The First Stop Preschool

First Stop Pre-School C/o Trimley St Mary Primary School, High Road, Trimley St. Mary, Felixstowe, IP11 0ST

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 09/05/2014 10/09/2008

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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

 Children are offered a range of experiences which are based on their individual needs and interests. This means they are fully engaged in activities and experiences, which promote their development across the seven areas of learning.  The keyperson system is strong and robust. Parents work in partnership with the setting to support individuals. The result of these effective partnerships is evident in the learning journals, which clearly show children making good progress  Children are being supported to explore the local environment and join in with community opportunities, such as a cycling event taking place through the local village on the day of inspection. As a result of these opportunities, children are learning about safety in real life experiences.  Self-evaluation is accurate and in most areas, mirrors the settings practice. As a result of effective self-evaluation, many areas for improvement have already been achieved.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Areas for children to enjoy stories often lack imagination. As a result, there is scope to inspire children's communication and language skills further.  There are robust procedures in place for self-evaluation. However, there is scope to develop this further by giving staff the opportunity to observe one another's practice and draw upon the outstanding practice of some staff members.

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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 activities in both playrooms and the outside learning environment.  The inspector conducted a joint observation.  The inspector held a meeting with the manager and designated person.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at a selection of children's assessment records and planning documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked the suitability of all staff and their qualifications, the setting's self-evaluation and previous improvement framework completed through the local authority.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took into account the views of parents and information given by the setting.

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Information about the setting

First Stop Pre-School is was registered in 1986 and is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is managed by a voluntary management committee, made up of parents of children at the pre-school. It operates from a timber building in the grounds of Trimley St Mary Primary School, with its own wheelchair access. The pre-school operates five days a week, with sessions from 8.45am to 11.45am and 12.20pm to 3.20pm. There are currently 65 children on roll in the early years age range. The pre-school supports a number of children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. The pre-school currently employs eight part-time staff. Of these, seven hold early years qualifications, including one with a degree in Early Childhood Studies. The pre-school receives support from the local authority.

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

 develop the story area, both indoors and outdoors, to provide a language rich environment, which sparks imagination and encourages early reading skills

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

 sharpen the already good systems in place for self-evaluation, for example, by carrying out peer-on-peer observations to help identify some of the outstanding characteristics of effective teaching taking place and use these observations to inform practice.

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who attend

Children benefit from a small circle time, which they choose to participate in and display their enjoyment in the activity. This means they are engaged and developing good communication and language skills, such as learning sounds and letters. The benefits of this activity, which is adult-led, are that the children are being supported in their personal, social and emotional development, in readiness for their move to school when the time comes. Children enjoy contributing to the circle time. One child explains that their dad has the day off, which means he is at home. This shows how confident the children in the setting are to express their own thoughts and feelings and clearly demonstrates how effective the staff are at listening to the children's views.

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who attend

The children develop their large motor skills in the school hall as well as their mathematical development, counting all the jumps and stars they do as part of a warm up exercise for a parachute activity. The children understand instructions and seek delight in the activity. The children are encouraged to feel their heart rate and if the activity has made them 'hot'. This activity provides the children with a variety of learning opportunities and supports all seven areas of learning. The children all feel comfortable in the hall, which further embeds the sense of security the pre-school has developed in children, in readiness for their move to school. Staff are sensitive to the children's needs when they do not want to join in, or if they want their comforters when they leave the pre-school setting to go to the hall. This demonstrates how the setting values children's security. As a result, children who need more support are receiving this and show high levels of involvement

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who attend

because they feel safe. Staff are good role models during the parachute activity in the hall, using language to encourage the children alongside actions, such as 'pull', 'down', 'faster' and 'slower'. Also, staff effectively use their tone of voice to help children understand the instructions, which means the children can understand the clear instructions and boundaries because they are engaged in the activity, as a result of good teaching skills. The activity is a success in all areas of development, particularly in promoting children's physical skills.

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who attend

The outside area in the pre-school has been developed since the previous inspection and the setting has worked on developing areas where the children can access heuristic resources to extend their play. The sand pit where the children can get in is a particular success. Children enjoy taking their shoes off and explore the sand using all their senses. Children also enjoy using the tools to transport the water to the sand and develop fine manipulative skills, such as tipping and pouring. Children enjoy watching a bike ride event, which is going through the centre of the village. Staff make good use of all opportunities to enhance children's communication and language while watching the event unfold. The children are completely absorbed by the event and recognise familiar faces in the local community. Staff explain to the children what they are expecting to see and have pictures to show them as visual aids. The pre-school has identified that the reading areas, both

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who attend

indoors and outdoors, can be developed. During the inspection children did not seem engaged or interested in the areas that promote reading. However, staff are supporting speech and language in other ways throughout the day, such as phonics, rhyming and activities based on children's interests, which spark conversations and, therefore, their speech. The setting is also using Makaton and has recently attended 'Every Child A Talker' training.

