Monkey Puzzle

Monkey Puzzle Day Nurseries Park House, 16 High Road, LONDON, N2 9PJ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 24/06/2014 23/02/2012

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early years provision

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

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This provision requires improvement

 Children enjoy daily access to the outdoor learning environment and this supports their good health and well-being.  Children are happy, settled and show a secure sense of belonging in the nursery, as they have formed caring and trusting relationships with the staff who care for them.  Staff develop positive relationships with parents and spend time each day exchanging information with parents on their wishes, and ensuring they are fully informed about their children's care needs.

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It is not yet good because

 The quality of staff's teaching and questioning techniques are variable. Therefore, not all staff are consistent when encouraging children to think through their ideas and develop their critical thinking skills.  Staff, on occasion, do not provide consistent messages on how older children can learn to manage their behaviour, particularly during group activities and imaginary play.  Staff do not always provide resources for babies to make marks with during their daily play to encourage children to independently choose to draw and develop their finer muscle skills.

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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 in all the rooms and the garden.  The inspector had a discussion with the owner, manager and deputy manager.  The inspector sampled documentation, planning and observation folders.  The inspector spoke to parents to gather their views.  The inspector took part in a joint observation with the manager.

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Information about the setting

Monkey Puzzle Nursery is part of a franchise and was registered in 2011. It operates from the ground floor of a converted building in East Finchley, in the London Borough of Barnet. The nursery building comprises of a number of nursery rooms designated for the care of children, each of which are defined by age and stage of development. There is an enclosed garden for outside play.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is open Monday to Friday from 8am to 6.30pm for 51 weeks of the year. The nursery is able to support children who have special education needs and/or disabilities. They are in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education for children aged three and four. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and there are currently 110 children on roll in this age range. There are 24 members of staff, of whom 20 hold a relevant early years qualification.

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must:

 improve the quality of staff teaching techniques to encourage children to make links between ideas and become critical thinkers.

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

 review the organisation of resources to encourage babies to make marks with a wide range of materials during daily play and develop their finer physical skills.

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

 encourage staff to set reasonable and consistent limits to effectively help children to manage their feelings and behaviour so that older children can learn to play safely in small group activities

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who attend

Staff demonstrate a suitable knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage and provide an adequate range of activities. They carry out regular observations on what children can do, which ensures that planning covers the next steps in children's learning they identify. Children's interest and parent's comments aid the planning of activities, which means that children have reasonable choice, and can offer their ideas each day. Parents contribute to their children's learning journals by adding comments based on what they have observed their children doing at home. This enables staff to understand what children can do at home, which is especially important for the youngest children whose learning and development changes quickly. The staff have suitable starting points that include observations of their first five days at nursery. Staff share these with parents to involve them in their children's learning. Staff continue to make observations on the children and

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who attend

parental involvement is regularly sought. This enables staff to develop a cohesive approach to children's learning with the parents, and this approach then helps children to make sound progress in relation to their starting points.

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who attend

Planning is generally effective in supporting children's learning. Staff make use of children's emerging interests to enable them to learn through play. For example, children look after all the chrysalis and watch them as they turn into butterflies. Staff encourage children to read books that enhance their understanding of caterpillars and butterflies. This helps them continue learning aspects on how living things are formed and develops their awareness of living things. Staff plan fun activities for babies to roll around in green paint as they make marks with their bodies and create pictures of butterflies and caterpillars. This enables staff to teach children about the world around them and how to care for others.

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who attend

Children have reasonable opportunities to develop their language skills through discussions about what they are doing. Staff working with the youngest children respond caringly to babies as they babble, which encourages them to use their voices to interact with their special person. Toddlers enjoy learning about letters and their sounds through singing. These activities help children develop the key skills they need for their future learning. Staff do not consistently encourage children to develop their first ideas with their questions to expand on these and help develop their critical thinking skills. As a result, children are not consistently encouraged to make links between ideas, or develop strategies for themselves to learn to make their own predictions. This does not promote children to become critical thinkers and fully prepare them for their next stage in learning.

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who attend

Children are able to choose from a suitable range of age appropriate resources, which are easily accessible from the various low-level storage shelves and baskets. For example, most rooms have sufficient pens, paper, easels and paint for children to freely choose. The baby room has a large black board, where babies can express their thoughts and ideas as they make patterns and shapes with chalks. However, staff do not maximise babies opportunities to freely access resources that allow them to make marks for themselves during their daily free play. For example, there is a long black board for children and babies show an interest in this. However, it does not have chalk available for babies to freely use when they show an interest in this board and this frustrates them. Therefore, babies are unable to independently draw and make marks when they wish.

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who attend

Children have daily opportunities to get fresh air in the outdoor play area. They practise climbing on the climbing frames, and enjoy peddling bikes around the garden and digging in the large sand pits. Some children enjoy, playing with a variety of different sized balls, which provides children with opportunities to develop their kicking and ball control skills. There is an indoor climbing frame that gives suitable challenge for children when they cannot go outside. Staff ensure that there are plenty of opportunities for children to enjoy messy play as they fill large builders trays with couscous and brushes. Children use the brushes to create patterns in the couscous, which supports their early writing skills. Therefore, there is a range of activities and resources available for children to use to develop their physical skills.

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

Children have a secure sense of belonging and develop close relationships with their key person. Recent staff changes have meant that some children have had a change of key person. However, an new effective key-person buddy system means that the impact of the staff changes are minimal, as children have the security of their buddy to approach for hugs and reassurance if their special person is away. Babies show that they are happy and settled, as they put up their arms for cuddles. Staff respond in a caring and nurturing way, which means that babies' personal, social and emotional needs are appropriately met. Consequently, children settle quickly as they move from one room to another.

