Calshot Junior School

Bright Sparks Pre-School Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number 127047 Inspection date 04/04/2011 Inspector Sarah Morfett

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Setting address Child Centre, 2 Sycamore Drive, Swanley, BR8 7AY

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Telephone number 07711814900 Email info@brightsparkspreschool.co.uk 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. You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as

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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

Bright Sparks Pre-School is a privately owned pre-school. It opened in 1995 and offers breakfast, pre-school and after-school care, as well as a holiday play scheme during the summer holidays. The pre-school operates from two rooms in the Child Centre in Swanley, Kent. A maximum of 40 children may attend the pre-school and after-school club at any one time, all of whom may be in the early years age group. The pre-school is open each weekday from 9.15am until 11.45am Monday to Friday and for afternoon sessions from 12.30pm until 3.00pm Monday, Thursday and Friday for 33 weeks of the year. The after school club is open from 3.30pm to 6.30pm each week night. All children have access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area.

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Description of the setting

There are currently 70 children aged from two-and-a-half to under eight years on roll. Children aged three and four years receive funding for nursery education. Children come from a local catchment area. The pre-school currently supports a number of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The pre- school employs 16 members of staff. Of these, 14 hold appropriate early years qualifications and the two managers are working towards a Foundation degree in Early Years Education. The provision is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register.

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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's welfare and learning is effectively supported by staff who have an in- depth knowledge of their backgrounds and work hard to ensure their needs are met. Children have access to a broad range of activities which are clearly linked to the Early Years Foundation Stage and overall, help them to move forward at a good pace. Partnerships with parents and other professionals are exceptionally well established and contribute successfully to children's ongoing development. The capacity of the setting to maintain continuous improvement is good. They use consistent and effective systems for evaluation of the setting showing a strong commitment to the ongoing progression of the children and development of the setting.

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further?

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

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further?

 develop the risk assessment so that it covers anything with which a child may come into contact This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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the early years provision

Effective policies and procedures are used to promote children's welfare and safety within the setting. A clear safeguarding procedure is implemented to ensure that children are protected from risk of harm or neglect. Staff's understanding of the local safeguarding procedures is good and they have a very well organised system to support them should they have a concern about a child in their care. This is backed up by regular training to ensure their knowledge is current. Therefore, children are safeguarded well within the setting. The use of risk assessment and daily checks of the setting is generally good. However, the risk assessment does not cover everything that a child could come into contact with. In particular the outdoor area is not consistently included. The outside space is always fully supervised by staff, therefore any impact on children's safety is minimised. Thorough risk assessments are carried out on all outings that children are taken

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the early years provision

on. Good recruitment and vetting procedures ensure that all staff are suitably vetted and qualified to work with children. This means that children's safety is given high importance. Resources are exceptionally well deployed within the setting making it a bright, welcoming and stimulating environment. Toys and resources are set out invitingly which encourages children to investigate and explore, showing they are eager to learn through play. They move around freely making choices about what they play with therefore gaining independence. Staff deploy themselves effectively throughout the session to give children maximum support whilst they learn through an excellent balance of adult-directed and child-initiated play. Equality and diversity is incorporated into all areas of practice. The planning, progress and development of the different groups of children is promoted well. For example, staff have a good knowledge of each child's background and individual

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the early years provision

needs and use this information when planning to ensure that all children's needs are met. Staff are committed to identifying children's additional needs as early as possible and work closely with other professionals to secure the support they need to help them make good progress in relation to their starting points. The setting is accessible and the learning environment and resources are equally available to all children helping them to reach their full potential. The partnership with parents is exceptionally strong. There are highly positive relationships with all parents and at the beginning of each session staff take time to talk to them about their child's needs. There are effective systems in place for parents to share their views, through a parent questionnaire which asks them to comment on aspects of the setting, such as the system of observational assessment. Parents state that they are extremely happy with the care their

