Crescent Under Fives

Crescent Under 5's Playgroup c/o Alfred Sutton Primary School, Wokingham Road, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 1JR

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 07/11/2013 01/10/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 Previous inspection: 1 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 4 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 4

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This provision is inadequate

 The playgroup does not implement sufficient measures to safeguard children's welfare and protect them from persons whose suitability to work with children has not been confirmed.  The staff do not ensure that children are always appropriately supervised and protected from unvetted persons in the playgroup.  The systems used for monitoring the quality of the educational programmes and teaching by staff are not fully effective in making sure that all staff challenge children effectively in their learning so they make good progress.  Children do not consistently have good opportunities to practise writing to support their future readiness for school and literacy and physical development.  The playgroup does not meet all requirements of the Childcare Register.

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It has the following strengths

 Children build secure relationships with their key person and as a result they settle well into playgroup.  Children learn to respect and tolerate each other's differences through planned play experiences.  Staff are caring and sensitive towards the children and engage well with them in their play to support their learning and development in all areas of learning.

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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's play both indoors and outside and conducted a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector talked with parents, children and all available staff, and took account of their views.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector tracked children in their play to provide evidence of children's progress.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector reviewed documentation including a representative sample of the safeguarding policy and procedure; safe recruitment and staff appraisal documentation; children's learning and development records and planning.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector gave feedback to the chair person of the management committee and the manager.

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Information about the setting

The Crescent Under 5's Playgroup opened in 1975 and registered in 2001. It operates from the grounds of Alfred Sutton Primary School in Reading, Berkshire and has full disabled access. The playgroup is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. Children attend from the local surrounding area. The playgroup supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who are learning to speak English as an additional language. There are currently 30 children on roll aged from two to five years. The playgroup opens each weekday during term time only. Morning sessions are from 9am to 11.30am. The children have the opportunity to attend the lunch club from 11.30am to 12.30pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Afternoon sessions operate from 12.30pm to 3pm on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Children that attend the setting on Tuesday,

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Information about the setting

Wednesday or Thursday can attend for full day care from 9am to 3pm for three days a week. The playgroup is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education for children aged three and four years. The playgroup employs nine members of staff who work with the children. Six of the staff hold appropriate early years qualifications at levels 2 and 3.

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must:

 improve the use of systems to monitor the educational programmes and the quality of teaching to ensure that all children make progress from their starting capabilities and are effectively challenged in their learning and development.

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must:

 implement robust arrangements regarding the recruitment and vetting of staff, including volunteers to make certain that only adults whose suitability is confirmed are able to work with children

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must:

 ensure supervision arrangements meet the needs of all children and keep them safe from adults whose suitability has not been fully completed.

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

 develop the educational programmes for physical development and literacy by encouraging children to write for a purpose in a range of meaningful situations.

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who attend

Children enjoy playing with a broad range of activities that promote their learning and development across all seven areas of learning. The environment is set out well to provide children with variety and interest in their play. Staff interact with children as they play, and make observations to record children's interests and what they are learning. Staff complete children's learning and development records, and identify children's next steps to help them make progress towards the early learning goals. Parents value being able to contribute to their child's record keeping and fill in a diary to record important events and developmental milestones for their own children. Staff plan experiences that are based on a sound knowledge of individual children's interests. Consequently, planned activities help children to learn as they are motivated to explore resources and spend time playing.

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who attend

Staff are caring and have a sound knowledge of how to support most children to make progress. They encourage children to be independent in their play and as a result children move happily around the playroom and choose their own resources to develop their play. For example they design their own obstacle course, rolling large equipment into place as they carefully think through the design of the course. Children have access to natural objects and investigative equipment. They confidently explore conkers and leaves with torches and magnifying glasses to investigate the natural world. Children enjoy extending their play as they put on protective hats and creep into the tented area with their torches to hunt for dangerous dinosaurs. Numbers and shapes are abundant in the environment, which helps staff support children's mathematical skills. Adults routinely count with children. For example, they discuss how many banana bread sticks are left at snack time;

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who attend

they allow children time to count at their own pace and to review and correct their own mistakes. Children are invited to explore books about shape, space, measure and time as they build models and sort shapes. Children engaged in playing with building bricks show that they are familiar with number sequences as they start from six and count on. Adults support children to develop their concept of size as they compare the heights of houses they are building.

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who attend

Children are developing literacy skills as they choose from a wide selection of books both inside the playroom and outside. This means that children who prefer to learn outside do not miss out as adults support them to talk about and read stories. Children learn to read the letter sounds in their name and find their name card to self-register at snack time. However there are missed opportunities for children to develop as writers and gain skills to support them when they move on to school. This is because staff do not encourage children to develop their physical skills by using writing in a range of meaningful situations, and for a purpose within their play.

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who attend

Children who are learning English as an additional language are well supported. Staff use teaching strategies to support children to successfully communicate their needs. For example they use pictures so that children can understand the timetable of each session and all staff use gestures as they talk so that children are helped to understand as they develop their use of the English language. Parents report that they are happy with their children's progress and with the support they receive from the playgroup. They report that they are able to ask questions and feel informed about how to support their children's learning at home. Parents say that their children come into playgroup excited and ready to learn. Children say they are happy at playgroup and are making friends.

