The Oaks Creche and Pre-School MMC Ltd

The Oaks Creche and Pre-School The Oaks Childrens Centre, Wordsworth, BRACKNELL, Berkshire, RG12 8QN

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 27/11/2013 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 Previous inspection: Not Applicable 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

 The pre-school provides children with a highly stimulating environment indoors and outside. Children benefit from rich and varied experiences in all seven areas of learning.  Staff have a very good knowledge of children's starting points and make consistent observations to ensure that all children meet their full potential. Children have extremely warm relationships with the staff who care for them.  Children are making great strides in their learning in relation to their starting points. This is due to the excellent planning that staff make, the inventions that support those children requiring additional support; and the very good knowledge staff have about children's interests and next steps.  Children are very happy in their play and are extremely well behaved.  There are highly effective partnerships with other professionals that support the needs of children and very positive partnerships with parents.

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This provision is outstanding

 Children have a strong awareness of their own safety, self-care and healthy lifestyles. They are extremely independent and confident individuals.  The manager of the pre-school is extremely inspirational. As a result, staff morale is very high.  The pre-school is highly motivated to continue in their targets for improvement and to make a significant impact on the outcomes for 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 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 children in their play and in their interactions with staff.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled the pre-school's documentation and children's development records.  The inspector took part in a joint observation with the manager.  The inspector read the pre-school's self-evaluation form and took this into account.  The inspector engaged in conversation with staff, children and parents.

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Information about the setting

The Oaks Creche and Pre-School MMC Ltd originally registered in 2008. The setting re- registered in 2013 under the same ownership but as a limited company. The pre-school is situated in the Oaks Children's Centre in Bracknell, Berkshire. It operates from a purpose built playroom and children have access to a secure garden. The pre-school is open five days a week during term times. Sessions are from 9.15 am to 12.15 pm then 12.30 pm to 3.30pm Monday to Friday. The crche operates when required to meet the needs of the parents and in partnership with the children centre. There are four staff working at the crche when needed. The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. There are 56 children in the early years age range on roll and the pre-school receives funding to provide free early education for children aged two, three and four years of age. Children can attend for a variety of

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Information about the setting

sessions. The pre-school has systems in place to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English is an additional language. There are six staff members working with the children at the pre-school. Of these five members of staff are qualified and manager is completing a level 5 qualification to extend her personal development further. The pre-school receives support from the local authority and is a member of the Pre-School Learning Alliance.

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

 extend the ways in which mathematical language is used to further promote children's learning and understanding of space, shape, size and measure.

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who attend

Staff demonstrate a very high and consistent quality of teaching and interaction with children. They use their expert knowledge and understanding of the learning and development requirements and the seven areas of learning to broaden the experiences for children. Staff have an exceptional understanding of children's interests and starting points. Observational assessment is precise and meaningful. There are excellent systems to promote how children use words in the correct context, how they develop expression of their ideas and how staff offer children time to think and respond. Children have extremely close bonds with the staff who care for them. Children are extremely motivated to join in and take an active role in their play and learning.

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who attend

Staff give children's speech, communication and understanding of language a very high priority. Those children identified as needing additional intervention receive this promptly. Consequently, all children are making very good progress in their language development in relation to their starting points. Staff offer a wealth of opportunities for children to recall the word of the week and to use this in context in their communication. For example, words such as balance, rustling, floating and shiver. Children's achievements for this are embraced and congratulated, as are the new words used during learning opportunities at snack time, for example pips and pumpkin. This very good practice means that children are confident in their understanding of language and extended communication. They are extremely ready for the next stage in their learning.

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who attend

The pre-school staff are highly skilled at getting to know the children and to track their progress. As a result, all children are making very good progress in relation to their starting points. Evaluation is fully embedded into daily practice and staff meet at the end of the day to reflect on the activities, children's emerging interests and chosen play. Staff are extremely proactive at comparing and tracking children's development and highlighting any minor gaps or causes for interventions. Recent evaluations determined that for current children there were fewer opportunities to extend learning in the area of mathematics. Staff have been highly productive in ensuring that they extend activities to further incorporate this. However, as yet, the words of the week do not include further mathematical language, in order to support children to use this language in their everyday discussions, for example 'bigger', 'longer' or 'smaller'.

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who attend

Children benefit from rich, varied and imaginative experiences. For example, story time, based on ability groups, is never rushed. Staff let children lead and therefore they remain focused and attentive. Staff ask open-ended questions so that children can respond about what might happen. Children are extremely confident to offer their ideas and suggestions. The youngest of children use 'fiddle' toys, so as they listen and join in, they can manipulate buttons, zips and laces but remain engaged. The story often leads off to promote further learning, for example in singing rhymes or recalling events. Because staff are inspiring, use a range of tone and expression, and make the activity exciting, children are enthusiastic to remain seated until the end.

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who attend

Outdoors children delight in their play. They decide what they want to do and where they want to play. Children choose to balance on logs, make marks on chalkboards, dig in the growing area or sit reading books in the cosy quiet area of the playhouse. The outdoors is extremely well resourced and provides challenging experiences for children to explore and complement the learning they receive in the indoors. There are limitless opportunities for children to play in all seven areas of learning. The highly productive systems for staff deployment mean that children learn in all they do, from collecting leaves for an art activity later, to finding printed numbers on cards and recognising the dots for sequencing the order of these numbers. They look at machinery in the local fields and discuss what is happening. Indoors children cook in the imaginary kitchen with real pasta explaining they need to 'scoop' it up into the pan when serving. Other children create their autumn

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who attend

pictures with paint and leaves collected on their walk. They understand that when it is cold they may shiver through the stories staff read to them and recognise shapes such as a diamond or a star. Children demonstrate the characteristics of effective learning because of the depth and breadth of the learning opportunities that staff offer in all seven areas of learning.

