Maidenhall Community Pre-School

Maidenhall Community Pre-School Maidenhall Primary School, Newark Road, LUTON, LU4 8LD

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 24/01/2013 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 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 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 Children are extremely motivated and engage readily in new learning. Staff are highly skilled at using every situation to maximise learning opportunities and as a result, children make rapid progress in their development.  Children show high levels of self-esteem and security in the setting. Regular home visits, stories told in more than one language, and the communication initiatives used by staff all help to foster emotional security.  Children's learning and development is closely monitored through precise assessment and includes all those involved in their learning. Consequently, the planning is sharply focused and leads to rapid development for children, taking account of their starting points.  The setting uses highly successful strategies to engage all parents in their children's learning. The partnerships established with other agencies are exemplary and help to support every child to learn and develop to the optimum level.

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This provision is outstanding

 Rigorous systems for reflecting on practice, involving managers, staff, parents and children, identify priorities for continued improvement. The setting actively seek critique from external professionals to set targets and focus improvement plans.  Staff engage in highly effective methods of performance management and professional development. Consequently, staff are motivated and knowledgeable.

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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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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in the playrooms and the outside area. The inspector also spoke with the manager, deputy manager, staff and children at appropriate times throughout the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at a selection of procedures, evidence of criminal records bureau checks, learning and development planning, children's learning files, and policies including safeguarding.  The inspector carried out a joint observation with the manager and deputy manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took into account the views of parents and other professional agencies, as provided during personal interviews and through telephone interviews, at the time of the inspection.

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Information about the setting

Maidenhall Community Pre-School was registered in 2012 on the Early Years Register. It operates from two adjoining classrooms within Maidenhall Primary School, Luton, Bedfordshire. The pre-school is run by a committee and serves the local area. The setting is accessible to all children. There is an enclosed area available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The setting opens from Monday to Friday during school term times. Sessions are from 8.45am until 11.45am, and from 12.30pm to 3.30pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 64 children attending who are in the early years age group.

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Information about the setting

The setting provides funded early education for three- and four-year-old children. It supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. The setting employs six members of childcare staff. All staff hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 or above.

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

 explore further methods to involve extended family members in children's care, learning and development.

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who attend

Staff have very high expectations of themselves and children. They have an excellent understanding of how to engage children in playing and exploring. This helps children to be highly motivated and, consequently, make rapid progress in their learning and development given their starting points. Staff plan first-hand experiences and challenges that motivate children to learn and ensure that they are extremely well prepared for school. For example, they plan group activities which extend, according to children's interest, such as an activity to bath a baby doll and talk about the care needed for babies. Children become engrossed as they offer to take turns to bath the baby before deciding together on the clothes that are needed. One child fetches a paper towel with which to dry the baby. They discuss the size of the clothes, and compare them to their own clothes. Staff skilfully include every child in the group ensuring that each child is benefiting from

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who attend

the activity. Children add brochures to the play and begin to think of things that a baby needs. They fetch scissors to cut out the pictures and call the staff's attention to how they are walking safely when carrying the scissors. When another child joins the group, dressed as a doctor, the group decide that the baby needs to be treated at the hospital. They all move into the hospital role play area where they write on charts and talk about the medicines they need. Children incorporate learning themselves and show their knowledge of initial sounds and letters within this activity. Staff implement imaginative experiences for children using events that take place. For instance, when a soft toy hedgehog is found on the school grounds, and not claimed, the staff design activities to extend this. Children name the hedgehog 'Tommy', make a birth certificate for him, and design and make a house for him to live in. They continue to develop the play and make 'lost and found'

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who attend

posters to try to find his home. Children listen to 'sound boxes' on which messages for the search are recorded. They listen closely before they write the letters sounded out for them for the posters. Such encompassing activities foster children's development across all areas of learning and are significantly led and developed by children.

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who attend

Observation and assessment is sharply focused and builds from an initial assessment that fully includes parents and carers. Daily interest forms are completed from which staff plan specific activities to extend children's learning. Children add to their own learning files by making drawings of things that they have done at home. Staff discuss these with them and incorporate these events within their planned next steps. Ongoing assessment includes parents through the parent ideas sheets, as well as the regular consultations that take place. Thorough monitoring of all children's progress towards the early learning goals takes place. Moderation of the assessments takes place by staff, managers and the reception teachers of the host school to which children move when they reach school age. As a result, staff can be sure that the assessments are accurate and reflect the actual progression made. These measures mean that they securely monitor ongoing learning, the

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who attend

involvement of parents, and the level of engagement by children.

