Fernlea Pre-School

Fernlea Pre-School Fernhill School & Language College, Neville Duke Road, FARNBOROUGH, Hampshire, GU14 9BY

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 26/11/2013 Not Applicable

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early years provision

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

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This provision is good

 Teaching is good as staff provide a wide range of play opportunities and focus strongly on enabling children to learn through following their interests.  Partnerships with parents work effectively to provide continuity of care. The flow of information supports the children's continued progress.  The staff have a good understanding of each child's individual needs and stage of development. Consequently, they effectively plan and support children to make good individual progress in all areas of learning.  Children are developing good communication and language skills because staff use a variety of techniques to encourage children to talk and develop their vocabulary.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Although the provision has an interesting outdoor area, there are fewer natural resources to entice children's curiosity and enhance their understanding of the world.

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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 spoke to parents and children at the setting.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector reviewed a range of documents including a selection of policies and procedures.  The inspector spoke to the manager and other staff members.  The inspector reviewed documentation relating to the children's progress.  The manager and inspector undertook a joint observation.

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Information about the setting

Fernlea Community Pre-School has been running since 1968 and re-registered as a Company limited by Guarantee with Charitable status 2013. It operates from a designated building on the site of Fernhill Comprehensive School in Farnborough, Hampshire. Children have access to an enclosed outdoor play area, which is for their sole use. The nursery serves the local and wider communities and is registered on the Early Years Register. The pre-school offers care for children aged from two years to the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It is open each weekday during term time from 8.30am to 11.30am and from 12.30pm to 3.30pm. There is also a daily lunch time club from 11.30am to 12.30pm. There are currently 98 children on roll. The pre-school gets funding for the provision of free early education to children aged two, three and four. The pre-school welcomes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who have English as

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Information about the setting

an additional language. The pre-chool employs twelve members of staff. Of these, two hold a childcare qualification at level 4, eight hold childcare qualifications at level 3 and one holds a childcare qualification at level 2.

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

 provide a wider range of natural resources in the outdoor area for children to explore and investigate.

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who attend

Staff are well prepared each session and each adult takes responsibility for an area of learning in the pre-school, which is agreed before the children arrive. This good preparation means that they provide children with interesting activities, which fully support their learning and progress. Staff are available to observe, engage and extend learning through teaching where appropriate. For example, outside a group of children play on scooters and cars. They ride around obstacles demonstrating good physical control as they weave in and around the area. The member of staff sees an opportunity to extend learning and sets up a pretend petrol station. She asks them 'who needs petrol?' In response they form a queue as this is an exciting change to the game. She asks them 'how much money do you want to spend?' and they each give her a figure in pounds. She responds by delivering an amount of pretend fuel, which reflects the amount of money

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who attend

spent. This means that children are taught basic information about money, are able to explore quantity at the same time as developing physical skills through their riding. Their mathematical development is enhanced further as the member of staff encourages them to think how long the pump will take to deliver five pounds of fuel compared to ten pounds . This good teaching helps children to develop valuable skills and knowledge for their future learning.

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who attend

Staff have high expectations for their key children and plan relevant and challenging next steps for their learning. As children start at the pre-school a range of information is used to develop an understanding of their development. Staff support this through home visits before the children start. Each child has a next steps plan and staff also use a notice board to identify key objectives for each child throughout the pre-school. This ensures every member of staff can effectively support each child's learning not just the key person.

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who attend

Focused learning opportunities are readily available throughout each session and as a result, children who have had lower than expected starting points make good progress. The staff team meet to discuss, identify and address specific support for children when needed.. For example staff recognise a growing number of children with delayed communication and language development. They access training, set up a daily speech and language sessions and seek additional support from the local Speech and Language Therapist. These sessions are fun and interactive and children enjoy taking part, singing songs with actions and talking about special items from the story sack for example. Each child's progress during the sessions is passed back to the key person so they can keep track of their group's progress. Consequently children catch up in their learning and gaps in progress close rapidly.

