Holme from Home Pre-school

Holme from Home Pre-school Holme Slack C P School, Manor House Lane, Preston, Lancashire, PR1 6HP

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 08/11/2013 19/06/2009

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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

 Staff have a very good understanding of how to support children's learning and development through an appropriate balance of adult-planned and child-led activities. As a result, children enjoy their time at the pre-school and make good progress in their learning and development.  Children are settled and secure because they thrive from the encouragement and support they receive. Children have formed strong bonds with their key person, who knows them well. This means that each child's needs are very well met.  Staff demonstrate in their daily practice a very clear ambition to provide high quality care and education for the children and work extremely hard to achieve this.  Children's independence is effectively promoted at all ages, as staff have high expectations of children's abilities and encourage children to do things for themselves, such as during the routines of the day.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Staff do not presently evaluate and monitor the achievements and performance of different groups of children, so that they can be sure of the very best possible learning outcomes for all children by the time they transfer to school.

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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 learning activities in the play areas inside and outside and spoke to children and staff.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at a range of documentation, including a sample of policies, accident records and staff records.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day of the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at a selection of children's observation and assessment files, the systems for monitoring progress and held discussions with children's key persons.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of suitability and qualifications of staff working with children, the policies and procedures for the setting and the documented self- evaluation system that support and inform the provider's plans for improvement.

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Information about the setting

Holme from Home Pre-school was registered in 2005 on the Early Years Register. It is run by a voluntary committee. The pre-school operates from a self contained building, school hall and outdoor area in the grounds of Holme Slack Primary School in Preston.The pre- school employs three members of childcare staff, who all have early years qualifications at level 3, including one of the managers, who holds a qualification at level 5.

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Information about the setting

The pre-school opens Monday to Friday, during school term time only. Sessions are from 8.30am until 11.30am and 12.30pm to 3pm with lunch from 11.30am to 12.30pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 16 children attending, who are in the early years age group. The pre-school provides funded early education for three- and four-year-old children. It supports a number of children, who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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

 extend the already good systems for monitoring children's progress, for example, by evaluating the achievements of specific groups of children, in order to identify any possible weakness in the learning environment that may impact on securing the very best learning outcomes for all children by the time they transfer to school.

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who attend

The arrangements for meeting all of the learning and development requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage are good. Staff, have a sound understanding of how children learn and as a result, children are provided with interesting and challenging experiences across the seven areas of learning through carefully planned and freely chosen play experiences. Prior to children starting at the pre-school, staff arrange home visits to gather information about children's, interests, preferences and prior skills. Daily information is shared between parents and staff on arrival and departure and the information is used to ensure continuity of care and inform future planning. Parents are provided with detailed information through the home-school diary about their child's learning experiences in pre-school and photographs provide visual celebrations of their child's achievements and interactions. Parents are encouraged to contribute to the diary

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who attend

and home learning. Combined information gathered provides staff with a broader picture of the child's ongoing learning and development and children's overall experiences. Parents, who were spoken to during the inspection, felt they were kept well informed of what their child was learning about in the setting and found the 'homework' ideas helpful in supporting their child's learning at home. As a result, staff are well informed and equipped to plan activities and provide resources throughout the pre-school learning environment, that reflect the current interests of each child and offer exciting and challenging opportunities that ignite children's keenness to learn. For example, staff plan, prepare and provide a real bonfire experience for the children in the pre-school garden, so that children can reflect on their own unique experiences of bonfire night and share what they have observed and learnt with their friends. Innovative activities make learning an

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who attend

enjoyable experience and they are afforded experiences that span across all seven areas of learning. Staff record observations, in order to assess each child's stage of development. Children's progress is well monitored by all staff and they use the Early Years Outcomes guidance to identify if children are developing typically for their age. Staff are proactive in identifying children, who may require additional support or interventions to sustain their ongoing future learning and development. They ensure children are supported effectively where their starting points are below those of other children of their age. This means that all children make good progress.

