Chapel Grange Montessori Nursery

Chapel Grange Montessori Nursery Chapelstead, Dean Row Road, WILMSLOW, Cheshire, SK9 2BU

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 06/08/2014 25/03/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 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 1

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This provision is outstanding

 Staff are highly experienced and enthusiastic, and thoroughly enjoy their play and interactions with children. Their expert teaching extends children's learning and development at every opportunity, encouraging them to develop critical thinking skills and become active learners. As a result, children make excellent progress.  The caring and welcoming ethos of the nursery ensures that children quickly settle in and develop excellent relationships with staff and one another. Therefore, their personal, social and emotional needs are extremely well met.  Staff have high expectations of children, enabling them to become independent in their learning, thinking and self-care skills. Consequently, children are extremely well prepared for the next steps in learning, such as school.  Excellent safeguarding policies and procedures are well known and implemented by staff who place the utmost importance on ensuring children are extremely safe and

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This provision is outstanding

secure at all times.  Leadership is inspirational. Meticulous self-evaluation and reflective practice ensures that staff, parents and children are highly involved in the setting's continual improvement, in pursuit of excellence. Consequently, staff are highly motivated and have high aspirations for the children and all areas of the nursery's practice.  Partnerships with parents, other settings and professionals are superb. This ensures that children's needs are quickly identified and that they receive targeted support appropriate to their individual needs.

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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 activities in the two playrooms and the outside learning environment.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector conducted a joint observation of a group activity, with the deputy manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held meetings with the deputy manager of the provision and spoke to staff and children at appropriate times throughout the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessment records, planning documentation and a selection of policies and procedures.

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Inspection activities

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

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents and carers spoken to on the day and from information included in the setting's own parent survey.

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Information about the setting

Chapel Grange Montessori Nursery was registered in 1996 on the Early Years Register. It is situated in converted chapel premises in the Wilmslow area of Cheshire and is managed by Chapel Grange Montessori Nurseries Limited. The nursery is run according to the Montessori philosophy and is accessible to all children. It operates from two rooms and there is an enclosed area available for outdoor play. The nursery employs seven members of childcare staff. Of these, six hold appropriate early years qualifications at levels 3 to level 6, including one with Early Years Teacher status. The nursery opens Monday to Friday, for 47 weeks of the year. Sessions are available between the hours of 8am until 6pm. There are currently 48 children on roll who are in the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for three- and four-year-old children. It supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language and children with

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Information about the setting

special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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

 enhance the already excellent information sharing with parents, to include how the nursery is supporting children to be ready for school, for example, how phonics development is incorporated within the Montessori teaching.

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who attend

The quality of teaching is outstanding. The experienced and highly skilled staff have an excellent knowledge of the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. This is interwoven with the Montessori pedagogical principles, which staff are trained to implement. Staff are highly dedicated and enthusiastic and this is reflected in the very high expectations they have of themselves and children. They use their superb understanding of how children learn to support children of all ages and abilities to achieve the best they possibly can in their learning and development. Consequently, children are highly motivated and engaged and thoroughly enjoy their time in the nursery, exploring the wide variety of high quality resources and activities provided by the staff, both indoors and outdoors. Staff gather information about each child's interests and individual learning needs from their parents when they first start attending.

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who attend

From this information and their own observations of children during play, they ensure that excellent activities and learning opportunities are made available based on children's individual interests and identified next steps in learning. Staff identify and assess children's starting points and ongoing developmental stages extremely well. They undertake regular observations and precise assessments of children and use this information to plan for the individual next steps in their learning. Staff also complete a highly comprehensive progress check for children between the ages of two and three years, fully involving parents. As assessments are thorough and ongoing, any identified gaps in learning or delay in children's development are therefore identified and addressed, through early intervention and support from the staff and other agencies, to progress children's learning. Children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an

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who attend

additional language receive outstanding levels of support from the highly experienced staff at the nursery.

