Carers Nest Pre-school

Carers Nest Blackberry Lane, Potterne, DEVIZES, Wiltshire, SN10 5NZ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 27/01/2014 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 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 3 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision requires improvement

 Children are happy and staff have worked hard on children's personal, social and emotional development to settle them into the pre-school.  Staff place emphasis on the use of natural materials throughout the pre-school, which helps promote children's learning.  The provider is putting systems into place, including enlarging the staff team, to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.  Strong links with parents/carers enable staff to share information about the children and their learning at home and in the pre-school.

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It is not yet good because

 Staff are not well deployed as they do not all support children's next steps through agreed known strategies on how to support children to achieve.  Children's participation and learning is not always supported effectively in large group teaching.  Staff's planning does not yet support all pre-school children in each of the areas of learning.  Staff do not help children to choose effectively between indoor or outdoor resources for play.

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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 activities in the play room and the outside learning environment.  The inspector had discussions with the owner-manager, staff, children and parents.  The inspector undertook a joint observation with the owner-manager outdoors.

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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 and policies.

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Information about the setting

Carers Nest registered in 2013. It is a privately owned pre-school in Potterne, near Devizes in Wiltshire. The pre-school operates from a pre-fabricated building next to the village primary school. It opens each weekday during term time from 8.45am to 3pm. Children use a playroom and adjacent, enclosed, outdoor areas. The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register. There are 26 children on roll in the early years age range between two and five years. The pre-school currently supports a number of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. It is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two, three and four years. There are currently four members of staff working with the children. All of these have appropriate early years qualifications at level 3, including the owner-manager, who also holds a foundation degree in early years childhood studies.

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must:

 develop children's learning through improving teaching techniques, for example by making better use of children's thoughts and ideas during individual and small group activities

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must:

 develop planning to ensure that all staff use the information gained from observational assessment to support children's next steps in each relevant area of learning.

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

 develop further the deployment of staff to ensure that each child's needs are supported through well-considered strategies

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

 give children more freedom to become deeply involved in indoor and outdoor activities at times of their choosing.

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who attend

Staff assess children's skills and abilities carefully when they join the pre-school. Following the owner-manager's visits to children's homes to talk with parents, the two key persons observe children's play and activities in the setting. This carefulness helpfully results in early identification of children needing extra support and/or further observation. However, there is a time lapse in generating initial summaries of children's stages of development. This sometimes results in limited planning and insufficiently focused teaching for individual children's learning needs. The permanent staff are often stretched, reacting to the immediate needs of the significant number of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. As a result, planned focused teaching for each child's learning needs is not secure. The quality of teaching is variable which means that not all children make good progress relative to their starting points. Staff have begun to improve this by

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who attend

planning for groups of children according to their age and abilities. This approach has had some positive results in making up for the previous lack of local pre-school provision, particularly regarding children's personal, social and emotional development.

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who attend

Children benefit from a calm, happy beginning to their day as they arrive and eagerly play at their chosen activities. Staff invite them gently to a brief period together to welcome them by name and talk, for example, about the weather. At this time, staff respond suitably to children's variable attention spans. Later in the session, children show their keenness to group together for story time and for meals. However, staff do not organise these activities well to engage each child by enabling them to concentrate and participate to learn. In contrast, after lunch when youngest children have gone home, the smaller group of children and adults often join in a musical activity together. Staff enhance the level of participation with their enthusiasm and by encouraging children to have fun with musical instruments.

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who attend

Adults are often on hand so that, generally, children receive help to progress their learning as they play. They talk to children in a relaxed, friendly manner, for example about their families and what has happened at home. Staff make frequent use of prompts, including a bell, picture cards and a picture/word board, to help children prepare for changes in the routine. These approaches soundly support children's developing communication and language. Adults notice what children enjoy playing with to help support their learning. For example, they provide similar resources for continued learning on the next day, such as play with dough or toy trains that children previously selected. Some staff ask children helpful questions and use comments that encourage children to explore a range of ideas. For example, when children attempt to move computer pictures, staff ask, 'Have you turned the timer over for your turn? Which one do you want?' However, after offering

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who attend

resources, such as plastic channels, some staff make limited use of children's own ideas to challenge them and further their learning.