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

The pre-school provides a highly stimulating environment for children where they benefit from a wealth of opportunities to learn actively indoors and outside. Children lead their play and choose what they want to do. Staff complement this with rich and vibrant adult- led experiences delivered through highly effective teaching skills. Key person staff are fully involved with their children from their home visits, to settling in times and in group activities. The buddy key person system means that staff thoroughly nurture children while at pre-school. This means that children are emotionally well prepared for the next stages in their learning.

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

Children play happily with one another and behaviour is exceptional. This is because they understand the routines of the day, are actively engaged in what they do and are eager to take part. Children show extremely high levels of self-control during activities. They chat and engage with one another exceptionally well, and have a high level of personal, social and emotional development. Children thoroughly enjoy their walk, which provides countless challenging opportunities for children to explore the wider world. Enthusiastic staff help children to look under logs and rocks, inspiring children to learn about the habitats of insects and creatures living in the ground. The children talk about the slugs being 'slimy' and curiously look at the snails eggs. They talk about the different colours of the leaves that have fallen from the trees and use a wide range of words to describe the noises they hear as they walk over the path covered with twigs and leaves. For example,

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

they learn to distinguish between 'crunching', 'rustle' and 'crack' through their discussions with the staff. The children identify a nest in the tree and consider their own safety. Consequently, they understand not to wave sticks in case they hurt someone and the importance of washing their hands when coming back to pre-school after playing outdoors.

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

Staff demonstrate an exceptional awareness of how to promote children's awareness of risk but at the same time safeguarding the children they care for. Staff help children to understand about a healthy lifestyle and about safety awareness. During story times, staff are able to extend a story so that children confidently recall what to do in a fire drill. Children explain that they know the meeting point and understand not to run. They cooperate happily with the routines of the day, for example hanging up their coats and changing outdoor boots into shoes. With minor distraction, children take turns to wash their hands, understanding to rub them together to ensure they are clean. They enjoy nutritious snacks together in sociable groups, talking together and listening to what each other has to say. Children are exceptionally well behaved. Staff are aware of children's allergies and dietary needs and adhere to these at all times.

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provision

Staff have an extremely secure understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements for the Statutory Framework of the Early Years Foundation Stage. They demonstrate a fully embedded knowledge of their responsibilities to safeguard the children they care for and the procedures to take should they have a concern about a child in their care. Highly effective partnerships are in place with other professional such as the children's centre staff, speech and language therapists, health visitors and the local authority. This further supports the welfare and development of those children needing additional support or interventions.

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provision

The manager of the pre-school is inspiring. She demonstrates an ongoing drive for continued improvement and motivates staff to reflect on daily practice. This maintains and provides highly effective support to promote the outcomes for children. Recruitment practice is strong. This ensures that the adults involved with children at the pre-school are suitable to do so. Induction system, opportunities for staff training and monitoring of staff performance and practice is robust. This means that staff are constantly improving their understanding of child development and their day-to-day practice. All staff complete both first aid and safeguarding children training as part of their excellent induction system and update this knowledge regularly. Staff morale is extremely high. The team work exceptionally well together and demonstrate they have a very good understanding of all the children and their families attending.

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provision

Staff adhere to the robust policies in place at all times to ensure consistency in their daily practice. These policies are shared with parents and both staff and parents are invited to be part of the review process each year or as necessary. This means that parents have a secure knowledge of the procedures that support their children's well-being and health. Highly effective systems promote and monitor children's safety. Secure risk assessments for the environment, activities and individual children mean that children can play safely indoors and outdoors as they learn.

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provision

Staff have an excellent understanding of the learning and development requirements and provide enriching experiences for children. They have an extremely good knowledge of children's backgrounds and interests because they take time to get to know them through home visits and during settling in times. Staff interact with children in a warm manner and challenge children appropriately to be eager and enthusiastic to take part and to be confident in their own abilities. Assessment of children's progress is precise and consistent. Therefore, children needing additional support are quickly identified and their needs exceptionally well met through the highly established partnerships with others and parents. Well-embedded partnerships with feeder schools mean that children's transitions are very well established.

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provision

The pre-school are highly reflective about their practice and therefore highly confident to identify the strengths of the provision. They use the parent's feedback to plan extremely clear targets for their ongoing improvement and children's development records to assess that all areas of learning are fully embedded into their planning. Parents receive a handbook for the pre-school so that they understand daily routines, the Early Years Foundation Stage framework; and how to extend their children's learning at home. Parents are very positive about the care their children receive and the progress children are making. They speak about how children's speech is improving, how children benefit from the outdoors, how children mix and socialise well with other children. Parents add that staff are extremely supportive, and 'fantastic' role models who offer guidance for welfare and learning at home. There are excellent systems for sharing children's

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provision

achievements. Parents are encouraged to take home their child's development record, and attend key person meetings and make their contributions to children's observations.

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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 Requires improvement The provision is not giving children a good standard of early years education and/or there are minor breaches of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected within twelve months of the date of this inspection. 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

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Grade Judgement Description

the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected again within six months of the date of this inspection. 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 EY463813 Local authority Bracknell Forest Inspection number 918518 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 20 Number of children on roll 56 Name of provider The Oaks Creche and Pre-School MMC Ltd Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 07919987654

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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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