Bright Stars Pre-School

Bright Stars Pre-School Shelley Primary School, Milton Crescent, ONGAR, Essex, CM5 0FF

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 11/03/2014 14/12/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 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 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 Teaching is effective because staff understand how to promote children's learning and development and they have high expectations for their achievements. As a result, children's progress is good given their starting points and capabilities.  There is a well-established key person system in place. This means that staff are fully aware of each child's individual needs, interests and personalities to enable them to promote and support their emotional well-being.  Arrangements for safeguarding children are robust. Secure systems are in place to ensure the suitability of staff who work in the pre-school.  Effective partnership working with parents, professionals, agencies and other early years providers efficiently enable the staff to support individual children's needs.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 There is scope to provide further opportunities for the older children to develop their imaginations through planned and spontaneous pretend play.  The routine at lunchtime is not always efficiently organised and this occasionally means that the youngest children become restless and distracted.

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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 indoor and outdoor learning environments.  The inspector carried out a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held discussions with the manager, staff, children and the head teacher of the host school.  The inspector viewed a sample of the children's development records.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector saw evidence of suitability and qualifications of the staff, self- evaluation, risk assessment and policies and procedures.  The inspector took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day.

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Information about the setting

Bright Stars Pre-school opened in 2009. It is run and managed by a community interest company. It operates from two classrooms within Shelley Primary School in Ongar, Essex. The pre-school serves the immediate locality and also the surrounding areas. The pre- school opens Monday to Friday during school term times. Sessions are between 9am until 3pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. Children have access to enclosed play areas and the school playing fields for outdoor play. There are currently 49 children attending who are within the early years age group. The pre-school provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children for whom English is an additional language. There are currently nine staff working directly with the children. There are six staff that hold an appropriate early years qualification at level 3 and three staff that hold a qualification at

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Information about the setting

level 2. There are two staff training towards a higher qualification. The pre-school receives support from the local authority. It is registered on the Early Years Register.

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

 extend the older children's imaginative play, for example, by providing stimulating role play areas in the new playroom. Consider including more materials reflecting children's family lives and communities and also resources that are unfamiliar, to broaden children's knowledge

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

 enhance the already good care practices by reviewing the organisation of mealtimes to reduce waiting times and maintain the two-year-old children's emotional well- being.

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who attend

The quality of teaching and learning is good. The staff are experienced practitioners who plan an interesting range of stimulating activities across all areas of learning. As a result, children are supported effectively to ensure they make good progress, taking into account their starting points and how often they attend. There is a positive blend of adult-led activities and experiences that children choose for themselves. Children are motivated and curious. They confidently direct their own learning and are keen to investigate new experiences. For much of each session, resources are easily accessible in the playrooms and children relish the opportunity to choose between indoor and outdoor play. The pre- school has recently expanded and the older children are now offered morning sessions in the adjacent playroom used by the children's centre. This has given the children the potential to access an even wider range of high-quality resources. However, there is still

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who attend

scope to enhance the opportunity for the older children to use their imaginations, by exploring a greater range of props within different role play scenarios, in the new playroom.

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who attend

Staff demonstrate a secure understanding of the learning and development requirements. They confidently observe children as they play and assess their progress. Children's starting points are assessed on entry. Staff request information from parents about their children's routines, care needs and details about what their child can do at home. Staff regularly observe children to see where they are in their learning, assessing these in order to identify their next steps in learning. These identified learning priorities inform the planning of future activities. This ensures that learning experiences are meaningful to children and reflect their stage of development. Regular parent consultations and the sharing of children's progress and achievements are encouraged consistently. These provide an integrated approach to their learning. Each day parents are invited into the pre-school to speak to the key persons to find out what their children have been doing.

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who attend

Additionally, staff encourage parents to share their children's achievements or 'wow moments' from home. Special occasions, such as trips to the pantomime or fundraising events also help to keep parents involved in their children's learning.

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who attend

Children are effectively developing the skills they need in readiness for starting school. They enjoy learning about technology when using the computers and have many opportunities to count, solve problems and construct intricate models using construction toys. Children enthusiastically choose to look at books for pleasure and particularly enjoy listening to stories as part of small or larger groups. They are enthralled as they listen intently and eagerly predict what might be on the next page. Children's communication and language skills are well-promoted. Staff introduce new words according to their ages and stages of development and use careful questioning to elicit interesting answers. The special educational needs coordinator is very experienced and ensures that children with speech and language difficulties get the additional support they need. When children speak English as an additional language, key persons find out useful words in the

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who attend

children's home language and use picture cards to ensure that children understand and are understood as they play.