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who attend

Children's personal, social and emotional development is addressed well and children are very settled and happy. Children choose to spend a great deal of time outside and do so freely. Staff show great skill and enthusiasm in using the outside learning environment to promote all areas of learning and weave in the next steps in their learning. Children are well prepared for adult-led activities through familiar routines and consistently clear instructions and demonstrate a readiness to learn. For example, the children's interest in bonfires is used to plan the adult-led learning activity. Children gather on the makeshift bench, which they have helped make from milk crates and enthusiastically chat to one another about their own experiences and thoughts. Staff are actively involved in children's learning and they sensitively use opportunities to support each child's learning through skilful questioning and positive interactions. Staff model descriptive language, for

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who attend

example, 'warm', 'toasty', 'smoky', 'spark', they then ask the children to listen carefully to the sound of the fire. Children then talk about what they hear and use the words they have heard and confidently add their own, such as 'I heard a pop and crackle'. Staff know the children well and ensure every child has an opportunity to share their thoughts and observations and use skilful and suitable questioning to ensure that each child can participate fully. Staff use the opportunity to talk about safety and ask the children how they can stay safe. Children respond by explaining confidently how to handle sparklers and how they must not touch matches or go to close to a fire. Staff expertly question children further to fully explore their understanding of these concepts by asking 'What could happen, what might happen'? Staff use these interactions to form an accurate assessment of children's knowledge and understanding and then use their findings to reshape tasks

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who attend

and explanations, to improve and extend learning for individual children.

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who attend

The inside and outside learning environment is very well resourced and children follow their own interests and use their imagination to recreate their experiences. For example, children use the log piles to create their own bonfire and the mud kitchen is used to prepare soup. Back inside the pre-school, children are provided with real vegetables to chop up to make pretend soup in the home corner and they have twigs and natural resources to enhance their small world play. Staff use children's spontaneous interests as a teaching opportunity and when children spot a blocked drain they excitedly run over and begin to jump up and down in it and take turns running through it to explore it further. Staff, then use the opportunity to ask the children where the water is coming from or what it can be. Children shout out 'Waterfall, a special potion' and then begin to use their imagination to develop their play further as staff observe and encourage everyone to join

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who attend

in. As a result, children are enthusiastic, motivated and skilful investigators and display true enjoyment as they play and learn. During group activities, children join in with numbers songs and rhyme and are actively engaged in using their fingers to represent numbers and fill in missing words and phrases. Consequently, children are well supported to gain good skills in listening and speaking, in their personal social and emotional development and in their physical development.

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who attend

Children are provided with a wide range of resources that are easily accessible. Their independence is promoted effectively. For example, children chose to paint their own firework pictures and communicate confidently about the colours they are using and what they are doing. They assertively display the skills required for early writing by manipulating paint brushes and making purposeful marks. Children talk about their creations, using descriptive language and demonstrate that they are competent and enthusiastic communicators. Children confidently extend their painting experience by smelling and feeling the paint, using their fingers as well as brushes. Staff extend learning further by reinforcing words, introducing new terminology and asking open-ended questions. Staff, demonstrate skill in knowing when to support and when not to interfere and as a result, children are confident in their abilities. They demonstrate how they enjoy

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who attend

responsibility and ownership of the things they do, such as taking their own pictures down to place them on the drying rack, replacing resources and hanging up their aprons without support. Praise from staff comes in abundance, which then reinforces children's good behaviour and keenness to do things for themselves.

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who attend

Children's creativity is well promoted as they chose to play with a variety of art, craft, small world, construction and role play resources. A group of children aged three years enjoy using the play dough and make 'cakes', they explore a wide range of interesting resources to decorate their cakes with, such as sequins, stampers and cutters. Children use their own ideas to develop their play by adding small sticks to represent candles. Staff use the opportunity to support children in developing mathematical concepts by introducing ideas around counting, sorting, talking and comparing shapes and length.

