Therfield Village Pre-School

Therfield Village Pre-School Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY216156 Inspection date 12/01/2011 Inspector Lynn Clements

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Setting address Therfield Village Hall, Church Lane, Therfield, Royston, Hertfordshire, SG8 9QB Telephone number 07789 012419 Email Type of setting Childcare on non-domestic premises 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 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way.

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T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under Sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of the registered early years provision. ‘Early years provision’ refers to provision regulated by Ofsted for children from birth to 31 August following their fifth birthday (the early years age group). The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and welfare, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Introduction

The provider must provide a copy of this report to all parents with children at the setting where reasonably practicable. The provider must provide a copy of the report to any other person who asks for one, but may charge a fee for this service (The Childcare (Inspection) Regulations 2008 regulations 9 and 10).

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Introduction

The setting also makes provision for children older than the early years age group which is registered on the voluntary and/or compulsory part(s) of the Childcare Register. This report does not include an evaluation of that provision, but a comment about compliance with the requirements of the Childcare Register is included in Annex B.

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Introduction

Please see our website for more information about each childcare provider. We publish inspection reports, conditions of registration and details of complaints we receive where we or the provider take action to meet the requirements of registration. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Description of the setting

Therfield Village Pre-school opened in 2001 and operates from the large village hall. It is situated in the village of Therfield, on the outskirts of Royston, Hertfordshire. A maximum of 26 children in the early years age group may attend the setting at any one time. The setting is registered on the Early Years Register and on the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The pre- school is open Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 12.30pm during term times. There is an optional lunch club from 12.30pm until 1.30pm for those who wish to stay. Children attend for a variety of sessions. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area.

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Description of the setting

There are currently 32 children on roll. Of these, 20 children are in receipt of early education funding. Children come from the village and surrounding areas. The pre- school currently supports a small number of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Description of the setting

The nursery employs eight members of staff. Five members of staff including the manager hold appropriate early years qualifications. The manager is currently studying to degree level.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Overall the quality of the provision is good.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

All staff in the pre-school have a well developed knowledge of each child's needs enabling them to successfully promote their welfare and learning extremely well. Children are safe and secure and thoroughly enjoy learning about the local area where they live and the wider world around them. Clear and purposeful partnerships are in place with the local school and other agencies. Those with parents and carers are significant and extremely effective in making sure that the needs of all children are met, along with any additional support needs making sure that children progress well. Regular self-evaluation by the manager and staff makes sure that priorities for development are identified and acted on, resulting in provision that responds to all user needs.

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further?

To meet the specific requirements of the EYFS, the registered person must:

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further?

 take necessary steps to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, this is with particular regard to ensuring that written parental permission to seek any necessary emergency medical advice or treatment in the future is in place for all children at time of placement (Promoting good health). 26/01/2011 This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 To further improve the early years provision the registered person should:

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further?

 re-appraise risk assessments to ensure they consistently include how potential hazards are minimised, This is with particular regard to how children are prevented from accessing the kitchen area.

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the early years provision

Managers and staff have clear knowledge and understanding about safeguarding children. Robust procedures are in place to ensure that staff checks are carried out and that no staff member, volunteer or visitor is left unsupervised with the children if they have not undergone criminal record bureau checks. On the whole, good risk assessments are in place to help staff identify and minimise potential hazards to the children. Although, there is a minor weakness with a small number of these, due to insufficient detail. For example, how children are prevented from gaining access to the kitchen area. The manager, staff and committee have developed a wide range of pertinent policies and procedures. These are shared with parents and carers and implemented in practice in order to support the smooth running of the setting and provide very positive outcomes for the children. All records required by legislation are in place and updated as required. However, during this

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the early years provision

inspection it came to light that a permission form for a child, with regard to the seeking of any necessary emergency medical advice or treatment was missing. This is a requirement of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. This is a minor breech and has no impact on the safety and well-being of the children. It has been taken forward at this inspection.

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the early years provision

Resources are deployed well and all children, including those with additional needs are able to move around freely and make their own selections and decisions about their learning. This enables them to build on their existing self-help skills and tap into their curiosity as active learners. The environment is conducive to learning, safe and well cared for. The management team and staff are taking appropriate steps to ensure that resources and the environment are sustainable. Staff actively promote equality and diversity. They have a good knowledge of each child's backgrounds and needs and ensure that their own knowledge about different cultures is up to date. Staff work as a team to identify a child's need for additional support as early as possible. They share information and records with parents and where appropriate, with inter-agency teams to ensure that each child gets the support they need. Partnerships with other settings, such as the local school are

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the early years provision

well established and make a strong contribution to children's well being. Regular opportunities for children to make visits and for staff to visit them in their pre- school, supports smooth transitions for each child as the move into main stream school. The setting has highly positive relationships with all groups of parents and carers.

