Maple Tree Children's Centre

Littleworth Road, Wheatley, Oxfordshire, OX33 1PH

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This inspection: Good 2

Previous inspection: Not previously inspected Access to services by young children and families Good 2 The quality of practice and services Good 2 The effectiveness of leadership, governance and management Outstanding 1

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Summary of key findings for children and families

 The centre leader has high aspirations for families in the area. With the strong support of staff and the headteacher and governors of Great Milton Primary School, she has brought about rapid improvements in the two years since the centre settled into its new accommodation.  A large majority of families with children under five are known to the centre and benefit from its support and advice. This level of involvement increases significantly for families with new babies and one- and two-year-olds.  The centre works effectively and creatively to support almost all of the families it has identified as most in need of its support, particularly in Great Milton and Garsington and for members of the Irish Traveller community.  The centre provides a good range of high quality services to support children’s early learning and development and to provide support and advice to parents. These are well balanced between

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Summary of key findings for children and families

activities designed to benefit all families and those that are most in need of support.  The centre works very effectively with its key partners in health and social care to support families most of need of help in their own homes. This ensures that children are kept safe and enables parents to improve their parenting skills and the economic well-being of their families.  The centre is at the heart of the local community and is held in high regard by those that take advantage of its activities and advice. One parent, for example, summed up the impact of the centre by describing it as ‘like a great big hug’.

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It is not outstanding because:

 There is a small minority of families with children under five in the area that the centre does not know about and who are not yet benefiting from its services and advice.  Whilst most fathers and male carers are known to the centre, only a minority take part in its activities, especially those that the centre has identified as most in need of its support.  Partnerships with providers of adult learning and training and careers advice and guidance are not fully developed. Consequently, relatively few parents have had support to improve their skills in English, mathematics and information technology to increase their chances of getting a job to give more financial stability to their families. Children’s centre report

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Information about this inspection

The inspection of this children’s centre was carried out under Part 3A of the Childcare Act 2006 as amended by the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out by two additional inspectors.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors held meetings with the centre leader and staff, representatives of the governing body, advisory board and local authority, as well key partners in health and providers of adult learning and advice.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors observed activities in the centre, visited a Stay and Play session at Great Milton Church of England Primary School and accompanied the mobile bus to the Irish Traveller community base at the Middleground site.

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Information about this inspection

They observed the centre’s work, and looked at a range of relevant documentation. They also took into account the views of parents expressed in their responses to surveys, in meetings and informally during activities.

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Inspection team

Graham Lee Additional Inspector, Lead Inspector Marinette Bazin Additional Inspector

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Information about the centre

Maple Tree is a phase three, standalone children’s centre serving Wheatley and a large rural area close to the city of Oxford. It first opened in 2009 and moved to its current premises in Wheatley in April 2012. It shares a site with a primary school, a primary special needs school and two nursery settings. None of these establishments were part of this inspection. The centre offers a full range of early childhood services, parenting courses and health services in conjunction with its key partners. It provides help and support to some families through working with them in their own homes. The centre also helps to put parents in touch with the right people for advice about issues such as benefits and adult education. Most activities are provided at the centre, but services are also taken out to the surrounding areas on a regular basis.

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Information about the centre

The centre was formerly housed in temporary accommodation at Great Milton Church of England Primary School, some four miles from its current location. The governing body and headteacher of that school continue to manage the centre on behalf of the local authority. In turn, the governing body has delegated responsibility to a children’s centre governance committee. The members are supported by an advisory board consisting of key partners and parents. On a day-to-day basis the centre is led by the centre manager.

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Information about the centre

The centre serves an affluent community, although there are pockets of deprivation throughout the area, particularly around Great Milton and Garsington. Housing is generally expensive in the area and there is little affordable housing. Most families are of White British origin, although there are some from different ethnic groups, including an Irish Traveller community. There are few children living in houses where the parents are unemployed and/or dependent on benefits. Children’s skills and understanding on entry to early years provision are at or above those that are typical for their age.

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Information about the centre

The centre has identified the Irish Traveller community, fathers and male carers and families in the less affluent areas around Great Milton and Grasington as priorities for its support.

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What does the centre need to do to improve further?

 Work with the health authorities to ensure that the centre knows about all the families with children under five years of age so that even more can benefit from its support and services.  Find ways to work with more fathers and male carers, especially those most in need of its support and guidance.  Develop partnerships with providers of adult learning and training and careers advice and guidance to give more help to parents who need to improve their skills in English, mathematics and information technology to assist their chances of getting a job and of providing more financial security to their families.

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Inspection judgements

Access to services by young children and families Good

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Inspection judgements

 Over the last two years the centre has rapidly increased the number of families it works with. A large majority are now benefiting from its services and advice throughout the community. This proportion increases for families expecting children and those with new babies and one- and two- year-olds, who are almost all registered with the centre.  The centre has not yet made contact with a minority of families with children under five in the area as it does not know who they are. This is because the arrangements for the sharing of information by the health authorities do not allow these details to be routinely provided.  The centre has been very successful in reaching out to families on Garsington, particularly through its community day. As a result, the level of involvement of families with children under the age of five in this area has increased dramatically and almost all now take advantage of the centre’s

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Inspection judgements

services.  Even since it has moved its office away from Great Milton, most families from this area continue to be involved with the centre’s work, especially those from the relatively less affluent parts of the village.  The centre has established very trusting relationships with the Irish Traveller community at Middleground. As a result, all these families with children under five take advantage of the regular visits of centre staff to the site with the mobile bus.  During the inspection, a few fathers and male carers were involved in a variety of activities. Others attend the monthly Saturdads activities. However, whilst the centre has been successful in increasing the involvement of fathers, activities still only involve a minority. Moreover, these do not always include those most in need of support.  The centre makes very flexible use of its own premises and a range of mobile services to reach out

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Inspection judgements

to families throughout the area, particularly for those who find it difficult to get to activities in Wheatley. Indeed, centre staff regularly arrange for families to be collected if they are unable to get to services.  Centre staff work very effectively, in collaboration with key partners, to support families in their own homes who might otherwise be reluctant to attend activities at the centre. As a result, these families often go on to take advantage of other services.