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who attend

Children's ideas, family traditions and cultural backgrounds are respected and acknowledged. For example, a child talks about the spices in the birthday cake she is making and staff use the opportunity to talk to the child about the spices, home and baking with mummy. When another child joins the activity and begins to make a cake, they are offered spices by the member of staff and the two children then discuss the use of spices further. As a result, children have a growing awareness of their own identity and what makes them unique. Resources reflect positive images and diversity and staff use some children's dual language to greet them, for example, saying 'Bonjour' to a child, who speaks French. Children use the interactive white board to demonstrate the difference between a long snake and a short snake; they are adept on the computer and highly skilled in using the mouse. They use the digital camera to take photographs of things that

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who attend

interest them and then excitedly talk about the images they then view. In response, children are confident in the use of technology and have a growing awareness of its use in society. Children are beginning to develop appropriate pre-reading skills and are encouraged to select a book to 'read' independently before group story time. They sit quietly and concentrate on their own book as they turn pages and use illustrations to tell the story to themselves. During group story time, children listen attentively and they enthusiastically join in by answering 'who', 'what' and 'why' questions. Children enthusiastically enjoy sounding out the letter of the week and use actions to represent the sound. Some children capably call out things that begin with the letter sound and staff take account of this and expertly adjust their questioning to ensure that these children are provided with individual and appropriate learning challenges that ensure good progress continues within the area

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

The outdoor area has been extended and refurbished through the pre-school's ongoing focus on developing the outside learning environment. Children have free access to the secure outside play area and are monitored closely by vigilant staff. The environment presents a wide range of physical challenge, there are numerous exploratory spaces with sand, water, digging areas, grass, paths and quiet areas that support children's learning and acquisition of skills. The outside environment is well set out and richly equipped. Children confidently move around the environment safely. They enjoy pedalling bikes, sitting and chatting together and mark making with chalks on the chalk boards. As a result, the learning environment supports children's exercise, well-being and physical needs.

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

Children are extremely happy and settled within pre-school. They demonstrate that they feel safe and secure through their enthusiasm and excitement as they engage with the environment and actively participate in all the activities available to them. This is because children have formed strong and affectionate attachments with their key person and all staff members. Staff, consistently demonstrate very caring approaches towards the children. Throughout the pre-school, there is a strong emphasis placed on children's personal, emotional and social development, subsequently, children show high levels of contentment and play cooperatively with their peers. Staff also develop good relationships with parents. They speak with them on arrival and gather information at the start of a session to ensure that the ever changing interests, preferences and routines of children are identified and used to inform and plan for the child's ongoing care and learning needs.

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

This consistent approach enables children to feel safe and settle easily. Children behave exceptionally well throughout the session. This is due to the consistency in the calmness and polite manner of the staff. Staff set a good example for all children in their care and demonstrate a consistent approach in their expectations regarding how children behave. This means that children show consideration towards one another, they are courteous during snack times and share resources and engage in play with one another, that they find enjoyable and full of fun. The overall atmosphere is one of calm and as a result, the learning environment enables children to engage and focus during child-initiated and adult-led play.

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

There is a strong emphasis on safety and staff monitor children's movements and behaviour closely, they talk to children about safety and have in-depth discussions with them to clarify knowledge and thinking. For example, during the adult-led activity, staff ask the children to explain why they must not come too close to the fire, children are provided with opportunities to demonstrate their current understanding and knowledge and staff skilfully use the children's responses to guide next steps of learning. As a result, children develop a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe and how to manage risk.

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

Staff have high expectations of children and as a result, they show growing independence and ability as they excitedly put on their own coats and boots with little or no help, before going outside. They wash and dry their hands independently before snack and patiently talk to one another as they await their turn. Staff observe and intervene as and when needed to support the children in developing good hygiene knowledge and routines. Staff are skilled at enhancing the children's confidence and self-esteem by praising and complimenting them on how clever they are, reinforcing behaviour expectations. Children are encouraged to adopt good table manners, they are extremely polite as they wait for their turn to select their healthy snack of warm brown toast and a choice of milky drinks. Fresh water is constantly available for children to access independently from a water dispenser. Staff sit with the children at snack time and they enjoy the social occasion and

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

talk about things that interest them and what they would like to do next.

