Kings Meadow Pre-School

Kings Meadow Pre-School 75 Hampden Road, KINGSTON UPON THAMES, Surrey, KT1 3HG

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 30/09/2013 07/05/2013

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 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 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 The staff team use assessment very effectively to identify and target gaps and talents in children's achievement, so that all children achieve their potential.  Staff support children very well through the provision of a well organised and resourced indoor play environment. Staff are extremely successful in helping children develop critical thinking skills, independence and creativity.  Staff support children's personal, social and emotional needs exceptionally well through periods of change and in understanding and managing feelings.  Leadership make very effective use of self-evaluation to identify and target priorities for improvement. Arrangements for supporting staff's professional development lead to a continuously improving provision.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 The pre-school is still in the progress of targeting the recommendation for improving the outdoor play area set at their last, but very recent inspection.  Staff have not fully considered how to involve children in planning the new pre-school premises at a deeper level.

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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 observed children's play and activities in the indoor and outdoor play area.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to the provider, manager and staff and undertook a joint observation of children's play with the manager.  The inspector spoke to parents, taking account of their views.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector scrutinised selected children's learning and development and welfare records, sampled the pre-school's safeguarding policies and procedures and staff suitability records. The inspector also looked at the quality assurance documents.

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Information about the setting

Kings Meadow Pre-School opened in March 2007 and usually operates from a single storey building located in Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey. This premises comprises of three main play rooms, a separate dining area where meals are eaten, and use of an adjoining hall where soft play equipment is set out daily. There is access to an enclosed outdoor play area. The pre-school is situated in a residential area on the outskirts of Kingston town centre. However, due to a fire at the premises, the pre-school is currently using the adjacent hall where all children are grouped together. This is temporary. The pre-school operates between 8am and 6pm each weekday for 51 weeks of the year, excluding Bank holidays. The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register. There are currently 34 children in the early years age range on roll. The pre-school supports a number of children with English as an additional language and children with learning difficulties and/or

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Information about the setting

disabilities. Children aged two, three and four receive funding for free nursery education. There are five members of staff working at the pre-school, including the manager. The manager has an Early Years Degree and Early Years Professional Status. Two members of staff hold early years qualifications to National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) at level 2 and two have a Level 3.

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

 engage children at a more deeper level in planning their new pre-school environment, for instance enable them to plan and then build a small-scale model to reflect their thoughts and ideas as part of the project.

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who attend

All children, including those learning English as an additional language and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities make at least good progress in their learning and development based on their starting points. In some aspects, children make outstanding progress. Staff provide children with a highly enabling indoor play and learning environment. The nursery was recently badly affected by a fire. Babies, toddlers and pre-school age children are currently cared for in one hall whereas previously there were three group rooms. This makes staffs organisation and resourcing of the environment all the more impressive. However, resourcing and planning for the outdoors is not given the same attention by staff as that for indoors. Children are assigned a key member of staff who, in partnership with parents, complete regular observations and assessments on children's learning and development. Staff's observations of children are

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who attend

astute. Systems for assessing children's starting points on entry and progress towards the early learning goals are precise and comprehensive. Staff use all the information they gather very well to identify and target gaps in achievement and to plan for each child's individual learning journey. The nursery's special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) works closely with children's key person and parents to secure external support for children, such as speech therapy, or a statement of special educational needs before they start school. Staff use particular strategies, such as the 'picture exchange communication system' for supporting all children's personal, social and emotional and communication and language needs.

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who attend

Parents are provided with a high level of information about their child's learning and development and are well advised about ways to support children's learning at home. For example, they loan activity packs put together by staff to take home for the weekend. Parents receive regular newsletters and attend regular consultations with their child's key person to review and plan for children's progress. This means parents are highly involved in their children's learning and development.

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who attend

Children have access to a wide range of natural resources and creative materials. Children use these brilliantly to support their self-initiated play. For example, they make a basket to carry their conkers in. Staff help children to consider what they need by making careful comments and asking open-ended questions. As a result, children cut down a cereal box, seal the bottom with glue and tape and twist long pieces of tissue paper, which they secure to form a handle. After loading a few conkers into their basket, the children decide 'it might break,' so replace the contents with 'light' feathers instead. This is an example of how staff successfully support children's progress in multiple areas of learning. Staff initiate some activities, but these are also always based on children's interests or recent experiences. For example, children become enthralled by the classic fairytale, 'Goldilocks and the three bears'. Staff respond to this by helping children recreate the story for

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who attend

themselves. They make life-size cut-outs of the characters and find three different sized pieces of furniture to represent large, medium and small size beds. They create hard, soft and 'just right' chairs using different materials. Staff help children turn this all into a book with the use of a camera. The story is prominently displayed hanging on the wall in the book corner showing children have well developed writing skills. Small-scale projects such as this provide children with access to all areas learning and are very much enjoyed by the children. Although staff encourage children to share their views and ideas for the new premises opportunities to turn this into a large-scale project, for instance whereby children plan and record their ideas, has not been fully explored.

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who attend

Staff provide a wide range of activities for babies and toddlers that encourage them to use their senses, for instance they make patterns and marks using their fingers and hands in cornflour and water. They explore weight as they handle natural items and everyday objects. Young children enjoy feeding and putting dolls to bed, using their imaginations well. Children confidently engage in singing and action rhymes and listen to stories because staff use props to sustain their interest. These experiences help develop children's language and literacy skills and help them gain good skills for their future learning.