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who attend

The curriculum coordinator takes the lead in planning and demonstrates excellent knowledge of how to support individuals through observations, planning and assessment. The setting is continually evaluating their systems and work as a team to discuss how it works in practice. This is evident during times, such as lunchtime, where staff discuss what they are doing to support individuals in the afternoon. Each key person demonstrates through learning journals how children are making good progress using a tracking system and all have a good understanding of how to move children forward in their learning, using information from observations and assessments. As a result of the robust systems, parents clearly explain how the learning journal works and know how the setting supports individuals, contributing to this document themselves. The manager, who is also the pre-school's special educational needs coordinator, has attended appropriate

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who attend

training and has been involved in piloting an inclusive training scheme. It is clear the positive impact such training has on the pre-school as children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are being fully supported to make good progress.

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

Staff deploy themselves well and, as a result, all the children are engaged in child-led activities throughout the day. Staff regularly check to see how children are feeling, ask about their weekend and encourage children to be critical thinkers. An example of this is during outside play where a member of staff helps a child to realise where water comes from as they are busy transporting water using a ladle to the sand pit. Children socialise with their own friends and older school children who come and greet the pre-school children on their breaks, as the school field joins the pre-school garden with a small fence between them. This supports transitions as children are familiar with the surroundings of the school and being around larger groups of children. Some of the children have siblings in the school and enjoy seeing their siblings. This is observed with one child who gives their older sibling a cuddle when walking through the playground to see the cyclists.

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

The pre-school has a robust key person system in place, which fully supports children to make good progress in their learning. As a result of these systems, children are given the opportunity to explore from safe and secure relationships and seek their key person out when they need them. The impact of the staff having such a good understanding of individual children means parents of the children also feel secure in the knowledge that staff are supporting their children based on their individual needs.

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

As a result of carefully balanced activities, which are both adult-led and child-led, children are being supported to learn about their own safety throughout all aspects of the day. For example, when staff take the children to watch the cycle race through the village and clearly communicate with children about how to keep themselves safe near busy roads and how the cyclists keep themselves safe. Within this activity staff allow children to make choices to keep themselves safe. For example, a child walks down the steps rather than down a hill and the staff member supports this, helping the child to assess his own risks. Children are reminded to have snack as part of a rolling system where they can access a variety of healthy foods and drink independently with support of staff supervising. The impact of teaching children to access snacks themselves and assesses their own risks demonstrates the settings understanding in promoting independence and supporting good

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provision

The setting has a robust recruitment process, which incorporates systems to ensure staff are supported through a comprehensive induction and regular training. This is having a strong impact on the teaching and learning observed. Children benefit from the good practice as they are supported to grow in confidence. Training, such as safeguarding, is held as a high priority and the designated lead safeguarding practitioner attends courses available to her. As result, new ideas are being brought back to the setting to ensure that safeguarding is always given the highest priority and all staff are clear of their responsibilities to protect children from harm. The monitoring systems for children's progress are rigorous and, as a result, observation, planning and assessment has been improved from the previous inspection and all staff can now clearly see where children are making progress and how to support their next steps

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provision

in learning through individual interests. The effective monitoring systems have also supported the management in strengthening the parent partnerships and partnerships with other settings, such as childminders and other schools. Staff use their self-evaluation form to identify areas of improvement and to evaluate the success of those already addressed, such as the development of children's learning journals and the transition to the school, which have been a previous focus.

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provision

Team meetings are on a regular basis, which includes comprehensive staff training. The pre-school clearly understands the link between a quality trained workforce and the positive results this has on the quality of teaching and learning and, therefore, children's progress. Management feel they observe continuously and feedback very clearly how they need to improve or an area they can develop. However, there is scope to further develop this, for example, by embedding the use of peer-on-peer observations so that staff have the opportunity to observe each other's practice, some of which is outstanding, and use this to further develop their own characteristics of effective teaching.

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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 251484 Local authority Suffolk Inspection number 866530

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 25 Number of children on roll 65 Name of provider First Stop Pre-School Committee Date of previous inspection 10/09/2008 Telephone number 07961 556209

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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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