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

Children play well together, as staff support them to learn how to share and take turns. Staff model the use of good social manners by saying 'please' and 'thank you' when interacting with the children and each other. This means that children are polite while in the nursery. Most staff use positive behaviour strategies to support children to share resources and take turns. However, some staff do not always manage older children's behaviour well. For example, on one occasion, a small group of older children became slightly boisterous as they jump over each other during imaginative play using soft cushions. Although staff intervened immediately they did not provide children with sufficient opportunity to identify and discuss expected boundaries. Therefore, staff do not consistently develop children's understanding of why their actions may not be safe and how to play safely in small groups. Consequently, staff are not consistent in how they

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

increase children's awareness of how to support and manage their own feelings and behaviour. Nonetheless, overall children behave well and are praised by staff for their good behaviour and this helps children to develop reasonable levels of self-confidence and self-esteem.

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

The nursery is bright, clean and welcoming. There are displays of children's work all around the nursery. The equipment, furniture and resources are clean, in good repair and age appropriate. For example, Staff use a large soft clean sofa in the baby room to sit and cuddle babies when they need comfort and reassuring. Children are generally well supported to learn to keep themselves safe. For example, there are new systems that allow children to risk assess their own environment and record what they have found. This enables children to have a reasonable understanding of how to keep themselves safe.

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

Children's health is reasonably well promoted through effective hygiene routines. All food that children have while in the nursery is freshly cooked on site. This means that snacks and meals are nutritious, healthy and balanced. Details are gathered through children's record forms to show their individual dietary needs and these are clearly displayed in each room. This means that children are not given any foods which may cause allergic reactions or are against religious beliefs. Parents inform staff of any change to individual children's dietary requirements, which enables them to have the most up-to-date information. Meal times are a social occasion. Staff sensitively support babies and help feed those who require help, and older children receive encouragement to learn to feed themselves. This supports children to become used to the routine of eating independently during meal times, as they will at school. Additionally, the nursery invites local primary school teachers

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

in to the nursery to support and familiarise older children with them and ensure their move is smooth from nursery to their next stage in learning.

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provision

The safeguarding arrangements in the nursery are sound. Appropriate procedures are followed to notify parents of incidents linked to children's health needs and care plans are in place. The designated persons for child protection have received training for their roles and they have a secure understanding of their responsibilities. They ensure staff receive regular training in safeguarding and have a suitable understanding of the procedures to be followed if they have concerns about children. Therefore, staff are confident to report concerns, and in turn this means that children are appropriately protected.

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provision

Safer recruitment procedures and an established induction programme ensure all staff are suitable to work with children. Staff deployment ensures that children are adequately supervised within the nursery. For example, the organisation of the pre-school area requires staff to be extra vigilant as at times staff separate children into several smaller rooms along a corridor. Therefore, staff maintain a higher than required child-to-staff ratio in order to keep children safe in each room.

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provision

Safety is addressed by the management team, on a daily basis. There are appropriate risk assessments implemented and displayed in each room, and all other areas of the nursery. They include suitable information that highlights the risks that have been identified for each room, in the garden and in the kitchen. For example, the manager takes appropriate steps to address safety issues when risk aassessments are reviewed. She shares them with the room leaders, who inform the staff in each room of any potential hazards. The staff have a daily check list that is signed to confirm the room is safe. In addition, the kitchen and garden areas are included and the chef and caretaker provide details of their daily checks regularly to senior staff. This means that staff take the appropriate steps to minimise potential hazards to children's well-being. As a result, all areas in the nursery, garden and furniture are clean and safe.

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provision

The management team have a sound understanding of the learning and development requirements. Senior management have recognised the need to have an action plan in place to address the learning and development programme. The senior management have a lead staff member who manages the curriculum and planning needs. For example, they have begun to train staff to concentrate on the children's personal, social and emotional learning for younger children and on the records they provide for older children when they move on to school. This ensures management identify and monitor practice, however, currently this is not yet fully effective at promoting consistency of staff practice. Regular supervision sessions provide opportunities for staff to discuss where they need help to improve their skills. The professional development of staff is continually evolving as they undertake training in several areas. The deputy manager is trained in special

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provision

educational needs management and helps staff competently to manage children with additional need's learning and well-being. Therefore, staff understand how to work with parents to promote children's individual needs. Team meetings provide opportunities for staff to contribute to the running of the nursery. The nursery have begun to address several changes they have identified to improve outcomes for children. For example, the nursery staff are taking part in a raising early achievement in literacy and have set up an internal library where children can take books home to read with their parents. This demonstrates the nursery is routinely taking account of areas that require improvement and is making sound improvements.

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provision

The partnerships with parents are positive and daily communication is shared about children's learning and care. The management team encourage parents to take home library books as a suitable resource to promote children's literacy skills. They discuss children's home learning and parents are able to make comments, to maintain continuous learning. The provider invites parents to comment on the service they receive, and photographs show that parents participate in workshops occasionally.

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provision

The staff work positively with other agencies. Staff work positively with agencies, including a range of health professionals. For example, the speech and language therapist, specialist Sen advisor and health visitor. The management team are aware of the importance of sharing information with other providers to ensure children receive the individual support they need.

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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 EY434830 Local authority Barnet Inspection number 962117 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 80 Number of children on roll 110 Name of provider North London Day Nurseries Limited Date of previous inspection 23/02/2012 Telephone number 02079981725

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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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