helping children to move forward in their learning to meet their individual learning goals.  Key-person systems successfully help children and parents build trusting relationships with the staff. This system effectively helps children to feel secure.  Children learn social skills which enable them to build friendships, share learning experiences and contribute towards their community with confidence and self- assurance.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 While teaching is strong overall, there are missed opportunities to make the most of props, visual aids and questions to help children make the best progress in their learning.

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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 activities undertaken by the children and the staff, and conducted a joint observation with the provider.  The inspector discussed practice with staff and the management team.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled documents in relation to children's learning and development, safeguarding procedures, complaints, staff suitability, and training.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of parents' views through parent interviews and feedback information.

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Information about the setting

Kenton Day Nursery is one of a chain of private day nurseries owned by Asquith Nurseries Group. The nursery registered in 2004. It operates on two floors, with four base rooms, in a purpose-built building. A baby unit, nursery room and pre-school room are based on the ground floor with the toddler room situated on the first floor. All children share access to an outdoor play area. The nursery is located in a residential area in Kenton, in the London Borough of Brent. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. Currently, there are 95 children on roll. They are all in the early years age group. The nursery receives funding to provide free early education for children aged three and four years. The nursery is open each weekday from 7.30am to 6.30pm and closes only for public holidays.

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Information about the setting

The nursery staff care for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and children who are learning English as an additional language. The nursery employs 12 staff, including the manager, who work directly with children. One staff member holds qualified teacher status and another holds early years professional status. All other members of staff hold qualifications at level 3.

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

 strengthen the use of props, visual aids and questions to encourage children to think and solve problems.

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who attend

The provision is good because staff provide a good level of teaching to help children learn through play. Staff provide resources in zoned areas and use these effectively to engage children of different ages. They plan the educational programmes around all areas of learning, have a good understanding of individual children and ensure that planning links to children's learning goals. Staff provide children with good quality opportunities to learn through enthusiastic teaching. This engages the children well and enables them to learn effectively. They encourage children to develop their interests by providing variety and encouraging them to make choices. As a result, children become self-assured as they learn as part of a group and independently.

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who attend

Staff use clear, descriptive and ongoing commentary on children's activities throughout the day, so children hear new words. They listen to children, provide suggestions and question them as they play. They use positive methods to encourage good behaviour and are respectful. Storytelling, rhyming and singing activities feature throughout all rooms. These experiences encourage children to develop attention, understanding and language effectively.

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who attend

Circle time activities bring children together and, overall, staff teach children well at such times. However, occasionally, teaching becomes less effective. This is because staff do not use props effectively or ask questions. This means they miss opportunities to encourage children to think and respond. Additional French lessons give children opportunities to learn another language. Most home rooms lead to outside spaces. The staff encourage children to freely move between inside and outside environments which enables learning to be extended. They provide good opportunities for children to make marks with a range of tools that help them to practice their early writing skills. Staff plan additional opportunities for children to climb, balance, learn ball skills and practise using pedals. These help children to develop good balance and coordination. It also helps them to build confidence and cooperate.

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who attend

Staff plan mathematical activities well. Number songs, puzzles and board games encourage children to sort and match, understand mathematical concepts and use numbers. Staff encourage children to understand that written words have meaning. Older children recognise their names and children enjoy opportunities to explore letters and sounds. Some are able to read simple text and others are able to sound out the letters of their names. Staff support children's use of technology well, such as when they enable children to practise their early writing skills and symbols on interactive whiteboards. Staff engage well with parents and collect initial developmental information about their children. This helps the staff to plan for children's learning from the start. Parents report that staff make good efforts to verbally share information about their children's day. This information is also available for parents of younger children through a daily report. Parents

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who attend

and staff share how they work together to share ideas and suggestions. This enables children to learn effectively within the nursery and at home.

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who attend

Staff make regular observations of children to assess their current abilities and skills. Staff use their observations to identify the next steps needed in children's learning to help them make good progress. Staff are skilled at identifying where children are not achieving at expected levels for their ages and make appropriate interventions. This ensures all children are given effective opportunities to make good progress. Staff complete the required progress check for two-year-olds to collate information and show parents the progress their children are making against expected levels for their ages. They encourage parents to share children's achievements through their own observations. Staff then link these to children's next steps in learning. This demonstrates how the staff within this nursery value parent's contributions towards their children's development. Staff share regular information about forth coming events, and parental consultations ensure parents

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who attend

are updated about current activities and their children's achievements. Overall, the effective partnerships with parents and good teaching enable children to achieve well and gain the skills needed for their future learning.

