Clockhouse Preschool Playgroup

Clockhouse Preschool Playgroup Clock House Methodist Church, Clock House Road, Beckenham, Kent, BR3 4JP

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 07/03/2014 14/05/2013

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 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 4 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 4

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This provision is inadequate

 The management show a poor understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements. For example, staff do not manage children's behaviour suitability, which means that children's safety cannot be assured.  The manager does not monitor staff's observations and assessments of children and staff are not carrying out regular observations or assessments. This means they are unable to plan challenging and interesting activities and experiences to support children's progress.  Staff do not support children's communication and language development or make use of resources sufficiently to enable children to think through and extend their ideas.  Staff do not work sufficiently well with all parents. They are not adequately sharing information about children's progress to enable parents to support their children at home.  Children do not have access to fresh drinking water, which means they are unable to

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This provision is inadequate

get a drink when they become thirsty.  Self-evaluation is not used to identify the settings strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, a significant number of weaknesses have not been identified or addressed.

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It has the following strengths

 Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities appropriately and liaise with external agencies to share relevant information.

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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 staff interactions with children.  The inspector sampled children's learning journals, assessments and planning.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke to some parents, members of the committee, the manager and staff.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of staff suitability to be working with children, Disclosure and Barring Service checks and proof of qualifications.  The inspector sampled safeguarding policies and procedures and risk assessments.

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Information about the setting

Clockhouse Preschool Playgroup registered in 1990. It is registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary part of the Childcare Register. The pre- school is run by a committee and operates from a church hall, in Beckenham, Kent. Children have access to a main hall and an outdoor play area. The pre-school is open from 9.15am to 12.15pm Monday to Friday and from 9.15am to 2.45pm on Wednesdays, during term time.

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Information about the setting

The pre-school receives funding to provide free early education to children aged two, three and four years. There are currently 38 children attending within the early years age range. The pre-school supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who learn English as an additional language. The pre-school employs five members of staff. Four of whom have appropriate early years qualifications, including the manager who has achieved Early Years Professional status. The group uses regular volunteers.

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must:

 ensure that children's behaviour is managed consistently

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must:

 ensure fresh drinking water is available and accessible to children

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must:

 ensure that details about who has parental responsibility for the child; which parent(s) and/or carer(s) the child normally lives with is recorded

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must:

 ensure that all activities for children are exciting, well resourced and encourage children's creativity and imaginative play

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must:

 ensure that observations and assessment are used consistently to identify children's current stages of learning and development and use this information to plan challenging and enjoyable activities and experiences which cover all seven areas of learning

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must:

 ensure that systems are in place to monitor the effectiveness of educational programmes and to ensure staff are correctly identifying children's current stages of learning and development

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must:

 ensure that parents are informed regularly of their children's learning and development progress and what they can do at home to further support their children

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must:

 develop systems to foster a culture of continuous improvement across the provision

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who attend

The manager and staff show a poor understanding of how to support children's learning and development through play. Staff lack enthusiasm and are not providing children with exciting, stimulating and interesting activities. Consequently, children are not engaged, which affects their motivation to learn. Staff have not regularly observed the children since April 2013, which means that they are not assessing children's individual stages of learning and development regularly. Consequently, they are unable to monitor children's progress in relation to their starting points. In addition, parents are not able to see their children's progress as records of children's achievements and learning are not kept up-to- date. This means that parents are unable to support their children at home. Staff provide children with a range of activities. However, these do not provide children with suitable and stimulating challenges. For example, small amounts of play dough are

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who attend

put out on the table, with numerous cutters, rollers and moulds. However, the quantity of these resources overwhelms the available space on the table. Consequently, children play on the edge of the table and do not make good use of the resources. Staff provide children with an activity to decorate biscuits. However, staff miss opportunities to allow children to become fully engaged in the activity. This is because staff put the icing on some children's biscuits for them. This results in children losing interest and quickly putting some sweets on their biscuits, and then leaving the activity. Children enjoy physical play outdoors in the sand pit and the playhouse. Staff provide additional opportunities for children to use their physical skills after snack time. They set up the room with bicycles, cars, balls and a wooden climbing frame. While some safety measures are in place, such as crash mats around the climbing frame, staff do not ensure children's

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who attend

safety. They do not stop children running down the slide or bicycles being ridden close to the edge of the slide. Consequently, children's safety is not assured.

