St John's Pre-School

St John's Preschool The Church Hall, Ripley Road, Worthing, BN11 5NQ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 27/09/2013 13/05/2010

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 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 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 Highly effective partnerships between all those involved in the preschool mean that all children are exceptionally well supported and as a result, make very good progress.  The highly reflective staff team are constantly striving to improve their preschool and as a result, children benefit from stimulating and motivating ideas and initiatives that enrich their learning.  Knowledgeable staff provide exceptionally good support for children as they play, this means that all children feel valued and appreciated as they play alongside their friends.  The fully embedded key person system means that staff know the families of their children very well and are able to provide nurturing support that goes beyond the child's time at preschool.  The calm, cooperative atmosphere created by staff during the preschool session means that children immerse themselves in their play without interruption; and as a result can

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This provision is outstanding

develop their play ideas fully and with confidence.  High quality teaching from well qualified staff means that all children can develop to their full potential.

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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 observed activities in the main play area and in both garden areas.  The inspector carried out a joint observation of practice with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to several parents and carers and listened to their views. The inspector also read letters and cards written to the staff by parents and took the comments included into account.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked a range of documentation including children's assessment records, staff records, policies and procedures and the preschool action plans.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to staff and checked their understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities.

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Information about the setting

St John's Pre-School first opened in 1970 and re-registered in 2009. It is run by a governing body appointed by the church. The preschool operates from the main hall and one other room in St John's Hall in Worthing, West Sussex. Children have access to an enclosed outdoor play area. There is level access to the hall and disabled toilet facilities are available. The preschool is open from Monday to Friday, term time only from 9am to 12pm. There are currently 33 children aged from two to four years on roll; children attend different times of the week. The preschool is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education to children aged two, three and four years old. The preschool supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. The preschool employs eight staff including the manager. Seven staff hold appropriate early years qualifications, including one who is a qualified

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Information about the setting

teacher. The preschool is registered by Ofsted on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. The preschool receives support from the local authority.

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

 further develop existing ideas regarding the ways in which children can celebrate their own achievements at the end of each preschool session.

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who attend

Staff are extremely knowledgeable about the variety of ways in which children learn and provide plenty of exciting resources and opportunities for individualised exploration and development. This means that children, without exception, are motivated and excited to learn. Children are able to access all areas of the curriculum both indoors and outside and so those who learn better outdoors are very easily able to do so. Staff encourage children to move resources around and make the preschool 'their own' by making play spaces as they want them to be. Consequently, children move chairs and rugs around inside the hall to make 'camps' for their toys and then explain to staff what they are doing and why it is important for their game. Staff are enthusiastic and entirely respectful of children's ideas and facilitate wishes whenever possible. As a result, children feel confident and are ambitious in their play, which means they can lead their own learning and make excellent

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who attend

progress. Children use old cameras in their play and arrange their friends and the staff into groups so that they can 'picture' them. Staff demonstrate that they value the imaginative play by saying 'Is it a good picture?' and then by pretending to admire the pictures when children show them. This means that children thrive and feel that their ideas are valued. Staff currently display children's work on the boards in the main hall. They are looking to extend this further, to enable children to show their parents what they had done during the morning. The highly impressive staff team understand the importance of involving themselves in play and do this sensitively and to great effect and the beneficial impact on the children is significant. Staff listen attentively to children's ideas and are meticulous in their efforts to enable the children to play as they wish to. For example, staff join in creatively with an imaginative game finding a suitable place for 'Rapunzel to relax' and

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who attend

allow children to direct them so that they recognise that they are taking the children's ideas seriously.

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who attend

All staff demonstrate great skill in knowing when to join in with games and when to allow children to be independent in their play, this means that all children are extremely well supported and make very good progress as a result. Staff know the children exceptionally well and are skilful in their ability to offer different levels of support to different children simultaneously. Consequently, children are able to play alongside their peers in and extremely nurturing and relaxing environment. Staff take every opportunity to promote learning for the children as part of their everyday experience. For example, staff use a group register time as a chance to talk about positional language; asking children 'Who is behind...? Who is in front of...? Who is sitting beside... And who is sitting on top of...?' Such activities encourage all children to develop their mathematical skills in an exemplary way. Children develop very good physical skills because staff encourage them to run,

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who attend

jump, climb, balance and throw with interesting garden games. Staff monitor the use of the outdoor space very effectively and encourage children to choose different activities each day to enable them to develop different physical skills.

