Stars Day Nurseries Ltd t/a Stars Pre-School Welland

Stars Pre School Welland The Acorn Centre, Scalfords Drive, Welland, PETERBOROUGH, PE1 4TR

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 12/03/2014 25/03/2013

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 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 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 Children bond exceptionally well with their key person and form highly secure emotional attachments. They show an excellent level of independence and confidence for their age, as a result of exemplary staff practice and a carefully organised learning environment, especially in the outdoor area.  Staff have an excellent knowledge of how children learn, and provide a rich, varied and imaginative educational programme which excites and enthuses them. Children's development is extremely well monitored and their next steps in learning accurately identified and planned for.  Staff's understanding and knowledge of safeguarding children in their care is outstanding. Highly effective links with other agencies have been established which nurtures a shared approach to children's learning and ensures they receive consistent high levels of support.  Excellent partnerships with parents are in place, which enables children to benefit from

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This provision is outstanding

a coordinated and highly supportive approach to their care, learning and overall welfare.  The manager is highly skilled in consistently monitoring and evaluating all aspects of the provision. Her dedication to providing the best quality childcare for all children, motivates her staff team to work effectively together, to ensure children benefit from a continually improving provision.

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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 voluntary and compulsory parts 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 activities in the pre-school room and outdoor learning environment.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held a meeting with the manager and spoke at appropriate times to staff throughout the sessions.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the manager.  The inspector looked at children's assessment records and planning documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of suitability and qualifications of staff working with children and the provider's self-evaluation form.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of parents and carers spoken to on the day of the inspection.

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Information about the setting

Stars Pre School Welland was re-registered under new management in 2012 and is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is situated in purpose built premises in the Welland area of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. The setting serves the local area and is accessible to all children. There is an enclosed area available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The setting employs seven members of childcare staff. Of these, six hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3. The setting opens Monday to Friday, term time only. Sessions are from 8.30am until 11.30am and from 12.30pm until 3.30pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 60 children attending who are in the early years age group. The setting provides funded early education for two-, three- and four- year-old children. It supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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

 extend access to resources, such as visual aid cards throughout all areas of the setting, to enhance the already excellent support given to children learning English as an additional language.

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who attend

Children flourish and make rapid progress in their learning due to the exciting and highly stimulating setting and excellent support they receive from staff. Children are highly respected as individuals and staff demonstrate a superb knowledge and understanding of individual children's learning needs. They speak extensively about all children and show a deep appreciation for their diverse backgrounds. Teaching is excellent. Children receive high levels of support during activities where needed and staff use a variety of highly effective teaching methods during play, such as, songs, questions and visual aids to extend learning. For example, children notice two birds sitting on the fence and invite a staff member to look too. The staff member engages children in conversation about what they think the birds might be doing or where they might be going to encourage their thinking skills. She reminds children that they know a song about birds and they begin to

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who attend

sing, 'Two little dickie birds' and watch the birds fly away. Staff understand when to guide children's play and when to not. For example, children using resources, such as spoons and spatulas during sand play are provided with further resources, such as saucepans when staff recognise an opportunity to extend learning further. They decide together to make 'mud pies' and the staff member supporting the play uses the opportunity to talk about mathematical concepts, such as less than and more than when they fill the pan using different sized spoons.

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who attend

The skilful organisation of the garden is highly successful in encouraging children to become active and independent learners and a key feature of the setting. Most children spend the majority of the session outside and can access outdoors whenever they wish. Here they freely construct, make marks with chalks, water and sand, dig, climb, scoot, ride, play music and engage in role play, among a variety of other activities. They independently access wellington boots to play in the rain and help themselves to water from a jug when thirsty so that there is minimal interruption to their play outside. A high proportion of children attending the setting are learning English as an additional language and staff are highly skilled in supporting children's communication and language skills. Staff use a variety of gestures and visual aids to support verbal communication and an understanding of the routines of the session, such as hand washing and snack time. A

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who attend

visual aid board is placed within the pre-school room and staff aspire to extend the use of this resource further within all areas of the setting. A bi-lingual member of staff is used effectively to communicate with families during the settling-in process and children during activities. She speaks to children both in English and their home language so that they have frequent opportunities to hear their own language during their play.

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who attend

Children are highly respected as individuals and staff demonstrate a superb knowledge and understanding of their learning needs. Planning is thorough and fully takes into account children's different learning styles, interests and development needs. As a result, children are making rapid progress in their development, given their starting points and are gaining a vast range of skills that will support them superbly in their future learning, such as starting school. Staff carefully observe children in their play and talk to parents regularly to find out what they enjoy at home so that it can be used as part of the planning process for individual children. Learning journal records provide an excellent account of children's time in the setting and assessment reviews are shared with parents each term, so that they are aware of their children's progress. Clear systems to track and record children's progress through the areas of learning are securely embedded and

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who attend

monitored on a regular basis for their effectiveness.

