St. Mary's Nursery

St. Mary's Nursery Western Avenue, Ashford, Kent, TN23 1ND

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 3 July 2015 28 June 2012

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This inspection: Good 2

Previous inspection: Good 2 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend Good 2

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This inspection: Good 2

The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children Outstanding 1

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This inspection: Good 2

The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision Good 2

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This inspection: Good 2

The setting meets legal requirements for early years settings

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This provision is good

 Staff make very good use of children's interests to motivate them and encourage their engagement in various activities. This ensures children make good progress in all areas of learning.  The highly stimulating environment, particularly outdoors, encourages children's imaginative play and promotes their learning in all areas.  The manager and staff have a secure awareness of safeguarding and child protection issues. They confidently know the processes to follow if they have any concerns about a child's welfare.  Staff prepare children well for the move to school with discussions and activities. They meet with children's future teachers and share relevant information to help children settle.

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It is not yet outstanding because:

 The manager monitors and develops staff practices. However, not all staff are as skilled as others at encouraging children's creative thinking by asking skilful questions to expand conversations.  Staff provide visual displays and resources that reflect people's differences to help children understand the wider world. However, these do not always fully reflect those of all children that attend.

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

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

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

 strengthen the monitoring and development of staff practices, such as improving some staff's use of skilful questioning to extend children's language  improve the reflection of children's language and cultural differences in the environment.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector completed a joint observation and held meetings with the nursery manager.  The inspector looked at some children's records, including their learning assessments, and spoke to some staff.  The inspector spoke to parents during the inspection and took account of parents' views.  The inspector checked evidence of safeguarding practices, staff recruitment, ongoing professional development and self-evaluation processes.  The inspector observed activities in the playroom and outside play areas.

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who attend. This is good

The manager and staff routinely monitor children's progress to identify any development gaps for individuals and groups of children. As a result, they provide interesting activities or additional resources to focus children's learning. For example, they add books to the car and train activity boxes to encourage more boys to have an interest in books. Staff make use of the resources in the home role play area to encourage the use of mathematical language. Staff ensure that the activity planning takes account of each child's needs. They work closely with parents and other professionals to ensure all children make good progress from their starting points. Regular meetings and discussions with parents keep them well informed about their children's development. Children develop the physical skills they need for their future learning. For example, they competently use scissors and practise early writing in a number of ways. Staff fully support the need for children to

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who attend. This is good

move in various ways to develop their muscles as they play.

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outstanding

Children develop extremely good relationships with their key person, other staff and children. As a result, their emotional well-being is excellent and they behave exceptionally well. Staff engage children extremely well in preparing the nutritious snack. Children learn to use knives safely and thoroughly enjoy the responsibility. They learn about excellent hygiene practices, such as the need to wash their hands after sneezing into them. The outdoor play area is exciting and inspiring. It has an abundance of activities and play equipment for exploring and being creative. For example, the 'mud kitchen' is very popular. Children used it to make 'chocolate cakes', having first created a mixture in the water and sand trays elsewhere. The 'fairy garden' encourages children to make changes to the design using their own ideas. Children gain excellent levels of confidence as staff value them as individuals and have an interest in their views.

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provision is good

The manager regularly evaluates the strengths of the nursery and staff practices. She values the input of staff, parents and children to the ongoing improvement plans. The manager routinely supports the staff's development. She provides regular supervision sessions and training opportunities to strengthen their practice. The manager encourages staff to train for higher qualifications. Staff gain confidence in their understanding of how children learn and they share their knowledge with others. This improves the quality of teaching for all staff.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 127605 Local authority Kent Inspection number 840680 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 8 Total number of places 24 Number of children on roll 41 Name of provider St Marys Nursery Committee Date of previous inspection 28 June 2012 Telephone number 01233 641503

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Setting details

St Mary's Nursery registered in 1994 and is committee run. It operates from St Mary's Church of England Primary School, Ashford, Kent. It is open each weekday from 9am to 3pm, term time only. The nursery supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language. It receives funding for free early education for children aged two, three and four years. There are nine members of staff, including two lunch time supervisors and an administrator. One member of staff has an early years degree and five staff hold appropriate early years qualifications to at least level 3.

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Setting details

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

procedures set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. 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, safeguarding and child protection.

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Setting details

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Setting details

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

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