Catkins Pre-School

Catkins Pre-School Tunbury Hall, Catkin Close, CHATHAM, Kent, ME5 9HP

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 06/02/2014 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 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 An effective key person system enables children to feel safe, secure and valued within the setting.  Staff work well in partnership with parents and outside agencies to fully support each child's individual needs.  Children are given a good variety of activities to select from indoors to cover the seven areas of learning.  Continuous improvement is promoted well by the committed, enthusiastic management and team of staff.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Staff provide daily opportunities for children to experience outdoor play, but opportunities do not always fully engage children's interests or encourage use of the natural environment.  Children's literacy skills are not fully promoted due to a lack of meaningful words and labels in their environment and children's infrequent, independent use of the book area.

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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 spent the majority of the inspection observing the interaction between the staff and the children.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled documentation, including children's assessment files and safeguarding information.  Parent's views were obtained through discussion on the day of the inspection.  A joint observation was carried out with the joint managers.

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Information about the setting

Catkins Pre-School was registered in 1991 and is a privately owned setting. It was re- registered in 2013 under the current owners. It operates from a village hall in Chatham, Kent. The setting has recently extended its opening hours. It operates Monday to Friday from 8.45am until 11.45am. Afternoon sessions occur on Tuesdays and Fridays from 12.30pm to 3.00pm term time. A 'rising fives' group occurs on Mondays and Wednesdays from 12.30pm to 3.30pm; an additional group session will soon be introduced on Thursdays. There are single steps to access the front of the premises and a ramp to enable complete disabled access.

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Information about the setting

The provision is registered on the Early Years Register. Currently, the provision has 81 children on roll in the early years age range. The setting has procedures in place to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The setting receives funding for early education for children aged two, three and four years.

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Information about the setting

There are currently 11 members of staff who work with the children. Eight hold an early years qualification to National Vocational Qualification level 3, one holds an early years qualification to National Vocational Qualification level 2, one has qualified teacher status and one of the managers has Early Years Professional Status.

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

 extend activities for children outside to explore their environment and to use unusual resources to promote their creativity and imagination

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

 develop children's literacy skills through an improved book area and opportunities to see meaningful labels within their environment.

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who attend

Children make good progress in their learning and development because staff have a good understanding about how to promote the learning and development requirements. Staff use their skills and knowledge to support children's progress through the observation and assessment process. They record regular observations and link these to the area and aspect of learning. The system of planning is in the process of being improved to further promote children's individual needs. Parents are fully involved in this process and are encouraged to contribute through written comments, observations or photographs. The two-year progress check is well established and staff involve parents in this assessment. Therefore, enabling a clear record to share with the healthcare professionals.

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who attend

Children arrive confidently and are eager to find an activity to play with. They seek opportunities to play with the small world toys on the carpet, playing with their friends and developing their imagination. The role play area and dressing up are firm favourites with many children as they act out familiar roles, or pretend to be super heroes or princesses. Staff join in with children's play when appropriate and generally ask open ended questions to extend children's communication and language skills. Children show enthusiasm and excitedly talk to the adults about what they have been doing at home, or about what is happening in their game. Staff aim to introduce new language during play and to extend children's understanding. Several group sessions throughout the morning provide good opportunities for children to develop their listening skills and understanding. They show good concentration and are able to answer questions regarding the story, reflecting their

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who attend

Children enjoy daily opportunities to play outside in the fresh air. They use the tricycles to move around, negotiating different obstacles and developing their spatial awareness. Staff understand the importance of physical play and provide various activities outside to engage children's attention. However, on occasions activities do not sufficiently engage children so they lose interest and return indoors. Children are able to engage in further large physical play indoors, using the slide, trampet and large rocker.

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who attend

Children demonstrate good hand and eye coordination as they use the magnetic pens to move the beads around the maze, or draw round their fingers using a tripod grip. Some children are developing an awareness of letters and are beginning to write some recognisable letters in their name. However, children are not able to further extend their letters and sounds recognition using the environment, as there are few labels and signs displayed. Children occasionally use the book area, but this is not fully promoted as a cosy area to attract children with a variety of literature. Staff use books well during group story times, using visual aids, story sacks and puppets to tell stories to the children, helping to engage their attention.

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who attend

Mathematics is incorporated into the setting through play. Children see some numbers in their environment and are beginning to show recognition of familiar numbers, such as their age. Many children confidently count the bricks as they are building, or the numbers of fingers on their hand. They are learning to group objects by colour and shape, using skills of comparing two objects. Staff introduce cooking activities to introduce weight and measure and water play for volume, providing children with stimulating activities. Children show curiosity as they pour the water through the rubber tubing and watch it travel along to the end. They practice pouring the bubbles and water through the cloth, learning early science skills in filtration.