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who attend

Staff have an excellent ability to engage and enthusiastically interact with children, which results in them being highly motivated and eager to learn. Children of all ages enjoy opportunities to take part in activities that cover all of their learning needs extremely well. All staff understand the importance of supporting children's communication and language skills at all times, especially for those children learning English as an additional language. Staff use words from children's home language to reassure and reinforce their understanding, learning key words from parents in order to support the child's needs. Parents speak highly of how quickly their children have developed their understanding of the English language and their confidence in speaking skills. Staff provide excellent commentary and open questions to children during their play, to engage children in practising their language skills. Children are not hurried to give a response and are clearly

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who attend

given time to think about what they want to say. Children demonstrate excellent communication and language skills as staff ask them appropriately challenging questions to make them think and find out more. For example, during circle time, staff ask children to identify which foods belong in the healthy or unhealthy lunch box. They enthusiastically identify these, joining in the discussions about why they need certain foods in their daily diets and how some help them to grow strong. Throughout activities, children clearly show their enjoyment in trying new experiences and they beam with delight when they receive praise for their efforts and achievements. This builds upon their confidence and they successfully develop a 'can do' attitude. Staff provide an excellent balance between adult- led and child-initiated activities. This enables children to learn about new concepts and ideas and then apply this in their play. For example, the one-to-one Montessori lessons

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who attend

that children have with staff, provide them with opportunities to develop skills, such as pouring water from a jug to a small bowl or transferring rice from one bowl to another. Even the youngest children do this with increased dexterity, refining their physical skills and hand-to-eye coordination. Outdoors, the excellent skills that they have been taught are observed to be utilised well, as children skilfully fill buckets full of sand in the sand tray to make sandcastles and play with water on a larger scale. This is clear evidence that the excellent teaching they receive from staff has a positive impact upon their learning, preparing them extremely well for their future learning in school.

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who attend

Children enjoy listening to their favourite storybooks read by staff and become engrossed in these. Books are available indoors and outdoors for children to use at all times, and these include both stories and factual books, where they can identify insects that they find in the garden or learn about the wider world that they live in. Staff skilfully support children's interest in literacy and language by sensitively developing their interest in letters and words, through recognition of and writing their own names. This is gradually developed to introduce other words, using a range of different letter resources to sound and spell these out. Babies and children of all ages have opportunities both indoors and outdoors to write and make marks, for example, in shallow trays of sand or glitter, with paint or pencils and crayons. Children are actively encouraged to develop these skills and to use their writing for a range of purposes, including writing the labels, which adorn the

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who attend

different resources in the nursery. Staff engage parents, carers and others in children's learning and development, providing regular opportunities to discuss children's progress and next steps in learning. Parents are encouraged to provide regular information about their changing interests and abilities at home. This information is used to provide a complete picture of children's overall development. These positive partnerships and relationships ensure that there is effective information sharing and consistency for the child, and that those in need of additional support receive this to ensure that their needs are fully met. This joint approach supports the children extremely well to make very rapid and exceptional progress in their learning towards the early learning goals. However, there is scope to enhance the already excellent information sharing with parents, to include how the nursery supports children's readiness school, for example, how phonics development is

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who attend

incorporated within the Montessori teaching.

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

The nursery has a very strong caring and nurturing ethos and staff place a high level of importance upon children being happy and emotionally secure. Children quickly and happily settle into the nursery, through carefully planned settling-in sessions, where staff take time to get to know each child and their unique needs. All children have their own key person who take great care to ensure they forge close working relationships and excellent communication with parents. Parents share information with staff about their child's care needs, interests and achievements on entry to the nursery. This ensures that key persons have an extremely good understanding of each child's unique needs and routines. It also enables children to form exceptionally close bonds with them, which supports their emotional well-being exceedingly well. Consequently, children are exceptionally happy in their care, resulting in them being extremely confident,

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

independent and self-assured individuals. Parents comment that they have excellent relationships with all staff. They feel reassured that staff know their children remarkably well, enhancing their sense of trust and security in the quality of their child's care. As a result, children have strong and secure emotional attachments with staff. This enables them to enjoy their time in the nursery and make excellent progress in all areas of their development and learning, in a safe environment. Staff create a very inspiring and enabling learning environment for all ages. High-quality toys and equipment are in good order and easy to find. The learning environment enables children of all ages to independently select resources of their choice, supporting them to extend their play and their developing imagination. Displays show children's creativity and the many photographs of children engaged in activities and celebrate the skills they have used and

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

the learning gained from these experiences.

