Shining Stars Preschool

Shining Stars Preschool The Harebreaks Centre, The Harebreaks, WATFORD, WD24 6NJ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 28/06/2013 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

 The pre-school plans a broad educational programme that supports children's learning and progress to a good level. The child-centred environment enables children to make choices about their play.  The well-qualified and experienced staff team have a good understanding of how children learn through play. Effective routines develop children's understanding of what is expected of them, staff support good personal and social skills with praise and thanks.  The leadership of the pre-school is strong. Robust recruitment, safety routines and comprehensive policies to support staff, students and volunteers ensure children are cared for in a safe and well managed environment.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 There is scope to extend the use of pictures and photographs so younger children and those with English as an additional language are able to express preferences and thoughts about their routines and 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

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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 compulsory part 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 spoke to the children, she joined in some of the activities, watched them play and have their lunch.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to staff about the children's care, development and the daily routines.  The inspector held the feedback meeting with the registered provider.  The inspector took account of the views of parents as they collected their children.

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Information about the setting

Shining Stars Preschool is privately owned and was registered in 2009 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. The pre-school has been operating from Leavesden Green Community Centre in Watford but, due to the refurbishment of that site they have re-registered, temporarily at The Harebreaks Centre in Watford, Hertfordshire.

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Information about the setting

Shining Stars is open Monday to Friday during term time. Sessions on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are from 9.30am until 2.30pm. On Tuesday sessions are from 9.30am until 12.30pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions, they may leave early after lunch time. There are currently 44 children on role. The pre-school provides funded early education for two-three and four-year-old children. It supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language. The pre-school serves the local area and is accessible to all children.

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Information about the setting

The registered provider is the manager of the setting. She holds Early Years Professional Status and Qualified Teacher Status. The pre-school employs six members of staff, all have early years qualifications to level 3. The pre-school was accredited with the Herts Quality Standard in 2011 and 2013. The pre-school is supported by the local authority development team and is a member of the Pre-school Learning Alliance.

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

 develop the use of pictures and photographs showing familiar events, objects and activities so younger children can express their preferences, thoughts and feelings about the activities and their play opportunities.

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who attend

Children settle quickly as they come into the setting. The pre-school room is thoughtfully laid out and well-resourced to meet the needs of the children who attend. A broad educational programme and effective planning ensures all children benefit from a range of play and learning opportunities based on their interests and developing skills. The planning and assessments based on the Development matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage guidance, ensures the seven areas of learning are included. Most of the planning is based on the prime areas of learning for the young children attending the pre- school; activities and events to reflect the specific areas of learning are planned for throughout the year. Information gained from parents as the children come into the pre- school are used to evaluate their starting points and plan for their future learning. The assessment record shows children are making good progress in relation to their starting

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who attend

points. The assessment documents and the progress check at age two ensures parents are fully informed about their children's progress. This information enables them to support children's learning at home as the next steps in the children learning are clearly outlined.

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who attend

Children's language and communication skills are developing well. They listen to the staff team who may use simple 'Makaton' hand signs to support some of the day-to-day routines. However, some of the children are very young and do not always have the experience to understand the requests that are made of them. The pre-school does not use resources, such as, a simple photographic display of daily routines to enable all children, including those with English as an additional language, to be more fully involved in making decisions about what they want to do. They do not use photographs and displays around the room to full effect to enable all children to express their preferences and make independent choices. Visual displays and translations of songs would also support families in being more fully involved in supporting their children in the pre-school setting.

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who attend

Group time is managed well, all staff are fully involved and sit with the children as the register is taken. Children are asked to respond to their names, they are thanked and go on to say 'hello' to students, volunteers and visiting inspectors. The session provides children with opportunities to ask for their favourite songs. They are given the choice to ask the whole group to sing but some are very confident and sing to the whole group. Staff are skilled storytellers; they encourage children to become involved in the familiar story, to recall the events depicted in the book.

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who attend

Children's physical skills are promoted and extended throughout the session. Action rhymes during group time, stepping blocks and soft play mats enable children to practise recently acquired physical skills. Children clearly enjoy parachute games. They are keen to take part and are supported well by staff who are fully involved in all aspects of the children's play and learning. Children find their places around the parachute; they listen intently to the clear instructions to move the fabric fast and slow, to make it go very high and low. Children become very excited as they stretch and crouch, shake faster and stop. They listen well and clearly enjoy the activity.

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who attend

The pre-school uses technology very effectively, both a tablet computer and the fully interactive play table have appropriate games loaded onto them. All areas of learning are incorporated into the programming. Children can chose from counting, sizing and matching games to promote early mathematical skills. They can select the music programme to listen to different instruments and styles of music, creating their own music or follow the instructions to hear and join in popular nursery rhymes. Children are very skilled in moving the cursor to select different colours and choose from a paintbrush for broad brush marks, crayons and pencils with fine lines to paint, print and colour in. The art work can be saved and printed out to be taken home. Children enjoy choosing their favourite nursery rhymes and stories that can be read out to them by the computer with pictures to outline the story. Children learn about the natural world through selecting

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who attend

flowers and plants and watering them to make them grow. Children's early reading and letter recognition skills are consistently supported and extended with activities that the children clearly relate to. These activities work well with small groups of children taking turns or individual children with one-to-one support from a member of staff.

