Queens Park Montessori and Sakutu Montessori School Club

Queens Park Montessori 346 Dollis Hill Lane, LONDON, NW2 6HL

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 18/09/2014 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: Not Applicable How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 Staff use observation and assessment effectively to plan to meet the individual needs and the interests of the children, ensuring all children make good progress.  An effective programme of professional development is provided for all staff who are developing their knowledge and practice. Children benefit from well-trained staff who understand their needs.  Staff have high expectations of the children's behaviour. The environment is calm and staff are good role models. As a result, children are calm and play well together.  Staff effectively support children's language development through various learning opportunities. This helps to ensure that all children develop good communication skills, including those children learning English as an additional language.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Children cannot independently access the range of resources available, to challenge their play or to extend their knowledge and experience of using technology.  The self-evaluation process is not fully established to reflect more challenging targets to enhance further children's learning opportunities.

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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 inside and outside.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held discussions with the manager/registered person and staff, and took account of the views of the parents spoken to on the day.  The inspector carried out a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed two children at play, spoke to their key person and reviewed their assessment records.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector reviewed a selection of policies and procedures, staff suitability records and registers.

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Information about the setting

Queens Park Montessori registered in 2010. It operates from two rooms within a bungalow, situated in the London Borough of Brent. There is an enclosed garden available for outdoor play. The provider offers care for 26 children in the early years age group at any one time. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The group opens from 8am to 6pm, five days a week, during term-time only. The group provides a service for children aged two to five years and there are currently 17 children on roll. The provider is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education to children aged two-, three-, and four-years-old. Staff care for children who are learning English as an additional language. The provider employs four members of staff. All of the staff hold appropriate early years qualifications. The provider receives support from the local Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership. The group uses the Montessori method of

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

 enhance the variety of resources and activities for children to access independently, both inside and outside, to provide choices and challenge for all children, including increasing opportunities to learn about technology

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

 continue to build on the good self-evaluation processes by setting challenging targets for improvement, so that learning opportunities for children continue to improve.

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who attend

Staff provide a good range of toys and activities, so children play happily and are engaged in their play. Children are able to help themselves to toys from shelves and play with what interests them. For example, they spend time working out how to connect two bricks together to make a train and use their imaginations as they pretend to make cups of tea, saying this is with, 'Hot boiling water'. Staff support children's play sensitively, asking useful questions to encourage children's thinking skills. For example, a group of children organised a game outside involving cones. The staff encouraged children to talk about what they needed to do so they could move the cones around. Children eagerly offered suggestions, the cones were moved further apart and the children ran around them.

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who attend

The quality of teaching is good; practitioners have high expectations of all children and use their knowledge from individual assessments to plan to meet children's' needs. Staff work alongside children, extending their ideas and engaging them in play. Older children join in discussions around holidays, sharing experiences of travel and their knowledge of a range of countries. These experiences help children to broaden their understanding of the world.

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who attend

During story time staff encourage children to recognise, listen and sound out the initial sounds in words. Throughout routines and during activities, staff encourage children to count, for example, as they count the number of fish caught in a game. Staff encourage them to recognise their names on their drawings, name shapes, and look for letters in the book they are reading. Staff encourage children to learn to work together and take turns. This supports children in acquiring the skills they need to be ready for the next stage in their learning, or school. However, the resources and activities are not easily accessible to provide a range of challenging experiences to engage all children and do not include opportunities for children to investigate and learn about a wide range of information technology. Therefore, at times children cannot independently extend their play through the resources available to them.

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who attend

Staff encourage children who learn English as an additional language with words in their own languages, and repeat these in English. Staff use books with dual-language text to encourage children's understanding and recognition of key words. Parents are provided with resources to use at home to support children's language development. This ensures all children make good progress in their communication and language skills.

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who attend

The provider has a good understanding of the curriculum, and plans activities to reflect the Montessori ethos and meet the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Staff use their sound knowledge of child development and information from assessments of children's learning, to plan how to improve children's progress. Children's observations are recorded in learning records, along with artwork and photographs. Staff identify children's next steps in learning and link these to their expected ages and stages of development. Each key person plans activities to include children's next steps and record their progress. Staff complete regular formal assessments, including the progress check for children between the ages of two and three years. As a result, children, including those learning English as an additional language, make good progress in their learning and development. Parents have good involvement in their children's learning. They see and

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who attend

comment in the children's learning records, and meet with the key person at termly consultation sessions. Staff send home information sheets of topics and activities to be covered each term, and ideas of how parents can extend their children's learning at home.

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

Children feel safe and secure in the nursery as a result of an effective key-person system. Staff follow effective settling in procedures to help children manage the move into their care. Therefore, key persons promote children's emotional wellbeing as they work in partnership with parents to meet the child's needs. Staff have adapted the environment to support the needs of younger children, including providing a range of soft toys for children to cuddle when they arrive in the morning. These have proved successful in helping children to settle in and feel reassured. Children show their confidence, for example, as they sing and dance along to songs, or quietly concentrate on solving a problem as they make two bricks fit together.

