St Mary's Under 5's Preschool

St Mary's Under 5's Preschool St. Marys under 5's Pre-School, Recreation Ground, London Road, GREENHITHE, Kent, DA9 9DQ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 25/09/2013 03/05/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 Previous inspection: 1 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

 Staff use excellent procedures to enable them to form very strong bonds with their key children, which clearly promotes children's well-being.  Staff use the space and equipment extremely well to provide for all aspects of children's care and learning.  Staff are excellent at encouraging children to be confident and independent with the choices they make when selecting their own toys and activities.  All adults involved with the children have an excellent understanding of how to safeguard children at all times.  Staff use excellent procedures to engage with parents and other professionals to support children's development.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections of registered early years provision are:  scheduled at least once in every inspection cycle – the current cycle ends on 31 July

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Information about this inspection

 scheduled more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged inadequate  brought forward in the inspection cycle where Ofsted has received information that suggests the provision may not be meeting the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage or where assessment of the provision identifies a need for early inspection  prioritised where we have received information that the provision is not meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and which suggests children may not be safe  scheduled at the completion of an investigation into failure to comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled a range of documentation including children's records, safeguarding procedures and risk assessments.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector had in-depth discussions with the special educational needs coordinator, some parents, staff and children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed the interaction between staff and children, and children and their peers.

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Information about the setting

St Mary's Under Fives Pre-school is run by a parent committee and has been operating since 1980. The pre-school has sole use of a purpose built building which consists of two large play rooms divided by a sliding partition, a quiet / sensory room, toilet facilities, kitchen, office and staff room. There are two fully enclosed outside play areas. The pre- school is open each weekday for morning sessions from 8.30am to 11.30am and afternoon sessions from 12.15pm to 3.15pm, term time only. The group provides a lunch club for children attending. The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register. There are currently 47 children on roll. The pre-school receives funding to provide nursery education for children aged three and four years and for two-year-olds who meet the funding criteria. The pre-school supports a number of children who have Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. A

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Information about the setting

team of 10 staff (including the manager) are employed to work with the children, seven of whom hold a National Vocation Qualification at Level 3 or above. The manager holds an Early Years Professional (BA Hons) Degree. The deputy manager is an accredited Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator.

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

 strengthen the procedures for settling children who are learning English as an additional language into the setting.

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who attend

Staff are very professional in their dealings with children and are excellent role models who help children become enthusiastic learners. They demonstrate an excellent understanding of how young children learn and about children's expected levels of development. Their accurate and precise observations and assessments of children are used to excellent effect as they support children in the next stages of their learning. Key persons take particular account of children's starting points and capabilities. For example, during the child's first term the key person concentrates heavily on each child's levels of communication, physical capabilities and personal development. This allows them to plan exciting and interesting educational programmes tailored to each child's needs. By doing this staff help children make rapid progress in all areas of learning.

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who attend

Staff provide highly interesting activities for the children. For example, children thoroughly enjoy the nature garden and the mud kitchen, which allows them to investigate different aspects of nature and the effects of the sun on the earth. They particularly like watching the mini beasts in the log piles and building shelters and wigwams, which they paint and personalise with delight. Children understand about different aspects of technology. They talk about why equipment will not work if the batteries run out. They access the computers, both real and pretend, to do work and operate programmes very competently. Children demonstrate independence at snack time by preparing their snack and pouring their own drinks. They like to be helpful, often pouring drinks for others, too. The pre- school is a recognised Every Child a Talker (ECAT) setting, helping other settings in the area, too. The staff engage in excellent conversations with children to develop their

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who attend

communication and language skills. For example, discussions at the snack table show that children are keen to share information with staff and each other as they discuss their families and home lives. They confidently talk about the activities they use and what they are going to do next.

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who attend

Books are a firm favourite with the children. Books are available in all areas of the setting to reinforce children's learning. Children choose their own stories to read with friends and enthusiastically join in at group story times. Children make scarecrows from twigs and sticks to link with their favourite songs and stories as well as coinciding with the festival of Halloween. Children access the excellent range of different sized construction toys. They use the smaller sets to make road layouts and buildings inside and the larger blocks to create real bridges and stepping stones outside. A wide range of interesting outdoor play equipment is made available to the children. Practitioners demonstrate that they have high expectations of children and motivate them extremely well. The extensive range of activities already assessed in the children's progress records demonstrates this. Children demonstrate they are keen and interested learners who are always eager to show parents

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who attend

Parents are highly engaged in their children's learning. They attend regular progress reviews, engaging in extensive conversations with their child's key person and show a great interest in how the setting benefits their children. Staff always consider a child's move to school well in advance and work with specialist teachers when necessary to ensure the process goes smoothly. Staff advise parents about activities they can do at home to prepare children for school and provide a wealth of role play and school discussions with children. Records show that all children are making excellent progress in their learning given their individual abilities and needs. Children have a highly stimulating time at the setting.