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

All children form positive and trusting relationships with their key person and other staff because there is an excellent level of adult attention and warm interaction. This supports them to be secure and happy in the setting and promotes their growing independence very well. Children move freely around the pre-school and select their own activities. They are just as content to play alone, following their own interests as they are to join in activities with their peers, such as working together to complete a jigsaw puzzle. The setting has an extremely calm and relaxing atmosphere, where children are constantly busy and occupied, resulting in very good behaviour on the whole. All staff are consistent in their handling of any unwanted behaviour and resolve small conflicts quickly through timely interventions where needed to teach children how to negotiate and interact in a positive manner. Staff consistently praise and acknowledge children for their progress and

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

achievements, which encourages high levels of self-esteem. Children are enthusiastic at tidy up times, they work as a team to put the toys and resources away in their correct place, which enables them to gain a good understanding of responsibility.

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

The key person system is highly effective and means that staff get to know children and their families extremely well. Staff are able to plan effectively for each child from the beginning based on thorough discussions and written information obtained from parents to find out about their strengths and interests. Parents receive a very detailed discussion about their child's day from their key person at collection time so that they are always aware of all aspects of their care. Excellent relationships have formed with local schools children attend. Reception teachers visit the setting and liaise closely with key persons regarding children's well-being and development prior to starting school.

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

Staff place a high priority on children's safety and ensure through a thorough process of risk assessment that children play in a safe and suitable environment. Through carefully planned and well-supervised activities, children learn to take acceptable risks in their play. For example, they use real knifes to cut up tomatoes and cucumbers in role play. Children eat a variety of healthy foods during snack time and engage in a range of physical activities that provides superb challenge and helps them gain an understanding of the importance of exercise. Children's self-care skills are promoted extremely well through routine activities. A 'have a go' ethos is embedded as children learn to dress and undress themselves in role play, pour their own drinks and cut and peel their own banana during snack time.

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provision

Staff are extremely knowledgeable regarding safeguarding practices. They are highly experienced and trained in child protection and fully understand their responsibilities in protecting children in their care. The manager and her staff demonstrate an exceptional and insightful understanding of the families and children in their care. Highly effective professional relationships are established with other agencies, especially within the attached children's centre. This provides a coordinated approach to children's care in the setting and they meet regularly to ensure children's current needs are being met. Clear recruitment and vetting of staff, helps to ensure children are cared for by a suitable staff team. Thorough induction procedures, enable staff to have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities and the general running of the setting. Documentation is kept to a high standard, with meticulous procedures for record keeping, such as thorough

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provision

accident and incident records. Staff are deployed exceptionally well throughout the setting to provide children with high levels of supervision.

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provision

A highly effective and extremely passionate management team work rigorously together to provide a top quality provision for all children. Staff work at a consistently high level and frequently access training to continually enhance the highly effective skills and practices that are already in place. All staff have fully embraced the learning and development requirements and there is an excellent understanding of how to meet these at all times. There is a robust system for monitoring and evaluating the educational programmes, that ensures areas of learning are not missed and gaps are quickly identified. Professional development of all staff is supported extremely well and regular supervisions and appraisals are used as part of the ongoing reflection of the setting and it's needs. Managers, the area manager and directors of the company meet frequently to discuss issues and ensure they have full insight into the current needs and wants of the setting

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provision

Staff have built excellent working relationships with parents and value their active contribution to their children's life, prior to school. Parents are consistently informed of their child's progress and are regularly provided with thoughts and ideas of how this learning can be supported at home. For example, reading diaries are kept for children to share books with their parents to read at home. Parents give particular high praise to the very close bonds they feel their child has developed with their key person and how this makes them feel very happy and settled in the setting. Staff also input clear processes for sharing information successfully with other early years providers, to promote children's learning and welfare to a high standard. The meticulous support staff give to children with additional needs is one of the strengths of the setting. Staff work extremely closely with children's families and outside professionals, such as speech and language therapists to

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provision

fully provide for children's individual needs. Overall, children excel in this highly stimulating setting where they feel, happy, safe and secure.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met The requirements for the voluntary 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 EY455308 Local authority Peterborough Inspection number 954107 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 30 Number of children on roll 60 Name of provider Stars Day Nurseries Limited Date of previous inspection 25/03/2013 Telephone number 01733 312612

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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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