The Castle Kindergarten

The Castle Kindergarten 20 Henfield Road, Wimbledon, London, SW19 3HU

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 7 March 2016 18 November 2011

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This inspection: Outstanding 1

Effectiveness of the leadership and management Outstanding 1

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This inspection: Outstanding 1

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding 1

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This inspection: Outstanding 1

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding 1

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This provision is outstanding

 The quality of teaching is exemplary. Staff skilfully extend children's learning, consistently encouraging them to think about and solve problems. Children delight in working things out for themselves, for example, when investigating and identifying insects they find outdoors.  Staff provide parents with extensive support. For example, they suggest exciting activities and lend inspiring resources to parents to support their children's learning and development further at home. Parents are exceptionally complimentary about the setting and comment on how completely involved they are in their children's learning.  Staff monitor children's progress and achievements extremely closely and quickly identify any children who may need extra support. They work exceptionally closely with other professionals and use highly successful strategies to close achievement gaps. All children make excellent progress from their initial starting points.

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This provision is outstanding

 Staff are exceptionally caring and attentive to children's needs. They act as excellent role models and the children behave exceptionally well. All staff use exemplary methods to encourage children to listen to, and respect each other.  The managers evaluate the progress of the pre-school meticulously. They actively seek the views of staff, parents and other professionals to review their practices accurately. There is continuous improvement in meeting the children's needs.

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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

 continue to build on the already excellent learning opportunities, to encourage the children's exploration of nature.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed teaching practices and the impact that these had on children's learning.  The inspector held discussions with the manager, staff, children and parents.  The inspector read some of the setting's documentation, including the safeguarding policy and procedure.  The inspector sampled children's development information and records.  The inspector completed a joint observation with the manager.

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management is outstanding

The inspirational managers lead by example and supervise the staff extremely closely. Staff frequently access relevant training courses, which significantly contributes to the outstanding quality of teaching. The pre-school has excellent links with local schools and uses highly organised arrangements to help children's move to school go smoothly. Through meticulous self-evaluation, the managers have identified the need to continue to develop the excellent opportunities to encourage children's exploration of nature. Safeguarding is effective. The managers ensure that all staff receive high levels of training to develop their excellent understanding of how to deal with any child protection concerns.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is outstanding

Staff skilfully plan and extend extremely exciting and challenging learning opportunities for all children. For example, children thoroughly enjoy working together to learn the sounds of different letters written on balls, while excitedly throwing them to each other. Children are exceptionally engaged in their learning and thoroughly enjoy taking on roles in their imaginary play. For instance, they busily serve each other in the role play shop and confidently use weighing scales to weigh different food. Staff extend children's natural play ideas extremely well. For example, they support children to measure themselves, and children delight in discovering and comparing their own height.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are outstanding

Staff meticulously plan the play areas with an extensive range of activities. There is a reason for everything that staff provide, which demonstrates the thought and commitment they give to meeting children's needs. Children arrive exceptionally happy and secure and have an excellent understanding of the routine. For example, they independently self- register, quickly and confidently finding and recognising their own names. Children consistently receive praise and encouragement throughout their play and take great pride in their achievements. They show excellent motivation in their learning and work extremely well together. For instance, during a story time they excitedly discuss how milk gets from the farm to the shops and delight in sharing their ideas.

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Outcomes for children are outstanding

All children make excellent progress in all areas of their learning. They have a strong desire to solve problems themselves and have an excellent understanding of technology. They show excellent control over creative equipment and pay great attention to detail. Children develop an outstanding understanding of letter sounds and learn to write their names. Staff consistently extend children's language and mathematical understanding, and children demonstrate impressive skills. Children confidently gain the skills needed for their next stages in learning.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 138239 Local authority Merton Inspection number 825702 Type of provision Sessional provision Day care type Childcare - Non-Domestic Registers Early Years Register Age range of children 2 - 4 Total number of places 45 Number of children on roll 78 Name of provider Beverly Jane Davis & Jaqui Kelly Partnership Date of previous inspection 18 November 2011 Telephone number 020 8544 0089

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Setting details

The Castle Kindergarten registered in 1994. It operates in Wimbledon, in the London Borough of Merton. The kindergarten is open each weekday from 9.15am to 12.15pm and each afternoon from 12.45pm to 3.45pm, during term time only. The setting employs 12 staff; of these, 10 staff hold appropriate early years qualifications, including three staff who hold Qualified Teacher Status. The setting receives government funding for children aged three and four years.

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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

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Setting details

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