Hilltop Children's Centre Pre-School

Hilltop Children's Centre Pre- School Latimer Road, Cinderford, GL14 2QA

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 21/01/2014 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 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 The quality of teaching for older children is consistently of a very high quality, inspirational and worthy of dissemination to other providers.  There is a highly stimulating environment with child-accessible resources that staff use flexibly to promote learning in and out of doors.  Particularly successful strategies engage all parents and carers in their children's learning in the centre and at home.  Robust monitoring ensures that staff provide individually tailored support and learning for children with additional needs.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Staff occasionally miss opportunities to challenge and extend the youngest children's thinking and development.

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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 activities in the two play rooms and the outside learning environment.  The inspector had discussions with the manager, staff, children and parents.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector undertook a joint observation with the senior practitioner in the pre- school room.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled a range of documentation including the self-evaluation form and improvement plan, children's records, planning, safeguarding procedures, policies and information from a parents' survey.

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Information about the setting

Hilltop Children's Centre Pre-school opened in 2007 and re-registered in 2013 under the ownership of Barnardo's. It is situated in the children's centre next to Forest View Primary School in the rural town of Cinderford in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. Children use two playrooms and an enclosed, outdoor classroom. There is an outside play area with hard-standing and sloped grass areas and forest school takes place in the meadow adjoining the premises. The pre-school opens each weekday during school term times from 8.40am to 11.40am and from 12.30pm to 3.30pm. Full day care options are available from 9am to 3pm on Monday and Friday for children aged three and four years. Children aged from two years attend on Monday and Tuesday from 9am to 11.30am and on Wednesday and Friday from 1pm to 3.30pm. When required during school holidays, staff provide sessions for children aged between five and eight years. The pre-school is

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Information about the setting

registered on the Early Years Register and on the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. There are 54 children on roll in the early years age range. The pre-school currently supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children learning English as an additional language. It is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two, three and four years. There are six members of staff working with the children, who all have appropriate early years qualifications. Of these, two staff have achieved childcare qualifications to level 6, while the manager and another member of staff hold qualified teacher status.

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

 enhance the youngest children???s learning by ensuring that all staff fully challenge them to extend their development and thinking.

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who attend

The centre's early years educational programmes have depth across each of the areas of learning. Staff focus strongly on developing children's personal and social skills and enhancing their abilities to communicate through signing and language. Staff's practice is based on their secure understanding of how to promote the learning and development of children and what they can achieve. Key persons work closely with new families, helping them to complete thoughtfully prepared 'All about me' sheets to gain thorough overviews of children's starting points. Staff make perceptive observations of children's play in each area of learning to photograph and record about their interests and achievements. Key persons regularly review children's progress in meetings with their parents and carers to work together towards children's next steps in learning and development. In liaison with other specialists, staff plan very detailed targets for children with special educational

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who attend

needs and/or disabilities to support these children to achieve. Staff have a good understanding of the requirement for the progress check for two-year-old children and are in close contact with local health visitors.

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who attend

The quality of teaching is consistently good and that of the stable, highly experienced team with the older children is outstanding. Where children's starting points are below those of other children of their age, assessment shows they improve over a sustained period and the gaps in their learning are closing. Overall, staff use their expertise to provide choices of stimulating and challenging experiences that they design and adjust to meet all children's learning needs. However, some adults occasionally miss opportunities to challenge and support the younger children, in order to fully develop their next steps in learning. Nevertheless, all children, including those learning English as an additional language, progress well towards the early learning goals over time, given their starting points and capabilities. Staff make particularly good use of one-to-one teaching to extend children's concentration and depth of learning. For example, children enthusiastically play

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who attend

games that their key persons tailor for them, including using pegs, beads and clothes pegs. Through this personal support, children show rapid improvement in their understanding of the tasks involved and in the deftness of their physical skills.

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who attend

Staff use small groups supportively, including at arrival, focused teaching and snack times, so children receive encouragement to feel included and effectively participate. Children enjoy their key group activities to focus and persevere at these. For example, they follow the 'Every child a talker' programme and become highly involved in making up and telling stories, including about 'The three bears'. Staff support older children's thinking strongly by asking them for their ideas, for example when playing with ice shapes. This approach means that children receive robust encouragement to be interested, keen learners through effective learning that is fun.