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who attend

Children plant vegetables and herbs in their outdoor garden area, such as potatoes, strawberries and coriander. Children use these as sensory exploration activities as well as linking them to popular stories or harvesting and cooking the vegetables. Staff make excellent use of the natural conditions that occur, such as snow and ice, to extend learning. Children are fascinated when they mix snow with water, indoors, and show their rapidly developing vocabulary when they describe what they are feeling. For example, they talk about the snow melting, feeling crunchy, and slipping through the water. The play extends when children decide to fetch more snow. They take a bucket and scoop outdoors and spontaneously count the scoops of snow as they talk about the bucket being only half full. Children decide to play outdoors and tell staff that they need coats, scarves and gloves on to keep themselves warm. Once outdoors children eagerly embark on

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who attend

investigating the snowy conditions, demonstrating a curiosity to explore and learn. Children fetch chalks and design a snowman on the chalk board. They describe to the staff what they have drawn and tell them how they will make the snowman. They invite other children to help them before beginning to gather snow. They compare the progress that they make to their own drawing, demonstrating the ability to plan and adapt as conditions change. Children notice the different prints in the snow. They compare the size and shape of those made by animals and birds with their own prints. They then make footprints themselves and count them as they walk. Children show that they are well motivated and very eager to join in; they consistently demonstrate the characteristics of effective learning. Staff are particularly supportive and as a result, the children confidently display their knowledge, solve problems, and initiate activities.

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

The strong skills of all key persons and the highly effective deployment of staff ensures that all children form very secure emotional attachments. Home visits and stay-and-play sessions contribute to children settling into the setting rapidly. Staff display large posters showing the 'golden values' in pictorial form and text, which are reviewed with children. Staff model good social behaviour for children and offer them frequent praise throughout sessions. As a result, children gain a sense of self-esteem because they know that they are appreciated. Children's views are recognised and their interests form the basis of all planning. This is achieved by using daily interest sheets; children talk about what they have enjoyed and what they would like to do next session, and this is recorded by staff. The staff take photographs throughout the sessions and the whole group sit together to review the activities that have taken place using the large interactive board. These

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

methods help children to review their own learning as well as helping them to discover their own motivations. Children learn about the world around them and become aware of the culture and lives of each other. This setting is particularly diverse and the staff help children to complete extensive works looking at celebrations that take place locally and worldwide. The staff group offer several languages between them and this helps each child to feel secure. Staff obtain many multilingual books that are shared with children and families. Stories are told with groups of children, in more than one language, while children play the roles of the characters within the story. As a result, all children engage in early literacy. The story area is equipped with a backboard that holds photographs of places within the local community. Children love to sit together and arrange these photographs into order while they make up stories about the people and places that are

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

familiar to them. This fosters their development of communication and language, literacy, and imagination, and extends their knowledge of their local community.

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

Children show excellent self-care skills and develop a very secure understanding of healthy eating. They independently wash and dry their hands before helping themselves to the healthy snacks on offer. Staff are skilled at extending children's learning throughout all activities. For instance, they use books that they have made to aid discussions on the origins of the foods that they eat. As an example, when they have apples they discuss and view pictures of the seeds that are planted, the shoots that grow into trees, and the apples as they are picked. Children love to compare what they are eating to the foods in their favourite story books. They use the story sequences of the mobiles hung from the ceiling or the pictures they have painted on the wall. They compare the size of fruits, discuss the number of foods that they can see, and look at differences between them. Children's understanding of safety is promoted at all times. Children learn to take risks

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

within a safe environment when they use the extremely well-equipped outdoor area or take part in active movement sessions indoors. Children love to be active in all weather conditions and eagerly put on their coats, hats and gloves to play in the snow. When they have finished they return indoors where they take part in song and movement to warm themselves up. Staff urge them to feel their heartbeats and compare the rates at which they beat before and after exercise. This fosters further understanding of their physical health.