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

The staff provide a very positive environment where children develop friendships with each other and form genuine bonds with their key person. Staff welcome children warmly on their arrival at the pre-school and they give cuddles, which comfort younger children when they feel unsettled. The settling-in period is tailored to children's individual needs as staff allow additional time for them to grow used to the pre-school. Children settle well because staff find out good information from parents about their child before they start at the nursery, to ensure all children's needs are known and effectively met. Children develop a real sense of belonging. They delight in looking at photographs and remembering previous experiences when they show visitors their 'learning journey' records. To help prepare children getting ready for school and the staff have devised very effective transition strategies in partnership with parents.

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

Staff are patient, kind and sensitive, which promotes a positive atmosphere. They support children's behavioural skills successfully by using gentle but firm strategies. Staff help children to think about their actions on others and to consider how other children may feel. As a result, children understand the need to behave responsibly. They use good manners and learn to follow important social skills such as sharing and taking turns with equipment. Children's understanding of the world is supported in activities and through visual displays. Staff also incorporate various cultural celebrations into the planning and make sure that there are resources, books and visual images, that represent difference and diversity displayed throughout the pre-school.

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

Very good opportunities are in place for children to engage in a wide and varied range of physical activities and to develop their understanding of healthy eating to form lifelong habits. They are exuberant in their outdoor play and thoroughly enjoy being energetic as they run, chase each other or use wheeled toys. The staff actively encourage children to become independent and aware of their own needs. All children are encouraged to take some risks in order to develop an understanding of safety. The garden is secure and organised to make sure children can play safely and learn to take risks, for example, by balancing and climbing. Children find out about the food that is good for them by planting, discussing and tending produce, such as potatoes and onions. Well-balanced snacks are provided and drinking water is available at all times. Meal times are social occasions when children sit together. Children confidently develop their independence skills as they pour

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

drinks or carefully spread toppings onto sandwiches at snack time. When children stay for lunch they have the option of a eating a lunch box brought from home or a freshly cooked meal from the school canteen. However, mealtimes are not consistently efficiently organised and this means that sometimes the younger children become restless and distracted as they spend time waiting to eat.

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provision

The pre-school management demonstrate a clear understanding of their responsibilities to meet the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. There is a well-presented range of policy and procedure documents, which supports safeguarding and child protection practice. Consequently, the manager and staff have a good knowledge of child protection issues and of the procedures to follow to protect children from harm. The pre- school has a clear system in place for reporting or investigating any child protection concerns, such as liaising with relevant professionals for advice. The manager is also fully aware of the occasions when she needs to notify Ofsted of significant events and changes. Robust recruitment procedures are in place to determine the suitability of staff working with children. The effective deployment of staff ensures they are involved in children's activities and maintain effective supervision, both indoors and outside. The staff are

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provision

vigilant about safety and security and routinely check and assess to make certain that the premises, play equipment and activities are safe for all the children attending.

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provision

An effective system is in place for regularly monitoring practice and this ensures the pre- school is always evolving and improving. Individual children's achievements are successfully monitored and the manager has recently introduced a system to analyse more precisely the progress of groups of children. This means that the pre-school is robust in its efforts to ensure that no child gets left behind. Professional development of the staff team is supported well through regular supervisions and appraisals. This gives the staff and manager a good opportunity to discuss any concerns about performance and any training and development needs. All the staff hold early years qualifications and regularly attend training, such as behaviour management or safeguarding. New information is cascaded at team meetings, in order to further enhance the service the staff provide. Self-evaluation effectively highlights the pre-school's strengths and action plans are used to prioritise

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provision

areas for development. In addition, the manager is keen to hear the parents' views and quickly acts if any concerns are raised. The pre-school has successfully addressed the recommendations from the last inspection.

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provision

Partnerships with parents and carers are strongly supported. Parents are well-informed about the pre-school and their children's care through a range of written and verbal communications with staff. The noticeboards are frequently updated with informative displays and details of activities and forthcoming events. Parents are also signposted for additional support to the children's centre in the same building, as and when necessary, to ensure children receive the help they need. Discussions with parents and carers show they appreciate and understand the pre-school's approach to teaching and learning. They make very complementary comments about the efforts of the staff team and commend the ways in which they help to the settle children and introduce them to new and exciting activities. The pre-school has established good links with other early years professionals and teaching staff from both the host school and other primary schools in the vicinity. These

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provision

strong transition arrangements ensure that children are well prepared for the next stage in their learning.

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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 EY395696 Local authority Essex Inspection number 954811

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 30 Number of children on roll 49 Name of provider Bright Stars Pre-School Date of previous inspection 14/12/2009 Telephone number 07990671278

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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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