St Peter's Pre-School

St Peter's Pre-School St. Peters Church, St. Peters Church Lane, DROITWICH, Worcestershire, WR9 7AN

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 24/03/2014 02/02/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 Previous inspection: 2 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

 Staff develop strong relationships with children and their families which effectively supports children to become confident and emotionally well prepared for learning.  Good quality teaching ensures staff actively engage with children in their play to support their learning. This leads to children being interested and highly involved.  Staff work closely with parents, carers and external agencies to provide timely and appropriate interventions for vulnerable learners. This effectively closes gaps between the achievements of different groups of children.

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It is not yet good because

 Leaders and managers are yet to build on the satisfactory arrangements for safeguarding children. This specifically relates to the adequate safeguarding and child protection policies and procedures which have not been updated to include all of the latest procedures set out by the Local Safeguarding Children Board.  There are some gaps in the management committees' understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage requirements which impedes their ability to effectively monitor the policies and procedures in place to support the provision for children.  There is scope for staff to build on good teaching practice through greater use of questioning to further develop children's critical thinking and problem solving skills. There is also room to develop further opportunities for children to take responsibility for their own care routines and independence.

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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 main pre-school room and outside area.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held meetings with the manager of the provision, the Local Authority Inclusion Officer and chair of the management committee.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of suitability and qualifications of practitioners working with children and the pre-school's self-evaluation.  The inspector took account of the views of parents and carers spoken to on the day.

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Information about the setting

St Peter's Pre-School opened in 1976 and is a registered charity managed by a committee of parents and carers. The pre-school operates from the church vestry adjacent to St Peter's Church in a residential area of Droitwich, Worcestershire. The pre-school serves children from local and surrounding areas. The pre-school opens five days a week from 8.45am until 11.45am and 12.15pm until 3.15pm during term time only. Children attend for a variety of sessions. Children have access to a small enclosed outdoor play area. Further outside play is provided through local walks and visits to the adjacent playing fields and park.

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Information about the setting

There are currently 34 children in the early years age range. The pre-school receives funding for the provision of free early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. The pre-school supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children for whom English is an additional language.

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Information about the setting

There are currently four staff working directly with the children. Of these, three hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3. The pre-school receives support from the local authority. This pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register.

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must:

 update the safeguarding policy and procedures to ensure these fully reflect the procedures of the Local Safeguarding Children Board

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must:

 ensure that the management committee have a secure knowledge and understanding of the statutory requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and effectively monitor the pre-school provision to ensure that these are fully met at all times.

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

 develop further the teaching approach to provide improved support for children's critical thinking and problem solving skills, and responsibility for their own care routines and independence.

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who attend

Good quality teaching enables children to make good progress given their starting points and time in the pre-school. Staff get down to the children's level to actively engage with them as they play and explore the activities available. As a result, children are interested and engaged in the activities provided to support their learning and development. Through close interaction and observation staff get to know all of the children well and they are confident in identifying and tackling any vulnerabilities in children's learning. For example, they are aware of children who require additional support with their developing speech and language skills and their behaviour. For these children they are working closely with parents and the inclusion officer to plan and provide tailored support. This means that all children are effectively supported to make good progress in their learning and development. As a result, staff are actively working towards closing gaps between the

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who attend

An appropriate focus on developing all children's personal, social and emotional development and their communication and language effectively supports children to become confident, active learners. Building on this staff use their knowledge and understanding of children's individual needs and interests to provide activities and resources that excite and motivate children to develop their skills further. Children are therefore eager to explore and discover through play, alongside and with their peers and the staff. They confidently chat to staff recalling events in their lives, such as a finger that got scratched earlier in the day, and act out familiar roles imaginatively, being the delivery person dropping off parcels or the restaurant keeper making and serving food. They explore volume, having fun filling and emptying different containers into one another and tackle jigsaws, trying different pieces and moving them around until the right fit is found.

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who attend

Staff offer children ideas to help build on and develop their play and at times ask open ended questions to encourage children to think and solve problems for themselves. For example, when children complain that the castle keeps falling down, the staff member asks them how they could fix it. There is scope however for staff to make better and more frequent use of questioning to further challenge children to think critically and solve problems. Nonetheless, the teaching that does take place is appropriately supporting children to acquire the skills, attitudes and dispositions they need to be ready for their next stage of learning and for school.

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who attend

Staff are committed to working with parents and carers to effectively support children's learning and development. Parents and carers are well informed about who their child's key person is and get to know all the staff very well. Parents talk very highly about the homely and welcoming environment of the pre-school in which their children have settled and made progress in their learning and development. Parents comment about their children coming home and counting to ten in French and clearly saying new words, all things that they know they are learning through the teaching taking place in the pre- school. While there was a comment that occasionally more information could be shared about children's daily activities, there is a communication book for each child which is completed by staff and parents, staff are very committed to welcoming parents and carers into the setting at any time to enable them to experience the sessions and what their

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who attend

children do. Regular information is shared with parents through newsletters, there is an annual parents' evening and parents are actively encouraged to become involved in the management committee. In addition, staff work closely with external agencies to support children's learning, such as, the inclusion and the special educational needs officers. The pre-school have extended funded places from three- and four-year-olds to include two- year-olds and this enables more potentially vulnerable learners to take advantage of the strong support that the pre-school provides.