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

Children quickly develop their independence in self-help skills. This enhances their progress in personal, social and emotional development and is highly attributed to the Montessori principle that states, 'children need to learn to do things by and for themselves'. For example, toddlers and older children serve their own snacks, pour their own drinks and wash their glasses and plates afterwards. The crockery used at snack and mealtimes is ceramic and glasses are used to drink from, rather than plastic ones. This reflects that children are respected, as they handle these appropriately and any breakages, which seldom occur, are used as a learning experience regarding safety. At mealtimes, children are identified as helpers, to set the tables and to serve out the food. They do this willingly, using tongs and serving utensils skilfully, as staff enable them to do this every day, as part of their routine. At lunchtime, staff sit and eat with children, joining

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

in their conversations and encouraging children to talk socially about their interests, developing their confidence in social situations. Staff support children well in understanding the importance of a healthy diet through activities and discussions, such as healthy and unhealthy lunch boxes. This supports children in developing their understanding of healthy choices, such as at lunchtime when they clearly state that 'salad is good for you'. In addition, children bake bread each week, as well as grow and care for fruits and vegetables in the garden, which they eat at snack and mealtimes. Before outdoor play, children put on waterproof trousers and wellington boots themselves and when returning inside, remove and put them away in the appropriate places. It is evident that children take great care and pride in their environment from an early age, as they self-select and return resources from open shelves in the playrooms and clean up any

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

spillages from pouring drinks as soon as they occur. This high level of positive discipline and independence is only possible because of the high expectations that staff have of children. Staff have the utmost belief that children are capable of anything, if given appropriate initial teaching and consistent opportunities, which is evident in the skills that children are developing from a very early age. These skills not only prepare children for the next stage of their learning, such as school, but also for adult life in the future. Children enjoy fresh air and exercise and develop physical skills and confidence as they play on equipment, such as balancing beams and wheeled-toys in the outdoor area. Children are supervised closely by staff at all times but staff also encourage them to use resources, such as scissors, appropriately and to self-assess potential risks, such as how to move resources from one place to another outdoors. These opportunities enable children

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

to take safe risks under adult supervision and support children in understanding how to keep themselves safe.

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

Staff provide exceptional role models in being kind to one another and creating a calm, welcoming and supportive atmosphere. As a result, positive behaviour is highly evident and children happily play together. All children are polite and respectful, using good manners with staff and one another. The nursery has simple rules, such as not running indoors, good sitting, using 'listening ears' and 'looking eyes' in group situations, which are reinforced throughout the sessions. Children are encouraged to openly express their feelings, using cut-out happy, sad or worried faces which they hang onto the emotions tree or through the use of emotions dolls. This is revisited throughout the day, to identify if the child's feelings have changed or what might help them to feel happy if they are feeling sad. Staff ensure that children are emotionally well prepared when it is time for them to move onto school. Their smooth transitions to school are well supported through

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

visits from the teachers to the nursery and discussions with children about what will happen in school. Staff fully promote children's understanding of their differences and their similarities. For example, they provide pictures and resources that reflect positive images and children learn about different traditions, customs and beliefs. Children's well- being is addressed extremely well and parents are provided with clear details about the nursery's practices through policies on safety, illness and accidents. Parents are invited to attend graduation events and Christmas concerts, to share in nursery life. Children take activities home to share learning with their families and parents are asked to contribute items from home, such as an empty jar for their child to grow beans in. This helps parents to support their child's learning both at home and in the nursery. The excellent partnerships with parents enable the staff to meet children's individual needs very well.

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

The strong link between the nursery and the children's homes involves parents in their children's care, learning and play. This also means that the continuity of care between them all fully enhances children's well-being.

