West Hoathly Community Pre-School

West Hoathly Community Pre- School North Lane, West Hoathly, East Grinstead, West Sussex, RH19 4QG

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 21/03/2013 26/05/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 Previous inspection: 2 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 4 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 4

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This provision is inadequate

 The management committee members do not understand their roles and responsibilities. As a result, they fail to meet all legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and requirements for the Childcare Register.  Ofsted has not been notified of a change of manager and insufficient evidence is available to demonstrate the suitability of staff.  Planned activities do not always take place and there is insufficient depth and breadth in the activities children engage in, which results in a lack of challenge and opportunities for developing purposeful play. This affects children's all-round learning and development.  Self-evaluation is weak and does not include identifying the strengths and weaknesses in all aspects of the provision. As a result, ongoing improvement is limited.

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It has the following strengths

 Children are supported well in their communication and language skills and talk confidently to their friends and adults.  Staff maintain positive partnerships with parents through initial assessments and regularly planned reviews; these focus on children's achievements and their ongoing development.

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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

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Information about this inspection

 scheduled more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged 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 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  scheduled 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 arrived and explained the reason for the inspection.  The inspector provided a notice for parents and a list of documentation required.  The inspector observed the session and spoke with staff and the children.  The inspector spoke with committee members and parents.  The inspector provided feedback and gave the inspection judgements.

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Information about the setting

West Hoathly Community Pre-School registered in 1992. It is managed by a voluntary management committee of parents with children at the pre-school. The setting operates from the parish hall in West Hoathly, West Sussex and serves the local and wider area. All children have access to a secure outdoor play area. The pre-school is open Monday to Thursday 8.45 am to 12.30pm. There are additional afternoon sessions from 12.30 pm to 2.45 pm on a Thursday during the summer term. The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register and on the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. Currently there are 12 children, aged from two to four years on roll. The pre-school receives funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two, three and four years. There are two members of staff, who hold appropriate early years qualifications.

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must:

 foster a culture of mutual support, teamwork and continuous improvement across the provision for example by developing systems of self evaluation

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must:

 improve the range of adult-led activities offered to add challenge and improve children's learning opportunities through purposeful play.

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must:

 ensure that records are easily accessible and available to support the organisation of the pre-school and the procedures for staff employment

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must:

 ensure that all committee members understand their roles and responsibilities to make sure that the Early Years Foundation Stage requirements are met

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who attend

The educational programmes offered to children are not sufficiently challenging and often planned activities do not take place, leaving children with inadequate learning opportunities. Staff show a suitable understanding of the areas of learning and demonstrate some suitable skills to support children's learning and development. However poor organisation affects the amount of quality interaction that takes place and the success of planned activities. Staff continually encourage and extend children's skills of communication through conversation and questioning. They embrace children's interests, such as children's current interest in space travel. They provide some resources to encourage children to initiate their space play and also plan craft activities to make rockets. Some children play with toy aircraft, fitting the people inside and pretending to take off. They make rocket sounds and talk about flying up into the sky. Children

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who attend

spontaneously line up all the chairs to pretend they are going on a trip. They recognise and name the different colours of the chairs and some children briefly sit on these and share conversations. Children excitedly prepare to join in the rocket making activity. However the planned activity does not take place because routine tasks take the member of staff away from the group. This results in disappointment for children and they wander between activities, showing little interest in other play.

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who attend

Children have ample freedom to increase their physical development indoors and outside and they show more interest in being active. They are keen to play with balls and through discussion they explain the difference between a beach ball and a ready inflated ball. They say 'it needs air inside' when staff ask children's opinion. This shows some understanding of the world. Children bounce and kick balls with increasing skill. They are happy to talk about their favourite activities and readily say this is the daily outdoor play. They talk about the wheeled toys and how they especially like to ride on these. Staff know that this is developing children's strength and stamina, for example, they recognise when children learn to use pedals.

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who attend

Staff include spontaneous activities at times and these sometimes take place within a small group activity at the end of the session. For example, staff recognise when individual children show increased confidence to talk in front of others. Staff have an adequate knowledge of children's levels of progress and they understand when children achieve. There are records of learning in place for individual children and these include observations and assessments of most children's progress. However the links between children's next steps in development and the activities taking place are not clear. Staff have developed a progress summary sheet for children under the age of three years and this is shared with parents as an assessment for children aged two.

