SeeSaw Pre-School

SeeSaw Pre-School Wingham Village Hall, School Lane,Wingham, Canterbury, Kent, CT3 1BD

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 22/04/2013 15/12/2008

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 Previous inspection: 3 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 3 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision is satisfactory

 The pre-school staff work positively in partnership with all parents. This practice is effective in supporting continuity in children's care and learning.  Children are happy and active in the pre-school. They become self-confident and form trusting relationships with staff, due to the positive key person system.  Children benefit from learning in the newly refurbished, exciting outdoor area and enjoy regular outings in the community.

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It is not yet good because

 Systems for the supervision of staff are not effective enough to identify some weaknesses in practice, particularly in the way that staff support children's progress in mathematics and literacy.  Staff are not always consistent in the way that they talk to children and encourage them to develop their own ideas and thoughts.  Some staff do not manage children's behaviour well, which means that children do not always learn what is expected of them.  Some staff do not consistently use daily routines and experiences to challenge children, for example to develop their emerging independence.

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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 observed the interactions between staff and children throughout the provision and during a walk to the local village.  The inspector held meetings with the manager of the provision.  The inspector held discussions with parents and children.  The inspector looked through a variety of policies and procedures.  The inspector looked at records of children's progress.

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Information about the setting

SeeSaw Pre-school opened in 1999 and is run by a management committee. It operates from a village hall in Wingham, near Canterbury, Kent. There is an enclosed garden for outside play. The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register and on the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The pre-school is open from 9.15am to 1pm five days a week, term time only. There are five staff members working with the children, four of whom have an early years qualification. There are currently 29 children aged two to five years on roll. The pre-school supports children who speak English as an additional language and children with special education needs and/or disabilities. The pre-school receives funding for the early education for children aged three and four years.

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must:

 improve the arrangements for the supervision of staff in order to ensure that their practice is consistent to effectively support all children's learning, particularly in literacy and mathematics.

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

 support all children's progress by ensuring that practitioners consistently talk to children and use open ended statements to encourage children to develop and share their own ideas and thoughts.

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

 ensure that staff are well deployed and use appropriate strategies to teach children about acceptable behaviour.

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

 develop all staff members' understanding of how to support children's increasing independence and to effectively extend children's learning in daily activities.

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who attend

Each child is allocated a member of staff who visits them at home before they start at the setting. The 'key person' finds out about children's starting points and works closely with parents to monitor and plan for children's progress throughout their time at the pre- school. They observe children at play, take photographs of their learning and assess their progress. Staff undertake the two-year-old progress check and share information with parents. Parents attend regular meetings and hold discussions with staff and share information about their children's experiences and progress at home and in the pre-school. These positive partnerships mean that parents and staff work well together to promote children's learning.

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who attend

Most staff show an interest in what children have to say and encourage them to share their experiences and thoughts. For example, during a walk they chat about visiting the hairdressers and share experiences about their family and friends. However, other staff do not make the most of these opportunities to engage children in discussions throughout the walk. This inconsistent practice means that some children do not gain the most from their experiences.

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who attend

Children develop suitable skills to help them to prepare for school and their future learning. When they arrive at the pre-school in the morning they recognise and collect their names and self-register. Staff find out about the handwriting style children will use when they attend school, in order to introduce the correct letter formation. They plan activities to support children in recognising rhyming words and some letter sounds, but do not always use discussions well to encourage children's growing interest in literacy. For example, they do not draw children's attention to marks, signs and symbols in the environment and talk about what they represent, nor do they routinely encourage children's awareness of sounds to make words during everyday events and routines.

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who attend

Many staff encourage children's mathematical thinking throughout their play by teaching children to recognise numbers on doors and post boxes during a walk to the local village. Children enjoy filling and emptying containers in the water tray and exploring as they pour water along pipes, tubes and through bottles in the outdoor area. However, staff do not take all opportunities during daily activities to introduce mathematical language or talk about what children are learning. Furthermore, the pre-school has limited numbers on display in the indoor and outdoor areas for children to use throughout their play and to reinforce their learning.

