St George's CofE Primary School

Chudleigh Pre-school Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number 106248 Inspection date 19/09/2011 Inspector Ruth Thrasher

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Setting address The School Room, The Town Hall, Market Way, Chudleigh, Newton Abbot, Devon, TQ13 0HL Telephone number 01626 854680 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

Chudleigh Pre-school opened on this site in 1996. It is managed by a voluntary committee and operates from the School Room in the town hall in the centre of Chudleigh, Devon. Children have access to one main play room and an enclosed outdoor play area. It is open each weekday during term time from 9.20am to 12.20pm, with an optional lunch club from 12.20pm to 1.20pm. On Tuesdays and Thursdays there is an afternoon session from 12.35pm to 3.05pm and children may stay all day on those days.

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Description of the setting

The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register. A maximum of 22 children may attend the pre-school at any one time, aged from two years to the end of the early years age group. There are currently 46 children aged from two to under five years on roll, some in part-time places. The pre-school supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Description of the setting

There are 10 members of staff who work directly with the children, a supernumerary assistant and an administrator. The pre-school has four play leaders who take it in turns to lead the session. There are nine staff working with the children who hold early years qualifications to at least Level 2. One member of staff has achieved Early Years Professional Status and two are qualified teachers. The pre-school provides funded early education for three- and four-year-olds. The committee also operates Chudleigh Rising Fives Pre-school on the local primary school site and older children may attend both groups.

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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 make very rapid progress in their learning and development because the staff and committee are highly committed to providing the very best childcare. Children are extremely well supported by staff, who have an excellent understanding of their individual needs and plan effectively to ensure all children receive optimal challenge. Children have access to a rich, varied and imaginative range of resources that overall provide excellent support for learning indoors and out. The meticulous organisation of the setting ensures that children's welfare is given the highest priority. The pre-school uses self-evaluation very effectively to reflect on practice and make changes, which demonstrates a very strong capacity to continue to improve outcomes for children.

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further?

To further improve the high quality early years provision the registered person should consider: This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006  extending further the range of resources in the outdoor area for children to enhance their skills in numeracy and number recognition.

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the early years provision

Children's safety is the utmost priority within the setting. There are robust procedures to ensure safe arrival and departure of children and that they are collected by the appropriate adult. Recruitment and vetting procedures are comprehensive and include measures to ensure the ongoing suitability of adults working with children, including the renewal of Criminal Record Bureau checks. All staff have completed training in safeguarding and have a very sound understanding of procedures to follow should they have concerns about a child's welfare or about a member of staff or volunteer.

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the early years provision

The committee and staff are highly motivated and committed to improving the quality of the pre-school. They are enthusiastic about developing their own skills and knowledge to improve outcomes for children. A number of staff have completed or enhanced their qualifications. They have attended training to enable them to meet the needs of the younger children who now attend. They have visited other settings that take two-year-olds to ensure that their provision is fully inclusive. Staff contribute to a comprehensive self-evaluation, which has identified areas for improvement and is regularly updated. They use self-evaluation as a tool to ensure that the pre-school continues to move forward and meets the needs of children exceedingly well.

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the early years provision

There is a comprehensive range of high quality resources that are attractively presented to enable children to self-select and inspire their learning. Children have direct access to a large walled outside area, which enables them to be active outdoors for most of the session. Staff are very clear about their roles and are deployed effectively to ensure that children receive excellent support for their learning. Resources include many toys, books and resources reflecting positive images of differences in society, which promotes children's awareness of diversity.

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the early years provision

Children with additional needs receive an extremely high level of support to enable them to be fully included in the pre-school, including one-to-one support when needed. The pre-school has developed very strong partnerships with other agencies to support children in their care, such as health visitors, social workers and the Portage Services. There are strong links with other providers in the area, to enable information to be exchanged to ensure children attending more than one early years setting experience continuity in their care and learning.

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the early years provision

Parents and carers are actively engaged in their children's learning in numerous ways. Parents and carers of new children stay to settle their children and meet key persons. They complete initial child profiles, which provide a starting point for their children's learning journey. They have opportunities to regularly take their child's profile home, to add their own comments and send in 'WOW' cards to celebrate children's significant achievements. Parents and carers are welcome to stay and help in the pre-school, take part in special outings and events and join the This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 committee. Pre-school staff ensure that children's views have a significant impact on the planning of activities and have adapted the planning to ensure that it is fully responsive to children's ideas and interests.

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and outcomes for children

Children thoroughly enjoy their learning and make excellent progress. They develop very good skills to support their future learning as they make choices and decisions in their play. They select from exciting resources, many of which are stored on low-level shelves with picture labels to assist communication. They freely access the outdoor area where there are many resources to enable them to be active across all areas of learning. They develop very good physical skills as they peddle ride-on toys, balance on beams or pour water into a bucket from a water butt. They develop their problem solving skills as they construct with plastic guttering, pour in water and watch the progress of small objects in the flow. Children develop their understanding of numeracy as they find the plastic numbers to match the number of shapes they have cut from play dough. However, there are fewer resources to support number recognition outdoors.

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and outcomes for children

Children receive exceptional support from staff who use effective questioning and provide additional resources or ideas to extend their learning. Staff show great sensitivity in knowing when to step back to allow children to try things for themselves. They promote children's confidence by providing recognition for their achievements and lots of praise, and as a result children behave well; for example, a child spent time concentrating on a drawing that he meticulously coloured in. A member of staff intervened briefly to give him his name card and he copied his name on to his picture. When he had finished she gave him lots of praise and showed him how to display the picture with other children's special pictures, which enhanced his self-esteem.

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and outcomes for children

Children learn about the importance of healthy lifestyles through discussion about which foods are good for them. They make their own sandwiches for snack and choose a healthy filling. They show an excellent awareness of responsibility within the setting as they wash up their plates and cups and put them away. They learn to think about safety when engaged in activities; for example, a member of staff reminds them to strap their dolls in the pushchair to keep them safe. Children learn about technology as they independently use the computer to use a simple programme, or play shop with the cash machine and scales.

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and outcomes for children

Staff use themes based on children's interests to provide a focus for activities. A favourite story about a caterpillar was used as a focus for numeracy as well as enhancing children's interests in books. Children were fascinated by the props in the story sack as they acted out the story and counted the foods eaten. An interest in an animated film character launched a topic on space and children used their creative skills to construct rocket ships. Staff use observations and assessments of the children very effectively to plan the next steps in their learning. They know the children's individual needs and backgrounds extremely well and as a result children This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 are making excellent progress according to their starting points. 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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