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who attend

Staff make regular and accurate assessments of the children in their care and share these with parents and carers which means that everyone knows what is being worked on with each child. Staff then use what they know extremely effectively to plan activities for children that they know they will enjoy and that will help them to make excellent progress. Staff differentiate activities very well using skilful questioning for individuals and by grouping particular children together from time to time. More formal 'focused activities' for children are carefully planned to enable all abilities to gain the best possible learning experience. These differentiated sessions include focused phonics activities for children in preparation for school enabling all children to be exceptionally well-prepared for the next stage of their learning.

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

The fully embedded key person system means that all children and their families are supported in an exemplary way. Staff make families feel important and valued so families feel that highly impressive professionals nurture their children. Communication and feedback between home and the preschool is excellent and parents comment that the staff are 'friendly, approachable and always have time to talk'. This collaborative working impacts significantly on the well-being of children because they know that everyone around them wants them to do well. Staff provide support to families for as long as they need it, including after their child has left the setting. This unlimited support means that staff give children the best possible start in their learning.

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

Inspirational staff encourage children to play cooperatively together enabling them to immerse themselves in their play and develop their play ideas fully and with confidence. Children help each other at snack time when staff are helping others showing that they have learnt how to be supportive from the staff around them. Staff model behaviour strategies for children such as showing them how to join in with a game that has already started by saying 'What is the game, how do you play it?' Staff then retreat to a discrete distance to allow children to test out these strategies with their peers thereby ensuring that all children are included each other in play activities.

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

Staff create a calm and cooperative atmosphere, both indoors and outside, for the children to enjoy which is both highly stimulating and very interesting. This means that children want to play together, they want to join in and they want to be part of the fun that is on offer to them. Staff fully understand their responsibilities regarding safeguarding and so children are very well protected as they play. Staff enable children to be independent as they move freely between the play areas so children are confident and show consideration towards others as they play. Staff manage behaviour sensitively and with clear explanations so that children know why they are being told to stop doing something. For example, when children ask to show staff their jumping off a step staff tell them that it isn't safe; but then ask to see them jumping on the floor because they would 'really like to see them jumping'. Such sensitive interventions enable children to learn to manage their

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

own risk extremely well. Children are exceptionally well prepared for the next stages of their learning as the key people ensure that all information is handed over, and understood, before they pass on their responsibility.

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provision

The management of the preschool is inspirational. Managers support their staff team sensitively leading by example as they work alongside them. Staff weaknesses are quickly identified and excellent support strategies ensure that all staff develop to an extremely high standard. The staff team are highly reflective practitioners who constantly strive to achieve the best outcomes for the children in their care. This means that children benefit from a range of motivating experiences.

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provision

Staff, parents and children contribute to the extremely thorough self-evaluation process, which results in termly action plans identifying areas for improvement and enhancement. Parents give feedback verbally and through regular questionnaires which ask for their response to new initiatives. At the time of inspection parents were being asked to evaluate a new 'book bag' scheme for the children and parents had the opportunity to decide how, and if the scheme should continue. Parents speak very highly of the staff and greatly appreciate that staff value and recognise their opinions. This highly effective partnership working benefits the children who thrive within in. The church governors provide excellent support for the manager who has confidence in them and their commitment to children. When new staff are recruited robust vetting procedures ensure that they are suitable to work with children.

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provision

Staff know the children in their care extremely well and their observations and assessments of them are regular, precise and accurate. Children's learning journals provide an excellent picture of the developmental stage of each individual and are an invaluable document for parents charting their child's preschool years. Staff scrutinise the assessments and look for patterns of achievement and adapt their practice accordingly. This attention to detail means that all children, whatever their ability, thrive and make excellent progress. The progress check for two year old children is fully in place and is shared with parents as required.

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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 EY402776 Local authority West Sussex Inspection number 844903 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 5 Total number of places 26 Number of children on roll 33 Name of provider St John The Divine Church of England Church Date of previous inspection 13/05/2010 Telephone number 07708830733

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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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