Chellaston Academy

Barkham Pre-School Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number 148639 Inspection date 22/03/2011 Inspector Anne Faithfull

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Setting address Barkham Village Hall, Church Lane, Barkham, Wokingham, Berkshire, RG40 4PJ Telephone number 0118 9760750 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

Barkham Pre-School has been open since 1971 and is a registered charity. It operates from the village hall in Barkham, Berkshire. The pre-school use the two halls, kitchen and bathrooms. It has an enclosed outside play space. The pre- school serves the local community. The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register and on both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register.

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Description of the setting

The pre-school is registered to provide care for 24 children from two years to five years old. The pre-school is open from Tuesday to Friday from 9am to 12.45pm term time only. There are currently 25 children on roll attending a variety of sessions each week. The pre-school is in receipt of funding. The pre-school is able to support children with special educational needs and /or disabilities, and those who have English as an additional language.

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Description of the setting

There are six staff members who work with the children of these; four hold appropriate childcare qualifications and one is completing suitable childcare qualifications. The pre-school receives support from their local Early Years Partnership.

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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

Children are very happy, confident and safe in the pre-school. The dedicated and caring staff team recognise each child's individual uniqueness and treat them with kindness and respect. Staff provide a wide range of interesting play opportunities and activities both inside and outside which help the children to make good progress in their learning and development. Most staff follow the systems in place for recording the observations they make on children. A new self-evaluation and monitoring system has recently been put in place and is still being implemented to ensure areas for development are highlighted and addressed to ensure continuous improvement.

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further?

To further improve the early years provision the registered person should:

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further?

 make sure all staff consistently include the different areas of learning covered when completing observations on children  extend the new evaluation system in place to include contributions from staff, parents and children. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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the early years provision

A new supervisor is in place and she is totally committed to ensuring the on-going improvement and development of the pre-school. All policies and procedures are currently being reviewed to ensure children's safety and welfare. Effective systems are in place to ensure that all staff are suitably qualified and appropriately vetted. All staff participate in an annual appraisal system which identifies any future training needs and their on going suitability to work with children. Staff ensure children are safeguarded as some staff have recently attended training and share the information with other staff members to ensure they all have up to date knowledge and guidance to follow if they have concerns about a child in their care. Secure procedures in place ensure no persons have access to the children without being vetted and visitor's identification is thoroughly checked and their names and time spent at the pre-school is recorded.

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the early years provision

The risk assessments in place and safety checklists completed before each session ensure children's safety at all times. The dedicated staff team are aware of their roles and individual responsibilities and deploy themselves effectively to ensure children are supervised well, both inside and outside. As a consequence, children are provided with a safe, calm environment and good adult support. Children are aware of the steps to take in an emergency. This was demonstrated during the inspection as children and staff participated in the fire drill procedure. All children were very calm and responded immediately to the requests from staff to ensure they could evacuate the building in a safe but quick way. Children can independently access when they require a wide range of suitable resources both inside and out. Staff are aware of their role to promote diversity and help children begin to be aware of the differences and lives of others through a range of

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the early years provision

resources, play people and books. All children are included and staff recognise that each child is a unique individual with different needs and requirements. Staff fully support every child to participate in all the activities and experiences offered.

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the early years provision

Parents and grandparents make many positive comments including the calm and approachable staff and how happy their children are to come to the pre-school. Parents are provided with a wide range of information about the pre-school via a notice board and web site. Parents are informed in a variety of ways of their child's progress and development and can access their child's individual learning journey file to see the observations made and to make any comments as they are readily available each session. However, not all staff follow the system to include the areas of learning covered for parents to see. Secure partnerships are in place with other settings the children attend. Staff visit the local school with the children to share information on their learning and to ensure the transition between pre- school and school is a smooth one. All staff are committed to the ongoing development and improvement of the pre-school and reflect together after each

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the early years provision

session. A new evaluation system is currently being implemented by the supervisor and is still in the early stages. Currently, there are no systems in place for all staff, parents and children to contribute their ideas and views as part of the on going evaluation of the pre-school. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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and outcomes for children

Children play and learn in a calm and caring atmosphere. They settle well and quickly learn the routines in place such as, choosing which activity table they would like to go to first. Staff use their many years of experience and knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage to plan and provide a good balance of adult and child led activities, challenges and experiences which help to promote children's early learning and development through play. Planning is flexible and takes into account the ideas, interests and stages of development of the children. Children benefit from being able to independently free flow between the indoor and outside environment. They readily participate in painting the outside walls with water and a range of paintbrushes and draw rainbow fish on the paving stones using coloured chalks. Staff enable children to risk take so they can begin to be aware of their own safety and offer gentle reminders when required. For example,

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and outcomes for children

when children are using a skipping rope and jumping or crawling under the rope. They remind children to look around to see if any items are nearby which they may land on after jumping over the rope and suggest they move them out of the way first.

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and outcomes for children

Children enjoy participating in a range of activities linked to the touch and feelings theme currently in place. They readily touch the ice blocks which contain a variety of items such as, pasta, egg, rice and lemons. They use expressive language to explain what they can feel such as bumpy, freezing, hard and soft. They are showing an awareness of how ice is made as they remind staff to put it back in the freezer before it melts. Staff effectively extend their learning by providing pasta and rice for the children to use outside in the sandpit so they can feel the items when they are not frozen. Children also access a variety of other items such as, feathers and sea shells and show great delight when they put the large sea shell to their ear to hear the sea. A strength of the pre-school is how they promote children's imagination. Children readily participate in a range of role play situations owing to the staff providing suitable resources such as a role-play kitchen where

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and outcomes for children

they make each other drinks and food, a wide range of dressing up clothes, and items for children to develop their own imaginative stories and games. Children readily comment to visitors how they like to dress up as fairy princesses and firemen.

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and outcomes for children

Children are aware of the local community as on occasions they go into the church and fund raising events planned such as, the big toddle walk help the children feel a sense of belonging as they help to raise funds for the pre-school. Children are consulted about any new resources they would like and some children showed great delight when the dinosaurs they had asked for had been delivered the day before to the pre-school. They immediately started to play imaginary games with them and showed them to their friends and staff. Children are encouraged to develop skills for the future as they access a range of technology and by participating in junk modelling they are aware of how they can reuse the boxes and items they bring in from home. Children have opportunities to count using everyday routines for instance; counting how many children there are around the This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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and outcomes for children

snack table and counting their fingers when singing nursery rhymes. Children behave well and respond to the praise and encouragement they are given by staff. Children are beginning to learn to share and take turns and some help staff to tidy away the resources. Staff are good role models and remind children to think about what impact their behaviour has on other children. Children are reminded to think about others and to respect each other's feelings and they readily approach staff to talk to them and share any concerns they may have with them.

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and outcomes for children

Children learn about keeping themselves healthy as they follow clear hygiene routines, such as washing their hands before snack time and putting the tissues they have used in the bin. Children are beginning to be aware of healthy eating as staff provide them with a range of healthy snacks which they can access independently when they wish to. The name card system in place enables staff to be aware of children who have or not had a snack and drink during the morning. Children's physical skills are further developed as they help to choose and participate in a range of action songs and rhymes where they can stretch out their arms and legs. They readily ride bikes, scooters and a variety of other equipment outside. Through their use of using a range of smaller art and craft resources such as scissors, glue sticks and play dough cutters and shapes children have many opportunities to develop their fine motor skills and confidence in using a range of

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and outcomes for children

different tools. 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 2 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 2 The extent to which children develop skills for the future 2

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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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