Early Years Self-Evaluation Form

Early years self-evaluation form

For provision on the Early Years Register

Age group: Birth to 31 August following a child’s fifth birthday Published: October 2012 Reference no: 120332

Please leave blank for Ofsted use

EY Self-evaluation form The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) 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 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email [email protected]. You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/, write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected]. This publication is available at www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/120332. Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our website for news, information and updates at www.ofsted.gov.uk/user. Piccadilly Gate Store Street Manchester M1 2WD

Introduction 5 Completing this form 6 Part A. Setting details and views of those who use the setting 6 Section 1. Your setting 6 Section 2. Views of those who use your setting and who work with you 10 Part B: The quality and standards of the early years provision 12 Section 3. How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend 17 Section 4. The contribution of the early years provision to children’s well-being 22 Section 5. The leadership and management of the early years provision 26 Section 6. The overall quality and standards of the early years provision 32 Setting name Kate Greenaway

Setting unique EY294232 reference number

Setting address 1, York Court Way,

London Borough of Islington

LONDON

Tel Number 0207 527 4850

Postcode N1 0UH

Completed by Fiona Godfrey/Headteacher. (name and role) Jan Stillaway/Deputy Headteacher Joe Knutson/Teacher

Date completed JULY 2013

Page 4 of 32 EYL409 Introduction

This optional self-evaluation form is for providers on the Early Years Register. You may prefer to record your self-evaluation on a different form, for example:

 a children’s centre self-evaluation form which covers the registered part of your provision  a local authority form  a quality assurance scheme system.

If you submit this form online or send it to Ofsted as part of your planning cycle, the inspector will use it when planning your inspection. If you choose not to send it to Ofsted, or you complete a different form of self-evaluation, please make this available to the inspector at the start of your inspection.

Whatever way you choose to record an evaluation of your provision, the inspector will expect this to include:

 the views of children, parents and any staff or assistants you employ  the views of other professionals who may work with you, such as local authority advisers/development workers; health professionals; children’s centre staff and any other early years provision  your strengths, any areas for improvement and the actions you propose to tackle them.

You may find it helpful to use the following to evaluate your provision:

 Early years self-evaluation form guidance1  Evaluation schedule for inspections of registered early years provision2  The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundations Stage3  Development matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage.4

1 Early years self-evaluation form guidance (120342), Ofsted, 2012; www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/120342. 2 Evaluation schedule for inspections of registered early years provision (120086), Ofsted, 2012; www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources/120086. 3 The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundations Stage, Department for Education, 2012; www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/curriculum/a0068102/early-years- foundation-stage-eyfs. 4 Development matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage, Department for Education, 2012; www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/curriculum/a0068102/early-years- foundation-stage-eyfs.

Page 5 of 32 EYL409 Completing this form

Please make sure you have completed the setting details at the beginning of the form, including the name of the person who completed it. Please make sure any additional sheets you might use have the name of the setting and unique reference number (URN) at the top.

The form is in two parts. Part A tells us what those who use the setting think of the quality of the provision you offer. Part B gives you an opportunity to evaluate your provision using the same judgements as inspectors.

Part A. Setting details and views of those who use the setting

Section 1. Your setting

In this section describe the main characteristics of your setting and the culture and backgrounds of the children who attend, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, or speak English as an additional language.

Refer to the Early years self-evaluation form guidance, page 5.

Page 6 of 32 EYL409 Where are we ?

Kate GreenawayHow is Nurserythe provision School andorganised Children’s ? Centre is situated behind Kings Cross train station in the south of the London Borough of Islington and meets with the border to the London Borough of Camden .

The building itself.

The school was built in 1959 and has been adapted to suit changes in its use with some extensions to the building and a very well designed and much used outdoor space. Our school is small and as a result we have to make excellent use of all available space. Our 2-3year olds , for example, are fully integrated with our 3-5 year olds. The 0-2year olds are separate but do use the outdoor space with the older children and share indoor spaces outside of the core teaching day. In order to have small story groups we make intelligent use of spaces in order to develop best provision for our children.

The surrounding area.

Kate Greenaway Nursery School and Children’s Centre is in the centre of an established social housing estate. Many of these properties are without outdoor spaces and are overcrowded. However, this area also borders Barnsbury, which is more affluent with some owner occupiers which means we have a mixed intake. Within our reach area we have 4 local primary schools. Our children transition a variety of schools, both in and out of this area.

Some Statistics on the area ( source reference in brackets)

• 544 children under 5 in the Kate Greenaway Children’s Centre area (Children’s Centre budget based figure March 2012). • This was 494 in EYMIS Summer term 1 2011/12, the % are based on this figure). • 284 BME families in the Kate Greenaway children centre area (57%) (EYMIS data, Term 1 2011/12). • 322 of Kate Greenaway’s reach families live in social housing (65%) (EYMIS data,Term 1 2011/12) • 145 of Kate Greenaway’s reach families are headed by lone parents (29%) (EYMIS data, Term 1 2011/12) • 51% primary school children are eligible for free school meal in the Barnsbury area (ACYPP profile 2010) • 23.5 of households are on Benefit, this includes 3.9% claiming Benefit and actively seeking work and 4.4% claiming Benefits and earning and claiming in the Barnsbury area (ACYPP profile 2010). • Kate Greenaway’s Families on low income, 174 families (35%) and 122 in workless households (25%) (EYMIS data, as above) • White British is the largest ethnic group of young people (%) followed by the Black ethnic groups (%), then other White ethnic group (%)

Page 7 of 32 EYL409 Kate Greenaway Nursery School and Children’s Centre is a local authority maintained setting. We are a stand-alone Nursery School and we are not attached to a local Primary School.

