Fern Hill Montessori

Fern Hill Montessori Farnborough Sports Club, Farrow Fields, High Street, Farnborough, ORPINGTON, Kent, BR6 7BA

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 26/09/2014 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 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 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 Staff provide an inspirationally, caring and welcoming environment, meaning all children are extremely happy, engaged and motivated.  Staff have formed extremely close relationships with children and parents and information is shared on a daily basis. This helps to ensure that staff effectively meet the needs of all the children.  The staff pride themselves on evaluation and reflection, always aiming to further improve practice. They have established highly effective and focused self-evaluation strategies and monitoring of the setting.  All staff have an extensive knowledge of safeguarding and prioritise keeping all the children safe.  The staff are extremely skilful in providing high quality communication, interactions and extensions of learning ensuring that all children flourish.

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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 viewed the areas of the nursery that children use.  The inspector observed staff interacting with the children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled written documentation, including children's progress reports, policies and procedures.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to children, gathered parents' views and spoke in depth with staff.  The inspector invited the manager to carry out a joint observation.

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Information about the setting

Fern Hill Montessori registered in 2014. It operates from the hall of Farnborough Sports Club in the London Borough of Bromley. There is an enclosed outside play area. The setting is registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Registers. It operates during term time, between the hours of 9.15am and 2.45pm Monday to Thursday and Friday 9.15am until 12.30pm. There will be a lunch club between the hours of 12.30pm and 1.30pm.The deputy manager holds a level 4 qualification in early years. Three staff hold early years level 3 qualifications.

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

 enhance opportunities to further promote early letter recognition and writing skills within the outdoor learning environment.

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who attend

The staff provide an excellent range of resources and activities in both the indoor and outdoor areas to meet all areas of children's development. The resources, activities and environment are inspiring, so children are highly stimulated and fully engaged in all areas of learning. For example, children use transporting and real world equipment to develop hand-eye coordination and role play to develop imagination. They also use a cultural interactive area where children can develop their understanding of other ethnicities and cultures, through a range of resources and props such as interactive globes. Staff challenge children extremely well to enable them to gain the most from each learning experience. They are encouraged to think about their play and to solve problems independently. For example, staff asked children what they could use for a baking activity instead of eggs to make the dough 'sticky'. This allowed the children to think about their

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who attend

actions and to think about and understand each part of the baking process.

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who attend

Children also experience a wide range of activities in the outdoor area and surrounding areas, such as using climbing equipment, bug hunting and trips to the local woodland areas. They use these very effectively to develop their physical skills extremely well and learn to take risks, and solve problems, under supervision. Staff use the garden space well for many activities, such using cars down the ramps, negotiating obstacles, sand and water play, the use of wheeled toys, sensory activities and climbing. These varied experiences mean children have excellent opportunities to develop their physical skills, and explore and investigate using their senses. However, opportunities to enhance children's understanding of letter recognition and writing skills are not as effective in the outdoor learning environment as they are in the indoor environment. Children learn about living things, for example, they excitedly and lovingly shared and talked about their new spider

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who attend

friend 'Mr Long Legs' with their friends. They are all making extremely good progress in their learning and development as a result of the staffs highly effective planning and teaching. Consequently, they are very well prepared for the next stage in their learning.

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who attend

The staff make very detailed observations of children each day in relation to their progress towards the early learning goals. Staff have extensive knowledge of each child, meaning that they promptly meets the individual needs of children to an exceptionally high standard. The staff use daily observations very effectively to plan their next steps in learning. Staff regularly review each child's progress, so that they know which aspects of learning needs to be developed further to accurately make achievable yet challenging next steps. As a result, children make extremely good progress and staff promptly and accurately identify any gaps in learning. Staff hold meetings in the morning of each day to plan for activities and experiences to suit the specific children due to attend. This means each child, including those with additional needs, makes very good progress at their own level and rate. The staff obtain very detailed information from parents about what children

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who attend

are able to do, so that they have accurate starting points from which to plan accurately. Parents may see and contribute to their children's learning journals and speak to staff at anytime.

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who attend

Children develop their communication and language skills very well as they talk to each other and the staff constantly throughout their sessions. The staff consistently talk to them and ask effective questions, which extends their thinking and their vocabulary. Children ask many questions as they are finding out about their world. For example, during a snack time children asked if 'apples come from a supermarket'. Staff skilfully respond creating a discussion on the process of growing apples and where they come from. These highly effective communication techniques value children's questions and develop their conversational skills extremely well.

