The Willow Nursery

Inspection of The Willow Nursery Maranatha Ministries, Grafton Square, London SW4 0DE

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Overall effectiveness Outstanding

The quality of education Outstanding Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Outstanding Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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The provision is outstanding

The manager and staff provide children with an abundance of exciting, purposeful learning experiences that captivate their interests and inspire a love of learning. All children fully embrace the opportunities to play and learn in a highly organised, safe environment. Children are totally equipped with the skills they need in readiness for school. Older children demonstrate high levels of learning during their independent play. They have clear aims, negotiate and solve problems as they play harmoniously with their friends. Children form extremely close bonds with staff.

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The provision is outstanding

The manager and staff continuously monitor and review the curriculum on offer to ensure that it accurately reflects the current learning needs of each child. Staff understand how to motivate children to learn. They skilfully use information from parents, observations and assessment to shape the experiences they offer. Children show real excitement as they share their views of painting a wall, saying, 'it is a construction that needs painting'. All children make excellent progress.

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The provision is outstanding

Staff have high expectations for all children. They place strong focus on supporting children's emotions, which helps them to understand how they are feeling. Children are fully aware of the impact their own behaviour has on others and they are consistently respectful. They play collaboratively and value each other's opinions. For example, older children listen to each other as they agree who should place the next block at the top as they build a tower in the garden. Children are thoughtful and kind. Some children offer a place in the line to others while they wait for their turn to use the climbing frame. Children's behaviour is exceptional.

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need to do better?

n The inspirational manager continually evaluates the quality of the provision. She asks parents for their feedback and uses children's interests and staff views to continually improve. She has a clear vision and accurate oversight of the quality of practice and education provided. The manager provides staff with targeted training and feedback on their practice. This ensures excellent quality across the nursery. n Staff skilfully use their expert knowledge and understanding of the children to provide them with bespoke learning that precisely matches their needs. They complete meticulous assessments of children's learning when they start. Staff complete the progress check for children aged between two and three years. The curriculum is accessible to all children, ensuring that they make excellent progress in their learning. n Staff's interactions with children significantly promote children's communication

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need to do better?

and language skills. This is consistently implemented throughout the nursery. Staff make excellent use of conversations, books and rhymes in small groups to

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need to do better?

19 September 2023 develop and extend children's use of language. For example, during story time about emotions, staff explain what the word 'angry' means, to help older children understand. They introduce a range of words, such as 'phew', and ask children questions about the pictures, allowing children time to respond. Children demonstrate excellent conversational skills. n Younger children's love of books is captivated by short stories that are appropriate for their ages and stages of learning and development. They join in songs and music, which instigate an understanding of rhythm and beats, encouraging the children to express themselves. Staff provide children who speak English as an additional language with excellent support, so that they can confidently interact and make excellent progress. n Staff provide children with clear routines, which successfully guides children and help them to understand what is expected of them. The deployment of staff is

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need to do better?

excellent. They are consistent with their key children. They make gentle interventions to help younger children who are new to the setting to understand what to do. n Staff support children to develop a positive attitude to mathematics. Children demonstrate their knowledge that they have been taught about numbers. Older children talk about how much water they need, such as 'enough', 'first' and a 'little more' as they measure how much they need. They very confidently count up to 10. Staff provide enjoyable experiences that help children to understand amounts and match these to numbers. n Children develop superb personal hygiene routines, including dental health. They show tremendous levels of independence and self-care skills. Children find their smock with their name on arrival, which they put on by themselves, and competently use a knife and fork at mealtime. Children know to tidy up when they have finished playing. These experiences strengthen children's self-

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need to do better?

confidence. n Parents are delighted with the service provided by the staff. They report that staff gather a range of information about their children when they start and provide regular communication about their child's learning, as well as ideas to support their children at home. Parents value staff attentiveness and that they fully understand their children's needs. They highly praise the exceptional partnership with parents and careers.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff are always deployed exceptionally well, which highly promotes the safety of children. They complete rigorous risk assessments of the premises to ensure that children are constantly safe. Managers ensure that the safeguarding practice and policy arrangements are extremely robust. Staff are highly trained to identify signs that may indicate a child is at potential risk of harm. The manager meets with support staff from the local authority and keeps updated about safeguarding concerns. Staff know the procedures to follow if they have any concerns about child welfare, including managing allegations about a colleague. The manager

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Safeguarding

19 September 2023 completes thorough vetting procedures to check that new staff are suitable to work with children. She implements meticulous checks regarding staff's ongoing suitability.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY472880 Local authority Lambeth Inspection number 10301214 Type of provision Childcare on non-domestic premises Registers Early Years Register Day care type Sessional day care

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inspection

Total number of places 48 Number of children on roll 27 Name of registered person The Willow Nursery School Limited

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reference number

Telephone number 0207 498 0319 Date of previous inspection 24 January 2018

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Information about this early years setting

The Willow Nursery registered in 2013. The setting employs 11 members of childcare staff. Of these, six hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 or above, including two members of staff with qualified teacher status. The nursery is open Monday to Friday, term time only. Sessions are from 8.15am to 3pm, Monday to Thursday, and 8.15am to 12.15pm on Friday. The nursery is in receipt of funding for early education for three- and four-year-old children.

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Inspection activities

n This is the first routine inspection the provider received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the provider and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the provider. n The inspector completed a learning walk with the manager and discussed the curriculum focus for children. n The inspector observed the quality of education being provided, indoors and outdoors, and assessed the impact that this has on children's learning. n The manager carried out a joint observation of a group time activity with the inspector and discussed the impact on children's learning. n The inspector spoke to several parents and careers during the inspection and took account of their views. n The inspector looked at relevant documentation and reviewed evidence of the suitability of staff working in the nursery. n Children interacted with the inspector during the inspection.

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Inspection activities

We carried out this inspection 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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Inspection activities

19 September 2023 regulates and inspects to 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 and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, 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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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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