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

Staff implement the key person system effectively to support children to develop very secure and close relationships with staff. Parents know who their child's key person is and they work well together to help children to settle into the pre-school and experience continuity in their care. From the firm foundations of attachments with key people, relationships grow between children and all members of the small staffing team. Children consider staff to be their friends and they have great fun playing and chatting with staff as well as other children. As a result, children become confident in making their needs known, start to take responsibility for their self-care and are well prepared emotionally for the next stage in their development. Staff build on this to support children to develop the skills and abilities that will ease their transition from the pre-school to school. The safe and welcoming environment of the pre-school further enhances children's sense of

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

security. However, this is potentially a false sense of security as safeguarding policies and procedures are not fully up to date with the latest guidance. That said the impact on children is not significant because all staff working with children have attended safeguarding training and know of the appropriate action to take if they were to have concerns about a child in their care.

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

Children eagerly contribute fruit that they bring from home for the healthy snack that they enjoy during each session. They enjoy the company of staff and each other as they sit together to eat snack, chatting happily as they develop their social skills. Staff encourage children to make choices from what is available during snack time and then to put their coats on to go outside. However, there is scope for staff to further promote children's independence and for children to take more responsibility for their care routines. For example, through helping to prepare and serve snacks and being encouraged to start fastening and unfastening their own coats. Although outside space is limited staff make good use of the resources available to support children's developing large physical skills. Children have access to slides and enjoy the challenge of pedalling bikes over the uneven surfaces, well supported by staff who offer a helping hand when needed and join in

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

children's excitement as they navigate around obstacles.

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provision

Staff generally have a sound understanding of their responsibilities to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. They attend regular safeguarding training and closely work with external agencies, they have detailed information produced by the local authority in respect of safeguarding children. However, this information is not fully integrated or reflected in the pre-school's own safeguarding policies and procedures which at present lack detail in part. For example, the policy is yet to fully explain in detail the process for dealing with concerns about a child or an allegation being made about a member of staff. These omissions represent a failure to comply with requirements. However, the impact on children is not significant because the manager and staff understand the appropriate steps to take should concerns be raised. They understand that exemplars of processes and formats for reporting concerns are readily available in the

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provision

local authority information folder which is easily accessible to all. Gaps in the management committees' understanding of the requirements has meant that their monitoring of the policies and procedures have failed to identify these omissions. However, there have been recent changes to the management committee and the new chairperson is working effectively with staff to build on and develop her knowledge and understanding of the requirements. There are arrangements in place for the regular review of the policies and procedures and the new chairperson is making arrangements to attend safeguarding children training to deepen her understanding of this highly important aspect of practice.

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provision

Staff are very open to constructive feedback and deeply committed to improving the provision for children. As a result, they are eager to keep their knowledge and understanding of good practice up-to-date and regularly attend training to support this. Since the last inspection, systems for regular self-evaluation have been implemented which have helped to identify ways of improving practice and children's experiences. For example, staff have used the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale to identify aspects of the provision which can be improved. As a result, children enjoy the benefits of accessing a wider variety of art, craft, music and science resources. In addition, the new chairperson and manager have recently started to implement regular staff supervision sessions which provide further opportunities to drive forward staffs' continuous professional development. As a result, there is satisfactory capacity for the committee and

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provision

staff to make the necessary improvements.

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provision

Staff qualifications and ongoing training impacts most effectively in ensuring that the delivery of the educational programme provides good support for all aspects of children's learning and development. All children are well supported to make good progress because staff work closely together to regularly discuss and monitor the progress of children. The manager has started to formalise the monitoring process by accurately identifying the differing characteristics of children that attend, to include those who are vulnerable learners. Although, formal monitoring systems do not measure what gaps there may be between groups of children or how they much they are closing, the manager and special educational needs co-ordinator are able to talk through and describe ongoing and additional supports for individual children that ensure that these gaps are starting to close. This is very well supported through effective partnership working with parents, carers and

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provision

external agencies. Staff develop close relationships with parents which enables them to work effectively together to provide continuity of care for children and support for their learning and development. Staff actively seek and take on board the guidance and advice offered by external agencies, particularly in regard to improving the environment and supporting vulnerable learners.

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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 205223 Local authority Worcestershire Inspection number 871103

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 18 Number of children on roll 34 Name of provider St Peter's Pre-School Committee Date of previous inspection 02/02/2009 Telephone number 07980 070023

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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

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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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