We have a Headteacher, a Deputy Headteacher, a Nursery Teacher and twenty one nursery staff who are all qualified to NVQ3 and above apart from one who is NVQ.

In addition we have two outreach worker who runs activities for the community children and two Family Support and Outreach Worker who support families more directly. We share a Family Support and Outreach Area Manager with our partner children centre, Bemerton.

We have a Governing Body to support and challenge the school and a shared Advisory Board to support and challenge the Children’s Centre work. The Advisory Board is shared with Bemerton.

Outdoor Space.

Nursery

We have an excellent garden which has been designed with child development in mind. The children have direct access to the outdoor space and spend much of their time outside. The space has a very large ground level sandpit, a water feature that involves a three tiered drainage system and a tree house. The children are offered appropriate challenge within the garden and we use the space flexibly according to children’s stage of development.

Outreach/Community

At Kate Greenaway we offer a variety of activities throughout the week, including Saturdays, to our community families. We have a separate garden for this with a self-contained entrance, access to a bathroom and warm welcoming room. This area has recently been enhanced by the addition of a canopy which means children can use the outdoor space in winter time.

Access to and within the building. Kate Greenaway NSCC is a one story building with easy access to all areas. We have recently adapted a bathroom in order to provide access from the outreach area.

Opening times; We are open 8-6pm five days a week. Saturday Stay and Play for community families 10-12.30.

We are open for 49 weeks of the year.

Numbers on roll . We are registered for 51 FTE places.

Number of adults and their qualifications.

Please see the staff list which includes their highest qualifications. The SCR also shows that we have signed to say that we have seen the original qualification document.

Page 8 of 32 EYL409 We also have a site manager, a cleaner, a cook and a cook’s assistant. We have an admin team of 2. Our meal time supervisors are part of the wider team and therefore the children are more familiar with them than if they only had a LTS role.

Special Features of Kate Greenaway.

Kate Greenaway Nursery School and Children’s Centre has an exceptionally lovely and appropriately designed garden which not only provides fantastic opportunities for learning but influences the children’s behaviour in a positive way.

For our long and mid term planning we use Core Experiences (Authored by KG).

Our teaching is child centred and tracking and assessment is well developed.

Why does the setting run smoothly ?

Staff reorganisation has helped to release the Headteacher and the Deputy Headteacher from admin tasks. The result being that we are now free to address more strategic planning, review and adapt policies, ensure that shared ethos is followed, offer performance management and plan development of staff and liaise with the LA to secure improvements.

Roles of staff are now clearer than they were previously and this ensures that responsibilities are carried out effectively.

Processes are now clear and regularly followed which means that the all staff understand how matters within the setting will be addressed e.g. admissions, staff absence, lateness.

Page 9 of 32 EYL409 Section 2. Views of those who use your setting and who work with you This section should record:

 the views of the children who attend your setting and those of their parents or carers  the views of any professionals who work with you, especially the local authority, your local children’s centre or any health professionals  details of any quality assurance scheme you participate in  the RAG 5rating the local authority may give you to indicate the level of intervention they offer.

Include examples of the ways in which you seek views and any action you have taken to improve as a result of those views.

Refer to the Early years self-evaluation form guidance, page 6.

5 The local authority categorise settings by the amount of targeted support they need. Most local authorities use a red, amber, green (RAG) system to do this.

Page 10 of 32 EYL409 We have several ways of collecting the views of others, all of which supports our self-evaluation and continuous improvement.

Parental Views. Parent views are sought through the LA annual survey both the individual settings and for the borough, we use the feedback to shape and improve he service we offer. ( eg doing more trips out) Evidence. See our Annual Parent Survey,

We also conduct our own surveys, for example ‘How Safe Do You Feel ?’ as well as asking parents what they need from our service when we meet them for the child development reviews three times per year. In adition, parents are well represented on our Governing Body and on our Advisory Board and views are also collected via these channels Evidence Safety Surveys and feedback forms from review meetings. Governing Body and Advisory Board minutes.

Roaming Parents Forum We have developed a Volunteer programme in partnership with Bemerton which means that parent volunteers gather views and feedback from other parents using our service by attending services such as Stay and Plays. Evidence. Feedback sheets.

Local Authority View The LA offer an Annual and a Mid year ‘conversation/review’ in order to measure the progress of the school and children’s centre and and focus on future developments. This is carried out by a panel of multi-agency professionals. Evidence See our annual and mid-term local authority review reports for the view of the local authority.