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

The playgroup does not implement sufficiently robust procedures to safeguard children's welfare at all times through robust procedures and close supervision. This has a significant impact on how well children keep safe within the playgroup.

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

Children develop a sense of belonging and self-esteem through the staff's caring support in the playgroup. Children receive appropriate support to settle in and parents are encouraged to stay to support the transition when children come into the playgroup. Parents praise the staff for their kindness, sensitivity and patience. They feel welcomed and as a result develop strong partnerships with their child's key carer. Individual key carers meet with parents to talk about children before they start at the playgroup. The staff use the information that parents share to ensure that activities reflect children's interests and that staff can talk to children about their life outside playgroup.

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

Children are learning to respect and tolerate each other's differences through planned play experiences. They are learning to negotiate and share resources to develop their personal and social skills. Children are developing friendship groups and are keen to look after each other, for example, as they play, they check to make sure that their friends are wearing hard hats. They know that the hats protect their heads when building with bricks and when hunting dangerous dinosaurs. They are learning about each other's feelings through stories and they talk about what makes them sad and happy, to support their emotional well-being.

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

Children receive consistent praise as they achieve the goals they set themselves in play. They are developing their independence skills. Children show pride in their own abilities as they pour drinks, put on their coats, and wash their hands after visiting the toilet. Older children support younger ones to pick up resources and to replace books in the book case. Parents report that staff help children to take pride in their work. They report on the independence skills their children are learning, commenting how 'they can pour now, it shocked me' and 'they surprise us constantly'. Children see their achievements displayed on the 'wow board' and share these with their parents, reinforcing their self-esteem and confidence.

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

The staff have thought carefully about how to prepare children emotionally for their next stage of learning as they leave playgroup and move on to school. Children visit the local school to use their play facilities and the school hall. They visit with their friends and trusted adults and so feel safe to explore the larger environment. Staff share information with the local staff so that new teachers know about the children that are moving to them. Children learn about keeping themselves healthy. They learn about germs as they wash their hands, and staff talk to children about healthy food at snack time and during lunch club. Staff support children to develop an understanding of personal safety, for example, as they look out for dangers to themselves and pick up toys that would cause them to trip or fall. Children have regular opportunities to play outside to run, climb and enjoy fresh air. They have free access throughout the session to the outdoor environment and

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

therefore children who prefer to learn outside can do so. Children learn to take some risks as they play outdoors and practise balancing for themselves on play equipment, which supports their developing physical skills and resilience.

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provision

The management are aware of their role and responsibilities in safeguarding children but have not consistently followed their own procedures to protect children. Consequently, the playgroup does not consistently implement robust safeguarding, recruitment and vetting procedures to make sure that all adults working, or in regular contact with the children are entirely suitable to do so. This significantly compromises the children's safety and welfare. In addition, staff do not keep children safe at all times through their supervision arrangements, particularly when unvetted persons are on the premises. These are breaches of requirements of both the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and the Childcare Register.

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provision

Staff have updated their understanding of safeguarding and child protection matters through attending training courses. They are clear about what to do if concerns arise about children's well-being to help keep them safe. A safeguarding policy is in place, which includes a procedure for reporting allegations against a member of staff, to protect children. Staff receive a consistent induction where policies and procedures are explained to help them understand more about their roles and responsibilities.

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provision

Sound risk assessment procedures mean that the staff make sure the building is secure. Doors and gates to the playgroup are locked and staff maintain accurate registers to record times of arrival and departure of children, staff and visitors. The provider has identified senior staff who have the responsibility of collecting and returning children to their parents at the start and end of session. This ensures that children cannot leave the building unnoticed and that staff know who they have gone home with. Risk assessments have been recently updated and staff undertake visual checks of the indoor and outside play areas before each session. This helps them to ensure that they identify all hazards, and minimise risks to children. Accidents involving children are dealt with by staff who have all undertaken paediatric first aid training, to help them protect children's welfare.

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provision

The provider aspires to improve outcomes for children and the quality of the provision. The staff team work together to identify areas they want to improve, supporting the manager to draw up clear action plans which show how improvements have been made over time. Partnerships with parents are encouraged and the manager has identified approaches to encourage all parents to engage more fully with the playgroup. Parents volunteer in the playgroup and benefit through first-hand experience of children's learning.

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provision

The manager understands her role in supporting staff to accurately assess children's progress and attainment. She understands her role in monitoring children's overall progress. However, the manager has not fully implemented an effective system that is thorough enough to make sure that all children receive good amounts of challenge in their learning and are making good progress towards the early learning goals. Staff are encouraged to use teaching strategies to support individual children. However, the manager does not effectively monitor teaching to a good level to ensure that staff consistently implement strategies to deliver the best possible outcomes for all children.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

 ensure that there are effective systems in place to make sure that the registered person, the manager and any person caring for, or in regular contact with children is suitable to work with children, which must include obtaining an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check, and has skills and experience suitable for the work.

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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 116827 Local authority Reading Inspection number 941138 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 30 Number of children on roll 30 Name of provider Crescent Under 5's Playgroup Committee Date of previous inspection 01/10/2009 Telephone number 0118 901 0012

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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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