Iver Village Preschool

Iver Village Pre -School High Street, Iver, Buckinghamshire, SL0 9QA

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 10/07/2013 23/06/2011

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early years provision

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

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This provision is satisfactory

 A superb, rich and inviting indoor environment ignites children's interests to play and learn.  Children are well behaved and show good relationships with their key people who tune in successfully to support their emotional well-being.  Children are well-motivated and enthusiastic learners during their child-initiated play activities, especially when playing in the creative area.  Parents report on the good communication and how much their children enjoy attending the pre-school.

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It is not yet good because

 The safeguarding policy and procedures, regarding phones, cameras and allegations being made against a member of staff and the action to be taken, are not clear or fully understood.  Management is not effectively monitoring the quality of the teaching and learning to ensure every child's next steps are being included successfully into the planning.  Supervision arrangements and systems to promote teamwork and a drive for improvement are not robust.  The system to gain children's developmental starting points on entry to pre-school is not robust.

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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 play and learning activities and tracked children, indoors and out.  The inspector undertook a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector had discussions with the manager and deputy regarding leadership and management.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at a sample of children's progress records, planning and had discussions with staff relating to safeguarding and welfare.  The inspector spoke to some parents to gain their views of the setting.

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Information about the setting

Iver Village Pre-school first opened in 1981 and registered in 1997. It operates from the community rooms in the grounds of Iver Junior School and is owned and run by a private individual. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area. The pre- school is registered on the Early Years Register and on the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register.

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Information about the setting

The pre-school is open each weekday for sessional and full day care from 9am until 3pm during school term times. The times that children can attend are flexible. Children attend from the local and surrounding areas.

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Information about the setting

There are currently 65 children aged from two to under five years on roll. Some children receive funding for early education. The pre-school is able to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and children who speak English as an additional language. The nursery employs 14 staff. Eleven members of staff hold an early years National Vocational Qualification at Level 2 and 3.There is disabled access to the building but no disabled toilet facilities inside.

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must:

 ensure the safeguarding policy and procedures, regarding mobile phones, cameras, allegations being made against a member of staff and action to be taken, are clear and fully understood

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must:

 monitor the delivery of the educational programme so that staff consider the individual needs, interests and stage of development of each child and use this information to plan challenging and enjoyable experiences for each child in all areas of learning and development

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must:

 improve arrangements for self-evaluation and the supervision of staff who have contact with children and families by providing regular opportunities for mutual support, teamwork and continuous improvement.

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

 strengthen arrangements to gain a full picture of children's developmental starting points on entry to pre-school.

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who attend

Children are keen to be at pre-school and very much enjoy their child-led play activities in the stimulating environment. Staff are sympathetic to children and demonstrate they have a secure knowledge and understanding of how young children learn. However, the interaction and teaching support children receive from staff is satisfactory, overall. For example, children are highly engaged in the creative area for a long time. They independently squeeze paint from bottles into little pots, mix colours, use tools to paint pictures and some use a spinner to see the effect of paint on paper. The adult encourages colour recognition and sharing of resources, but does not use this opportunity to introduce new vocabulary such as 'maroon', to discuss different shades of colours, or to encourage children to write their own name on their paper. Some challenge is offered, such as when the adult asks what their picture is they respond, 'fireworks' but the conversation is not

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who attend

continued. This means staff do not encourage children's language further so they do not have many opportunities to express their own thoughts and ideas. The excellent, well set up creative area means that children can use their imagination to design and make pictures from their own ideas. Children's very good art work and drawings are valued by the staff, for example, when they draw a recognisable whale, they receive praise. There is a system to track children's progress towards the early learning goals and to identify their next learning steps. However, not all staff can encourage children's learning aims successfully in their practice. Children are involved and listen well during the registration time. They are encouraged to count the whole group by pointing, but this is not in a meaningful way to them, especially for those who are at a different stage in learning. This is because some children are not able to count up to 17 and therefore are

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who attend

not able to join in. The adult uses teddy puppets with different facial expressions to encourage the children to talk about feelings. Children are given time to talk and communicate, especially the confident speakers, who relate different feelings to their own experiences and home life.

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who attend

Children engage in a variety of play and learning activities outside. For example, children explore the sand, using a range of tools, which has been spread on a canvas and laid out like a beach with deck chairs around. Boys choose to sit at tables outside and tell the visitor confidently about their own art work, naming accurately two dimensional shapes, showing their understanding of mathematics. Children in the home corner talk about numbers and recognise numerals in the environment, which are significant to them, because they can see them easily. The special educational needs coordinator plans small group language sessions, using puppets as aids to communication, to help those children with speech and language delay to make progress. Children with special educational needs are making progress, but because the quality of the teaching overall is satisfactory, further challenge is not always available to them. Children learn to understand the world around

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who attend

them and can talk confidently about when they had the tadpoles in pre-school from observing the pictures on display. They explain to the visitor 'They (the tadpoles) grew into little frogs and big frogs.' Overall, children acquire the skills they need to help them in the next stage of their learning. Children are learning to link alphabet letters and sounds to objects through some excellent resources, to recognise their own names and communicate with others. They develop self-care skills that they will need to give them independence when they go to school.

