Stocksbridge Nursery Infant School

St. Bonaventures Early Years ( Pre- School) Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number 107054 Inspection date 24/05/2011 Inspector Beverley Blackburn

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Setting address St. Bonaventures Pre-School, Egerton Road, Bishopston, Bristol, BS7 8HP Telephone number 0117 35 32 887 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

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

St Bonaventure's Pre-School opened in 1965 and now operates from the site of St. Bonaventure's Primary school in Bishopston Bristol. The pre-school occupies one part of a new building which also houses the two reception classes. A maximum of 24 children may attend at any one time. The pre-school opens from 8:15am to 1:15pm and from 1:30pm to 5:30pm each weekday during term times. All children share access to outside play areas.

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Description of the setting

There are currently 53 children on roll age three and four years. Of these, 52 receive funding for early years education. The pre-school has experience of supporting children who have learning difficulties and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register, and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register.

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Description of the setting

The pre-school employs nine members of staff. Of these, most hold appropriate early years qualifications and two are working towards their level 3 qualification. The manager has a degree in Education and holds the early years professional status. (EYPS)

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Overall the quality of the provision is outstanding.

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The overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Children are making excellent progress in this welcoming setting, where staff, parents and others work in close partnership overall, to meet each child's unique needs. Staff are friendly and approachable and work as a strong team; they take positive steps to ensure that all children can take part in activities, whatever their backgrounds or stages of development. The quality of the pre-school is proficiently monitored through a thorough self- evaluation system indentifying their strengths and areas for improvements accurately. Staff are committed and rigorous to continually improve the outcomes for children; consequently, they show a strong capacity to sustain continuous improvement.

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further?

To further improve the high quality early years provision the registered person should consider:

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further?

 extend and enhance the monitoring process of observations and assessments by consistently recording the dates of when the next steps in each child's learning are completed  enhance the children's learning experiences of the forest school by planning This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 and incorporating more of its ideas into the outdoor play area

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the early years provision

The staff are well-managed and work exceptionally well as a team which has a positive impact on the outcomes for the children. They demonstrate a strong commitment to their development through their attendance at training both in- house and externally. The staff take a professional approach to their role in safeguarding children. They have all currently updated their knowledge by attending, safeguarding children training and have a thorough knowledge of safeguarding issues. Children are cared for in a pre-school environment that is safe and secure due to a rigorous risk assessment process. The manager makes sure the required checks for adults working directly with children are carried out, and that children are always appropriately supervised. As a result the arrangements for safeguarding children are robust.

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the early years provision

The pre-school has a strong commitment to ensuring all information, which underpins effective management, is shared with the parents. Children learning English as an additional language, receive excellent support. The pre-school makes sure all policies; procedures and any written documentation are available in other languages. This encourages good communication and relationships with the parents, enabling consistency in the care for all children. Children are helped to understand and embrace differences of cultures and religions and to get a better understanding of the wider world through well planned activities, such as festivals, celebrating Persian New Year; encouraging the involvement of parents, for example, reading stories in their home language, cooking or talking to children about their heritage and culture. This demonstrates extremely well the staff's total commitment to equality and diversity. Staff ensure all children's progress is very

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the early years provision

well-monitored to check they all move forward from their starting points. They routinely support every child to make certain their individual needs are met and that no child is disadvantaged. There is an excellent range of resources that reflect positive images of diversity, such as dressing up clothes, books, a book in Braille, musical instruments and posters. The staff have a very good knowledge of each child's background and their needs. Staff are aware of children with special educational needs and /or disabilities and provide excellent support when it is needed. They work well with other professionals such as speech and language therapist. The pre-school has started working with other settings some children attend, that also deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage and are in the process of developing these systems in order to provide children with a united approach between settings. Children benefit from using an excellent range of resources which are utilised

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the early years provision

extremely well to produce a well planned and interesting environment. Resources, both indoors and outdoors, are used effectively to achieve the planned goals in the children's learning and development. The staff are deployed well and are at hand to support children in their learning and development at all times.