The Staff View Our staff team meet every Friday for 1.5 hours. This gives us the opportunity to cover business items, share practice, agree policies, discuss future plans, feedback issues that need solutions and generally keep communications clear. Performance Management, courses, regular feedback on record keeping, profile books and practice ensure that staff are professionally developed and remain enthusiastic. Our recent Ofsted (section 5) surveyed staff opinion and morale. This was confidential. However, no issues were reported as problem areas and we were judged as Outstanding. Evidence Staff Meeting minutes. Performance management records, Professional Development records. Record Ofsted Report.

Page 11 of 32 EYL409 Children’s Views.

Our planning is done through observing children’s interests and planning to extend them. We also use an approach called Floorbooks which allows for lots of talk in children.

Our recent Ofsted inspection offered one area to build on. This was planning for children to reflect on their learning. This is being led by the nursery teacher and allows for children to express what they have enjoyed learning and what helped them.

Our training in Adult Child Interaction helps us to listen actively and to provide lots of opportunities for the child to talk. This approach ensures that staff constantly listen to children.

Scrapbooks are medium in which children can record their experiences and achievements at nursery and these are regularly shared with staff. This is a clear demonstration of what children have engaged in and offers an opportunity to discuss children’s views.

Evidence Floorbooks, Scrapbooks, Observations of children, Action plan for embedding children’s self-evaluation of learning.

Working with other organisations.

As a school and children’s centre we work with a large amount of partners.

We have developed a Partner Feedback Sheet in order to gather an understanding of our integrated working and use it as a way to further develop our practice

Evidence see Partner feedback Sheet

Who are our partner agencies and what does each one do with us?

Health Visitors, Family Health Advisors , SALT, CAMHS and Midwifery, oral health, Family Nurse Partnership, Private voluntary and independent sector, local library, Children’s Social Care, Family Support, Social Wokers, Islington Working for Parents/JCP, our partner Children’s Centre, Local Primary Schools.

Although we may be employed by different organisations we have developed ways of working that mean the family will receive the service they need as quickly as possible with the best outcome possible.

We have a shared ethos which is strengthened through regular meetings and joint working with families. We also share protocols around information sharing, safeguarding, signposting, referrals, early intervention and prevention and induction.

Our Area Support Team Meetings and our Advisory Board Meetings allow us to jointly plan for the future, deciding on priorities and how best to achieve them. EG Oral Health, Reducing Obesity and Narrowing the Gap.

Here is an outline of how each partner works with us to improve outcomes for families within the Children’s Centre reach area.

Page 12 of 32 EYL409 Local Primary Schools are now hosting our Stay and Plays, our delivery of Parenting Programmes e.g. Incredible Years and partnering us on the Two Year Old Pilot. This is enabling us to work together with families with children under 5years old and ensure that our services are available to children further away from the actual centre, especially to those who are not engaging.

Library…

Our local library runs a baby bounce session and advertises this on our planner, in exchange, families are registered and we see the signing in sheets so we are able to contact the families with other services.

Midwifery and Health Visiting

Working together with the above partners is essential for our success. Midwives and HVs register families to the CC which has greatly contributed to the increase in our reach figures. They also signpost to the services we offer.

Many of our health priorities such as Immunisations , Breastfeeding, Healthy Start Vitamins and Obesity are approached hand in hand with the health team.

Early intervention is also successful as a result of this partnership as vulnerable families are discussed and referred at the fortnightly Multi-Agency Meetings.

This contributes to successful safeguarding in the reach area.

Children’s Social Care

A Step Down process has been agreed with CSC which is now practiced within our FS team. This service is designed to prevent the family crossing back over the threshold from FS to CSC intervention and it works well. See Case studies.

SALT and the Nursery/Outreach

Early identification of speech and language difficulties has meant that many children, otherwise left undetected, have had support via swift intervention. Our named SALT also deepens the knowledge and updates training for our staff which all helps towards positive outcomes for children.

CAMHS Nursery /Outreach

Parent and baby drop-in clinic (Clinical Psychologist) is signposted to by all professionals and centres in the cluster. Early support in parenting adjustments issues are offered , again this is often done at the MA team meetings.

Evidence based Parenting Programmes are jointly delivered by CAMHs and Family Support to our parents. The case studies and evaluation of this service demonstrate the positive outcomes for families.

Family Health Advisors

The 2yr health check is carried out by two FHA on our premises, again registration is checked, immunisations are checked, height, weight and other issues. The increase in immunisation rates, breastfeeding and the reduction in obesity levels in the under 5’s in the

Page 13 of 32 EYL409 Barnsbsury Cluster is an indication that this partnership is working well. See Health Data October 2012.

We will also be working in partnership with health on the upcoming Two Year Progress Check as part of the new EYFS framework and to ensure that our immunisation targets are met.

JCP and Islington Working for Parents.

Although previously this had been a difficult link to forge, the IWP team have transformed this. Our IWP officer has seen x parents and x have returned to either work or employment. This works towards positive outcomes for children and their families. See IWP data within EYMIS

Private Providers

KG engages several private providers in order to deliver activities which work towards delivering positives outcomes for children and families.

