Hamilton Pre-School

Hamilton Pre-School Holymead Junior School Annexe, Wick Road, Brislington, Bristol, BS4 4HP

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 20/06/2013 08/07/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 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 4 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 4

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This provision is inadequate

 The provider has failed to notify Ofsted of changes to the nominated person, committee members and one of the persons in day-to-day charge of the pre-school.  Arrangements for safeguarding children are inadequate. Staff lack knowledge of safeguarding policies and procedures, and recruitment procedures are not robust. This puts children's welfare at risk.  Staff are not rigorous in assessing children's progress and do not plan challenging experiences to help them move on to the next stage in their learning and acquire the skills they will need for school.  Staff are not monitoring the progress of different groups of children. Consequently, children who are learning English as an additional language and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities are not making sufficient progress.  Managers are not monitoring staff practice sufficiently. Staff do not have a clear knowledge of how to implement the learning and development requirements as their

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This provision is inadequate

training and development needs are not identified and acted upon.  Self-evaluation is not rigorous as it fails to identify key weaknesses in the provision, both in safeguarding children and the learning and development requirements.  Drrinking water is not available for children to promote their good health.

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It has the following strengths

 Staff are warm and caring towards the children and this means they are happy, confident and settled in the pre-school.  Children behave well. They share, take turns and play with their friends, which demonstrate they form suitable attachments with staff and other children.

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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

 One inspector carried out the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed the children and staff during activities both indoors and outside.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector carried out a joint observation of an activity with one of the managers.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to staff and children at appropriate times throughout the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled documentation including policies, staff files and children's developmental records.

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Information about the setting

Hamilton Pre-School registered in 1995. It is situated in a classroom annexe of Holymead Junior School in Brislington, Bristol. The setting has disabled access and the activity rooms are on one level. Hamilton Pre-School provides care for children from the local area. The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register, the compulsory part of the Childcare Register and the voluntary part of the Childcare Register.

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Information about the setting

There are currently 52 children aged from three to five-years-old on roll. The group receives funding for the provision of free early education for children aged three and four years. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The pre-school cares for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who are learning English as an additional language.

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Information about the setting

The pre-school opens mornings and afternoons each weekday during term-times. Sessions are from 9am until 12 noon and from 12.30pm until 3.30pm. The group operates with six members of staff, of whom five staff have an early years qualification at level 3, and one member of staff is qualified at level 2.

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enforcement action:

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

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enforcement action:

improve staff knowledge of child protection issues so they can put in place and implement a policy and procedures to safeguard children and include the action to be taken in the event of an allegation being made against a staff member.

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enforcement action:

We will also issue a warning letter in relation to the failure to notify Ofsted of a change of committee members and change of manager. This is an offence.

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must:

 put in place effective systems to ensure that practitioners are suitable to work with children, to include vetting processes and a Disclosure and Barring Service check

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must:

 develop staff's knowledge of the learning and development requirements in order to observe children to understand their level of achievement, interests and learning styles and use this information to plan challenging experiences in all areas of learning and to ensure they are ready for school

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must:

 put in place arrangements for reviewing, monitoring and evaluating the achievement of all children, particularly those with special educational needs and/ or disabilities and those who learn English as an additional language in order to help them reach their full potential and narrow any achievement gaps

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must:

 ensure fresh drinking water is available and accessible at all times

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must:

 put in place appropriate arrangements for the supervision of staff and carry out regular staff appraisals to identify training needs and secure opportunities for continued professional development

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must:

 foster a culture of continuous improvement by reflecting on practice and identifying strengths and areas for development that will bring about continued improvements to the provision for all children

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who attend

Staff do not have a sufficient knowledge and understanding of the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage framework. They are not assessing children's progress across all areas of learning thoroughly and are not monitoring children's progress sufficiently. Although staff identify some next steps in learning for children, they do not plan for these and do not challenge and extend children's learning through adult-led and child-initiated activities. For example, when children play with finger puppets staff ask children what colour they are, rather than help them engage in imaginary play by asking them questions that have more than one answer. Children are expected to offer one-word correct answers. This limits the progress children are making in their learning as they are not always encouraged to express their thoughts and ideas. Staff gain some information from parents about their children's

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who attend

preferences and abilities when they start at the pre-school. Parents also take home activities to do with their children, such as 'listening ears', and this helps them to be involved in their child's learning.

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who attend

Children who are learning English as an additional language are not supported well enough in the pre-school. Although staff learn some key words to support children when settling in, staff are not helping children gain a sufficient command of English in readiness for school. Some children spend long periods engaged in solitary play, with little or no interaction from staff. When other children come and ask for a story, staff do not recognise those children who are also reading books and do not invite them to join in. This does not encourage children's personal and social development in making a wider group of friends. Despite the children having attended for a long time, they appear to have made little progress in their personal and social, and English language development. This means staff are not actively helping all children reach their full potential relative to their starting points or narrowing any achievement gaps. Nonetheless, children who are learning English

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who attend

as an additional language have some opportunities to play and talk with other children in their home language, which supports some language skills. Children with special educational needs have some appropriate levels of support in the group. Staff cater for the children's needs and put in place some suitable targets to help them reach their potential. However, at times, they do not fully focus on these targets and miss some opportunities to reinforce other aspects of children's learning. For example, at times staff do not repeat words correctly to help reinforce the correct pronunciation. When other children try and join in an activity they are guided away, which does not promote children's social development in playing with others. Overall, children are not acquiring the skills they will need for their move to school.