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who attend

Staff know the children well and are quick to realise those children that might need additional support or guidance to achieve. They use their observational skills and guidance material to identify the specific concerns. Staff then use this information to implement individual educational plans to support the particular needs of the child, in agreement with the key person, parent and the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO).

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

Children feel safe, secure and valued in the setting due to the effective key person system in place. Staff demonstrate a good understanding about the importance of attachment and work in partnership with the parents to help children to settle. Each child is able to follow a process that is suitable for them and their parents to ensure they feel comfortable and safe. Good information is obtained from the parents to enable the key person to begin to plan activities to interest the child. Children approach their key person for security or reassurance, demonstrating how secure they feel. Children generally behave well. Staff provide lots of praise and encouragement helping children learn what the expected behaviour is. In addition, staff issue stickers and certificates to promote good behaviour.

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

Staff have a good understanding of the skills children need when they leave the setting for school. They encourage children to be independent visiting the toilet and washing their hands. Snack time offers further opportunities for children to demonstrate their skills when spreading butter on their crackers and pouring their drinks. Children talk about healthy eating as they make choices from the variety of fresh fruit, learning why this is important. Good hygiene routines are implemented into the setting with children learning why they must wash their hands before eating 'to wash away the germs'. Staff provide good role models regarding hygiene, particularly when nappy changing to prevent cross infection. The daily opportunities for fresh air and exercise further promote children's healthy lifestyle.

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

Staff provide a safe environment for children to play in. A full, comprehensive risk assessment is carried out annually and is supported by daily check lists and action sheets. Consequently, staff identify and record any new hazards to ensure swift action is taken to minimise the hazard. Children are supported in their understanding about keeping themselves safe. For example, when they bounce on the trampet, staff remind children about holding onto the hand rail. Children learn they must not run indoors unless it is large physical playtime. Further opportunities to learn about keeping safe are demonstrated as children climb the slide in their dressing up clothes. As a result, children learn why they must not wear long clothes to climb or to hold any objects in their hands before climbing the ladder.

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

Children play with a good range of toys and resources. Staff select toys to address children's interests and make these accessible around the hall. Children's choices are recorded daily in a book to ensure their voice is heard. Children can play on the floor on mats, or sit at the table to play with the toys. They can request alternatives which staff happily fetch for them enabling children to make choices and engage their attention. Toys are in good condition and reflect the seven areas of learning around the hall. However, a lack of area dividers sometimes results in children not making full use of some areas, such as the book area.

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provision

The setting has recently been taken over by new owners who are well qualified and are dedicated to providing a caring, quality service to promote outcomes for children. They have a good understanding about promoting children's learning and development and have implemented effective systems to monitor the provision. They are constantly reviewing, evaluating and monitoring the activities and the resources available to ensure they cover the seven areas of learning whilst meeting children's needs. In addition to programme monitoring, systems are being developed to monitor children's learning. Staff are encouraged to be fully involved with the monitoring and have recently completed an analysis to identify any particular areas of weaknesses within the areas of learning or gender weaknesses. Consequently, systems are in place to make further improvements to constantly evaluate children's learning.

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provision

Staff training is encouraged to keep skills updated and ensure all staff are familiar with any changes to current guidance or statutory requirements. Staff meetings take place on a regular basis, encouraging all staff to be involved in the decision making process. In addition to the staff comments, parental views and the 'children's voice' are taken into account to inform the self-evaluation process. As a result, the management team have a good understanding about where the strengths and weaknesses are within the setting.

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provision

Safeguarding is given high priority amongst the staff team. All staff attend training and are told the procedures and policies during their induction period. They are encouraged to read all the policies and are able to explain the procedures they would follow if they had any concerns, including following the whistle blowing policy. All the necessary documentation is in place, including contact details for outside agencies in the event of a concern. To support children's safety, rigorous recruitment procedures are in place to ensure the suitability of the staff. All relevant checks are taken up on new staff, with an induction and probationary period implemented. Once appointed, every member of staff has regular supervisions and annual appraisals to ensure their ongoing suitability.

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provision

The staff work extremely well with parents and outside agencies. Parents are kept informed through various methods such as newsletters, verbally and on a media site online about events, themes and general information. They are consulted about any information relating to their child, enabling good partnership working to meet children's needs. In addition, good links with outside agencies further enhance the provision for the children. Consequently, children are able to make good progress in their learning and 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 EY463305 Local authority Kent Inspection number 931049 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 5 Total number of places 36 Number of children on roll 81 Name of provider Catkins Pre-School Partnership Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 07952990988

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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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