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who attend

The staff explain everything very clearly to the children and introduce new vocabulary. Children have daily opportunities to discuss and understand through stories and interactive prompts other countries and cultures, so that they are aware of the wider world. The children have experienced German stories, and Romanian traditional dishes as staff welcome parents into the setting to share their culture with the children on a regular basis. Children still talk excitedly about these celebrations and look at photographs and enjoy the displays. Children develop their social skills extremely well with the other children at the setting.

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

The staff give very high priority to children's safety, health and well-being. The staff provide them with healthy snacks and fresh home cooking experiences. For example, children have a choice of fruit for snack and have daily access to fresh milk and water, which the children access independently and confidently. The staff make sure that they are very active each day in the garden, to which children have free access. They also take daily walks in to the surrounding natural wooded areas where they explore their senses and develop high levels of investigatory skills.

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

The staff teaches children how to keep themselves safe as they have regular fire drills that the children confidently participate in. Staff link fire drill practise to an interest in hearing the sound of a fire engine to make a very strong connection between learning and real life experiences. The staff are excellently good role models throughout the routine and set very clear rules and boundaries, and as a result, all children are extremely well behaved. Staff encourage children to manage feelings and conflicts in an appropriate way and receive worthwhile for all their good behaviour and achievements. This positive reinforcement has a very positive impact on children's self-confidence, esteem and sense of belonging.

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

Children form extremely close bonds with the other children and with the all the staff in the setting. The children have good tolerance and understanding of children with additional needs because staff give them clear reasoning in an honest and age-appropriate way. This means children demonstrate high levels of respect and understand that everyone is unique, which that this is a positive thing.

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

The staff are very aware of each child's need to feel secure, so they discuss and include topics that have personal interest to the children. For example, when a new child entered the setting the staff set up their favourite activity. The child excitedly and proudly waved goodbye to their parent and joined in the activity with the reassurance of their key person. This helps children to adjust to changes in their lives, and feel listened to and fully valued, building strong and very trusting relationships. They show that they feel very secure in the setting because children are extremely happy and settled and are engaged in play for extended periods of time.

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

The staff support children's transfer to school very well because they share detailed information about them with the school teachers and parents beforehand. The staff read stories to children, shares developmental records with teachers, visits the school with the children and invites teachers to visit the setting. These arrangements help to ensure that the move to school is smooth, so that children continue to receive continuity of care.

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provision

The management and staffing team have an extremely thorough knowledge of safeguarding and child protection. Staff complete detailed and highly effective risk assessments and reviews these on a very regular basis to cover the premises and outings. The staff supervise children vigilantly and they deploy themselves effectively at all times to ensure the safety of all the children. The staff ask visitors to sign in on arrival and place all mobile phones in a lockable box to ensure the safety of the children. All these systems and processes mean the children are extremely safe during their time at the setting. The staff meticulously keep, review and evaluate all policies and records. The management team monitors and evaluates all aspects of the setting extremely effectively both visually and through written records. The staff complete a very detailed and highly comprehensive self-evaluation at both the beginning and the end of the day.

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provision

They use this as a monthly review and way of making accurate improvements and action plans. Management hold regular meetings, training, and supervision sessions to ensure the continued development of both the setting and the staff. The management uses all the strategies embedded as an ongoing document from which to highlight specific areas for further improvement and development. For example, the staff recently identified the need for circle time and end of session activities for the older children, to further develop supporting them in the transition to school, as they are encouraged to discuss weather, count and sit for stories together. All the staff are highly motivated in striving for continuous professional development and use a very wide range of resources to update their knowledge and ideas continuously, for example through training and research magazines.

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provision

The staff develop extremely good partnerships with parents. There is an area designated for parents where they can observe their children, talk to staff or read shared information for example research into the Montessori approach. The setting provides a personal service which is highly thought of by the parents. They comment 'this nursery is 100 percent outstanding, the staff go above and beyond for the children, they are so caring, passionate and dedicated to the children, it's amazing'. Parents and staff work very closely together so that children receive consistency in their learning and development. For example, they share views in questionnaires, information in newsletters and provide extra support and care plans for children with additional needs. Children are evidently extremely happy and safe during their time at the setting and they develop a very secure foundation on which to build their future learning.

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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. 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 EY470567 Local authority Bromley Inspection number 951713 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 8 Total number of places 32 Number of children on roll 33 Name of provider Fern Hill Montessori Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 01689 851035

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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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