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Inspection judgements

The quality of practice and services Good

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Inspection judgements

 The centre provides a good range of high quality services and support to promote the learning, development and well-being of children under the age of five in the area. These are well balanced between services available to all parents and those that are aimed at those families requiring most help.  There are good partnerships with childminders, schools and early years providers in the area. Allied to activities such as Stay and Play, this helps prepare children well for school and makes a notable difference to the readiness of children who need more support. The few entitled to the government’s two-year-old funding are mostly helped to find places in successful early years settings. This makes an important contribution to children’s achievement at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage which is well above average in the schools in the area.  The centre works very productively with its partners in health to support families with the health

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Inspection judgements

and well-being of their children. Activities, such as Bumps and Babies and Baby Massage, as well as a range of advice on topics such as weaning and breastfeeding, ensure that the local authority’s health-related targets in the area are largely met.  Centre staff, in partnership with health and social care, work very well with families in their own home to improve the well-being of those families and to reduce the risk of harm to children. Some of these go on to successfully complete parenting courses, such as Family Links, which has a wider impact on the parenting skills of all parents attending.  The centre is very effective at supporting families in crisis through its partnership with the relevant advice services in Oxfordshire. As a result, a number has had support with issues such as debt, access to benefits and domestic violence.  The partnerships with providers of adult learning and training and careers support and advice are

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Inspection judgements

not as well developed. Consequently, the relatively few families in need of support to develop their English, mathematics and information technology skills to improve their chances of getting a job and improving their families’ financial circumstances are not all getting the help they need.  A number of parents have taken advantage of the centre’s volunteering programme to improve their confidence and skills. Others contribute to the running of the centre through their representation on the advisory board and parents’ forum. The recent ‘visioning day’ also took account of their views in discussing the future development of the centre.  The centre is at the heart of the community and held in high regard by those who use it. Time and again inspectors were told how families found all centre staff to be warm, welcoming and responsive at the time when help was most needed.

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management

 The determined leadership of the centre leader, strongly supported by the headteacher and governors of Great Milton School, has overcome a period of uncertainly, to drive rapid improvements in the centre’s work and influence, since Maple Tree settled into its new accommodation two years ago.  All members of staff make an important contribution to the centre’s work and share the vision of the leader to provide the best possible start in life for young children in the area. They are well qualified and arrangements for their performance management and professional development are very effective and help them to provide even better support for families.  The headteacher and governors of Great Milton School have maintained a very strong commitment to the centre’s work after it moved to Wheatley. They have a good understanding of what is happening in the centre and use information about its performance to measure how well it is doing.

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management

This work is supplemented extremely well by the advisory board through the participation of key professionals.  The local authority retains a very good overview of the centre’s work and sets ambitious targets for improvement. It checks regularly to ensure that the centre is providing the right services and improving outcomes for young children in the area.  The high priority given to ensuring that children are safe is evident in the centre’s policies and procedures and embedded in its everyday life. There are currently no children in the area subject to child protection plans. However, the centre works extremely effectively with social care to ensure that children subject to the Common Assessment Framework and identified as in need are kept free from harm.  The centre makes good use of a wide range of information to ensure that it is providing the right services to all families and to those most in need of its help. An important element in this is the

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management

regular surveys of parents who are overwhelmingly positive about the centre’s services and highlight the differences they have made to their families.  As a result, the centre knows it strengths and what is has to do to be even better. This is translated into ambitious plans for improvement.  The centre makes extremely good use of its limited resources to meet the needs of young children and their families. The part-time staff are deployed effectively and very good use is made of the centre’s facilities in Wheatley. In addition, the centre responds flexibly to need and takes its services out to the Irish Traveller community and rural locations on a regular basis.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Practice consistently reflects the highest aspirations for children and their families and as a result inequalities are reducing rapidly and gaps are closing. Grade 2 Good Practice enables most children and their families to access good quality services that improve children’s wellbeing and achieve the stated outcomes for families. Grade 3 Requires improvement Performance is not as good as it might reasonably be expected to be in one or more key areas. Grade 4 Inadequate The needs of children and families in its area are not being met and/or the leaders and managers are not providing sufficient challenge to bring about improvement to the quality of services.

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Select details

Unique reference number 23216 Local authority Oxfordshire Inspection number 442871 Managed by The governing body of Great Milton Church of England Primary School on behalf of the local authority

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five in the reach area

Centre leader Jenny Stoker Date of previous inspection Not previously inspected Telephone number 01865 873916 Email address Jenny.stoker@oxfordshire.gov.uk guidance ‘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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five in the reach area

(Ofsted) regulates and inspects to 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, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille,

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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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