Manor Road Resource Centre

Odiham Pre-School (Leapfrogs) Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number 110204 Inspection date 07/04/2011 Inspector Loraine Wardlaw

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Setting address Recreation Hall, Recreation Road, Odiham, Hook, Hampshire, RG29 1NU Telephone number 01256 701471 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. 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

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

Odiham Community Pre-school [Leapfrogs] has been registered at it's present site since September 2000. In 2011 it moved to purpose built premises located in Odiham, Hampshire. The setting is managed by a voluntary committee made up of parents. The setting includes two separate classrooms, two enclosed outdoor areas, toilets, kitchen and two offices. The Pre-school serves children in the local area.

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Description of the setting

The Pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register to care for a maximum of 54 children aged from two years to the end of the early years age range. It is the settings policy to take children from two years, nine months of age. There are currently 57 children on roll. The setting provides early education funding for three and four-year-old's.Children attend for a variety of sessions and there are eight places for children to attend all day. The group opens five days a week during school term times. Morning sessions are from either 8.35am or 9:05am to 11:35am and afternoon sessions from 11:50am to 2:50pm.

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Description of the setting

The management committee employ 8 permanent staff to work with the children, plus bank staff and an office manager. One member of staff has a BA early childhood studies degree, one has qualified teacher status, two members of staff have a level four early years qualification and three have a level three early years qualification. One member of staff is working towards a level three early years qualification. The setting receives support from a teacher/mentor from the local authority.

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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 children are welcomed into a secure, highly attractive and enabling environment where the adults caring for them meet their welfare and learning needs with a lot of success. Children thrive in the nurturing and stimulating pre-school, which includes quality furniture, resources and organised curriculum areas. Overall, staff have a well developed knowledge of each child's learning needs which in turn enables their good progress towards the early learning goals. The extremely strong partnership forged with parents has a very positive impact on children's well-being and learning. There is a clear commitment by practitioners to ensure the settings comprehensive policies and procedures are consistently put into practice. Children reap the benefits of this pre-school which is continually evaluating and improving it's practices.

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further?

To further improve the early years provision the registered person should: This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006  develop adult-led, planned activities to include 'what next' for individual children and guidance for practitioners on how to extend and offer challenge to individual children.

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the early years provision

The pre-school has outstanding deputy arrangements; it is well-managed and efficiently organised in the absence of the manager. Excellent safeguarding procedures are in place to protect children, with staff having a very clear understanding of their individual role and responsibilities. They fully understand procedures for reporting any concerns, what happens next and follow their own stringent recording system for incidents and existing injuries. All practitioners, volunteers and regular parent helpers hold a clear Criminal Records Bureau check before they commence work or help at the pre-school. Rigorous risk assessments are undertaken on all areas used by children and on outings. The cohesive team at the pre-school have worked extremely collaboratively with the parents' management committee to ensure that the new building effectively meets the needs of the children. The inclusive design is extremely well suited to the

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the early years provision

requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. A high quality environment has been planned and organised, which includes beautiful bright coloured, child-size sofas, low level book storage units and a wooden, outdoor ship, sand pit. Children clearly benefit as a result of the well-planned accommodation and free-flow indoor and outdoor play. Children's art work is displayed on the walls, although not at child height. Due to the very new nature of the setting, children do not yet have access to all of the outdoor quality play resources, to develop their climbing and balancing skills; they are waiting for the grass to grow around the new equipment.