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

Staff have high expectations of the children's behaviour within the nursery. The environment is calm, staff are good role models and, as a result, children are calm and play well with each other. When conflict does arise, staff intervene swiftly and appropriately and help the children to solve any difficulties. For example, when a child snatches a toy from another child, a member of staff reminds the child to use their words and ask their friend if they want to share. This helps children to learn to manage their feelings and consider others.

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

Children learn about their own cultural heritages, religions and lifestyles, and those of others. Staff help them to learn through providing a good range of activities and resources, including books, posters, and role-play materials. Parents and children take part in a cultural day and share food, songs and the customs of each culture. This helps children to understand and respect one another.

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

The provider and staff promote the safety of children at all times and remind children how to use equipment safely. For example, they teach them to climb up the steps of the slide and steer bikes carefully around obstacles. Staff ask children what will happen if they throw toys at each other and children reply, 'It will hurt'. This encourages children to begin to learn about their own safety. Staff promote children's independence though helping them to adopt self-care skills. These include encouraging them to put on their shoes to go outside. An older child helps a younger child with this, showing good skills in cooperation.

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

Staff teach children about leading healthy lifestyles and children enjoy eating their healthy snacks. Staff provide parents with guidance on providing healthy snacks and lunches for their children. Children enjoyed smelling and tasting strawberries. Staff reminded them to wash the fruit before they ate it. Staff talk to children about eating fruit and vegetables to make them healthy and enhance children's understanding of healthy lifestyles.

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

Children enjoy fresh air and exercise, and play in the garden daily. Here children can practice their physical skills by riding bikes, throwing balls, and digging in the soil. Staff plan regular trips to the local park to enable children to play on larger equipment. These opportunities enable children to stretch and use their larger muscles, as they climb and hang on the equipment. As a result, they develop their strength and all-round physical skills.

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

Staff provide children with a range of resources both inside and outside. However, children have less opportunity to play with resources outside, due to the routines of the nursery. Children can use the garden area for a set amount of time during the morning and afternoon. This means children cannot always become engrossed in play and develop their learning outside. Inside the variety of resources are not always easily accessible to the children. Therefore, children cannot always make independent choices of resources to support their play. Children's play is sometimes interrupted as they ask an adult to access the resources for them.

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

Staff work in partnership with parents to ensure children are emotionally prepared for their transfer to school. Parents are provided with a pack of information and activities to use at home to prepare children for school. For example, these include helping their children to practice putting on their shoes and coats. They also include engaging children in listening games to develop their concentration skills and ability to follow instructions.

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provision

The provider meets their responsibilities in ensuring all safeguarding and welfare requirements are met. Staff have a good understanding of how to keep children safe. For example, they are able to explain the symptoms of potential abuse and are aware of how to log their concerns. The manager ensures all staff receive appropriate training to maintain their understanding of safeguarding children. Clear policies and procedures are available for staff and parents. First-aid certificates are in place for all staff and details of the necessary Disclosure and Barring Service checks are recorded on file. Staff are vigilant in carrying out daily checks of the environment, both inside and outside. The security of the premises is reviewed regularly and evacuation drills are completed every term.

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provision

The provider and staff have a secure understanding of the areas of learning and how children learn. Monitoring of the educational programmes, by the provider, has identified that children have some access to technology to support their understanding of the world. However, they do not have access to a wider range of technology including computers to extend this learning. There are consistent systems in place for performance management ensuring training needs are identified and that progress is monitored on a regular basis.

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provision

An effective programme of professional development is helping practitioners to improve their knowledge and practice. For example, staff have accessed training to support working with younger children and to develop skills in supporting children's language development. Children have benefited from learning games and rhymes, and are showing good progress, including those who are learning English as an additional language.

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provision

The provider has evaluated her setting and has identified areas for improvement. The provider is working with the local authority to meet actions identified in the setting development plan. However, the good self-evaluation processes in place do not fully demonstrate challenging targets for improvement, so that learning opportunities for children continue to improve.

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provision

The provider has successful partnerships with parents and other professionals, including speech and language specialist, the local children's centre and early years adviser. This ensures that children and families receive appropriate intervention and support to meet children's needs. Staff work with the speech and language specialist to provide help for children with language delay. This results in the children making good progress. Positive partnerships between parents and staff ensure that children's needs are well met.Feedback from parents is positive and parents spoken to on the day stated that the staff are friendly, approachable and provide good support around their children's development and progress. Parents attend family events and trips to the park with the staff, and children. They attend the cultural day, and share food and songs from their cultures. Parents, children and staff enjoyed a successful outing to a popular museum.

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provision

Staff provide parents with information about their children's progress and encourage them to contribute to their child's records. They are provided with activities to complete at home to support their child's learning. Information is shared between parents and staff, ensuring children's needs 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. 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 EY410556 Local authority Brent Inspection number 882881 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 5 Total number of places 26 Number of children on roll 19 Name of provider Filmah Fatu Doherty Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 07961181162

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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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