Little Trees Pre-School

Little Trees Pre-School Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY422378 Inspection date 24/05/2011 Inspector Maria Lumley

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Setting address Ashley County Infant School, Lower Ashley Road, NEW MILTON, Hampshire, BH25 5AA Telephone number 07904 090771 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

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

Little Trees Pre-School has been registered under private ownership since 2010. The pre-school is run in a playroom within Ashley Infants School in New Milton and is fully accessible. There is a secure outdoor play area. The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register and provides care and education for a maximum of 20 children from two years, to the end of the early years age group. There are currently 38 children on roll.

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Description of the setting

The pre-school is open each weekday between 9am to 12noon with the option of lunch club from 12noon to 1pm. On Tuesdays and Wednesday there are afternoon sessions which run from 12.30pm to 3pm.

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Description of the setting

The pre-school currently supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Description of the setting

A total of five staff, including the manager work directly with the children. All staff have early years qualifications. In addition the pre-school have one unqualified bank member of staff who covers sickness and holidays. The pre-school is supported by the local authority. The setting gets funding for the provision of free early education.

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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

The effectiveness of the setting stems directly from staff, who have a secure and in depth understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage and who are extremely dedicated to supporting children's learning. The committed staff team work exceptionally well together to ensure that children's individual developmental needs are met very successfully and that they all achieve exceptional outcomes. The setting has highly effective working partnership with parents and overall with other professionals linked to children's care and learning. Excellent policies and procedures ensure that all the children thrive in a safe space that promotes, values and celebrates diversity and differences. The setting is committed to securing improvement and has an outstanding capacity to progress in the future delivering extremely positive outcomes for children.

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further?

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

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further?

 reviewing systems to liaise with other providers delivering the Early Years Foundation Stage for children to ensure progression and continuity of This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 learning and care .

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the early years provision

Highly effective systems are in place with regard to safeguarding. All staff have a secure understanding and awareness of their individual roles and responsibilities with regard to child protection, and are confident in the procedures to follow if they have a concern about a child. They complete training on a regular basis ensuring their knowledge is up-to-date and in line with current legislation. This means that children's well-being is always prioritised. There are superb systems in place to ensure that staff are suitable to work with children and their ongoing suitability is monitored through regular appraisals and meetings. Robust risk assessments are completed on all areas of the pre-school and staff are vigilant, monitoring the ongoing safety of the environment throughout the session. For example, a member of staff immediately mops up a spill at the snack table to eliminate the risk of a child slipping. All documentation, policies and procedures are

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the early years provision

maintained to an exemplary standard and are accessible to all parents. Children settle very quickly in the exceptionally inviting and stimulating environment. They feel a strong sense of belonging as they see their photographs and work on display, using their own name cards to self-register their attendance. The extensive range of resources are stored in low level, labelled units, promoting children's independence and choice. The doors to the outside area are open throughout the session and children confidently move freely between these areas. The playground and garden are incredibly enticing to the children with an abundance of play and learning opportunities, for example, dens, planting and growing, role-play and mark making areas. The manager has a thorough and accurate understanding of the pre-school's strengths and areas for development which she uses effectively. She involves the staff in completing the Ofsted self-evaluation, seeking the views of parents via

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the early years provision

questionnaires and discussions. In addition children's feedback is sought on a daily basis. Staff take on board any comments and suggestions. For example, they plan a teddy bears picnic in a local park for families following a parental request for more trips in the local community. The manager's extensive experience and expertise is used superbly to guide the work of the pre-school. The manager is extremely well supported by a team of dedicated and highly skilled staff who have worked at the setting for many years. Their clear and cohesive approach results in seamless transitions as they move through the daily routines. Staff are extremely well deployed throughout the day providing children with excellent levels of supervision and support. Staff's ongoing personal and professional development is a priority within this pre-school enabling them to update and further progress their individual knowledge and skills.

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the early years provision

Communication with parents is very effective. Parents receive a comprehensive prospectus which includes detailed information on the Early Years Foundation Stage, staffing, key persons and policies. Consequently parents have a clear understanding about the provision from the onset. The extremely informative parent notice board, regular newsletters and chats with staff at the start and end of each session ensures that they are kept well informed. Parents' comments are This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 extremely positive stating, 'The pre-school provides a wonderful service', 'Good balance of learning and play' and 'The atmosphere is always calm, happy and productive'. Parents value highly the support they receive from staff when their children are toilet training, settling in and overcoming phobias. They report that staff are incredibly supportive, the strategies agreed to be used at home and pre-

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the early years provision

school provides their children with consistency and results in positive outcomes and successes. Children with additional needs are exceptionally well supported at the setting. The designated special educational needs co-ordinator is extremely knowledgeable and committed to ensuring that each child receives the best quality care and education and is fully included. She establishes outstanding links with Portage, Health Visitors and Educational Psychologists. The pre-school has developed superb links with other childminders using home link books and sharing children's learning journals. Partnerships with a local pre-school continue to be established.

