Imagination Preschool: Battersea Park

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Practitioners and the manager greet families with a warm welcome when their children arrive. They have a friendly chat and gather important information to support children throughout the day. Children show that they feel safe and secure in this nurturing setting.

They settle with ease with their familiar adults and happily join their peers with a readiness to learn. Children demonstrate a sense of belonging. They find their photo for self-registration and put away their belongings on their peg.

The key-person system works well to support all children. Children are given time to settle into their rooms. Leaders observe ...their interactions and development over the first six weeks.

They allocate a permanent key person based on the bonds that children make and the skills of the practitioner to meet their individual needs. This helps to build a secure foundation for children's future learning. Children develop their independence skills.

From a young age, children serve their own food and drinks, take their breakfast bowls to the sink and are given knives and forks at mealtimes. This helps children to develop the skills and confidence that they need for later life. Practitioners have high expectations of children's behaviour.

Children understand their expectations and follow the 'golden rules'. They are gently reminded to say 'please' and 'thank you' throughout the day. This supports children's positive behaviour.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

Practitioners are committed to meeting children's needs and they are proud of the achievements that children make. Practitioners attend regular supervision sessions with the manager. They use this time to discuss their well-being and continuous professional development.

Practitioners receive online and in-house training. This helps them to further build on the skills that they need to support children and their learning.Parent partnership is effective.

Parents report that they feel well informed about their children's development and feel involved with their learning journey. Practitioners update parents about their children each day. They share activities and resources that children enjoy, to support parents with children's learning at home.

Overall, children across the nursery progress well in their language development. Practitioners support all children to develop their communication and language skills through language programmes appropriate for the different age groups. These are implemented to support all children and close the gap for children with delayed language development.

Practitioners speak clearly to children and repeat back what they have said with the correct pronunciation and extend their sentences. This helps children to expand their vocabulary. Older children confidently hold conversations with practitioners about their favourite stories and home experiences.

Practitioners use questions as a method to find out what children recall from activities and extend their learning. However, at times, practitioners do not give children sufficient time to process the question and respond before repeating the question.Children who speak English as an additional language are well supported and make good progress.

Practitioners use visual aids, such as pictures, signing and real objects, to support all children to follow routines, learn language and develop their understanding. They gather words in children's home languages to help them to settle and feel included. Practitioners who speak different languages are utilised to support children and families.

Practitioners use information gathered about children's cultural background to develop positive attitudes and respect for others. Children learn about different people and cultures through ongoing activities about different countries. For instance, each term children 'travel' to different countries.

They learn about the language, culture and food. Children make creations to represent the country that they are learning about. For example, children worked together to recreate the Eiffel Tower.

Practitioners support children to learn about their feelings and emotions. They use resources such as books and emotion props. For example, at group time, practitioners ask younger children if they are 'happy' or 'sad' with the choice of a happy or sad face prop.

Children are then encouraged to talk about why they feel that way. However, during situations of minor conflict, practitioners do not acknowledge children's feelings, and children are not always supported to resolve the issue themselves.Leaders are passionate about outcomes for children.

They plan for children to learn in more creative ways in a family based environment. Leaders have high expectations for what children should achieve and support practitioners to deliver the curriculum in ways that support children's individual learning and development.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders and practitioners have a good knowledge of safeguarding. They are confident to follow procedures and report concerns to the relevant agencies to keep children in their care safe from harm. This includes whistle-blowing against a colleague.

Leaders keep practitioners' knowledge and understanding up to date with regular training and discussions in supervisions and staff meetings. Practitioners carry out risk assessments for the indoor and outdoor environments.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: provide children with enough time to process and respond to questions asked to further support their language development support children to resolve situations themselves and acknowledge other's feelings, such as by naming children's emotions during minor conflicts.

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