The Beagle Preschool

The Beagle Pre-School Charles Darwin Primary School, Darwin Street, NORTHWICH, Cheshire, CW8 1BN

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 14/01/2013 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: Not Applicable How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 Children have fun and make good progress in the bright and stimulating pre-school environment. The daily routine and high quality resources are well-organised and support children's learning in all areas.  Children are treated with care and respect as individuals and form close relationships with all staff, in particular their key person. Therefore, they become confident and play happily with all that is on offer at the pre-school.  The management team have high ambitions for the continual development of the pre- school and have identified and implemented a number of improvements since registration.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Information from parents about their children's ongoing learning and development is not routinely gathered or regularly used to inform the assessment and planning of activities.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections of registered early years provision are scheduled:  at least once in every inspection cycle. The current cycle ends on 31 July 2016  more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged as inadequate  brought forward in the inspection cycle where Ofsted has received information that suggests the provision may not be meeting the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage; or where assessment of the provision identifies a need for early inspection  prioritised for inspection where we have received information that the provision is not meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and which suggests children may not be safe  at the completion of an investigation into failure to comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Information about this inspection

The provision is also registered on the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. This report includes a judgment about compliance with the requirements of that register.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in the school hall, pre-school room and outdoor play area.  The inspector held a meeting with the manager and supervisor.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to members of the staff team about the progress of their key children and their understanding of the pre-school's policies and procedures.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's observation and assessment records, planning documentation, evidence of suitability of practitioners working within the setting and a range of other documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents and carers spoken to on the day of the inspection.

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Information about the setting

The Beagle Pre-School was registered in 2012 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It operates from a room on site at Charles Darwin Primary School in the Northwich area of West Cheshire. There is a fully enclosed area available for outdoor play. The pre-school is owned and managed by Acorn Childcare Nursery Limited. It serves the local area and is accessible to all children.

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Information about the setting

The pre-school employs seven members of child care staff, all of whom hold appropriate early years qualifications at level three and one of whom has Early Years Professional Status and Qualified Teacher Status. The pre-school opens Monday to Friday during school term time. Sessions are from 9am until 3pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 39 children attending, all of whom are in the early years age group. The pre-school provides funded early education for three- and four-year-old children. It supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language and children with special needs and/or disabilities.

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To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 increase opportunities for parents to be involved in their children's learning by encouraging them to share their views about children's learning at home, so that this can be used when planning activities to meet individual needs.

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who attend

Staff know children well. They gather information from parents about their children's needs, interests and abilities when they start at the pre-school and observe children closely throughout the day. Staff use this knowledge together with their good understanding of how children learn and the revised Early Years Foundation Stage to plan a range of stimulating experiences that promote children's learning in all areas. Parents are encouraged to continue children's learning at home. Staff support children in choosing appropriate books to take home each week and parents write a comment or children draw a picture in their 'homework' book. 'News flash' books are used to share special events that have happened for children at home. However, ongoing information from parents about their children's achievements and skills observed at home is not routinely sought or included in the assessment and planning process. Staff interact well with children

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who attend

throughout the day and take many opportunities to ask children questions to extend their thinking and understanding. Therefore, all children make good progress in their development from their individual starting points. Staff speak to teachers at the local school and are aware of the skills that benefit children as they move on to school. They ensure that these are promoted gradually throughout children's time at pre-school.

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who attend

Children become highly involved in their play indoors and outdoors. Staff identified that some children were particularly enjoying playing with dolls and were beginning to talk about their roles as they were playing. Therefore, they added more dolls, pushchairs and dressing up clothes to the role play area. Children greatly enjoy using these resources and use and develop their imaginative skills, social skills and communication and language skills. A child proudly shows a friend her doll and states 'I'm the mum, she likes you and she likes her, she's the sister'. They politely ask each other or staff to look after their dolls and are beginning to take turns with toys. Staff recognise that children learn in different ways and therefore ensure that literacy and writing skills are promoted in different areas. Some children choose to paint their names and staff help them to form and sound out the letters of their name. Other children use notebooks and pencils to record children's names

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who attend

as they mirror staff taking the register. Good levels of support are given to children who speak English as an additional language. They develop confidence and communication skills as staff learn and use key words in children's home language and make use of dual language books and visual prompts.

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who attend

Children develop a good understanding of mathematics through play activities and during daily routines. They match and recognise numerals at the mathematics table and staff encourage children to count dots on the numerals to strengthen their understanding of quantity. Children play with weighing scales. Staff encourage them to observe what happens when they put more objects in one side of the scales and use language, such as heavy and light.