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the early years provision

The long established staff team work extremely well together and are continually reflecting and evaluating the practice that takes place at the pre-school. They are enthusiastic practitioners, are inspired by the good leadership of the manager and always bring back new ideas after attending short training workshops. The accurate Ofsted self-evaluation is used as an effective tool for staff to evaluate systems and inform the setting's future improvement plans. However, it has not yet been updated since the move to the new premises. Other more recent development plans have been identified and implemented by management such as completing the health and safety risk assessment and organising a family fun day to officially open the new premises. The partnership built with parents and carers is exemplary. Parents speak glowingly and knowingly of the setting; of the highly positive relationship they have built with staff and how effectively they meet their

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the early years provision

child's individual needs. The parent and key person shares key information about the child's needs and preferences at the commencement of a place, which means the practitioners, can quickly get to know the children. An ongoing dialogue occurs daily, verbally and through regular text messages which means parents are fully informed of their child's session and the settings organisation. Parents are provided with an excellent amount of information; on wipe boards, pin boards, in newsletters, on the website and have leaflets and books on care and learning This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 matters to take away which are displayed in the foyer. Parents are well informed about all aspects of their child's achievements, well being and development. They love to view their child's fabulous, attractive learning journeys and are able to make comments on their next learning steps. Partnerships with other settings

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the early years provision

attended by the children is strong, with a clear dialogue taking place about children's individual needs. Staff promote equality and diversity through good practices. For example, they plan topic work to raise children's awareness of other cultures and religions, ensure children can play with resources which depict minority groups in society and adapt activities to suit children's individual needs. For example, staff use Makaton to help those children with speech and language difficulties.

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and outcomes for children

Children are excited and motivated to learn at the very clean, attractive and beautifully presented pre-school. They are receptive to the practitioners with whom they build a strong, trusting and loving relationship. Children demonstrate confidence and self-esteem as they go about their self-chosen play activities. Even the newest children settle quickly because staff are understanding and in tune with their individual needs. Overall, staff are skilled at purposefully interacting with children to promote many areas of learning, although some staff are more adept than others to challenge and extend children's learning and sustained thinking skills. This is evident during the adult-led activities where children plant sunflower seeds; they talk about what the seeds need to grow and mark make on stickers to write their own name label for their individual plant pot. This leads on to the children spontaneously discussing how big they are but the practitioner does not

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and outcomes for children

encourage children to compare each others height. Although planning of adult-led activities is good it lacks detail in it's delivery and does not inform the practitioner of how to extend the activity for individual children. Personal next learning steps are known by the key person's and implemented as and when the opportunity arises, in the free-flow, child-led session; there are no clear links in the written plans or adult-led activities. This in turn would enable all children to make significant gains in their learning and aid rapid progression to all of the early learning goals. The deputy managers at the pre-school are excellent role models for staff with regards to promoting effective learning. They relate to children beautifully and consistently build on their skills and knowledge. For example, in the water tray children are encouraged to think about how they would make a fishing rod, what makes the water wheel go round and with the bricks they make patterns

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and outcomes for children

and sing a song about their building activity.

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and outcomes for children

All children show a strong sense of security and feel safe within the setting. They show and excellent awareness of what standards of behaviour are expected of them and apply these spontaneously and willingly in their play. For example, when one child see's that another is not sharing the car transporter well they get out the sand timer and talk about taking turns with each other. Children safely use a range of tools at the pre-school such as a special child safety knife when cutting up fruit for snack time. Staff ensure that children adopt a healthy lifestyle. They encourage This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 children to wash their hands before snack time and provide fresh fruit, milk and water to drink. Children have access to drinking water throughout the session. They engage in both indoor and outdoor activities, but currently the range of physical activities on offer is reduced until the grass has grown. Children who stay

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and outcomes for children

all day have a quiet time before lunch to relax; they watch an educational DVD about vets which prompts questions and comments from the children and the adult, successfully promoting children's communication skills. Children are learning good skills to secure future learning; they have regular access to the computer and practitioners encourage counting and problem solving well. For example, children calculate how many spaces there are left on the snack table. Adults have a good knowledge of children's home background and specific needs. They endeavour to be a fully inclusive setting by tackling any unfair discrimination and closing any identified achievement gaps. Staff use good practice guidance on how best to support children learning English as an additional language and boys achievements, which is located in the foyer, also for parents to read. 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 1 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 1 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 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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