 Baby Massage

IN TOUCH delivers Baby Massage once per week to a very satisfied group of parents. Liz Thompson helps to register families, to support our planning and evaluation process and to signpost families to other appropriate services. ( see signing in sheets and evaluation of BM. (PSED)

 Children’s Gardening

Venti Cosantini delivers gardening and understanding the world to our nursery children once per week, again working towards delivering positive outcomes. ( Understanding the World)

 Sinan the Music Man

Music sessions are given to our nursery and our outreach children every Friday for the entire morning. We also engage this service for all our special events and festivals. (Creative Design and Mathematics)

 Parent House ( Voluntary sector)

Parent House delivers adult learning for the community and we fund the crèches for ESOL. This enables further registrations with vulnerable groups ( English entry level) and our BME community. ( Learning and Development). The representative from Parent House is also currently the Chair of the Advisory Board.( October 2012)

 Childminders

This group is delivered in partnership with Bemerton CC. recently we delivered the SEAD project including the childminders. ( Making a Positive contribution and Economic Wellbeing)

 The local swimming pool

Page 14 of 32 EYL409 We partner the local pool in providing swimming sessions twice per week for mother/babies and Fathers/babies. The evaluations for these sessions are very positive and encourage families to undertake healthy lifestyles ( see evaluations)(Reducing Obesity).

Quality Assurance Schemes. In order to continuously improvement our practice we engage fully with the borough on all quality assurance schemes. For example we are regularly supported by LA officers on Welfare and Safeguarding, Financial Practices, curriculum areas. We also use ITERS and ECERS to audit our own provision. Performance Management and regular observations of staff are also planned through the year.

Evidence Children’s Centre Improvement Partner visit reports, Welfare and Safeguarding audits by the local authority ( RAG rated Green ), Financial audits both internal and external, ECER and ITERS audits and action plans. Bilingualism audit (Local Authority) PM feedback notes. Latest section 5 Ofsted report (Outstanding).

Changing our provision as a result of the views of others. Examples of this are as follows;

Parents asked for more Stay and Plays in the week and we responded by having one on a Monday.

Parents suggested that we might take the children on more trips out. We responded by introducing our Rich Real Experiences Project which using going out into the world as one of it’s starting points for inspiration.

When funding was reduced, parents felt very strongly that we should keep the Saturday Stay and Play.

Governing Body parents asked for a clear policy on Profile Books and wished to be able to take them home. We responded by agreeing a policy and introducing Scrapbooks that can be taken home.

GB parents also suggested that our older children were offered at much opportunity for challenge as possible. We responded by introducing Letters and Sounds phase one, by developing the 4YO story group and by created a separated area in the nursery for focus activities where shared, sustained thinking/working can take place.

There are many other examples of work that has been done as a result of LA and other partner support too, e.g. our story groups are now smaller as a result of SALT input. We now have a better range of bilingual books as a result of a LA audit, our Safeguarding policy is now more comprehensive as a result of a LA welfare and safeguarding audit.

Priorities for Improvements

Page 15 of 32 EYL409 1. More PVI representation on Advisory Board

2. More Parent representation on Advisory Board and Governing Body

3. Continue to improve parental involvement.

4. We are currently applying for planning permission to build a consulting room which will offer the privacy that some partner agency meetings need. It will also provide more capacity to have health services onsite.

My practice is:

Outstanding: my practice is exemplary x Good: my practice is strong Satisfactory: my practice is reasonable but could be better Inadequate: my practice is not good enough and I know it needs to improve

Part B: The quality and standards of the early years provision

This part of the form covers the judgements the inspector will make when evaluating your provision. It is important to have your own judgement about how well you are doing in these areas.

Page 16 of 32 EYL409 Section 3. How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend

This section is about the impact of your provision on children’s learning and development. You should refer to:

 Early years self-evaluation form guidance, page 7  Evaluation schedule for inspections of registered early years provision, pages 6–9.

Page 17 of 32 EYL409 Evaluation Planning The Learning Environment Kate Greenaway Nursery School and Children’s Centre plan for long, mid and shorter term learning experiences for all children. Our publication ‘Core Experiences’ forms the basis of our long term planning for the learning environment and comprehensively covers all learning areas. In addition to this guidance half termly planning and weekly planning also takes place. All planning includes both in and outdoors and can also include trips out with the aim of providing rich and varied experiences for all children. The weekly planning is led by well qualified and experienced practitioners and centres on observations of children. All age phases are planned for according to their stages of development and the interests show by the children. The balance of adult to child led activities differs according to age and staff respond reflexively according to need. Evidence See Core Experiences, see mid term and weekly planning, see observations of children, see Profile Books and assessment folders. Language development planning In addition to this planning, each key group has specific language development planning. This practice has been developed in partnership with our Speech and Language Development Therapist . The work focuses on the importance of early identification of language delays and offers practice strategies that can accelerate children’s progress, the eventual aim being to enable a child to access a school based curriculum by the time they leave nursery school. All early interventions e.g. language work, is done in partnership with parents in order that the child receives consistent support for development. Evidence See language planning for key groups Targeted learning for children Each child has their own targets for development and these are agreed with parents during termly review meetings and/or IEP meetings for those children with SEND. Our SEND Policy provides guidance on specific planning. Evidence see parent/child reviews, assessment folders and IEPs. Adult led and Child Led. As shown above, the proportion of Adult-child led activities/ times will depend on the age and stage of development of the children ( compare the 0-2 to the 2-3s and then to the 3- 4s. This balance is adapted to sensitively in order to allow both the expert knowledge and practice of the well qualified practitioner to benefit the children and meanwhile to allow the children to explore, think critically and and become active and creative learners.