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

All staff are highly skilled and sensitive in helping two-year-old and older children to form secure emotional attachments. Through much shared information and close observation, staff know children and their backgrounds extremely well. They work extensively with parents and carers to help children to settle, including those who initially find this difficult. Staff provide a very strong base for helping children in developing their independence and ability to explore. Children increasingly show high levels of self-control during activities and confidence in social situations with adults and other children. As a result, children receive support to learn to negotiate with others about their play, including how to share equipment, such as wheeled toys.

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

Staff support children's growing knowledge of how to keep themselves safe and healthy very effectively. Children develop an excellent understanding of how to manage risks and challenges relative to their age as they choose whether to play in or out of doors. They experiment to find safe ways to climb and slide on challenging physical equipment. They use tools, such as knives safely to cut fruits at snack time. Children wash enthusiastically before they eat and confidently make healthy choices from an extensive variety of nutritious foods. Staff have fully embedded these activities in the routine to develop children's understanding about a healthy lifestyle.

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

There is a highly stimulating, spacious and varied environment with child-accessible resources that promote learning and challenge children both in and out of doors. Children use a very wide range of high quality play materials that cover the areas of learning. The equipment is stored in many low-level units and containers so that children take time to consider and make their own choices about what they play with. The highly effective presentation of the resources motivates children to be independent, to consolidate learning and to try out new experiences.

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

The strong skills of all key persons and exceptional use of small key group ensure that staff prepare children very well emotionally for the next stages in their learning. Children gain very good confidence to manage things for themselves, including toileting and dressing. Staff expect older children to take responsibility, for example to prepare and tidy away activities and clear their own crockery after eating. Staff support children skilfully as they move between groups in the centre and gain knowledge and independence to progress from the pre-school to school.

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provision

Children's safety and safeguarding is central to everything all staff do. Management and staff effectively understand their role to meet the safeguarding and welfare requirements. A detailed policy supports the staff in their confident knowledge and understanding of child protection issues and procedures. The designated persons and other staff have a clear understanding of the issues to respond promptly to all concern about children. The use of rigorous vetting procedures helps to check the adults suitability to work with children and close supervision at all times adds to children's safety. Implementation of an effective, on-going risk assessment programme results in the premises being secure and safe. Away from the centre, staff keep small groups of children safe on outings; for example, children wear high visibility jackets and learn about road safety as they walk to the library. The company and manager regularly update all required documentation and

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provision

policies. They keep well aware of changes in procedures to underpin the safety and well- being of all children.

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provision

The manager and leadership of the early years provision have a robust understanding of the learning and development requirements and senior practitioners lead their teams by their example. The continuous drive to extend children's achievements demonstrates staff's vocation to improve children's learning further. Accurate monitoring of children's levels of attainment achieved by the manager and key persons results in further planning to sustain children's progress, particularly regarding their communication and language. All staff receive encouragement through a programme of professional development, including frequent supervision and appraisal meetings, peer observation and sharing of best practice. The manager and staff teams use in-depth reflection and highly detailed self- evaluation to identify areas for development in relation to all aspects of the provision. The provider completes meticulous development plans. These includes appointing high quality,

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provision

permanent staffing for the two-year-old group and enhancing the process for regular information sharing between early years and foundation stage staff on site. This level of planning demonstrates the provider's deep commitment to making ongoing improvements.

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provision

A key strength of the centre is the exceptionally positive relationship between the staff, parents and carers and with other providers enables the key persons to identify and meet children's needs well. Staff have a good understanding of the value of linking with other settings that children attend. For each child, they set in place a system to meet and share information to promote children's continuity of care and learning. Staff are experienced in working with a variety of other agencies, including speech therapy and community family support working on site. This means that families have direct access to support for them and their children, which enhances children's well-being. The manager and her teams foster very good relationships with parents and carers. They share information effectively about children's care and learning in the centre and at home. Staff value the views of families and always consult them over plans for their children. As a result, children receive

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provision

individual, motivating support which enables them to succeed. Parents and carers are clearly appreciative of the friendliness and expertise that the adults in the centre share. They say that staff are very friendly and supportive so that the centre feels like 'a second home'.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 Requires improvement The provision is not giving children a good standard of early years education and/or there are minor breaches of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected within twelve months of the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate Provision that is inadequate requires significant improvement and/or enforcement action. The provision is failing to give children an acceptable standard of early years education and/or is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of

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Grade Judgement Description

the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected again within six months of the date of this inspection. Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider does not meet the requirements for registration.

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Inspection

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY465544 Local authority Gloucestershire Inspection number 926978 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 8 Total number of places 36 Number of children on roll 54 Name of provider Barnardo's Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 01594827595

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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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