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

The key-person system is effective in helping children and parents build strong relationships with nursery staff. Initial meetings focus strongly on introducing children to the nursery environment and sharing information to help them settle. Each child's key person works with the child's parents to build children's confidence and feelings of security. This helps the children to settle in effectively. Staff in the baby room are particularly sensitive to the needs of parents and children at this time of change. These initial relationships help parents to develop confidence in the nursery staff as children grow and develop, and move to new rooms.

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

Key persons have a good understanding of their roles and make sure they prioritise time to engage parents in conversations about their children. Their good understanding of the families ensures that they meet children's dietary, cultural and lifestyle needs. Staff are good role models for children. They teach children how to behave positively. Their language is respectful of others, positive and encouraging. They encourage children to be helpful and kind, for instance, by teaching them how to do tasks to help others. For example, children are encouraged to pass items of clothing to their playmates. Planned opportunities to encourage taking turns and sharing help children form caring relationships with others.

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

Children develop friendships which help them to gain good social skills, including how to manage their own behaviour appropriately. Staff keep children happily occupied and focused on learning through play which results in good behaviour. They also encourage children to believe in themselves and develop confidence by valuing their contributions towards learning. They give children opportunities to make choices and to manage their personal-care skills well. As a result, children enjoy trying out new experiences and develop independence appropriate to their ages and stages of development.

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

The environment is secure and staff promote children's safety as a high priority. Staff ensure the premises are clean and well organised. They also make sure the resources are fit for purpose and suitably designed for the children using them. Resources throughout the nursery provide positive images of others. This enables children to play with objects similar to those that they may find in their own homes. Systems to monitor children's safety through hygiene routines, such as nappy changing, work effectively. These routines ensure children are clean and comfortable throughout the day, so are happy to play.

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

All staff, including bank staff, demonstrate a good understanding of safeguarding issues. They understand their responsibilities towards keeping children safe through recording and reporting child-protection concerns. They work effectively with their designated person for child protection, other agencies within their local authority and Ofsted. Policies and procedures underpin staff knowledge and regular training opportunities ensure that staff are fully informed about current practice.

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provision

The provision is good because the leadership and management team is strong. This means the nursery is well organised and there are effective strategies in place to monitor and evaluate the quality of the provision. At all levels, practitioners working as part of the organisation have a strong understanding of the educational programmes. This is because training, mentoring and monitoring of teaching is good. The management team ensures that staff fulfil their responsibilities to track children's learning through accurate observations and assessments. Although staff occasionally miss opportunities to enhance children's learning, their knowledge of children's skills and abilities helps them to identify where any intervention is needed. This ensures that planning is effective for individual children and staff identify targets to help all children make good progress.

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provision

The management team ensures all members of staff have the appropriate training to fulfil their roles and responsibilities. Effective systems to supervise staff help the management team identify where training is needed. All staff are encouraged to participate in training to extend their knowledge and skills. Further monitoring of staff practice helps the leadership team understand how well training has been implemented in practice. In addition, staff are able to access a professional development programme to improve their childcare qualifications. Managers have high expectations of their staff and take full responsibility for what happens in their nursery. Where these expectations fall short, management tackles underperformance quickly and appropriately. Systems and procedures are robust. The manager ensures all staff have a secure knowledge of policies and procedures to ensure the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage are met.

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provision

The leadership and management team values the views of parents, children, staff and visitors to the provision. Managers have an open-house policy inviting suggestions and comments. Their complaints procedure is robust and allows parents to raise concerns verbally and in writing. Systems to monitor the suitability of staff are robust. All staff undergo appropriate checks. The provision takes issues of staff conduct seriously and takes appropriate steps to ensure children's safety and well-being is prioritised and maintained. Overall, feedback from parents shows that parents are happy with the service. They value the contribution the nursery makes towards their children's development. The provider's reflective outlook enables all staff to recognise areas for improvement and put effective strategies in place to continually develop good practice. They work towards an action plan with targets to enable them to move forward effectively and promote good

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provision

This provision is effective in working in partnership with parents enabling them to feel confidence in the nursery and how they support children's development. In addition, they access other early years professional expertise in order to ensure appropriate interventions are secured for children when necessary. This ensures children receive the services they need to make progress in their development and feel emotionally secure.

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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 EY286324 Local authority Brent Inspection number 976739 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 88 Number of children on roll 95 Name of provider Asquith Court Nurseries Limited Date of previous inspection 18/04/2013 Telephone number 020 8909 9850

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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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