Tiggywinkles Pre-School and Playgroup

Tiggywinkles Pre-School and Playgroup Joydens Wood Community Centre, Birchwood Drive, Dartford, Kent, DA2 7NE

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 06/06/2013 09/06/2010

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early years provision

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

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This provision is good

 Children benefit from good relationships with staff, which gives children confidence and a strong sense of belonging.  The partnership with parents is good. They are successfully included in their children's learning and receive good support from the staff team.  Staff interact effectively with the children to promote their language skills and to encourage them to think critically.  Staff provide a good range of activities to help children develop good physical skills and learn to control their bodies well.  The staff team establishes good links with other agencies to support children's learning and development effectively, to close achievement gaps.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Children do not move freely between the indoors and outdoors throughout the morning.  There are fewer resources for children to play with that help them to learn about operating simple technology.

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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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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke with staff and the manager about their roles.  The inspector observed children playing inside and out.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled documentation, including the safeguarding policy, and discussed the recruitment and vetting procedures.  The inspector spoke with a parent.

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Information about the setting

Tiggywinkles Pre-school and Playgroup opened in 2001 and is one of two privately owned pre-schools. The pre-school operates from three rooms in Joydens Wood Community Centre. It is situated in Wilmington, Kent. The pre-school is open each weekday from 9.15am to 12.15pm for 38 weeks of the year. Children have access to an outdoor play area. The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register. There are currently 50 children attending who are within the early years age range. Children come from the local area. The pre-school supports a number of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Children aged two, three and four, receive funding for early years education. The pre-school employs nine staff. All of the staff, including the manager, hold appropriate early years qualifications. Two staff are working towards a further qualification.

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

 extend the range of resources and opportunities for children to explore and operate simple technology

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

 Give children as much opportunity as possible to move freely between indoors and outdoors to support children's individual learning styles and preferences.

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who attend

Staff have a good knowledge of the children and their individual needs. Each child has a key person from when they start. The key person works closely with the parents to establish information about children's needs, likes dislikes and abilities. As a result, staff are able to plan a broad range of activities to move children forwards in their learning and development. The key person makes regular observations, assessing these against the children's age and stage of development, to ensure the activities challenge the children. The children's development profiles give a clear picture of the progress children make from the start until they move to school. Parents are thoroughly included in the assessment process and review their child's unique development profile regularly. They are encouraged to include areas for development that they feel would benefit their children most. The key person tells them about the children's next steps and shares ideas

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who attend

of how parents can support their children at home. The effective key person system means parents and children benefit from consistent support. The staff have begun to implement the progress check for children aged two years and any child who has additional needs receives good support. The staff have experience in working with other agencies to support children effectively to close any gaps in their achievements. This means that all children make good progress, at their own pace, in relation to their starting points.

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who attend

Children have access to a wide range of toys and resources that challenge them across all areas of learning. Recently the staff have reviewed the routine of the session and made some adjustments. This means that children have longer periods to become deeply involved in activities. While this has greatly improved opportunities for free-flow play, there are fewer opportunities for children to choose to play outside because this part of the session is still a timed large group activity. This means children cannot develop their play as freely as possible.

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who attend

Children choose from a good range of easily accessible books. They develop a love of books because staff sit and read to them asking questions about the pictures, encouraging the children to predict what will happen next and challenging them to find the hidden person on the page. This means children's language skills are promoted well. Staff foster children's creativity and imagination well. There is a good range of activities such as painting, playing musical instruments and singing, which means children can freely express themselves.