Page 18 of 32 EYL409 Our tracking/observations of children asks the practitioner to comment on the Characteristics of Effectively Learning which ensures that our practice develops a better understanding of these characteristics and how best to encourage them. Evidence see profile Books e.g. Science project.

High Expectations Our highly qualified and experienced staff team receive continuous professional development and performance reviews. This expertise benefits the children in our setting and in our outreach area. For example, our training around ECAT ( Every Child a Talker and ACT , Adult Child Interaction) supports language development in the nursery.Our training on ECERS and ITERS has benefitted the children as the learning environment is then audited and developed according . Observations of staff practice and peer observation work encourage staff to have high expectations of themselves which in turn develops a learning environment which benefits the children. Our Behaviour Policy guides our approach to behaviour positive reinforcement and modelling of appropriate behaviour which also helps to set expectations in the setting. Achievements are celebrated in the children’s scrapbooks, on displays and at circle times.

Evidence see profile books, displays, Behaviour Policy, Professional Development Records.

Assessment and Tracking Every child is assessed and tracked in a sharp and focused way. We do this in cohorts in accordance with when year child will go to school. This enables us to identify and provide for early intervention to support the child and family if needed. This also enables us to identify areas of learning that we as a setting are not addressing well. For example , last year we identified lees positive outcomes for Knowledge and Understanding of the World, now Understanding the World. As a result we have made this an area for development and initiatives such as the Rich Real Experiences and the science learning have followed. Our assessments are monitored and feedback is given to the practitioners on a regular basis. In line with the expectations of the EYFS we also do a Two Year Progress check and are soon to be carrying out an Integrated Two Year Progress check with our health partners. Evidence see assessment and tracking folders, profile books, assessment of learning areas. Analysis of data for governing body.

Page 19 of 32 EYL409 Personalised Support for Each Child.

Staff meet parents termly and learning is reviewed and planned for. Next steps are planned for each child with the parent as partner. Our children with SEND are planned for with parents and other professional involved with the family and the IEp is then shared with all staff in order to best deliver the learning to the child.

Our Priority Referral children are monitored and a package of support is considered for each family, often being referred to a Family Support Worker. A plan is then put in place to help the family, which in turn supports the child.

Additional support is available to child who need it through the following services; Art Therapy, Clinical Psychology Service, Speech and Language Therapy and family therapy.

Our EAL, bilingual and multi-lingual children are provided for in our approach to inclusion.

Evidence see Termly review for children’s targets, see IEP for plans for children with SEND, see plans for EYPR children, referrals to Family Support and other additional services.

Parental Involvement.

Our parents are able to communicate with staff everyday, twice a day and the consistent contact helps to support our knowledge of the child and family. Parents are consulted on their ideas and thoughts through surveys and the Roaming Parent Forum as well as more informal feedback. Parents are represented on both our Governing Body and our Advisory Board.

Workshops on specific curriculum areas are held by the two lead teachers which help to support parents understanding of how we approach learning in the setting.

All our staff are Solihull trained which helps us to manage and progress our relationships with our children and their families through containment, reciprocity and behaviour management.

Evidence see annual LA Parent Survey, see Roaming Parent Forum feedback, see Evaluations of Activities, Governing Body and Advisory Board Minutes.

Narrowing the Gap.

Our tracking data through Progress Matters and ECAT shows that our children consistently achieve high standards in all areas of learning. The gap between the lowest achieving 20% and the average is closing and shows a positive trend over 5 years.

Evidence see three and five year gap data for EYFSP. See ECAT tracking data and Progress Matter tracking data.

Priorities for Improvement.

Page 20 of 32 EYL409 1) To encourage children to reflect on their learning ( this is the recommendation from our recent Ofsted Inspection Dec 2012.

2) To further develop our practice around Understanding the World in order to enrich the learning opportunities on offer. This will be based on our Rich Real Experience Programme, our Science Learning and our Floorbooks approach ( this is based on our data analysis)

3) To further develop our Parental Partnerships ( we are recruiting a Parental Involvement Officer and currently working on the job profile for this post)

My practice is:

Page 21 of 32 EYL409 Section 4. The contribution of the early years provision to children’s well-being

This section is about the effectiveness of your care practices in helping children feel emotionally secure and ensuring children are physically, mentally and emotionally healthy. You should refer to:

 Early years self-evaluation form guidance, page 8  Evaluation schedule for inspections of registered early years provision, 10–12.

