Beehive Pre-school

Beehive Pre-school The Hut, Holmanleaze, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 8AW

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 12/06/2013 21/06/2011

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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 of the nursery is not effective in supporting the safeguarding and welfare requirements and monitoring the quality of the provision. This is a breach of requirements and results in a failure to maintain children's safety and their welfare.  There are aspects of the premises that are not suitable to protect children's privacy. This impacts on children's levels of comfort and their awareness of keeping themselves safe.  Children's good health is not fully promoted through some poor hygiene practices.  On some occasions, staff are not providing sufficient support to children to promote their early writing skills effectively.

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It has the following strengths

 Staff's enthusiasm for singing and reading makes song and story times fun and enjoyable for children. This helps children participate in the joy of reading and singing, while learning to listen.

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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 activities in the playrooms and the outside learning environment and talked with the staff and children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held discussions with the registered provider and the manager of the provision.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at a sample of children's assessment records and a range of other documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector also took account of the views of parents and carers spoken to on the day.

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Information about the setting

Beehive Pre-School first registered in 1982. It is a committee run group situated in Maidenhead, Berkshire. It operates from purpose built premises and there are fully enclosed areas for outdoor play. The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register.

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Information about the setting

The pre-school serves the local area and opens from 9am to 3pm, Monday to Friday, during term time only. There are currently 52 children attending who are in the early years age group. The nursery is in receipt of funding for free early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language.

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Information about the setting

The pre-school employs seven members of childcare staff. Of these, four hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 and two staff hold Qualified Teacher Status.

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enforcement action:

We will issue a Welfare Requirements Notice requiring the provider to:

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enforcement action:

- take all necessary steps to keep children safe by ensuring the provider has a clear understanding of the safeguarding procedures, especially in relation to any allegation made against an adult who cares for the children or is in regular contact with them.

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enforcement action:

It was also found at inspection that the provider has failed to notify Ofsted of changes in the committee. It is an offence not to notify Ofsted of these changes within 14 days; on this occasion we have issued the provider with a warning letter.

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must:

 notify Ofsted about a change in members of the committee, giving Ofsted the new person's name, any former names or aliases, their date of birth and home address. Notification must be made as soon as is reasonably practicable, but always within 14 days.

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must:

 ensure that the premises are fit for purpose by ensuring that the toilets provide sufficient privacy to safeguard children and protect their dignity, and by improving hygiene practices at snack time.

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

 provide opportunities to help children to use and handle pencils between thumb and two fingers to promote their early writing skills effectively

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

 implement a thorough self-evaluation process, which includes the views of parents and children, to identify strengths and areas for development.

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who attend

Staff take positive steps to help ensure the educational programmes have depth and breadth across the seven areas of learning. They know the children in their key groups well and use their observations to plan the next steps for their learning. This helps children make sound progress. Children are supported to learn effectively, and to be ready for the next stages in their learning, especially school. Staff can describe their key children's learning styles, individual interests and their friendship groups.

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who attend

Staff plan interesting and challenging experiences that meet the needs of children. They ensure that all areas of learning are available in the outdoor environment to help children investigate and develop new skills. Children enjoy experimenting with sounds as they use the pots and pans hanging on the fence to investigate sounds. They explore the properties of dough on a large builder's tray and in the large sandpit outside. Children move with control, using the small steps to the garden. However, staff do not always support children to hold pencils correctly when writing their names. This restricts children's ability to form good manipulative skills as they experiment with early writing activities.

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who attend

Children have valuable chances to develop their communication skills. This is a strength of the setting. Staff encourage children to have meaningful conversations and contribute to story time by saying what is coming next. Staff introduce effective questioning into their natural conversations with children. They greatly enjoying thinking about 'which is bigger - a horse or guinea pig?' Staff enthusiastically use different tones in their voices and gestures. They encourage children to sit comfortably, to look at them and to use their ears. This effectively helps them to listen. Children eagerly join in with the songs and rhymes displayed on the interactive whiteboard.

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who attend

Staff help most children make suitable progress within the expected age range. Staff sensitively repeat the correct pronunciation of words to help children to develop clear speech. Parents are given information on the speech therapy services in their area. Staff provide appropriate support to children learning English as an additional language. They ask parents for a few words in their child's home language to aid communication. In addition, staff encourage parents to provide books in their home language for children to bring to the pre-school and share with their friends.

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who attend

Parents know their child's key person and report that they are well informed about their child's development. Staff share reports of the children's progress with the parents regularly and home school link books help staff understand children's development at home. Staff give information to help support children's learning at home. For example, they give talks to parents to explain that reading to children and the early introduction to books benefits children's emerging language skills.