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who attend

Staff are warm and caring to the children and this helps children build suitable levels of confidence and positive self-esteem. In large group activities, children dance and move their bodies to the music. Children wiggle their bodies to the rhythms and move in different directions. This helps children develop suitable physical skills. They gain appropriate levels of concentration as they watch their friends play the guitars and sing along to the music they make. Staff teach children about the natural world as they plant, grow and tend various fruits and vegetables outside. Children know the plants need rain 'to make them grow' and that bees like flowers to get the 'juice from them to make honey'. However, staff miss some opportunities to widen children's vocabulary and do not use correct terms, such as 'pollen' instead of 'juice', and 'trowel' when children call it a 'spade'.

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

The failure to meet several safeguarding and welfare requirements mean that children's needs are not be met. These breaches have a negative impact on children's well-being and mean their safety cannot be assured.

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

Children have some opportunities to learn about healthy lifestyles. Children demonstrate that they enjoy physical activity as they request music and dance sessions. They have regular opportunities to go outside and play with a variety of equipment. Children play with tricycles, hoops and the school's climbing and balancing equipment in the adventure playground. These activities help promote children's physical skills. Children receive healthy snacks, although staff do not make the most of snack time to help develop children's independence. Staff give children a cracker and a knife with some soft cheese on it for them to spread. Staff do not encourage children to pass the plate around and help themselves to the food. In addition, there is no water available for the children to help themselves to when they are thirsty. Although staff say children can ask for water, when a child told a member of staff they were thirsty, children were told snack time is not

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

quite ready and they were not offered a drink. The lack of available water is a breach of a legal requirement and does not help children learn about how to manage their own needs.

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

The indoor environment is welcoming and child-friendly. There is a wide range of toys and resources available for the children and these are all stored at low level so children can choose what they wish to play with. Toy boxes are labelled with both pictures and words and this encourages children to learn that print carries meaning. There are also lots of bright displays of the children's own work and these help children feel that their creations are valued. Children are encouraged to learn about their own safety as staff offer gentle reminders when, for example, they climb on the wall outside. This helps children understand the consequences of their actions and how to play in safety. Children behave well. Staff are positive role models and are calm and respectful to the children and to one another. Staff, therefore, help children learn right from wrong.

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provision

Arrangements for safeguarding children are inadequate due to several breaches of requirements, some of which also relate to the Childcare Register. The provider has failed to notify Ofsted of changes to the nominated person, committee members and has not informed Ofsted of the name of one of the managers. It is a legal requirement to do so. This means Ofsted has not been able to carry out the required suitability checks on the nominated person or committee members to ensure they are suitable to have contact with children. In addition, Ofsted has not been able to update their records with the name of one of the managers. On this occasion, Ofsted intends to take enforcement action to ensure the correct notifications are made and appropriate forms are forwarded to Ofsted. In addition, the provider has failed to update the safeguarding children policy. Managers do not know the correct procedure to follow in the event of an allegation being made

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provision

against a member of staff. This jeopardises children's safety and well-being. Recruitment procedures are not robust. The provider has not requested a Disclosure and Barring Service check for a new member of staff. The managers state they have very recently requested a Criminal Records Bureau check, but as these no longer exist, it means checks have not been carried out. In addition, the provider has not requested any references for the new member of staff as this person is known to the pre-school. This demonstrates a lack of rigour in checking the suitability of new staff to be in contact with children and does not promote children's well-being.

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provision

Staff carry out regular safety checks of the premises and equipment and this means children can play in a safe and secure environment. Staff have an appropriate knowledge of the signs that indicate a child may be at risk of harm and the procedure they would follow if concerns arose. This helps to promote some aspects of children's welfare.

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provision

The managers and staff do not have a sufficient understanding of the learning and development requirements. They are not monitoring children's progress effectively or planning challenging experiences to help children move on to the next stage in their learning. In addition, staff are not monitoring the achievement of children with additional needs or those who learn English as an additional language. This results in children not making sufficient progress and they are not suitably prepared for school.

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provision

Self-evaluation is not effective in identifying key strengths and areas for development in the pre-school. Staff meet and talk about what activities have gone well and offer ideas for learning themes, based on what the children have shown interest in. However, they do not link these to individual children's learning needs in order to challenge and extend children's learning. Staff's knowledge of the Early Years Foundation framework is not secure and this has resulted in breaches of both safeguarding and welfare, and learning and development requirements. The provider has not addressed all actions raised at the last inspection and this means they are still in breach of legal requirements and do not demonstrate a suitable capacity to make ongoing improvements without outside support. In addition, staff and managers do not have supervision and appraisal systems in place to support their ongoing professional development. Managers do not monitor staff practice in

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provision

order to identify strengths, weaknesses and any training needs. Therefore, staff have not attended training for a long time and have not improved their knowledge of childcare practices in order to make improvements to the educational programmes. This is a breach of a legal requirement.

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provision

Partnerships with parents are sound and parents appreciate the care their children receive from the warm and welcoming staff team. Parents feel that communication is good and that they can talk to the staff at any time about their children. Staff have developed adequate links with the local feeder school and share information with the teachers regarding some aspects of children's development. Staff invite the teachers to visit and meet the children at pre-school and this goes some way to helping prepare children for their move to school.

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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:

 put in place effective systems to ensure that the registered person and any person caring for, or in regular contact with, children is suitable to work with children which must include obtaining a Disclosure and Barring check, and is of integrity and good character (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  put in place effective systems to ensure that the registered person and any person caring for, or in regular contact with, children is suitable to work with children which must include obtaining a Disclosure and Barring check, and is of integrity and good character (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 106967 Local authority Bristol City Inspection number 813307 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 3 - 5 Total number of places 28 Number of children on roll 52 Name of provider Hamilton Pre-School Committee Date of previous inspection 08/07/2009 Telephone number 0117 9144471

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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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