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Early years · Early years inspection (CIF)

St John's Nursery

Inspected 18 Dec 2014 · published 15 Jan 2015 · URN EY381241

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Summary

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  • Inspection datesingle source

    18 Dec 2014

  • Inspectors verified

    Barbara Morgan

  • Overall effectiveness verified

    Good

  • Postcode verified

    N13 4DA

  • Name on report verified

    St John's Nursery

  • URN verified

    EY381241

Page 1 of 10
Page 1 of the report

Deep dive

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Grade profile

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  • OverallGood

Tone of the report

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+19Mostly positivemore positive than 4% of reports of this type graded Good
OutstandingGoodMetRINot metInadequate

Reads more critically than most reports of this type graded Good.

Markers show where typical reports of each grade sit.

Praiseeffectivelycaringsafeconsistentlypositivevery wellmake good progressstrong
Criticisminadequatenot consistentlyrequires improvementat risknot metnot alwaysinconsistenciesconcern

How the report reads, start to finish

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FindingsAbout the inspectionWhat needs to improve positive critical
  • Findings195w+7
  • What needs to improve1742w+21

Strengths

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No standout praise found.

Concerns

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Next steps

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Anatomy of the report

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Pages
10
Words of findings
1,870
longer than usual (typical 703)
Reading level
Fairly hard
Flesch 51, typical 50
Average sentence
18 words
Next steps
8
typical 2
Hedged sentences
4%
“some”, “not always”, “most”…

Where the words go

Findings 7%What needs to improve 59%About the inspection 34%

Full report text

St John's Nursery St. Johns Hall, Bourne Hill, LONDON, N13 4DA

p.1

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 18/12/2014 07/05/2009

p.1

early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: 2 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

p.1

This provision is good

 Children are well settled. They have developed trusting and caring relationships with staff and their friends because they engage in group activities well.  Staff demonstrate a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities and how to support children's learning so they make good progress.  Partnership with parents is strong because they are kept well informed about their child's learning and development through a variety of methods.  Children benefit from having free-flow access to both indoor and outdoor activities to extend their well-being and welfare.

p.1

It is not yet outstanding because

 Staff members do not always consistently talk to children about not running indoors to effectively promote their understanding regarding all aspects of behaviour and safety.  Printed name cards are not consistently well written to help children to extend their literacy skills.

p.1

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

p.2

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.

p.2

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.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector had an accompanied tour of the premises along with the manager.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector observed the staff and the children during activities and carried out a joint observation with the manager.  The inspector spoke to a number of parents to gather their views about the nursery.  The inspector spoke to staff with key responsibilities and children during inspection.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled a range of documentation including policies and procedures, children's record forms, learning journey folders and staff suitability forms.

p.2

Information about the setting

St John's Nursery is run by a private individual. It originally registered in 1955 but has operated under new ownership since 2008. It operates from two halls within a church building and has a small enclosed garden area, which all children share for outdoor play. It is situated in Palmers Green in the London Borough of Enfield. The nursery is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 3pm term time only. They currently have 44 children aged from two to four years on roll and the provider is in receipt of funding to provide free early education for children aged two, three and four years. Children come from the local area. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and also supports children who learn English as an additional language. The provider employs 10 members of staff, of whom nine hold first-aid certificates. One member of staff has Qualified Teacher Status, one member of staff holds a National Vocational Qualification

p.3

Information about the setting

(NVQ) at level 5. Five members of staff hold qualifications at level 3, two members of staff hold qualifications at level 2 and one member of staff holds a qualification at level 1. The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and on the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register.

p.3

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

 further help children to manage their own behaviour, for example by using more consistent messages to help children keep themselves safe

p.3

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

 review the use of written name cards so that children see consistency in the way letters are written to extend their literacy skills.

p.3

who attend

Staff members ensure that the nursery environment is welcoming for children and their parents. Children are happy to come into the nursery and the staff members are courteous and polite to them and their families. Staff members all consistently implement the educational programmes to a good level to promote children's learning and development. This is reflected in the staff's good teaching and progress the children are making. The staff provide them with a stimulating and exciting range of play equipment and resources, which are put together before children arrive. The staff base the learning environment on thoughtful planning to meet the needs of all the children. This enables children to make good choices for themselves as they learn through play. For example, in the small room, children enjoy riding on bikes and trikes once they have self-registered in the morning. This enables them to exert their physical skills in a safe and enclosed environment.

p.3

who attend

Children show that they are familiar with the routine of the day because they freely and comfortably move between indoor and outdoor activities. Younger children learn to identify their name from the self-registration system which is in place. However, at the inspection, there were some inconsistencies in the way children's name cards were written. This hinders children's developing understanding of how letters are written to support their literacy skills.

p.4

who attend

Children are able to develop their concentration skills well because they spend time building with construction toys and members of staff extend learning well in this area. They encourage the children to persevere with their chosen tasks. For example, a child who stacked his bricks up was encouraged to think about the corresponding number of bricks. Once they fell over, he counted them again, repeating the game, to extend his mathematical skills.

p.4

who attend

Younger children learn how to use scissors safely and effectively to cut and join their model parts together. They are encouraged to design and make their own creations, moulding play dough and constructing models using recycled materials. This helps children to strengthen and improve their grip.