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the early years provision

children receive and feel they are included in their child's ongoing development exceptionally well. They are kept informed of events and activities through a regular newsletter and a wide range of policies and procedures. There is a regular exchange of information, with parents providing the setting with details of how well their children are achieving and developing. For example, parents attend regularly to discuss where their children are at in their development and actively agree the next step in their child's learning so this can be used to plan ahead, meeting their individual needs. The highly inclusive systems of communication ensure that there are consistent and productive partnerships with parents, This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 resulting in strong levels of engagement with them. Children benefit from clear partnership working with a range of outside agencies

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the early years provision

and services. Strong links are forged with the specialist teaching service, advisory teachers, and speech and language therapists who help to support the children, parents and setting. There are effective systems in place to share information where a child attends another setting. This means children's learning, development and welfare are promoted successfully. The enthusiastic and motivated staff team demonstrate a strong level of ambition to provide good quality care and promote good outcomes for children. They have clear aims for the development of the setting and the progression of the children. They are reflective in their practice to identify the priorities for development that will continuously improve the quality of the provision for all children. They have a strong commitment to training and offer staff good opportunities to develop through regular attendance at local training courses. This shows they have a desire

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the early years provision

to maintain continuous improvement within the setting.

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and outcomes for children

Children are greeted warmly by the staff when they arrive. They look eagerly around to see what there is to play with and quickly settle into a familiar routine. They move around the setting with confidence and make choices about what they play with. Children show good levels of self-esteem and build strong relationships with the staff and each other, happily playing together or alongside each other. They thoroughly enjoy the staff's input into their games, for instance, staff use a good range of open questions to extend children's learning asking them what they use their eyes, ears and mouths for. Children answer “for seeing, hearing and tasting”, showing that they have taken in and remembered a previous activity about senses. Children are happily engaged and focused in the activities and staff are very attentive, ensuring their emotional and social needs are well promoted. Children enjoy a varied and interesting range of play activities to support their

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and outcomes for children

progress towards the early learning goals. They are engaged in purposeful activity that continually promotes their curiosity and interest, for example, outside they love to dig in the compost area filling wheelbarrows with the mud and transferring this to a toy cement mixer and adding leaves and other materials they have collected. They turn the handle of the mixer saying they are making sandcastles. This helps them learn about the world around them as they explore and investigate with natural materials. Children act out familiar situations through an extremely well resourced role play area. This is set up as a home and children pretend to cook; cracking eggs stirring and mixing saying they are making a “super dooper cake” .They can use real resources such as china plates and mugs and metal saucepans. This means they can act out and explore familiar situations. They make up dialogue as they play saying “I'll be Mum”, and acting out the roles. One child sits back with their feet up

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and outcomes for children

on a chair pretending to hold a conversation on the telephone, laughing and even getting up to share the details with the other children. This shows that children are very confident talkers and are developing vocabulary that reflects their range of experiences. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 Children's starting points are recorded, when they first start, in consultation with their parents. Staff endeavour to update these with the parents on a regular basis. This means that they have a firm base to move children forward from. Observational assessment is made to show a unique journey for each child. Staff take time to make observations under each area of learning, then parents are invited to consult with the key person to indentify the next steps in their children's learning. This is used to inform future planning. This means that activities continually build on each child's existing skills and interests. Although there is a

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and outcomes for children

certain amount of duplication within the recording system, it builds into a very good profile of the progress that children are making. Children have good opportunities to learn about healthy lifestyles. They adopt good personal hygiene routines as they are provided with good resources and show that they know that they wash their hands before eating as they line up before snack time. Children begin to understand the importance of a healthy diet because they make choices from a good range of snacks, such as apple, grapes, banana and cereal with milk. They develop independence as they pour their own drinks. Staff are good role models and teach children to be polite saying „please' and „thank you'. Staff praise children constantly and offer encouragement where they see they are trying hard. This means that they become confident learners with good self-esteem. Children are secure and develop a sense of belonging in the setting because of the

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and outcomes for children

warm relationships they have with the staff. Children take part in regular fire drills so learn to act appropriately in an emergency situation. Children learn about safety issues because staff teach them to use tools, such as trowels and forks in the garden, safely. Overall, children enjoy their time in the setting, taking part in a good range of activities which help move them forward in their learning and development. 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 1 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 1 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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