The New Montessori Pre-School

The New Montessori Pre-School Methodist Church, Tarring Road, WORTHING, West Sussex, BN11 4ET

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 17/06/2014 13/07/2009

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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 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 The exceptionally secure bond between key persons and their key children provides them with an exceedingly strong sense of emotional well-being.  Staff make excellent use of the outside play areas to support children's learning and encourage physical play in the fresh air.  Staff who consistently use open questions to prompt children's thinking foster children's critical thinking and problem-solving skills very well.  Staff have good relationships with the parents and carers, helping to meet children's individual needs and promote continuity of care.  The management and staff team are committed to continually developing and improving the provision and take effective steps to ensure positive outcomes for children.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 The staff are not routinely engaging all parents in supporting their children's next steps in their learning at home, to contribute to the children's learning processes.

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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 had discussions with the manager team and staff members.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled records and documentation relating to safeguarding, vetting procedures and children's progress and development.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children engaged in activities indoors and in the outside area.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector and principal undertook a joint observation of an indoor activity within the pre-school room.  Four parents were interviewed and their views taken into account.

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Information about the setting

A parents' management committee runs the New Montessori Pre-School. The pre-school registered in 2006.The pre-school operates from a converted Methodist Church in Worthing, West Sussex. There are two designated play rooms, which have direct access to toilet facilities and an outdoor play area. The pre-school opens each weekday from 8am until 6pm during term time. The pre-school serves families from the local community and surrounding areas.

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Information about the setting

The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently 85 children on roll in the early years age range. The pre-school receives funding for the provision of free early education to children aged two, three and four years. The pre-school currently supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language.

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Information about the setting

There are currently 16 members of staff. Of these, 14 hold a recognised early years qualification at level 2 and above. One member of staff has qualified teacher status and one has early years professional status. The setting follows the Montessori method of teaching and has a Montessori accreditation.

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

 strengthen strategies that successfully engage all parents in supporting their children's learning at home and in contributing to the learning processes.

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who attend

The staff promote children's learning and development effectively. Each child has a key person who has discussions with parents about children's interests and developmental starting points when they start at the pre-school. Staff provide a broad and balanced curriculum, which includes all areas of learning. They prioritise children's interests in their planning and maximise children's opportunities to be independent. This means that children are active, independent learners. Staff review children's next steps so that planning can reflect their immediate learning needs. Staff provide parents with informative written progress checks for two-year-old children. As a result, children make good progress given their starting points and capabilities.

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who attend

Staff have good teaching skills. They consistently talk to children using open questions and statements that encourage children's critical thinking skills and problem solving. For example, children building a simple floor puzzle from bricks notice that the bricks they are using do not quite fit together. Staff ask 'what could you do that would help it to fit?' and children devise their own solutions. Children are confident to attempt new skills. Staff give very well judged support to make sure the children are doing as much as they can while also being successful. The staff effectively promote children's communication and language skills through everyday activities and a well-resourced book area. Children explore a range of media, such as paint, junk modelling, gluing, water and sand. Staff display examples of children's artwork on walls and keep children's models to take home, which support children to feel that their creations are valued.

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who attend

Staff give inclusion a high emphasis in the pre-school. Children therefore gain a good awareness of the world around them. Staff welcome all children into the pre-school and identify their individual needs through assessment and partnerships with parents. Staff work with outside agencies to give good additional support for children with specific needs and provide individual educational programmes to help them make progress.

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who attend

Staff encourage children to use mathematical language in their play. They provide different activities to promote counting and opportunities to sort different objects. Some children show strong mathematical skills as they label some three-dimensional shapes in the bricks, such as the cylinders. They demonstrate an understanding of positional language when they follow instructions such as 'put the brick on top of the tower' and are able to make two towers of the same height.

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

The key person scheme is exceptionally successful at helping children develop strong emotional attachments. Children eagerly start their day, confidently separating from their parent. The attention and consideration given to children's individual care needs significantly promotes inclusion. There are highly effective systems in place to ensure that the staff routinely evaluate and support children's involvement. Staff skilfully identify where children need additional support. Staff support children's emotional wellbeing exceptionally well and children are well prepared for transitions between setting and school.

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

Staff are exemplary role models in their interactions with children and turn negative actions into positive ones. Children behave exceptionally well. Children happily wait their turn, share resources when necessary and show they listen well. The staff use the extremely well resourced pre-school rooms and outside areas to plan exciting and fun activities. For example, children learn to plant herbs such as mint in their dinosaur park, which they pick and smell and tell their friends the name. Exciting resources provide problem-solving activities, which give opportunities for children to learn and work co- operatively. The resources are at a low level to help children to make decisions about what they want to do and where they want to play.

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

Children receive excellent support in developing a healthy lifestyle. Staff discuss why it is important to wash hands particularly after touching insects or snails, as well as before meal times. Children quickly gain independence skills and confidence as they make choices about what fruit they would like at snack time. They pour drinks by independently collecting a glass from the cupboard and going to the fridge and pouring their own drinks when they are thirsty. They choose to sit with friend at the snack bar in the kitchen or at the tables provided. The staff teach children how to wash their plates after snack, as they need to be careful as these could break. This teaches the children how to manage risks. As a result, children have many exciting opportunities to learn how to keep themselves safe.

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provision

The management team and staff demonstrate a clear understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements. The principal has clear recruitment and induction procedures that help ensure all staff are suitable to work with children. There are robust safeguarding procedures in place that contribute to children's safety and well-being. Staff are fully aware of what to do if they have a child protection concern. All the required documentation is in place and well maintained including accurate attendance records and high staff ratios. There is effective ongoing support for staff with training, regular supervision sessions and annual appraisals. Efficient deployment of staff ensures consistent care for children. The staff are effectively deployed and supervise children well, both indoors and outside. They undertake regular risk assessments, including for any outings. Therefore, they promote children's safety effectively.

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provision

The principal demonstrates a good capacity to drive improvement in the outcomes for children. Management and staff use self-evaluation effectively to identify and develop strategies to aid improvement and work in partnership with the local authority to develop their practice. This demonstrates their positive attitudes to drive improvement to support the children in their care. The management team monitors the educational programme to assess how well they are meeting the needs of the children. They have recently introduced a new computer system to monitor the children's progress.

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provision

Strong partnership working with parents means children receive the best possible care. A parents' notice board in the hall and other useful information is displayed for parents. Arranged meetings with children's key person and an 'open door' policy means every opportunity is in place to enable parents to discuss and support their child's care and learning. However, although systems are in place, such as suggestions of individual home activities, not every parent routinely contributes to the ongoing learning process. Parents do speak very positively of the information they receive. When children start, the information parents share about their child helps staff with their initial assessments. There are established links with others, such as speech and language specialists, portage and other early years setting where children also attend. This helps staff meet children's individual needs well, fully supporting effective partnership working.

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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 EY330146 Local authority West Sussex Inspection number 946894 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 8 Total number of places 52 Number of children on roll 85 Name of provider The New Montessori Pre-School Date of previous inspection 13/07/2009 Telephone number 01903 535412

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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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