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and outcomes for children

Children make excellent progress in their learning because of the challenges and extension offered by the skilled, attentive staff as they play. Staff have very sound and secure understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage and how to effectively help children learn and develop through play-based activities. All children are included with expert support from within the pre-school and from outside professionals as needed. Children's learning journals are shared with parents on a regular basis to ensure they are able to contribute and are fully aware of their child's progress.

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and outcomes for children

Children benefit from accessing an exceptionally stimulating play environment where they become engrossed in purposeful play activities which support them in taking the next steps in their learning. Children enjoy sensitive interaction from staff who know them well, forming close attachments to their key persons and other staff who they confidently approach. Children are inspired and motivated by the enthusiastic staff that join in with the play. For example, at singing sessions both children and staff show great enthusiastic and enjoyment as they sing out loudly, clapping their hands, stamping their feet and laughing together. Children feel confident and become increasingly independent because staff encourage and support them well. For example, children thoroughly enjoy visiting the permanent snack table where they are provided with various knives to slice fruit and brioche and jugs to pour drinks. Children show good knowledge of foods that are good for

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and outcomes for children

their bodies and staff question them about where foods have grown. The posters and information displayed in the area are extremely useful resources which children to refer to learn about nutrition. Children comment that milk comes from cows and that raisins used to be grapes. Hand washing is extremely well established and children automatically wash and dry their hands before eating and after using the toilet. They tell a visiting adult, 'I'm washing the germs off'. Staff offer high levels of praise saying, 'Well done, you've done a good job'. Children respond positively to the warm staff interaction, proudly holding up their clean hands to show them off and beaming with pride. The outdoor area provides many This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 outstanding opportunities for exploring and developing understanding of the natural world. Children fill watering cans, tending the vegetables and flowers

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and outcomes for children

saying, 'They need water and sunshine to grow'. They investigate the earth and are delighted when they discover worms and slugs. Children rush off to find bug magnifiers using these to study them closely. A child holds a worm in their hand telling a member of staff that it feels smooth. Children are reminded to handle the worms with care and a child responds saying, 'I will look after it'. Children spend considerable time in the vibrant outdoor area where they 'read' books in dens, instigate a dinosaur game, climb, slide and throw balls. Children have scheduled time in the school playground where further exciting resources capture their interest and enhance their learning. For example, children compare dynamics, pitch, rhythm and volume as they bang the large xylophone, glockenspiel and drums.

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and outcomes for children

Children are extremely confident communicators talking freely to their friends, staff and visiting adult. A child asks, 'What's your name, what are you doing?' The child looks at the visitors name badge, studying the photograph and writing then saying, 'Your name has a 'M' like my name'. Children show great enjoyment in books, accessing them independently in the cosy quiet area and also at impromptu and planned story times. Children listen attentively as a member of staff reads a dragon story. They study the pictures and take great delight in participating and recalling what happened in the story. At the end a child comments, 'The dragon was nice really, he was only pretending to be scary'. Staff frequently provide children with alternative and challenging ways to further develop their vocabulary and communication skills. This is achieved through Makaton and rhyming games. Children use signing alongside speech recognising that star rhymes with car and

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and outcomes for children

Children are captivated by the current transport theme. They take great delight as they play in the exceptionally well resourced travel agent role play area. Children look through brochures and at postcards which triggers talks about their own holidays and countries they have visited. Children use the computer and phone to book holidays using different currency to pay. Staff extend children's learning further by introducing a globe which they study to point out far away places. The theme continues outside where they visit the airport, check in at the passport office and board the plane. Children show excellent imagination as they play, cooperating well as they agree the different roles they act out.

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and outcomes for children

Children's behaviour and manners are exemplary. They play very well together and are constantly engaged in meaningful play which contributes positively to the calm and orderly atmosphere. Staff offer high levels of praise in recognition of kind acts and achievements. They are delighted when they receive stars and smiley faces proudly showing these off to friends. Children's confidence and self- esteem is high due to the positive interaction and responses from staff.

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and outcomes for children

Children take part in regular fire procedures which ensures they are well rehearsed for an emergency. A member of staff notices a child's shoe lace has come undone. She immediately stops the child and says, 'What might happen if your shoelace is undone?' The child looks down at the floor and considers before saying, 'I will fall over'. The member of staff agrees saying, 'We don't want you to fall you may hurt This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 yourself'. Later in the session the child notices their friend's lace has come undone, recalling the earlier event they tell them, 'Be careful, your shoelace is undone'. 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 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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