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who attend

The resources both inside and outside reflect the areas of learning and development and children can move from activity to activity freely. Activities offered each day are designed to capture every child's interest. These include activities where they draw, paint, read, experiment with phonics, use art and craft materials, independently navigate through games on the table top computer, engage in the role play areas and play in the other exciting learning zones. As they play they are encouraged to explore the activities with the adults observing and interacting where appropriate. This ensures that children benefit from each opportunity and the staff create a good balance of facilitated child led learning, and more adult focused teaching. However, they are not many natural resources in the outside area to enhance children's curiosity about the natural world. Nevertheless, the motivated staff team provide good levels of support, resulting in children being excited

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who attend

learners who engage quickly in learning opportunities and progress well. As a result, the children are well prepared for their transition to school.

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

Parents are warmly welcomed into the pre-school by the approachable staff. Staff encourage them to take part in their children's learning and development. The strong key person's role is being further developed with a new system of co-key people being added to the existing system to ensure that a special person is always available to the parents and child. This ensures that parents get full handovers at the end of the session, even if their key person is not present. Parents note that this helps them talk over their child's day with them, and continue learning at home. This provides continuity in children's care and learning. The good key person system results in children developing trusting relationships with staff and helps them to feel emotionally secure.

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

Adults model consistent and considerate behaviour, which the children mirror. This results in harmonious play and shared learning. Children take turns to use the toy diggers on the activity table outside. They enjoy watching each other taking turns to fill the scoop with mud and leaves, and take it to the loading truck in their game. Where one child finds this easier to do than another, they are happy to encourage and help with instructions as to which button to press or lever to move. These positive interactions help children to develop confidence and valuable social skills for their future lives.

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

The open plan environment means that adults are always visible and available to support the children. The children interact with a range of resources and with friendship groups. Staff enthusiastically support exploration which results in the children being happy and confident to engage in new learning opportunities. The children know that the staff can help them and so experiment with new activities.

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

Meal and snack times are social occasions. Children decide when to join in snack time and they take their name cards from the table to the snack area as their ticket. This means that they have free choice of when to join in but staff know that they have had a snack. The colour of the name card also notes whether the child has any allergies and this enables staff to ensure children are catered for appropriately. Children enjoy being able to choose from plates of fresh vegetables, fruit or breads. They manage the quantity they have and talk about the exciting and inviting colours and textures. Different foods are offered to the children, many of which are brought in by parents who support and provide the snack time menu. This helps them to learn about their own well-being and healthy lifestyles. Children develop an understanding of their own safety as they explore in the outdoor area, taking supervised risks. The benefit from daily fresh air and exercise, which

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provision

The manager leads a strong team who work well together, reflecting and driving improvement. This ensures that activities are well thought out and staff are on hand and able to support children across all the zones whenever they need additional input. The manager places strong emphasis on children being able to engage in indoor and outside learning opportunities as their interests lead them. She is committed to their new planning process and works with a senior staff member to review next steps across the pre-school to make sure the curriculum covers the educational programmes.

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provision

Management implement robust recruitment and induction processes. The staff team have a clear understanding of their role in relation to maintaining the safety and well-being of the children in their care. Staff undertake training on safeguarding and are knowledgeable about how to address any concerns. Policies and procedures are updated to ensure all the requirements are being met and staff are fully aware of any change to practice through regular staff meetings and training sessions. The team has also had training on delivering the Early Years Foundation Stage and their knowledge of how to support children's care and learning is evident through their good practice. Staff have annual appraisals and informal supervision sessions as required. The Manager plans to develop these arrangements to ensure practice develops consistently and continuously across the pre- school staff team. This will also help develop a more evaluative approach for the pre-

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provision

school which will feed into the team's training and development plan.

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provision

Partnerships with other professionals and parents are good. Parents are happy with their children's care and speak positively about the progress that they are making. Children progress well ensuring that they are ready to engage in further learning as they leave for school. Staff seek additional support and work closely with outside agencies, such as Speech Therapists, to secure appropriate interventions for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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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 EY462960 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 925294 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 40 Number of children on roll 98 Name of provider Fernlea Community Pre-School Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 01276 36836

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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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