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

There is a calm and comfortable atmosphere where staff are well deployed and encourage children to build a strong rapport with them. Children's independence is supported, as staff encourage them to find a peg and hang up their coat, enabling them to be quickly involved in purposeful play. Children's photographs are on display at a low level and staff report how children enjoy looking at the photographs, recognising themselves and their friends. However, the weaknesses in safeguarding mean that children's welfare and well- being cannot be assured.

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

The key person system helps to ensure that children learn to be strong and independent through consistent relationships. Staff undertake home visits. which support children effectively on entry to the nursery. These visits are greatly supported by the parents. Staff take photographs of the children's achievement to complete various jig-saw puzzles. They show these photographs to parents and the children's key person to illustrate the progress the children make.

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

Staff help children understand healthy living. They learn to keep themselves safe as they sing the 'keeping safe' song as they tidy up. Children enjoy exercising vigorously as they practice for sports day. Staff support children to take turns and to follow instructions as they describe how to follow the obstacle course. They put children into teams and demonstrate how children follow the different coloured cones. This helps to build children's confidence and promotes turn taking, while developing their physical skills.

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

Children are learning about healthy eating. They care for the plants growing in tubs in the outside area and are looking forward to tasting the fruit and vegetables. They each bring an item of fruit for snack time. However, staff do not always follow good hygiene practice. They place the fruit straight on the table and this leaves children able to touch each other's food and vulnerable to cross contamination.

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

Staff invite teachers from local schools to come and see the children at play in surroundings that they are confident in. Staff share their learning records with the teacher to support children's individual progress. This system helps to promote children's transitions to their next stage of learning and enables them to be well prepared for the move to school.

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provision

The management are not fulfilling their responsibilities in meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and therefore cannot ensure children are safe. The inspection followed a concern being raised about the status of the committee and about making sure they fully understand their roles and responsibilities. The committee has recently changed and Ofsted has not received sufficient information on the new members of the committee within the prescribed time period. The committee is unaware of the required action to be taken, and of the reporting procedures if an allegation made about a member of staff or an adult who has regular contact with children. These are breaches of legal requirements and impede the safe management of the pre-school. In addition, the provider does not meet the requirements of the Childcare Register.

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provision

Currently the self-evaluation process of the pre-school is weak, as it lacks rigour and fails to involve parents. The committee does not adequately monitor the pre-school to assess the strengths of setting and the areas of improvement. They have yet to put in place appropriate arrangements for the support and supervision of the manger. However, the manager undertakes suitable monitoring of the staff and provides opportunities for staff to discuss any issues relating to the welfare of the children. She reviews the planning and assessment of children's learning to ensure children are making as much progress as they can. The staff group review the effectiveness of the routine. For example, they have reviewed the operation of snack time and decided that it is currently working as children can sit and have a conversation with their friends. The manager has a good working relationship with other professionals and ensures children are referred for further support,

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provision

Staff ensure that the premises are a suitable and a positive learning environment for the children However, the toilets are not suitably private to protect the dignity of the children using them. This limits ways children can learn to keep themselves safe.

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provision

Parents spoken to on the day of inspection report that they are happy with the service the pre-school provides. A parent commented how pleased and grateful she was as the staff had alerted her to a health issue that was quickly addressed with their support.

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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:

 keep and implement a written statement of procedures to be followed for the protection of children, intended to safeguard the children being cared for from abuse or neglect (compulsory part of the Childcare Register) .  maintain effective systems to ensure the registered person is suitable to work with children, which must include obtaining an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check, is of integrity and good character, has skills and experience suitable for the work, is physically and mentally fit for the work (compulsory part of the Childcare Register).  ensure that the premises and equipment used for the purposes of the childcare are safe and suitable for that childcare (compulsory part of the Childcare Register).  keep and implement a written statement of procedures to be followed for the protection of children, intended to safeguard the children being cared for from abuse or neglect (voluntary part of the Childcare Register).

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

 maintain effective systems to ensure the registered person; is suitable to work with children which must include obtaining an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check, is of integrity and good character, has skills and experience suitable for the work, is physically and mentally fit for the work (voluntary part of the Childcare Register).  ensure that the premises and equipment used for the purposes of the childcare are safe and suitable for that 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 108439 Local authority Windsor & Maidenhead Inspection number 922487 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 24 Number of children on roll 52 Name of provider Beehive Pre-School Committee Date of previous inspection 21/06/2011 Telephone number 01628 777243

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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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