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

Frequent and ongoing visits take place by the staff to the reception class of the host school to which children will move at school age. The staff work closely to promote areas of learning, which benefit transition, as outlined by the class teacher. They, in turn, are provided with programmes designed specifically for children that include works underpinned by Portage and a project for communication used by the setting. Children transferring to a setting other than the host school are accompanied by the staff to visit that setting. All details of the children's learning and development are passed to the new setting. Staff use programmes of analysis with all children to closely gauge their progress to ensure that they are fully prepared for the next stage in their learning. As a result, the transition process is very positive and all children thrive.

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provision

The managers have very high expectations for the quality of care that is offered to children and families. Regular and robust reviews of all paperwork and procedures take place to ensure that all requirements of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage are met. The managers are supported by a particularly active and dedicated committee. They provide daily support and seek training to broaden their own knowledge of learning for young children. This demonstrates their commitment to providing the best care possible within the setting. Extremely thorough reflective practice includes input from all members of the management team, all staff, parents and carers, and children. The staff team uses evaluation sheets to monitor how children use resources and activities, and to analyse whether they can be offered in a more effective way to support learning. The staff invite Early Years Professionals from other groups to visit the

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provision

setting and offer critique on their practice. As a result, the staff group use this objective feedback to help them to plan for improvement.

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provision

Parents are highly involved in all aspects of the care and learning. They complete regular questionnaires that are focused to address specific areas of the care provided. Parents views are also sought during the stay-and-play sessions as well as the parents' ideas sheet on which parents suggest improvements or areas of learning that are important to them. As a result, the views of parents are incorporated into the development plan and help to improve the provision for children. The manager and deputy are especially vigilant in monitoring practice throughout the setting. Several excellent methods are used that include peer observations, for all staff including the managers, and individual reflective logs. The staff also use a camera and video to record activities undertaken. These are used as a learning tool for all staff to analyse the practice and offer critique in order to develop further. Such dedication to reflecting on practice and continuing to improve all

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provision

aspects of the provision shows that there is a strong drive to maintain the very high levels of achievement.

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provision

Partnerships with parents, other settings providing the Early Years Foundation Stage, and other agencies are a key strength. Home visits take place before children start at the setting and also whenever parents request it to support specific areas of learning and development. Staff provide parents with home activities' books to extend the learning into the home. They also provide resources to be used with children in the home where specific targets are set to meet individual needs. Parents are part of the communication development programme, use 'chatterboxes' to extend language, and are provided with information about the Talk for Meaning scheme. These methods all ensure that parents are very involved with their children's ongoing learning and development. Parents are highly complementary about the setting and all staff members. They comment on the rapid rate at which their children are developing, the extremely positive attitude and

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provision

support of the staff, and the high level of involvement that they have in their children's learning. Staff continue to develop the involvement of the extended family, especially male members, within activities at the setting. The setting uses a range of methods to ensure that the all-round needs of every child are met. Staff meet with the reception teacher of the host school to agree targets that can be worked on in the setting and continue within the next setting. As a result, children's progress continues at a rapid rate because their individual needs are planned for. The staff work extremely closely with the family workers set within the host school and all other external agencies who work as a team to support children and families. Those other professionals' comments include that the staff, 'are committed and work excellently with parents'. Furthermore, they state that staff are, 'instrumental in supporting families to seek intervention where needed, and that they

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provision

engage with other support agencies and work closely with them'.

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provision

Arrangements to safeguard children within the setting are very robust. All staff have safeguarding training while two designated officers have received advanced level training. The setting implement a procedure whereby all staff and committee members are asked impromptu questions by another, with suggested scenarios relating to safeguarding. Staff must explain the action that ought to be taken and the reason for this. As a result of these procedures to reaffirm practice, the staff demonstrate a thorough understanding of safeguarding. As part of the safeguarding procedures there are extremely thorough recruitment and suitability checks which include detailed induction for all new staff. As a result, the setting ensures that children are safe. Staff create an environment that is stimulating and children engage in active learning. The environment is especially safe and set within the secure grounds of the host school. Detailed risk assessments are completed

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provision

to minimise risk. All children are very secure, thoroughly enjoy their play and learning, and are learning to be independent and self-assured. Consequently, children embark on their learning career having established an eagerness to learn and seek out new experiences.

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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 EY450345 Local authority Luton Inspection number 811982

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 32 Number of children on roll 64 Name of provider Maidenhall Community Pre-School Date of previous inspection Not applicable

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Telephone number

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

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. 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. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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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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