St Peter and St Paul's Church of England Pre-School

Rishton Parish Church Pre-School The Parish Hall, Blackburn Road, Rishton, Blackburn, BB1 4HD

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 09/12/2013 24/02/2010

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 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 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 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 consistently give the highest priority to the safety of children and effectively support children's growing understanding of how to keep themselves safe and healthy in the stimulating environment.  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

 There is scope to provide more opportunities for older children to experiment with numbers and become more familiar with numerals, in order to strengthen their interests in number recognition.

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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

 The inspector observed children's play and staff interaction.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector talked with available staff and held discussions with the manger, staff and parents.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children's activities throughout the visit both inside and outside.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector examined documentation, including a representative sample of children's records, policies, staff suitability, risk assessments, planning documentation and training records.

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Information about the setting

Rishton Parish Church Pre-school was registered in 1980 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is run by a voluntary committee. The pre-school operates from the parish church hall in Rishton, Lancashire. The nursery serves the immediate locality and also the surrounding areas.

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Information about the setting

Children attend for a variety of sessions and have access to an enclosed outdoor play area. Sessions are from 8.30am until 11.30am Monday to Friday and 12.30pm to 3pm on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday term time only. There are currently 29 children on roll, all of whom are in the early years age range. The nursery receives funding for the provision of free early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. There are currently five staff working directly with the children, all of whom have an appropriate early years qualification, including one of the managers, who holds a qualification at level 6. The pre-school receives support from the local authority.

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

 enhance the stimulating learning environment to enable older children to further extend their understanding of mathematics and experiment with matching numbers, numerals and objects; by further reflecting numbers and numerals as labels.

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who attend

Children are welcomed into the friendly and warm environment where they show that they feel safe and secure. They clearly enjoy learning through play, eagerly choosing what they wish to do from the varied range of resources offered. Children demonstrate a positive approach to learning, supported by the cheerful interactions of the staff caring for them. Attentive staff play alongside the children, offering gentle support and encouragement, extending children's learning with individual attention. Information gathered by the key person when children first attend provides a good base for establishing children's starting points in learning. This enables staff to plan and assess individual children's progress from their earliest days in the nursery. As a result, children settle quickly because staff understand their needs well and meet them consistently. Staff have a secure knowledge of how children learn. Through individual planning and clear identification of children's next

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who attend

steps by staff, children make good progress considering their starting point, age and capabilities. Staff plan activities and opportunities together as a team, taking into consideration the children's interests. Good quality information regarding children's needs and the activities they take part in are shared. Parents are actively involved in contributing to their children's development through daily discussions, newsletters and e-mails.

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who attend

All areas of the pre-school are well organised to allow children to select activities for themselves. Inspiring displays of children's work gives them a sense of being valued, resulting in their confidence and esteem being promoted. A well-organised balance of adult-led and child-led activities means that children learn to explore, think and learn to play together. Through social occasions, such as snack time, children develop their personal, social and emotional skills. Children enjoy the social aspect of their time at the setting, becoming independent and confident individuals. They are able to move around freely and have access to a secure outside space. The pre-school regularly uses the local park as a Forest school where they can explore the natural environment. They experience the world around them as they cross the stream, look for animals, extending their understanding of the world around them. Children use the large climbing equipment to

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who attend

promote their physical development, which is progressing very well. They show confidence and an awareness of safety in exploring the outside space, by moving equipment out of the way, so others do not fall. Children clearly enjoy taking part in singing, action and rhyming songs as they practise their nativity, encouraged and praised by enthusiastic staff. Access to a range of writing materials allows all children to explore their early writing skills. Children confidently use the computer as they explore the world of technology. They enthusiastically join in with the story as they guess what is in the present. Children count confidently as they play creatively with pegs fastening them onto their jumper. They build and construct making towers and designing their own creations. Children work together co-operatively discussing the size and shape of the blocks, balancing them carefully to build the tower high. Therefore, their mathematical skills of shape, space and measure are

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who attend

promoted. However, opportunities to further develop children's understanding of mathematics and experiment with matching numbers, numerals and objects, is less well supported. This is because numbers as labels are not used as well as they could be, to ensure children's learning is always extended in this area.

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who attend

Children are secure in communicating their needs and preferences and they confidently approach the staff to ask for help when needed. At story time, staff model descriptive language, for example, 'small', 'medium', 'large' and 'round', as they ask the children to think carefully what the presents may contain. Staff expertly question children further to fully explore their understanding of these concepts by asking 'can you remember what could be in this present?', 'can you think of something small?' Children then talk about what they have received in a present and what they would like to receive. Staff use these interactions to form an accurate assessment of children's knowledge and understanding and then use their findings to reshape tasks and explanations, to improve and extend learning for individual children. These activities support children's early language development and literacy skills and promote their knowledge and understanding of the

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who attend

world around them. Children are active and animated learners, who are developing the skills and attitudes needed to prepare them for their next stage of learning, such as moving onto school.

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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 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, 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 and helps them to feel safe and secure.

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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 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. At snack time, the children are encouraged to find their Christmas bauble name card, which is hidden around the room. They use this to register they have had their healthy snack of garlic and herb dip, cheese and biscuits or milk and water. Children are encouraged to adopt good table manners, they are extremely polite as they wait for their turn to select their healthy snack.

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

Staff sit with the children at snack time and they enjoy the social occasion and talk about things that interest them and what they would like to do next. Fresh water is constantly available for children to access independently throughout the day.

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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. The pre-school makes regular visits to the local schools during the year, for example, to watch their nativity plays. Children become familiar with the teachers and the environment before officially starting school, which consequently, supports smooth transitions when the time comes. Through partnership working with a local reception teacher, the pre-school has invested in new information and communication technology for the observation and assessment of the children. This information is easily shared with parents by e-mail, allowing regular updates of their children's next steps.

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

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provision

aid and safeguarding. 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 Eureka Children's Museum. 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.

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provision

The setting is led by well-qualified staff and one of the manager 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. The special educational needs coordinator works closely with the team to ensure strategies and interventions are embedded into daily practice and used to support children throughout their daily routines and in addition, children's progress is well monitored.

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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. 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

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provision

clear evidence through the development of the observation of children's development with the introduction of new software that the management have worked hard to address recommendations from the last inspection.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met The requirements for the voluntary 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 309442 Local authority Lancashire Inspection number 870676

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 24 Number of children on roll 29 Name of provider Rishton Parish Church Pre-School Committee Date of previous inspection 24/02/2010 Telephone number 01254 888 850

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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

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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