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

Children are prepared for their transitions into schools through the setting's developing partnerships with local schools. Information about progress and learning is shared between settings to support the children's move onto school. Children, who make the transition into the school attached to the pre-school have enriched experiences by having opportunities to share their outside playtimes with the reception class children and teachers. Children become familiar with the teachers and the environment before officially starting school, which consequently, supports smooth transitions when the time comes.

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provision

Overall, children are fully safeguarded and welfare requirements are fully met. All staff have a clear knowledge of safeguarding and child protection issues, achieved through attending relevant and up-to-date training. Staff confidently explain the procedure for reporting any concerns. Comprehensive policies and procedures are in place to guide all staff in ensuring that they are diligent and clear about their roles and responsibilities in ensuring children are protected. Staff confidently explain the procedure for reporting any concerns and know who the delegated person for safeguarding is. Effective procedures for staff recruitment, including suitability checks are undertaken to ensure that adults working with children are suitable to do so. An induction process is in place for new staff and they are closely monitored and supervised to ensure they understand their roles and responsibilities. Staff are provided with additional training opportunities to support their

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provision

roles and all staff hold up-to-date and relevant training to support children and keep them safe, for example, in paediatric first aid and safeguarding.

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provision

Children are supervised very well through the deployment of the staff team and ratios of staff to children. High priority is given to ensuring children are kept safe and secure, both inside and while playing outside. Stringent risk assessments minimise hazards in all areas used by the children while they are at pre-school. Detailed and dated risk assessments are also prepared and used to ensure that risks to children are also minimised during outings further afield, for example, a trip to Blackpool Zoo. Parents are fully informed of the outings and consent for the child to participate is requested from all parents before a child can take part. Accidents are accurately recorded and shared with parents. A medication policy is in place, however, due to the short length of each session staff do not tend to administer any medication unless a health care plan is in place.

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provision

The setting is led by well-qualified staff and one of the managers holds a higher level qualification related to early education. As a result, the management team demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of their roles in meeting the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and are proactive in ensuring that children are consistently provided with rich and stimulating learning experiences that are broad and balanced across all areas of learning. The qualifications of the staff ensure that they have an accurate understanding of children's skills, abilities and progress and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are targeted and appropriate support structures are put in place, so that children continue to make good progress regardless of their starting points. The special educational needs coordinator works closely with the team to ensure strategies and interventions are embedded into daily practice and used to

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provision

support children throughout their daily routines and in addition, children's progress is rigorously monitored. The setting has developed strong partnership links with local advisors within the Inclusion and Disability Support Service and are working with advisors to identify and access future training to further improve outcomes for children through multi-agency working. The process of monitoring individual children's progress is in place and early identification of the need for additional support is a strength of the pre-school team. However, the provider does not have a monitoring system in place that would enable staff to track and monitor the performance and achievements of different groups of children. By doing this, staff can identify any possible weakness in the learning environment that may impact on securing the very best learning outcomes for all children.

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provision

The pre-school team as a whole are very enthusiastic in ensuring that every child receives enjoyable and challenging learning experiences that are tailored to meet their individual needs. The managers oversee the educational programmes and are fully committed to supporting staff in their daily practice through informal planning meetings, observations and appraisals. There is evidence of peer observations taking place through the setting's involvement in the Lancashire Quality Award scheme. Ongoing self-assessment by the management team, staff and parents enable the pre-school to formulate clear plans for the continual updating of policies, practices and resources. The team are committed to identifying and sustaining improvements and have identified their own key areas for future improvement. For example, they are looking to develop the planning process further, to enrich experiences for identified groups of children.

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provision

Parents spoken to at the time of the inspection confirm that the pre-school is continually responding to the needs of the children and families, who use it and there is clear evidence through the development of the outside learning environment that management have worked hard to address recommendations from the last inspection.

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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 EY302337 Local authority Lancashire Inspection number 856522

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 20 Number of children on roll 16 Name of provider Holme from Home Pre-school Committee Date of previous inspection 19/06/2009 Telephone number 07812158102 Holme Slack School 01772655257

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Type of provision

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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