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the early years provision

The pre-school self-evaluation procedure is effective in raising standards and forms the basis of a clear vision for the pre-school's future. Staff identify aspects for This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 improvements accurately. For example, current forward-planning includes further development of the outdoor play area; to continue with quality assurance system such as the Bristol Standard and for all staff to become reflective practitioners.

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the early years provision

The staff have an excellent relationship with the parents. All work very well together enabling an effective two-way communication which greatly benefits the children. From discussion with the parents they are very happy with the care and education their children are receiving. They find the staff friendly, supportive and approachable. Information is shared in a variety of ways such as newsletters, notice board, which inform the parents of what has happened during the day, meetings to discuss their child's progress and daily verbal feedback. Staff talk to parent and help them understand the Early Year Foundation Stage and the curriculum and how children are learning through play. Parents are very involved in the setting and their child's learning. The information on the children is comprehensive, significantly enhancing the continuity in both care and learning and development.

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and outcomes for children

The children's learning is extremely well supported through the provision of an excellent range toys and resources and a well-planned, interesting environment and interaction with supportive staff who enable children to learn through play. The rooms are bright and welcoming and are organised very well to meet the needs of all the children. All toys and resources are easily accessible to the children. Free-flow planning is effective and children are able to make excellent choice of activities both indoors and outdoors. There is an excellent balance of adult-led and child-initiated activities. Children enjoy a variety of interesting activities both indoors and outdoors, including natural materials, such as leaves and wood. Staff have undertake forest school training from which the children benefit greatly from the experiences of visiting the woods, going on nature walks and developing their listening skills as they listen to the

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and outcomes for children

different sound they may hear around them. The forest school activities are skilfully linked the areas of learning and the early learning goals. However, this could be enhanced even further by introducing more of the forest school ideas in the outdoor play area. Children also have very good opportunities to develop their physical skills, through exercises such as running and kicking balls, riding on bikes and scooters, building, balancing on beams or playing in the adventure play area. Children are able to negotiate their way around the indoor and outdoor space confidently and avoided crashing into each other, showing their understanding of how to behave in ways that are safe for themselves and others. They have coped well, with the reduce space of that of the spacious church hall they were used to. Children enjoy activities such as cooking which help them in developing their understanding of problem solving, reasoning and numeracy, which are extremely

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and outcomes for children

useful skills for their future lives. Children enjoy playing with interactive white board, construction toys sand and water. They play a strong roll in their learning and respond to challenge with great enthusiasm and are encouraged to offer their ideas. They show enthusiasm and enjoyment as they happily take part in planned This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 activities. Children looking at books and listening attentively at story time help to build their concentration and their interest in reading. Children enjoy the experience of using early writing materials, art and craft or using their imagination and creative skills during imaginative play. Children are developing their communication skills as staff spend time talking to them. Staff use effective open- ended questioning, during play to help children think critically, such as, ''what do you think is going to happen next?'' They are encouraged to ask questions and

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and outcomes for children

develop their confidence in participating in conversations. Activities such as group tasks help to build children's confident and self-esteem and to communication well with others. Children are encouraged to sustain involvement and persevere with a task. Children are making strong progress in their learning and development. Children are learning about the wider society through using a comprehensive range of resources that promote diversity. These include having fun in learning another language or celebrating other festivals.

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and outcomes for children

Children's progress is regularly monitored through observations which are recorded in each child's learning journeys. All activities are linked well to the six areas of learning, any gaps are identified and through the observations the next steps are planned for each child's learning and development. Focus activities ensures clear learning intentions for all children, however, the date of when the next steps are achieved are not consistently recorded; such process would greatly enhance the monitoring of each child's progress. Children are making significant progress in their learning and development. Parents are helped to understand how children learn through play and the Early Years Foundation Stage by sharing with them the children's learning journeys and the range of activities the children participating in. Parents are actively encouraged to be involved in their child's learning. There is an excellent balance between adult-led and child initiated activities delivered through

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and outcomes for children

indoor and outdoor play. Planning is of high quality, which incorporates the children's interest and ideas. 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 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 1

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Stage

The extent to which children achieve and enjoy their learning 1 The extent to which children feel safe 1 The extent to which children adopt healthy lifestyles 1 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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