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who attend

Children have fun as they engage in a range of activities that develop their skills in expressive arts and design. They use a variety of creative art materials and talk to staff about the pictures they are painting or collages they are creating. Outdoors, children tell staff that the play house has broken and enthusiastically 'fix it', using construction materials as 'hammers'.

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who attend

Staff are skilled at leading group times that engage children and promote different areas of learning. They develop an understanding of the world as they talk about the weather and discuss what they will wear or do if it snows. After listening to a poem a child describes and demonstrates how birds try to pick up worms from the ground. Children enjoy singing familiar nursery rhymes and listen carefully to instructions when using musical instruments.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

The well-established key person system ensures that all children are supported well and develop confidence within the pre-school. Staff sensitively encourage less confident children to join in with the full range of activities indoors and out. Children greatly enjoy dancing and ring games in the school hall. They develop their large muscle skills and coordination as they kick their legs, swing their arms and jump. Staff talk to them about the changes to their body as they exercise and children identify that they are hot and that their hearts are beating quickly.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children have many opportunities to make choices throughout the day. They benefit greatly from the good range of toys and resources that are freely available to them each day. Staff regularly ask them what other activities they would like and these are incorporated into future plans. Children help to choose healthy snacks for the weekly menu and develop independence in their personal hygiene and self-help skills. They wash their hands before lunch and snack and are supported in pouring their own drinks of water or milk.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Staff are positive role models to children. They treat them with care and respect and calmly reinforce the appropriate boundaries within the pre-school that ensure children are safe and well-cared for. Therefore, children behave well, care for themselves and each other and learn skills to help keep themselves safe.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

The pre-school works closely with the link school and other schools that children move on to in order to support children in their transition to school. Children visit the reception class and have lunch in the school hall the term before they leave. Staff from other schools are invited to visit children within the pre-school.

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provision

Since registration the new provider and manager have implemented a number of areas of development. They have worked closely with established staff, in particular the management team, and have considered the views of parents to identify these areas. Improvements have been made to the physical environment and children now benefit from well-resourced, consistent learning areas. Staff receive regular training and support through meetings and discussions. Therefore, they have developed their skills, particularly in observation and assessment to ensure that planning is in response to children's individual needs, interests and abilities.

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provision

The management team are currently introducing a new system to track children's progress towards the early learning goals. This enables the management team to analyse the information to ensure strengths and weaknesses in the educational programme are sharply focused and to monitor the progress of different groups of children. They observe practice closely and regularly discuss children's progress with staff to ensure that appropriate interventions are sought and gaps are closing. Staff work well with parents and other agencies to ensure that children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, receive the support they need to enable them to make good progress in their development. Close links have been established with other early years settings that children attend. This enables settings to work together to enhance children's learning.

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provision

Children are safeguarded well as all staff have undergone necessary checks to ensure that they are suitable to work with children. They have a thorough knowledge and understanding of their responsibility to protect children and receive regular training. They clearly know when and how to refer concerns to a manager or other agencies and are confident in their understanding of the whistle blowing policy. All necessary safety measures are in place to ensure that the risk of accidental injury is reduced. Records are maintained and procedures are implemented to help promote children's safety and well- being. Information regarding the pre-school's policies and procedures and activities on offer are shared with parents in a variety of ways. These include a welcome booklet, newsletters, notice boards and daily discussions.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are Met

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 Satisfactory Satisfactory provision is performing less well than expectations in one or more of the key areas. It requires improvement in order to be good. Grade 4 Inadequate Provision that is inadequate requires significant improvement and/or enforcement. The provision is failing to give children an acceptable standard of early years education and/or is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be inspected again within 12 months of the date of this inspection.

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Grade Judgement Description

Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider does not meet the requirements for registration.

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Inspection

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under Sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY452147 Local authority Cheshire West and Chester Inspection number 810393

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 20 Number of children on roll 39 Name of provider Acorn Childcare Nursery Ltd Date of previous inspection Not applicable Telephone number 01606 75194

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Type of provision

set out in the guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

Full-time provision is that which operates for more than three hours. These are usually known as nurseries, nursery schools and pre-schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the higher fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Sessional provision operates for more than two hours but does not exceed three hours in any one day. These are usually known as pre-schools, kindergartens or nursery schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the lower fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Childminders care for one or more children where individual children attend for a period of more than two hours in any one day. They operate from domestic premises that are usually their own home. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Type of provision

Out of school provision may be sessional or full-time provision and is delivered before or after school and/or in the summer holidays. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Where children receive their Early Years Foundation Stage in school these providers do not have to deliver the learning and development requirements in full but should complement the experiences children receive in school. 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,

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Type of provision

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Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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