Evaluation

Forming bonds and secure emotional attachments; Our starting point for every child is a home visit from the keyperson and another senior member of the staff team. This ensures that new children are familiar with a few adults when they start nursery making settling easier for them and their parents. Our staff team are highly qualified and very experienced. ( see qualifications and training records) Our ethos is to encourage sensitive support for children to enable them. This supports children to settle and then to thrive. Our settling in policy and procedures are made very clear to parents and are adhered to for all children. Parents receive this and other policies when they join us. ( see policies ) We fully involve parents at every stage and children settle well as a result. This builds our partnership with parents and supports children’s development overall. Parents respond well to this and feedback is positive ( see Parent’s Survey) Our keyperson policy ensures that each child is able to attach to an adult who will support their learning and development. This is supplemented by a co-keyperson who will be there is the keyperson is not. This provides a strong base for their developing independence and exploration. Each child is a member of a keygroup with the two co-keys and the group work enables quality time with known and familiar adults. This impacts positively on a child’s Personal , Social and Emotional development as they gain confidence in the smaller group setting. ( see assessments for PSED) Our ratio of adults to children is more generous that the statutory requirements and this ensures that children do not feel emotional ‘lost’ in a nursery setting. We have three places for children with severe and complex needs and the ratio for these places is one to three ( rather than one to 8 for the that age group). This ensures that the more vulnerable children and those with need of the most support are able to have it.

Planning for the children

Page 22 of 32 EYL409 Much emphasis is placed on PSED and children’s emotional wellbeing is discussed at regular supervision meetings with our therapist and in staff meetings. Planning is based on individual children and their needs (see planning files) and Profile Books are kept to record special moments in their development and these are shared with parents whenever possible but on a more formal basis every term at Review Meetings.

Self Selection and the Characteristics of Effective Lerning

There is plenty of opportunity for children in the setting to select their own areas for learning. The high quality environment is set up to offer self selection and resources are accessible to even the youngest children. Many resources are ‘open-ended’ and allow children to represent many things e.g. the blocks.

Our medium term planning guide (Core Experiences) ensures that children have access to the fundamental resources everyday.

Practitioners understand how to support self-selected play the importance of ‘Flow’. They are able to support the children in their enjoyment of learning, model appropriate play, quality interactions and encourage critical thinking and mastery orientation. This freedom encourages happy learners. ( characteristics of effective learning). All staff are ACT trained and Solihull Trained.

Our tracking sheets remind staff of the importance of the COEL and ask for comments on the children they are observing, this supports staff in their understanding of the tracking and ensures that those characteristics are celebrated and encouraged in children.( see tracking sheets)

Intimate Care

Our nappy changing procedures are displayed in our nappy changing areas to remind all staff of best practice and to reassure parents that their children are well cared for during this intimate time.

The Importance of Being Healthy

As a Healthy Children’s Centre, our policies and practices ensure that physical health is considered. (See Our Outdoor Play policy) We have free-flow play for as many hours of the day as possible. Children access both indoors and outdoors as they wish and staffing is deployed appropriately. We are able to encourage appropriate risk taking for children and continue to strive to give all staff the confidence to do this well.

Wet weather suits are available to allow access even in the worst conditions.

Our trained Developmental Play and Movement staff offer DMP sessions several times a week. The children benefit from moving their bodies freely and developing

Page 23 of 32 EYL409 their balance and spatial awareness. All of this provides a good platform for the development of early writing skills.

Our kitchen is on site and each child has a freshly cooked lunch each day. ( see Nutrition Policy) The children also cook very regularly which helps them to understand the process that produces meals, snacks, cakes etc. In addition we have a fruit and vegetable garden which the children tend with the support of our Gardening Teacher ( QTS). The produce of the garden is eaten by the children, either raw or cooked.

Children’s Self care routines are supported by experienced staff and small achievements celebrated to encourage progress. E.g toilet training. Parents are always encouraged to be our partners in their children’s toilet training.

Sleep is considered an essential part of children’s wellbeing and we value this highly at Kate Greenaway. ( see Sleep Policy ). Staff work with parents to ensure that the patterns suit each child and their family within reason.

Safety

Each day the environment is risk assessed ( see folder). The cleaning schedule ensures that the environment stays in appropriate condition ans that temperatures on fridges etc are checked daily. ( see cleaning schedules)

Accidents and Incidents are recorded and shared with parents. All staff are First Aid Trained and we offer termly First Aid Training for parents ( see sessions and signing in sheets).

Trips and visits are risk assessed.

All staff working with children, or volunteering are recruited through Islington’s Safer Recruitment Framework.

Kate Greenaway has a strong Safeguarding Policy and works closely with partner agencies such as Children’s Social Care to ensure that all children are kept safe.

The Single Central Record is kept electronically and is regularly updated. We have safeguarding visits from our Governing Body and our Local Authority. ( see most recent audit)

The staff offer age appropriate messages to the children about how to keep themselves safe, model of safe practice themselves and praise ‘safe’ behaviour in children. This impacts on the children and helps us to provide a safe environment for everyone.