p.4

who attend

Older children benefit from more structured small group activities which help them focus for longer periods of time and follow instructions. For example, children worked in a small group together to make play dough. They had to wait until it was their turn and listen to the instructions given by the staff member. This helps them to prepare for school.

p.4

who attend

Children use their senses and imagination well while exploring superhero play, which encourages them to lead their own play and become motivated learners. Staff members provide a rich print environment and encourage children to look at books held the correct way up. They sing songs together in the small room as a whole group for a brief but focused activity, which helps children to concentrate, listen and follow instructions.

p.4

who attend

Staff member promote children's communication and language skills well. They obtain key words from parents of children who are learning to speak English as an additional language. This helps children to feel valued, included and to develop their language skills. Younger children are provided with feedback about what they are doing in activities to help them understand their actions.

p.4

who attend

Staff members implement good systems to plan and monitor children's learning. They record good observations of children and key persons use this information efficiently to identify children's interests. Staff monitor the children's progress closely, which helps them to accurately identify gaps in children's learning and plan to help them achieve in these areas. The staff obtain detailed information about children's starting points for learning and provide parents with their child's learning journey each term, which some parents contribute to. This helps them to understand more about the progress their child makes towards the early learning goals. In addition, staff members also provide parents with a summary report of the required progress check for two-year-olds. This provides parents with good information about their child's learning.

p.4

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

Staff members help children to form close and caring emotional attachments with them and good relationships with one another. For example, a member of staff asked a child who had just arrived what her name was and the child looked up, smiled and said 'Your name is? !' just before she moved away to play with her friends. This demonstrated the warmth of affection that members of staff display towards children, which they react upon very positively.

p.5

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

Staff members help children to develop positive attitudes and social skills. They provide children with clear messages such as taking turns with consideration, sharing and helping others. They provide sand timers to manage turn taking and sharing popular activities. As a result, children behave well and are making good friends with others.

p.5

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

Children manage tasks for themselves and ask for help if needed. For example, during snack, children make independent choices about fruit and pour their own drinks. This helps promote children's self-confidence and readiness for school. Children are provided with a healthy snack during each session and parents can bring food from home for children if they have not had breakfast or are hungry in the morning. This contributes to the children's healthy lifestyles and means they are ready to learn. Children are encouraged to wash their hands when they arrive with hand gel and also throughout the day. This practice ensures children are keeping themselves clean and healthy.

p.5

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

Staff members maintain a good clean environment for children with safety measures securely in place throughout the nursery. Children benefit from playrooms providing defined areas of play, with good amounts of space to move and explore. The toys are appropriate for their age and needs, which enables them to independently explore and make choices to support their learning effectively in all areas. Outdoor play encourages greater opportunities for children to move in different ways and promotes their physical development and health.

p.5

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

Staff members meet the children's daily care routines consistently well to promote their health and emotional well-being. Staff keep parents informed on a daily basis about their care and well-being by having conversations with them at the end of the session.

p.5

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

Some staff members talk to children about keeping safe by discussing safety issues to help them understand the consequences of their actions. For example, staff members explain why children need to carry scissors safely and what might happen if they run indoors. However, this message was not consistently delivered by all members of staff during the inspection so that children learn about behaviour expectations to keep safe.

p.5

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

Parents are encouraged to be partners in their children's learning and this is a key strength of the nursery. The staff keep parents very informed about progress in a variety of ways to ensure that information is being delivered to them. The parents are also able to provide feedback and comments from their child's learning journey files. Staff and parents also have daily conversations at collecting times, which is a popular feature in the nursery.

p.5

provision

The manager and staff have a robust knowledge and understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. They have a clear knowledge of the correct procedures to follow if they have a concern that a child is at risk, and of their responsibilities to safeguard children's welfare.

p.6

provision

The manager implements secure vetting procedures to help to ensure that staff members are suitable to work with children. They have an effective procedure in place for inducting new staff members. The manager also conducts supervision meetings to make sure staff members fulfil their roles and responsibilities appropriately. They carry out regular checks on the ongoing suitability of staff by asking them to sign a suitability form annually. This helps the provider to make sure children's welfare is safeguarded. In addition, staff members implement daily checks, risk assessments and policies and procedures to help protect children and maintain good standards of safety in the nursery.

p.6

provision

The staff demonstrate a positive attitude towards evaluation and driving improvement to raise the quality of the nursery further for children. They are in the process of launching a new website to keep parents informed with up-to-date information. This includes key dates as well as offering home visits to families. This gives parents an opportunity to get to know about the child in their own environment and plan how to support them when they start at the nursery.

p.6

provision

The nursery works in partnership with other professionals who they identify can help in areas where the nursery provision can be further improved. For example they signpost families to services that the children's centre provides to help to meet each child's needs effectively. This is particularly helpful for children and families who are learning English as an additional language.

p.6

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

p.6

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

p.7

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.

p.7

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.

p.8

Setting details

Unique reference number EY381241 Local authority Enfield Inspection number 829715 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 8 Total number of places 37 Number of children on roll 44 Name of provider Rita Kathleen McGovern Date of previous inspection 07/05/2009 Telephone number 07791 791202

p.8

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.

p.8

Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

p.8

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.

p.8

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.

p.8

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.

p.9

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,

p.9

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’.

p.10

Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

p.10

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