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who attend

The pre-school has close links with many parents because they are part of the committee, which is responsible for the management of the provision. Parents show they are happy with their children's level of learning. They also recognise the individual attention that staff have included to enable children to settle. Parents complete initial assessments of children's capabilities when they start and there are regularly planned reviews. Parents show that they appreciate the newly introduced daily notices which give details about children's activities during the morning session.

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

Children's well-being is compromised by the weaknesses in leadership and management, the committee's lack of awareness of safeguarding requirements and how well children's care and learning is promoted. Children show a suitable level of personal, social and emotional development because they know the environment well and they talk to staff frequently and capably. Older children are developing an understanding of managing their own behaviour and staff remind them at times to share resources. Children are gaining independence and staff encourage them to tidy up, helping to maintain a safe play environment. They are learning to be responsible for their personal needs, such as using the toilets and finding tissues when they need these. Children are encouraged to manage independently at snack time. Staff sit with all children in a group and they take turns and follow each other's example when making fruit kebabs and pouring drinks. This daily

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

routine increases children's skills of socialising and listening to each other. All children wash and dry their hands before snacks and this promotes their understanding of good hygiene practice. Children talk about which foods are healthy and they bring fruit to share every day. They have ample opportunity for being active during indoor and outdoor play. The hall is spacious and the outdoor surface enables children to learn to use a variety of wheeled toys. Children also have sand play for digging and shovelling and use chalk to draw patterns and practise their early writing skills on the blackboards. Children learn about needing warmer clothes before going outside in cold weather and this encourages their awareness of being healthy.

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

Staff have an appropriate knowledge of all children and they share key person responsibility because the numbers of children attending are currently low. Staff encourage children to feel safe and learn about risks. For example, children are learning to wear appropriate indoor shoes to prevent them slipping and they follow the pre-school rules for not running indoors. Staff show a clear awareness of managing risks and promoting safe routines.

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

The pre-school provides an adequate range of resources and children have photograph albums of all the play equipment that is stored. Staff explain that children can freely choose their favourite items. Staff help children to develop some skills to prepare them to move on to school. This is particularly evident in their acquisition of language and independence skills, however because activities planned to support children's further learning do not always take place, this affects children's all-round learning and development.

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provision

The management committee does not understand its responsibilities to monitor the effectiveness of the provision and ensure that all safeguarding and welfare requirements and learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) are met. A new manager is employed and they are taking some responsibility for developing the provision. The committee has not notified Ofsted of the change of manager and this is a breach of a legal requirement. On this occasion Ofsted does not intend to take further action in respect of this. This failure also means that the requirements of the Childcare Register are not met. The committee does not have clear systems for compiling documentation to demonstrate staff suitability. When asked to provide evidence of suitability checks and qualifications for the manager some documentation was found to be kept off site without Ofsted's prior permission to do so. Qualification evidence was not

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provision

available. The lack of a robust system for recruitment affects the ability to safeguard children's welfare effectively. The committee's nominated person does complete staff appraisals, however because they lack awareness of the requirements of the EYFS their monitoring lacks rigour and support of staff is limited.

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provision

Staff working with the children have attended child protection training, they show an increased understanding of their role in recognising and referring any concerns. They know that recent changes to the pre-school safeguarding policy refer to the use of mobile phones and cameras and implement the policy effectively. They are aware of following procedures if there are any allegations against staff. Staff use risk assessment to identify any potential safety hazards and minimise them to help maintain a safe play environment for children. They are clear about their health and safety responsibilities and they ensure there is always a person trained in first aid on site.

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provision

The new manager confirms she is suitably qualified and has attended recent training in promoting children's learning and development; she is currently making progress with individual children's learning records and following guidance from the early years network. She has made links with other providers to share information and promote children's progress. However self evaluation is not strong enough and does not show that staff or providers are improving the quality of the children's learning or motivating progress across the provision.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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actions)

The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

 inform Ofsted of the appointment of a new manager of childcare (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  inform Ofsted of the appointment of a new manager of childcare (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)

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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 action. 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 113823 Local authority West Sussex Inspection number 909282

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 8 Total number of places 26 Number of children on roll 12 Name of provider West Hoathley Community Pre-School Date of previous inspection 26/05/2011 Telephone number 01342 811380

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Type of provision

set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: 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, which are usually the childminder’s 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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