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who attend

Some staff are skilled in supporting children to develop their ideas. For example, when children build train tracks and follow instructions and diagrams to replicate a design, staff encourage them by offering praise and discussing what they are doing. As a result, children achieve what they set out to do and are proud of the end result. Staff equip the role-play areas with a wide range of toys and resources which children enjoy sorting in different ways both indoors and outside. Children demonstrate active imaginations, pretending to set up home and to cook dinner for their family. They enjoy learning new songs and practising dance moves to music. Staff help them to maintain their levels of involvement by joining in and praising them for their efforts.

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who attend

Staff take children to visit the local primary school to see school plays and take part in events. They also invite teachers to visit the pre-school to meet and get to know the children. These activities help children to feel positive about the changes they will encounter during the next stage in their learning.

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

The positive 'key person' approach demonstrates the staff's commitment to meeting children's needs and making the settling-in experience personal to them. As a result, children soon settle and feel secure in the pre-school environment. As they prepare to come into the pre-school, children become excited and after registering, they enthusiastically explore the resources available to them. Children confidently greet visitors and enquire about what they are doing. They pretend to make them cups of tea and talk about how they enjoy playing with play dough and building with their friends. These interactions show that children have a positive attitude and are confident and outgoing.

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

Staff are mostly well deployed and work well together to maintain a clean and efficient environment. They teach children to look after the environment during a designated tidy up time, but often tidy up for children throughout the day rather than helping them learn to take care of toys and resources at all times. Furthermore, staff occasionally help older children to put on their coats rather than challenging them to try to do this for themselves. These inconsistencies mean that staff do not always help children to become increasingly independent.

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

Staff encourage children's good health throughout the pre-school. Children know to wash their hands after using the toilet and prior to eating and staff encourage them with gentle reminders. Children enjoy playing physical games using a good variety of equipment such as bikes, and balancing resources outdoors, which helps them develop their physical skills. When the outdoor area is not available, staff section off an area of the hall and children enjoy taking turns kicking a soft ball from one to the other. They learn to take safe risks with toys and equipment as they climb and clamber over the climbing frame and relish throwing beanbags into baskets, testing how hard they need to throw to succeed.

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

Most staff are good role models who provide clear guidelines and boundaries to support children's behaviour. However, others are not consistent and ignore children when they call each other names. Consequently, children mostly behave well and play together positively, but others do not learn that certain behaviours are not acceptable.

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provision

The registered provider shows an adequate understanding of their responsibility to meet legal requirements. The management committee work with the pre-school manager and deputy to update policies and keep up-to-date with changes in requirements. Management and staff have undertaken suitable safeguarding training and understand their responsibilities well. The manager and her team plan for improvement through self-evaluation and incorporate the views of parents from questionnaires. The pre-school has successfully met all recommendations from previous inspections. Staff have made further improvements, such as improving the provision to enable children to enjoy learning in the outdoor environment and enhancing the key person system by arranging home visits.

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provision

Management oversee the education programmes and use a tracking system to identify gaps in children's learning and progress. They have appropriate recruitment systems in place to check the suitability of staff working with children and incorporate induction procedures, so that new staff soon become familiar with the policies and procedures of the pre-school. Management carry out regular meetings, staff observations and yearly appraisals to support continuous improvement. However, the management team has overlooked some inconsistencies in staff practices and therefore the system for supervision is not fully effective.

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provision

The pre-school has suitable partnerships with other professionals and agencies. They seek additional support for children when needed. Staff share relevant information with local schools when children are preparing to move on to school. This supports continuity in children's care and learning.

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provision

Partnership with parents is a particular strength of the pre-school. Parents benefit from a variety of communication such as newsletters, meetings and daily verbal feedback. Parents express how much they value daily discussions with their child's key person and meetings where they look at children's learning journeys and discuss children's progress. These positive strategies enable parents to share ideas and work with the key person to support their child's progress.

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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 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 127524 Local authority Kent Inspection number 842858 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 5 Total number of places 18 Number of children on roll 29 Name of provider See-Saw Pre-school At Wingham Committee Date of previous inspection 15/12/2008 Telephone number 07851 057213

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Setting details

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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