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

Children are cared for by a team of dedicated and caring staff. On entering the pre-school it is evident straight away that children are all fully absorbed and busy engaging in high quality play and learning. The key-person system is currently very effective. Staff know the children and parents well and relationships at all levels are warm and trusting. Children are helped to settle into nursery life through a gradual parent-child separation process. Children's levels of well-being and involvement are comprehensively assessed, in partnership with parents, during this period. For example, staff note children's particular interests, such as for emptying and filling containers with water, so then plan to provide different resources for them to empty and fill. Children learning English as an additional language are helped to understand the routine of the day through a picture timetable. Staff find out from parents all about the home routines of babies and ensure they receive

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

consistent care. Children are closely monitored while sleeping. Staff use specialist resources, such as a life-sized rag doll puppet to encourage children to talk about their feelings. They work closely with parents to help children overcome particular anxieties, such as about the texture of food, through carefully planned introduction programmes.

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

In the past staff have not always followed the nursery's behaviour management policy, but the current staff team are extremely skilled in managing behaviour. They are kind and patient and use a range of specialist positive strategies. Squabbles between children are rare. Older children crouch down and gently remove toys from babies telling them 'it's tidy up time now'. Older children show caution as they move around the nursery to avoid accidentally falling onto younger children. Staff's use of project style planning encourages children to work together and, as a result, firm friendships develop. Children are proud of their own learning progress. They frequently review their learning journey, which is well documented in pictures and always accessible to them in the book corner. Staff prepare children for life changes, such as moving abroad and starting school. For example, parents are asked to provide photographs of children's new school for them to share with their

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

Staff fully discussed with parents how to help children understand about the fire that damaged the pre-school, also howthe smoke alarms protect children when they are present. The fire occurred overnight when children were not present.The damage was obviously upsetting for the children who find change difficult. Thepossible impacton children of the premises moves, of which there was two, was a concern for staff and parents, but has been handled very well by all. Children's understanding of fire safety is, as a result, very well developed. Children have been fully involved in helping to restore smoke damaged toys, for instance, by taking them home to wash with parents, photographing the before and after results.

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

Staff ensure children keep healthy and active by making the outdoor environment always accessible and promoting the importance of this to parents. Staff take children on outings, for example to collect nature items and staff make good use of the running track, which is adjacent to the nursery. The lanes are clearly marked with numbers and children enjoy 'being athletes' every year during the sponsored toddle run. Younger children have good opportunities to develop their mobility and coordination because the pre-school has a range of suitable climbing and balancing apparatus. There is less equipment for older children. However, they are sometimes taken to the local park by staff to access challenging apparatus and the outdoor play area is already a priority for improvement. Staff are always looking to find ways to enhance children's learning and understanding of safety. Children learn to use some small tools, such as trowels and forks for gardening,

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

scissors, and knives for cutting fruit, safely. Babies feed themselves with spoons and their hands. Older children all serve themselves first and second portions of lunch and use cutlery very competently. Staff ensure that meal times are a sociable occasion by seating children in small family groups with staff. Children's good independence skills prepare them well for school.

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provision

Leadership and management are united in their commitment to driving continuous improvement. They fully involve parents and children in the self-evaluation processes. Following the last inspection in June 2013, clear plans were put in place to improve the outdoor play and learning area. Management recognise the need to provide a wider range of tools and equipment and experiences to support children to carry out investigations and experiments particularly. Plans are also in place to create more 'talking corners', and for increasing the variety of technology resources, for example headphones, to enable children to listen to stories and in their first language. Staff receive regular one to one supervision from the manager whereby they review and evaluate the success of planning for individual children. This consistently leads to improved practice and successfully targets and closes gaps in children's achievement in preparation for school.

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provision

Management has rigorous procedures in place for recruiting, vetting and inducting staff and for supporting professional development needs through an appraisal process. Management has recently strengthened their procedures for dealing with any staff underperformance. However although there are strong indicators that these are now effective, it is still early days. New staff are allocated a mentor who supports them in completing their first observational assessments on children and in carrying out their first parent consultation. Weaknesses in staff practice are identified and well supported. The pre-school uses provision for coaching and local authority training courses. Staff are encouraged and supported to develop their knowledge and skills through training and achieve higher level qualifications. Leadership makes good use of team meetings to introduce staff to early years child development theories and to train staff in using

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provision

Management are secure in their understanding of their responsibility to safeguard and promote children's welfare. All required policies and procedures are in place and are well implemented by staff. Child protection and behaviour management training is mandatory for all staff who update this at least every three years. Staff fully understand their responsibility to act on concerns about children's welfare and for sharing information, where appropriate, with external agencies. Staff also understand their responsibilities to report any concerns about the behaviour of colleagues, where appropriate. Management ensure that staff's use of risk assessment is effective in minimising accidents to children. There are clear and effective procedures in place for staff to follow to ensure children's safety on outings. Although adult to child ratios are always high on outings because parents attend as well, there is a clear procedure in place for responding to a lost child

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provision

The pre-school has well established and effective procedures for working in partnership with parents and external agencies. Parents are well informed about all the policies and procedures, including the complaints process, safeguarding children and how the learning and development requirements are delivered. Parents report high levels of satisfaction about the pre-school. They highlight the exciting ways in which staff help children to learn and the way that management handled the fire issues as key strengths. All parents demonstrate that they are fully familiar with children's individual learning plans and say they appreciate the advice and support provided by staff to enable them to support children's learning and development at home.

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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 EY348316 Local authority Kingston upon Thames Inspection number 931778 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 45 Number of children on roll 34 Name of provider Karen Audrey Cox Date of previous inspection 07/05/2013 Telephone number 020 8547 0272

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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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