Transitions and school readiness

Page 24 of 32 EYL409 Transitions start with a home visit , as the transition into the setting is the first and perhaps the most important transition a child makes in their EY. This is very well supported by experienced staff. Transitions are then planned through the setting from babyroom to the nursery. These are supported by the keypersons involved and the child is allowed to flow freely between their previous and the new base with their established keyperson with them.

The school application process is well supported at Kate Greenaway. Parents are able to ask for help with forms and to understand the process and the choices.

School visits are planned for children with SEND and the particularly vulnerable. Information is shared with the receiving schools (with parental consent) and school staff also visit the children coming to their schools here on site.

The children have plenty of opportunities to discuss their move to ‘big school’ and take part in a leaver’s assembly to celebrate their time with us, parents attend this too.

As per our Ofsted ( section 5) target, we also encourage children to reflect on their own learning and think about what they might like to learn about next ( see training record and film evidence of sessions showing this).

A very high percentage of our children have lower than average starting points and most make accelerated progress to achieve the national expectation and beyond. We feel that the children leaving Kate Greenaway are able and ready to access the next part of their school journey. ( see Ofsted report December 2012)

Priorities for Improvement

To continue to strengthen parental involvement.

E.g Bring a Grown up to School Week, Parent representation on the Governing Body and the Advisory Board.

My practice is:

Page 25 of 32 EYL409 Section 5. The leadership and management of the early years provision

This section is about the effectiveness of your leadership and management; or if you are a childminder how well you organise your service. It covers:

 meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage  self-evaluation and improvement planning  performance management and professional development  safeguarding  partnership working.

You should refer to:

 Early years self-evaluation form guidance, page 9.  Evaluation schedule for inspections of registered early years provision, pages 12– 15.

Page 26 of 32 EYL409 Evaluation Responsibilities in meeting the requirements of the EYFS ( Safeguarding and Welfare) In July and September 2012 the staff team at Kate Greenaway used inset days to understand the new EYFS Framework and think about the implications in our setting. ( see CPD record). Staff have understood the new and changed elements of the framework e.g. Mobile phone and Camera use. Evidence. See training records

We have worked closely with the Local Authority to ensure that our safeguarding policies and practices are up to date and well implemented. e.g. ensuring that the Flowchart for Allegations Against Staff forms part of our safeguarding policy. Evidence see policies and the Safeguarding and Welfare visit report from the LA. We have clear procedures around safeguarding and all staff members , including our admin team, have received specific training and have been given time to read ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ . Evidence. See signed sheets, see running record.

Safeguarding is a standing item on the agenda for weekly meetings and our therapist offers a weekly supervision group for the staff were safeguarding can also be discussed. More Safeguarding training is planned for September 2013 and this will be delivered by the local authority. The Headteacher and the Deputy Headteacher are trained annually and are the named staff for child protection. Evidence see certificates of training.

We have and regularly update our Single Central Record. Our key staff are trained in Safe Recruitment and all of our CRBs are renewed every three years. All staff have signed agreements which oblige them to disclosure any information that would affect their eligibility to work with children, such as convictions, court orders as well as any medication being taken that may affect their ability to safely look after children. Any new staff or agency staff are fully inducted with regard to ethos and safeguarding. We have worked closely with the Local Authority to ensure that our procedures are appropriate and our report grades us as Green on the RAG rating system.

Evidence. See SCR, see staff signed agreements, see induction pack, local authority report.

Page 27 of 32 EYL409 Our Health and Safety procedures are well embedded and risk assessment check lists are carried out every day. Our Fire Alarm is tested every week and evacuation procedures practised regularly.

Evidence. See Fire Alarm testing log book, Fire evacuation records, check lists, risk assessments.

Assessment and Planning in the EYFS.

At Kate Greenaway we have a clear approach to assessment and tracking. Our staff ensure that regular observations are made of all children and these observations not only form the platform for planning but also the platform for assessing where a child in in accordance with Development Matters.

Each child has an assessment file and the learning area being observed is highlighted. This helps to demonstrate that we are giving equal weight to all learning areas and enables us to address imbalance both for planning activities and staff development.

Our Keyperson system means that each child is well known and understood and that assessments are clear and informative. Information is shared with parents on a daily basis but more formally on a termly basis. Parents have input for planning the next steps for learning.

We use Progress Matters to track developments which enables us to see development over time and filter by gender, SEND, EAL etc. This tracking system also shows starting points for the children. A clear graph system illustrates how many children are achieving age appropriate goals.

Evidence. See Observations, assessment folders, Progress Matters Tracking, Assessment Policy.

Equality and Diversity.

At Kate Greenaway we have shared our Equality Objectives with staff, parents, Governors and our Advisory Board. We have a clear Equality Policy which is available to parents.

We engage with the local authority well and have recently met with the Equality consultant for EY to focus on Bilingualism (see report).

A recent timetable of staff observations with a focus on inclusion demonstrate that we are continually striving to improve in our ability to engage all children in learning. Staff use Makaton, story props and many other strategies to allow all children to participate in group time.

Our Core Book Library offers many of the Core Books in key community languages. The library is actively offered to families twice per week.

Progress of all children is tracked and we have additional input from our Speech and Language Therapist to support children who have delay in language development.