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who attend

Children enjoy sitting on a colourful mat to play with the dolls. They concentrate on dressing the dolls, feeding them and using blankets to re-enact everyday family routine. Staff talk to them about taking care of the babies, how to cover them as they sleep and to help with manipulating arms and legs to dress the baby dolls. Staff fully support the children in developing their personal, social and emotional skills. A range of stacking and building blocks encourage children to predict how high they can build them and if they are going to stack or to fall. Magnetic bricks adds a further dimension, children are beginning to ask questions, to find out and explore simple resources which promote critical thinking.

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who attend

Resources are selected from storage each day, play opportunities are planned by the whole staff team to meet the next steps and interest of the children. Mobile storage units ensure children have free-choice and easy access to a wide selection of resources to extend and promote their learning and play ideas. Children enjoy and take part in many varied opportunities, new experiences and events, which give them the skills they need to move onto other early years setting with confidence.

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

Children build strong links with their key workers, other children and the whole staff team. Information gained from parents and recorded on the 'All about me' form and a comprehensive settling-in policy, ensure staff are fully aware of the children's individual needs. Children new to the setting or who are taking time to settle are given priority. Staff adapt activities and as there is a high ratio of well-qualified staff as well as regular volunteers, they are able to give time to those children who need extra attention. Parents are kept informed about their children's day via text or email if necessary.

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

Children learn about a healthy lifestyle through every day routines. The pre-school provides a mobile sink unit, so children do not have to leave the playroom to wash their hands. Most of the older children access the cloak-rooms independently. Staff ensure the whole staff team is aware when they leave the room on cloakroom duties. Snack and lunchtime are social events with staff sitting alongside the children. Water is available at all times, children can help themselves to drinks throughout the session. Children chose from healthy crackers at snack time and manage their packed lunches very well. Cookery activities support their growing interests in foods, what is good for you and what makes you grow. All staff are aware of the children's dietary and cultural needs so recipes are adapted to meet the different needs, for example, ensuring pizza ingredients meet Halal and vegetarian requirements.

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

The pre-school does not have access to enclosed outside play space. However, children have many different opportunities through the week to take part in physical activities both inside and outside in the community. Photographs show children at the park, on play apparatus and taking part in nature walks and sporting activities; at this time, staff concentrate on children learning how to use the swings and slides appropriately. When walking out in the community children are kept safe as they hold on to a strapping system designed to assist in learning how to walk in a contained group. This supports their understanding of road safety. Children behave well as staff have high expectations and consistently remind them to ask nicely and to say 'please' and 'thank you'. They are learning to take turns and understand what is acceptable behaviour. Children are involved in making decisions about what they would like to do later in the session. They are put

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

into groups to assist staff in tidying away toys to make space for new activities, such as, 'the parachute game'.

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

The pre-school is pro-active in ensuring children have the skills to move to new settings with confidence. Photographs, stories and, if appropriate, uniforms are discussed during the children's last term to ensure they understand the process of leaving the pre-school. Staff complete a transition form outlining the children's progress and providing information to be share with nursery or school; whenever possible early years staff are invited into the pre-school.

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provision

The registered provider who works as the day-to-day manager has high expectations for the quality of care and learning provided at Shining Stars Pre-school. She takes responsibility for overseeing safeguarding concerns; however, all staff and regular volunteers have attended and consistently maintain their knowledge of safeguarding through regular training. The pre-school policies are based on the Local Safeguarding Children Board code of practice which enables staff to manage and monitor any concerns about children. Information is available for parents on display and in the policy documents. Children are further protected as there are effective risk assessments in place, the hall used by the pre-school is kept secure whilst in operation. Regular fire drills ensure staff and children are aware of the process and so can exit the building safely in an emergency.

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provision

The well-qualified staff are supported with effective appraisals and regular team meetings. The Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage is used to ensure they consistently meet the learning and development requirements, and have policies and documents in place for the smooth running of the pre-school. A robust recruitment process and policies for the induction and support of students and volunteers ensures all adults who work with the children are suitable to do so. The pre-school provides work placements for students on early years courses; there is a comprehensive monitoring programme to ensure they are supported by the pre-school and college. Volunteers bring interesting experiences to the children, such as, the opportunity to see a skilled artist work with water colours.

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provision

The pre-school has developed good relationships with parents. They are comfortable when they come into the hall to drop off and collect their children, taking time to share aspects and event from home with staff. A group of dads have offered to help the pre-school to move back to the newly refurbished building. Parents can access the secure pre-school web page to keep up-to-date with charity events and current information about the setting. Parents views are sought through a questionnaire, the information is used to evaluate the services as part of the quality standards process. The pre-school supports children and families who have English as an additional language. The manager explained how she uses a translation application on her smart phone to ensure both children and parents can be supported and made fully aware of the many different aspects of the day- to-day routines and activities provided.

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provision

The pre-school has developed a strong working partnerships with other early years settings and support agencies. The pre-school seeks advice, when appropriate, to support children's individual needs within the setting. Shining Stars has established an effective evaluation process which has enabled them to complete the Herts Quality Standard accreditation for the second time. They have systems in place to identify areas of their practice that are to be developed and aspects that work well. The staff team has a good overview of the curriculum and the progress the children make through effective assessments.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory 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 EY459890 Local authority Hertfordshire Inspection number 903070 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 20 Number of children on roll 44 Name of provider Nusrat Athia Khan Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 07964737367

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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

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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