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the early years provision

Well-established and highly inclusive procedures are in place to ensure that the voices of parents, carers and children are heard. The setting seeks out their views This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 and uses these as they reflect on and evaluate the service they provide. Parents and carers report that they are very welcome in the setting and staff are easy to talk to. In particular they enjoy the two way communication diaries that are shared between home and the setting, stating that these enable them to confidently include their children's learning at home with staff at the pre-school. Parents and carers feel that by doing this every detail of their child is taken into consideration as their key person plans for their next steps in learning. Self-evaluation involves all parties and provides an accurate analysis of the strengths and areas for development of their early years setting. As a result the actions taken by the

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the early years provision

setting are well-chosen and carefully planned so that impact brings out about improvement.

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and outcomes for children

Staff have a very good knowledge of the learning and development and welfare requirements. They clearly use the Early Years Foundation Stage guidance to promote children's learning, social, physical and economic wellbeing. An interesting, well-equipped and welcoming environment successfully reflects children's backgrounds and the wider community. All staff are well deployed and skilled at promoting positive attitudes to learning. High quality planning and organisation makes sure that every child is suitably challenged by the learning experiences provided. The well planned activities are based upon thorough and accurate observations and assessment and matched to the full range of children's needs. This includes taking account of children's learning and development which occurs outside of the setting. All children, including those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, make extremely good progress towards the early learning goals.

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and outcomes for children

Children are eager to attend and make significant gains in their learning. They play a dynamic role in their learning and wherever possible, offer their ideas and respond to challenges with great enthusiasm. Children show high levels of independence, curiosity, imagination and concentration. Relationships are very strong at all levels and children respect and tolerate each others differences.

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and outcomes for children

Children are keen communicators, sharing books or talking together and developing their imaginary ideas during role play. For example, children stop to talk with adults, telling them all about their baby they have in the buggy and that they are off to the shops to buy custard and birthday cake. As children construct three dimensional models from click together bricks, they use positional language, such as under, on top and beside. They interact well with other children and members of staff, developing their use of language as they share their ideas and thoughts. Children enjoy playing outside and staff make sure that they have free flow access at all times. Children use a wide range of wheeled toys, carefully negotiating each other and the space in general. They talk about the things they observe which are happening around them, for example, what the weather is doing, how they came to pre-school that day and who has come to play. They

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and outcomes for children

develop their understanding of number and simple addition, for example as they count each other at group time, they work out that as one child has gone to the toilet so they need to add one more to make the right total. Children demonstrate exceptionally positive behaviour, interacting extremely well with each other, This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 members of staff and visitors. They have consistently high levels of achievement and demonstrate excellent progress in developing the skills that will help them in the future.

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and outcomes for children

All children show an extremely strong sense of security and belonging within the setting. They are confident, settle well and develop excellent relationships at every level with adults and their peers. Children display exceedingly high levels of confidence and self-esteem. They work well independently and with each other showing very good negotiation and co-operation skills. All children are valued and engage in a wide range of activities which help them to value diversity. Children are secure and develop a sense of belonging to their pre-school. They know what is expected of them and can demonstrate a clear understanding of how to stay safe independently of staff prompts. Children are taught to be safety conscious without being fearful. They show a strong understanding of how to keep themselves safe. For example, as they play they recognise and confidently talk about potential dangers, such as, during their role play games they make pretend

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and outcomes for children

meals for each other, they talk about being careful of the hot oven, or during snack time, they talk about using the knife to cut up the fruit with care. All children show that they are developing a very good understanding of how to keep themselves safe and healthy. They talk about what constitutes a healthy lifestyle. For example, drinking milk and eating fresh fruit to help make you big and strong. They adopt good personal hygiene routines and wash their hands at pertinent times. Children engage in a wide range of physical activities, both indoors and out, increasing their understanding about the importance of regular exercise as part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Annex A: record of inspection judgements

The key inspection judgements and what they mean

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Annex A: record of inspection judgements

Grade 1 is Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Grade 2 is Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Grade 3 is Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Grade 4 is Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

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children in the Early Years Foundation Stage?

The capacity of the provision to maintain continuous improvement

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Early Years Foundation Stage

The effectiveness of leadership and management in embedding ambition and driving improvement The effectiveness with which the setting deploys resources 2 The effectiveness with which the setting promotes equality and diversity The effectiveness of safeguarding 2 The effectiveness of the setting’s self-evaluation, including the steps taken to promote improvement The effectiveness of partnerships 2 The effectiveness of the setting’s engagement with parents and carers

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Stage

The quality of the provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage 2

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Stage

The extent to which children achieve and enjoy their learning 1 The extent to which children feel safe 2 The extent to which children adopt healthy lifestyles 2 The extent to which children make a positive contribution 1 The extent to which children develop skills for the future 1

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Stage

procedures set out in the guidance available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

The provider confirms that the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are: Met

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

The provider confirms that the requirements of the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are: Met

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