We are able to run Crocodile Groups for those children in need of additional support. This involves 4-5 children and a trained member of staff. The aim is support the development of

Page 28 of 32 EYL409 language and communication at a level and pace that is appropriate and therefore builds confidence.

Evidence. See Inclusion Record of Visit from LA, observation of staff on Inclusion, Equality Policy and Objectives, Core Book Library, Crocodile Groups.

Self Evaluation.

We use a number of quality assurance systems to ensure that we are constantly striving to improve. In our 0-2’s we use ITERS and in our 2-5s we use ECERS. We also invite visits from our EYFS consultant team to support and challenge us on environment, practice, resources and planning.

We use of tracking and assessment systems to identify learning areas that we may be neglecting and we then plan staff development to address this. This will also then become part of our Improvement planning and our performance management targets, obersation of staff along with staff development. E.g Deputy Head and Nursery Teacher are taking part in a three day Science in the EY course at York University and sharing this with staff.

For example, through tracking and assessment our staff were able to identify that our weakness was in Knowledge and Understanding of the World ( now Understanding the World). The Profile results for the area also showed this later in the year.

Evidence. See Improvement Plan, Performance Management targets, staff observation ( completed and planned), CDP record, Progress Matters Tracking and children’s assessment folders.

Performance Management.

Each member of staff has performance management. The Head receives PM from the SIP and the Governors, the staff team are then performance managed by the Headteacher, the Deputy Headteacher and the Nursery Teacher. All staff have a target that aligns with the improvement plan and observations of staff are based on areas for improvement as well as personal targets.

On a more informal level, staff receive feedback on their record keeping, Profile Books and assessments on a regular basis. The Deputy Headteacher meets weekly with the Nursery Teacher to oversee practice and implementation of plans as well as being the class teacher two sessions every week to informally observe general practice. Environment walks are done on a daily basis and feedback given informally. Any practice observed that causes concern would be addressed immediately and systems of support put in place to improve, such as regular observations, shadowing, targeted professional development.

Insets are planned taking target areas into account e.g Understanding the World, Inclusion and individual staff training is planned around joint targets or personal ones.

Evidence. See Performance Management records, Profile Book system of feedback, observations of staff.

Work in Partnership with Parents and Others.

Page 29 of 32 EYL409 Parents.

The way we seek the views and input from parents is covered in Part A section 2 . The input from parents allows us to work in partnership with them.

Our Review meetings which happen on a termly basis ensure that parents are fully informed on their child’s progress and development at nursery by their keyperson. Any matters for concern can be address in this two way dialogue and early intervention can be offered to support progress.

Children with SEND have Individual Education Plans. A meeting is held with a range of professionals, the deputy headteacher and the parent in order to best plan the next steps for each child. The parent is key to all plans.

Parents input into the next steps for learning for their child and are offered ways to support these goals at home.

Parents are kept up to date with information through newsletters and text messages vis our SIMS system, as well as direct reminders from keypersons and the admin team.

Parents form part of our governing body and our Advisory Board as well as our team of volunteers.

In order to strengthen parental involvement we facilitate a ‘Bring a Grown Up to School Week’ which encourages parents to take part in activities that support children’s learning e.g Music, cooking, gardening, reading.

Evidence. See Notes from Keyperson and Parent Reviews, Parent Voice Page, Governing Body Minutes, Advisory Board minutes, IEPs, Newsletters, Bring a Grown up To School Week sign up sheets.

The ways in which we engage with other professional partners in order to deliver best the possible service for all children is covered in Part A section 2.

Safeguarding children is covered in the earlier part of this section ( see above).

Tackling weakness/ e.g Osted recommendations for improvement.

Our Ofsted in June 2010 recommended that we create ‘More global links’. As a response we applied to the British Council to become a partner to Tobago for EY provision and practice. Two members of staff have now visited Tobago and many activities have been planned as a result of that visit. E.g a Harvest festival and a carnival within our Summer Picnic for parents.

Following our visit, Tobago EY professionals have also visited Kate Greenaway and hopefully we have shared some positive examples of good practice together.

Our more recent Ofsted inspection in December 2012 offered us a recommendation to encourage children’s own reflection of their learning. This has now become part of the Nursery Teacher’s performance management targets and this will be embedded throughout the year.

Page 30 of 32 EYL409 Your priorities for improvement.

1. To continue to plan, carry out and feedback on observations of staff and to encourage best practice through this and through peer observations. 2. To further develop our three year strategic plan and our one year action planning. 3. To develop and strengthen a middle leadership team

My practice is:

Page 31 of 32 EYL409 Section 6. The overall quality and standards of the early years provision

This section brings together the evaluation of all aspects of your practice, your identified priorities for improvement and the grades you have awarded yourself.

You should refer to:

 Early years self-evaluation form guidance, page 10  Evaluation schedule for inspections of registered early years provision, pages 15– 16.

The overall quality and standards of my early years provision is:

Any further comments you wish to include.

Please consider our Ofsted Inspection of December 2012 when reading this SEF

Page 32 of 32 EYL409