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

Parents report that children cannot wait to attend their play sessions. They also report that they and their children receive a really warm welcome from staff each morning. Staff use an extremely good range of strategies and procedures to help children settle into the setting. A photo key ring is given to the child at the very first meeting they have with their key person. This means children have a constant reminder of what their key person looks like, which helps them to become familiar with them. Children attend for a variety of planned taster sessions and on their first day have the exclusive attention of their key person. This allows the children to form very strong bonds with their key person and for the staff to get to know children extremely well. All children, including new starters demonstrate they feel at home in the setting through their body language and demeanours. However, staff miss some opportunities to fully support children who are

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

learning English as an additional language. For example, they do not provide the children with additional resources to support their communication, such as picture request cards, on their first day. However, the children's transition into the setting is excellent overall.

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

Staff teach children to respect each other and their toys extremely well. Children quickly learn the setting's simple golden rules, such as, being kind, and being careful. They only need very gentle reminders from staff about their behaviour. Children are eager to be helpful and happily engage in tidying away toys at the end of the session. As children play they show high levels of control in their own behaviour whilst sharing toys and activities. This is very evident when children are sharing the tree trunk stepping stones where heightened levels of risk are involved. Children's safety is a high priority to the staff. The comprehensive risk assessments show that the staff have considered the best possible use of the environments to ensure children's safety. Children play outside in all weathers to experience the different climates and can recognise the difference this has on activities. For example, they know extra care is needed when the floor and equipment is wet. The

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

children can explore and investigate the play areas freely, developing cooperation and confidence. Children are involved in setting the group rules. They have helped compile new ones for use in the garden. This means that children have a voice in how the setting operates. Non-verbal behaviour prompts are used to excellent effect, displayed around the room. Children demonstrate they can manage their own behaviour.

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

Children know the settings excellent routines for staying healthy. For example, they take themselves to the toilet, use the hand washing procedures frequently and can tell staff about the use of sun creams and wearing hats in the garden. They have excellent opportunities to talk to staff about fresh food as they help prepare snack and can explain to visitors about the effects of physical play on their bodies. Children experience a healthy lifestyle at the setting.

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provision

The provider employs an excellent, professional staff team to operate the setting on a day-to-day basis. Staff use very effective procedures to safeguard children. All staff, including volunteers, demonstrates an excellent understanding of the setting's internal reporting procedures. Managers use the procedures to make referrals and notifications to the relevant authorities in a timely manner. All staff have an enhanced disclosure issued by the Criminal Records Bureau or, more recently, with the Disclosure and Barring Service. The staff meticulously maintain the setting's accident, incident, medication and attendance records. This shows that the safeguarding of children is a high priority at the setting.

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provision

The committee and the manager use excellent procedures to ensure that only suitable staff work with the children. They also aid staff with obtaining their professional qualifications. Staff undertake regular training in child protection and first aid. The manager provides an exemplary timetable for morning briefings, one-to-one staff meetings, staff performance reviews, appraisals and induction meetings with new staff. Her training budget allows her to prioritise training for each member of staff. Therefore, a professional workforce cares for children. The manager is also very effective in monitoring the excellent educational programme and the children's progress records. The manager has implemented a number of changes to the progress reporting to allow her to monitor the individual children's progress more effectively. For example, she uses a computer tracking tool supplied by the local authority. She also uses this to monitor the progress of

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provision

individual and different groups of children to ensure that she can target any areas where children's progress is less than expected. Therefore, staff are highly effective in helping to close any gaps in children's learning.

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provision

Staff are outstanding in their partnership working, both with parents and with other health and education professionals. They work tirelessly to support children in all areas of their development and learning. The setting's accredited special education needs coordinator (SENCO) liaises consistently with the Specialist Teaching Services to ensure children receive the appropriate services to cater for their needs. Staff consult parents about all aspects of their children's care. These include notifying parents of how the environment will cater for their children's needs and any planned changes to it. The key person and the SENCO work with parents to support their children at home, too. These procedures involve home support visits if parents feel they can help. Parents receive a excellent range of information about how the setting operates and expected parental involvement. The manager enrols parents to help her review policies and procedures. Her aims are to make

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provision

all paperwork more user-friendly and reduce the use of jargon. This benefits the children because parents have an excellent understanding of how the setting cares for children.

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provision

The committee and manager carry out a highly effective evaluation of the setting. They regularly consult with staff, parents, other interested professionals and children to gain their views. The resulting improvement plans demonstrate that the setting has a strong desire to improve their already outstanding provision. For example, they have ambitious plans to improve the large outdoor play space to give children a more challenging experience in the outdoor area. Therefore, children benefit from the evaluation process because staff improve their experiences extremely well.

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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 EY420241 Local authority Kent Inspection number 913089 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 5 Total number of places 40 Number of children on roll 47 Name of provider St Marys Under Fives Playgroup Committee Date of previous inspection 03/05/2011 Telephone number 01322275442

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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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