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who attend

Staff appropriately support children to use their imaginations and explore the properties of some materials and equipment, such as mud, sawdust, foam and craft tools. However, alongside the necessary focus on children's personal, social and language development, the learning in other areas is often incidental. This lack of precise planning in all areas of learning sometimes limits the learning opportunities for older or more able children. For example, children begin to develop mathematical understanding by taking number cards off the wall to play, rather than in focused, purposeful use of numbers. Children often look at pictures and books and see their names on coat hooks and a 'computer turns' board. They do not benefit from a stepped approach to extend their early literacy skills. Nevertheless, depending on their abilities, children gain confidence to talk to others, to ask for help and to manage their personal needs. Overall, children are gaining sufficient skills

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who attend

to take them forward to the next stage of their early education.

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

Staff are attentive to children's care needs and follow their home routines wherever appropriate. These supportive procedures enable younger and older children to be happy and enjoy what they are doing. Staff plan sociable meal times so that children gain confidence and skills to sit and eat with others. Children have appropriate opportunities to begin to learn to play with others. Staff encourage young children to play alongside each other, for example with tools and a child's dinosaurs in trays of foam. Staff praise children when they begin to take turns with equipment and spontaneously help to carry play equipment. They remind children about the behaviour they expect as situations arise so children learn to know how to respond. Through their caring manner, staff suitably foster children's growing physical and emotional well-being.

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

Children learn that they can choose books, craft items and resources to play imaginatively from those stored at low levels. However, because of the deployment of staff, children do not receive consistent support to be able to decide whether to play in or out of doors. This lack of choice limits children's abilities to make decisions about their play. A strength of the pre-school is the emphasis on the use of natural materials for furniture, equipment and play materials. This approach enhances children's learning through first-hand contact with the natural world. Staff suggest and introduce appropriate quality equipment and resources to motivate children and support their all round development.

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

From the age of two years, children begin to develop independence in personal hygiene and healthy eating through consistent and timely support from staff. For example, they know to wash their hands after playing outdoors, for example in the mud kitchen, and before eating. Children pour their milk or water at snack times and drink from named water bottles so they do not become thirsty. Staff serve children nutritious foods for their snack, including fruit, and advise parents on supplying healthy packed lunches. Children enjoy spending time in the fresh air. They competently manoeuvre wheeled toys, balance on logs, climb on different structures and slide down a pole. These activities enable children to benefit from more energetic play.

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provision

The provider's understanding of her responsibilities in meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements is sound. Staff have completed child protection courses and the designated person has attended extended training. Staff understand how to act where they have concerns about children. There are appropriate arrangements for safe recruitment and for checking the suitability of all adults who have sole access to children. The provider has written detailed policies and procedures to help guide the daily safeguarding practice of the pre-school, including risk assessment. In the secure premises, staff create an environment that is safe and made welcoming for children and their families.

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provision

The provider has a strong understanding of her responsibilities in meeting the learning and development requirements. She is currently developing and putting arrangements into place but these procedures are not yet embedded into practice to benefit all children well. For example, it is taking time to gather together a full staff team and to deploy staff to meet fully the learning and development needs of each child. The provider takes the lead for the day-to day management. She is trialling systems to begin to monitor the planning and delivery of the educational programmes. Staff have well-devised procedures to carry out progress checks for two-year-old children. This checking helps the process to gain the support children need from outside agencies to close their gaps in learning. However, the monitoring of children in groups according to their capabilities sometimes limits the development of planning to support individuals to learn.

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provision

The provider employs varied systems for self-evaluation to establish her priorities for the pre-school and has set many challenging targets for development. She initiates and values discussion with the local authority advisory service. She continually talks about the pre- school provision with her staff to reflect on new practice to include and changes to make to benefit children. Staff value the views of parents as they talk about their children and they observe children's responses while at the pre-school. The provider is currently implementing many focused schemes. These include appointing and inducting experienced staff and introducing times for staff to observe one another's practice to suggest improvements. There are plans to implement the training programme being generated by regular staff supervision and to enhance outdoor provision in each area of learning. These are likely to have a positive impact for children.

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provision

Staff are proactive in creating links with other providers to help foster consistency of care and learning for shared children. The provider has established liaison with other agencies so these are currently involved in observing and identifying children's individual needs to offer appropriate interventions and support. Staff work hard to establish and build on partnerships with all parents and carers and encourage their contributions to supporting children's well-being. As a result, parents and carers say they receive regular information about their children and feel very involved in their children's development.

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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 EY463243 Local authority Wiltshire Inspection number 928116 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 5 Total number of places 20 Number of children on roll 26 Name of provider Carers Nest Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 01225 793582

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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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