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

Children are happy and form secure, positive relationships with staff and other children. This is because most staff are effective and understanding with regards to children's personal, social and emotional needs. The adults are quick to notice new children who feel sad; they get down to their level, pick them up, cuddle them and say, 'Shall we take you to your key person?' Once children feel emotionally secure again, after lots of cuddles from their key person, they engage them in purposeful play which helps the children to settle and become actively involved. This means children become confident and are happy to engage in self-chosen play activities.

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

Children behave well and know the boundaries and the health and safety routines. For example, they follow the hand-washing routine before and after eating and confidently tell the visitor about what they have to do. Children know the routines very well and are becoming very independent. For example, they use tissues themselves because tissue boxes are easily available to them and children are encouraged to throw the tissues away after use. Children freely access the water station, independently throughout the morning when they feel thirsty.

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

Staff remind children about how to play safely outdoors, but the risks they take, such as balancing on the stepping stone logs, means that minor accidents occur more often outdoors than indoors. Staff offer children care, attention and first aid. They record all accidents, and share these with parents to offer continuity of care. Although children feel safe and secure, weaknesses in staff knowledge regarding safeguarding has an impact on the children's well-being. Children learn the importance of eating healthy food during their mid-morning snack because a good variety of fruit is on offer as well as toast. There is good attention to promoting children's physical development with children making choices about indoor or outdoor play. Children enjoy the outdoor play, which has been set up under shady areas to keep children safe in the sun. Some groups of children enjoy the challenge of the climbing wall on the large equipment, while smaller equipment is

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

available for the younger children. Staff play and interact with children, encouraging them to throw and catch balls, developing their physical skills. Overall, the pre-school offers a very stimulating and enabling play environment that is colourful, attractive and highly welcoming, particularly indoors. Children's art work is displayed, which impacts on their sense of belonging and emotional security. Good quality play resources are available for all ages of children and learning areas are well set up, which has a positive impact on some aspects of children's all round development.

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provision

Arrangements for safeguarding children are not yet robust, although everyone is trained in child protection and knows what to do if they are concerned about a child. Although there is a child protection policy in place it is not explicitly clear what the procedure is if an allegation is made against a member of staff and does not include the use of mobile phones and cameras. Management lacks experience and knowledge in these aspects of safeguarding children which has the potential to have a negative impact on children's care. This is a breach of a legal requirement. The requirements of the Childcare Register are also not fully met. Concerns were raised relating to the safeguarding and welfare of children, particularly with regard to the behaviour management of children and suitable people. During the inspection, most of the requirements were met including the main concerns, but systems are not yet sufficiently robust when conflict within the team occurs.

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provision

For example, there is a system for annual appraisals but supervision is informal and contracts are not explicitly clear regarding the use of social media. This has allowed inappropriate behaviour to occur among the staff, out of the hours of childcare, although confidentiality and children's safety have been maintained. The management team has not been proactive enough in reducing staff conflict and building a team of mutual respect, with joint positive goals of providing high quality childcare and education. Staff attend external training, but the way in which management develop each of the adult's skills and knowledge through monitoring and internal training, is not yet rigorous, particularly in relation to the monitoring of the teaching and learning programme and staff developing their skills. For example, management has not helped staff weave children's next steps into their practice and the planning system. Some self-evaluation takes place

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provision

with the team, although it is not wholly accurate. The pre-school's drive for improvement is not currently rigorous because of the conflicts in the staff team, which are being appropriately addressed. For example, the management team is in the process of updating staff contracts, improving how they do staff appraisals, and changing the registered person. The pre-school has a secure partnership with its parents, who report the staff are friendly and communicative. Each key person has a meeting with the family when they first start at the setting to discuss each child's needs and developmental starting points. However, the information is not recorded so sometimes not all the staff have a full knowledge of each child particularly when they change key person or are not skilled enough to ask parents the right questions. Learning records and children's developmental progress is regularly shared with parents. Parents are involved in children's learning at

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provision

home, for example, they are encouraged to teach their child 10 rhymes in the 'Rhyme time challenge'. Parents are then invited in to proudly listen to the children's singing performance. The pre-school liaises appropriately with agencies that support children with disabilities and the local school. For example, they meet together to discuss individual education plans and the teachers visit for the school leavers.

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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)  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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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 108027 Local authority Buckinghamshire Inspection number 926434 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 8 - 2 Total number of places 32 Number of children on roll 65 Name of provider Sandra Davis Date of previous inspection 23/06/2011 Telephone number 01753 654859

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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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