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provision

The nursery is managed by experienced and inspirational leaders who continuously strive for excellence, motivated by a desire to provide each individual child with the best possible outcomes from their time in the nursery. This strong, effective leadership enables all staff to feel empowered and inspired, resulting in them being highly professional and dedicated to their role in meeting children's learning and development needs. Robust recruitment and suitability processes are in place, to ensure that newly appointed staff are safe to work with young children. On appointment, staff participate in a highly effective induction process, which ensures that they are confident in their roles and have a thorough understanding of the policies and procedures, which underpin the exceptional practice in the setting. Safety and security procedures are in place and followed by all staff meticulously, in order to safeguard the children from harm. Following a potential security

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provision

breach, management were highly proactive in developing more robust induction procedures for outside contractors, to ensure that they are aware of and follow the stringent security procedures in place. Management are also fully aware of their duty to report any significant incidents to Ofsted. Continual monitoring by the manager and effective and frequent supervision ensures that staff maintain high standards of professionalism and integrity. All staff have a thorough understanding of their role and responsibility in safeguarding and promoting children's welfare. Staff receive refresher training and policies are frequently updated, so staff members are fully familiar with the child protection procedures in the local area and have confidence to follow these. Daily risk assessments of the indoor and outdoor environments are undertaken and any minor accidents are recorded and analysed. All of these measures in place ensure that children's

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provision

safety and well-being is extremely well promoted at all times.

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provision

The management and staff have a superb understanding of the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. This is effectively intertwined with the Montessori practices, which underpin the philosophy of the nursery. The outstanding quality of teaching by all staff, results in children being animated, highly motivated and enthusiastic learners. Consequently, all children make excellent progress in their learning and development given their starting points. The quality of teaching is monitored by the manager through regular observations of staff practice. In addition, peer observations enable staff to observe the manager and one another's practise, to further enhance their own teaching skills. Feedback is provided to staff on this and all other areas of their performance, through regular individual supervision sessions and annual appraisals, to discuss their professional roles and future development. The manager also discusses with

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provision

staff their key children's progress, which she monitors through children's learning journals. She checks that staff are observing and planning for children's next steps in their learning and that these are consistently followed through thoroughly. Staff continue their professional development by attending training opportunities and sharing what they have learnt with other staff in the nursery. This motivates and inspires staff and enhances the already excellent practice in place.

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provision

Comprehensive self-evaluation systems are in place, demonstrating that staff do not become complacent and constantly strive for improvements. Regular staff meetings within the setting, provide opportunities to reflect together on practice and to share their views and ideas. Action plans are developed because of this continual reflection on practice, putting the needs of children at the heart of everything they do. The nursery actively seeks and welcomes parents' views on the provision in order to continually review and improve practice. This is achieved through questionnaires for parents and children and suggestions made are implemented wherever possible. Partnerships between staff and parents are outstanding. The information obtained from parents on their child's individual care and learning and communication between staff and parents is excellent. Parents highly value the positive relationships they have with staff and this ensures that they work

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provision

exceptionally well together to meet the children's needs. Parents' comments are extremely positive and include examples, such as 'all staff are very friendly and welcoming' and 'staff are continually engaged with the children'. Many parents comment on how well their children are progressing since starting in the nursery. An extensive range of information is made readily available to parents in the reception area of the nursery and through regular newsletters, which keep parents up to date with nursery news. This ethos of openness and joint working is exceptionally strong, which greatly benefits the children who attend. Partnership working with external agencies and professionals, such as speech and language therapists, the child development centre and teachers from local schools is excellent. They are very welcome to visit the children at the nursery and staff follow through with any programmes of support that is identified. This joint working is extremely

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provision

effective in ensuring that children receive the best possible, consistent care and education.

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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. We re-inspect nurseries and pre-schools judged as requires improvement within 12 months of the date of 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

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Grade Judgement Description

is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected again within six months of the date of this inspection. Met There were no children present at the time of the inspection. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not met There were no children present at the time of the inspection. 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 305009 Local authority Cheshire East Inspection number 984236

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 40 Number of children on roll 48 Name of provider Chapel Grange Montessori Nursery Ltd Date of previous inspection 25/03/2009 Telephone number 01625 532083

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Type of provision

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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