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who attend

Staff do not use questions to extend and develop children's learning. They stand above the children while they are playing, which means that they are not engaging with children on their level. In addition, during the physical play sessions, staff sit on the sidelines and do not interact with the children. Children enjoy listening to stories and taking part in group activities, such as music time and snack time. The staff help children to develop some of the skills they will need when they move onto the next stage of their learning. For example, they encourage children to be independent and put on their own coats. However, educational programmes and the quality of teaching is poor, therefore children are not well prepared for their move to school.

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

Children are happy in the pre-school and separate from their parents easily. However, staff do not fully support children's personal, social and emotional development as they do not teach children to share and take turns. This means that children's behaviour is not managed well. For example, children try to take toys away from others without any intervention from staff. In addition, children run about the room with no reminders of how to behave indoors. Consequently, children are not able to learn how to manage their own behaviour. This is a breach of the requirements of the Early Years Register and the Childcare Register.

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

Children have a group snack time; they wash their hands and sit down at the tables for a drink and something to eat. Staff provide children with milk or water, and allow children to pour their own drinks. Staff provide children with a biscuit and some fruit. However, fresh drinking water is not available to children during the sessions. This means that children are unable to get a drink if they become thirsty. This is a breach of the legal requirements.

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

Staff ensure that children have opportunities to play outside in the small outdoor play area. Children move freely between the garden and indoors during the first part of the session. This helps to provide children with daily fresh air, which supports their health and well-being.

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

There are suitable links with the local schools. This means that teachers are able to visit the pre-school and meet their new children prior to them starting school. This also enables sharing of information about children. However, as staff do not keep detailed information about children's learning and development progress, teachers are not well informed.

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provision

The provider is in breach of a number of legal requirements of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. This means that a number of actions have been raised. The manager checks staff's suitability to be working with children through Disclosure and Barring Service checks and by requesting references prior to staff starting work. Staff show a suitable understanding of ensuring that they are not taking any medication or any other substances, which could affect their ability to care for children.

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provision

Staff have a suitable knowledge of safeguarding children. They understand the signs and symptoms that they need to be aware of, and what they should do in the event they have concerns about children in their care. Risk assessments are used to identify and minimise hazards to children. Daily visual checks ensure that the indoor and outside environments are safe prior to the children arriving.

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provision

The manager does not monitor children's observations and assessments, which means that she has not identified the lack of observations and assessments. Consequently, staff are not supported to ensure that they are fulfilling their roles and responsibilities in promoting children's learning and development. This means that educational programmes do not provide suitable and challenging activities and experiences for children to make progress in relation to their starting points. Information about children's learning and development is not recorded in their learning journals.

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provision

Some parents are happy with the pre-school and comment that they like the friendly staff and the opportunities they provide for children. However, some parents comment that they do not feel that the staff support their children in areas of their learning and development which they have concerns about. Parents raise concerns about the lack of two-way information about children's progress in their learning and development. This means that the staff are not working well in partnership with parents and consequently, they are unable to support their children at home.

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provision

The manager carries out regular supervisions on her staff, which helps her to identify additional training requirements. As a result, some staff are currently studying to improve their qualifications. However, there are considerable weaknesses in the quality of teaching, which have not been identified. For example, staff lack enthusiasm for their jobs and do not engage with children. In addition, staff do not use appropriate questioning techniques when talking to children, which means that children are unable to extend and make connections between different parts of their life experiences.

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provision

There are no systems in place to regularly evaluate and identify the pre-school's strengths and weaknesses. Parents, staff and children's views are not sought to find out how they feel about the pre-school and the educational programmes. Therefore, weaknesses in the educational programmes and the safeguarding and welfare requirements are not monitored. Consequently, the manager does not show the capacity to improve.

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provision

Staff have some partnerships in place with external professionals. This helps to provide support and guidance for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Meetings and learning plans are shared between professionals and the staff, which helps them to work alongside each other. However, due to the lack of observations and poor educational programmes, children's progress in relation to their starting points is slow.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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actions)

The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

 ensure that children's behaviour is managed in a suitable manner (compulsory part of the Childcare Register).  ensure that children's behaviour is managed in a suitable manner (voluntary part of the Childcare Register).

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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 137287 Local authority Bromley Inspection number 958990 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 8 Total number of places 24 Number of children on roll 38 Name of provider Clockhouse Preschool Playgroup Committee Date of previous inspection 14/05/2013 Telephone number 020 8663 6149

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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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