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who attend

Teaching methods are good and staff successfully interact with the children to promote their learning and development. For example, a child tells a member of staff they have lost their hat. The member of staff asks the child lots of questions such as 'Where did you see it last?' 'What colour is it?' and 'Can you describe it to me?' The children learn to think for themselves and work out where the hat is. Children learn a lot about the world around them as they take part in festivals and celebrations from other religions and cultures. They enjoy trips out and about in their local community, which helps them to understand the part they play. Children enjoy some resources that help them to understand simple technology. However, opportunities to explore battery operated toys or toys with knobs, buttons and flaps, to learn how things work, are few. Overall, children are happily involved and focused on the activities. Staff are attentive, ensuring the children's emotional and

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

Children have good opportunities to play and learn together. They can freely access all resources and they seek each other out to play with. They have warm and friendly relationships with each other and the staff. All children show a strong sense of security and belonging. Staff set up the play area well, giving children plenty of choice and lots of room to move about freely. Staff provide a wide range of toys and resources outside to promote children's physical skills exceptionally well. Children blow bubbles, paint fences with water and different sized brushes and experiment with natural resources, for example, mixing spaghetti, rice and beans with water in a toy cement mixer. This helps children to gain strong physical skills and good coordination, using fingers and thumbs and learning to control their bodies.

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

Staff manage children's behaviour well. They get down to the children's level to talk to them face to face and explain why the behaviour is not acceptable. Staff involve children in finding a solution to their problems and promote turn taking and sharing. For example, a member of staff asks two children that want the same dinosaur if they can swap dinosaurs after two minutes. One child asks 'How long is that?' The member of staff explains how long using the clock in the hall. This satisfies the children and they agree to the strategy and go off happily to play. Staff give children lots of praise and encouragement, saying 'Well done' to reinforce the efforts the children have made. This means children try hard and make the most of their time in the pre-school.

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

Children show their understanding of good hygiene routines as they wash their hands before they have their snack. They enjoy a healthy range of food, including fruit, rice crackers and raisins. Children develop good independence skills as they choose their own snacks and pour their own drinks. Children's safety is of high importance. The staff are vigilant and make sure the front door is monitored constantly throughout drop off and pick up times. Children learn about keeping themselves safe by taking part in regular fire drills. Staff reinforce the children's understanding of how to stay safe. For instance, after a messy play activity children notice there is water on the floor. A member of staff asks the children 'What should we do?' Children say 'Wipe it up'. The staff member agrees and asks the children what would happen if they left the floor wet. Children say it will be slippery and someone could fall over. This demonstrates that children have a good understanding

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

of safety. Children gain good skills to move on successfully to the next stage of their learning.

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provision

The pre-school has a robust recruitment and vetting system so that suitable adults care for children at all times. The manager completes regular supervision and annual appraisals for all staff. This means she is able to effectively monitor the on-going suitability of her staff team. Staff have a good knowledge of the safeguarding and welfare requirements. They demonstrate a good understanding of the local child protection procedures by explaining what they would do if they were concerned a child was at risk. A thorough policy supports their practice well. Safeguarding training is offered regularly to ensure staff have the current knowledge to protect children in their care.

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provision

Staff are effectively involved in the evaluation process at the pre-school through regular staff meetings. As a close-knit team, they take time to reflect on what is working well by identifying their strengths and priorities for improvements. They have completed a self- evaluation form, which they are currently reviewing to make changes to raise the standards within the pre-school. For example, the recent change to the routines is having a positive impact on children's enjoyment of their time in the pre-school. This shows the manager and her team are committed to maintaining continuous improvement. The pre-school has good, firm links with other professionals and outside agencies. They work closely with speech and languages therapists, local authority advisors and the local schools and teachers. This means they can seek additional help for those children who need this, and this helps when children move to school. The partnership with parents is

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provision

good. Parents are able to give their views and suggestions through a regular parent questionnaire. They build good relationships with the staff and other parents as the pre- school involves them in lots of different events for example, coffee mornings and charity cake sales. There is a regular exchange of information with parents providing them with details of how well their children are achieving and developing. The manager provides good support for the parents, helping them to complete applications for school. With her wealth of experience, the manager is able to sign post parents to other agencies where they can seek help if they need it. Parents say they are very happy with the care and support their children receive at the pre-school and are very pleased with the good steady progress their children are making.

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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 151508 Local authority Kent Inspection number 814170 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 4 Total number of places 40 Number of children on roll 50 Name of provider Susan Hush Date of previous inspection 09/06/2010 Telephone number 07867 523545

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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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