Lilleshall Preschool

Lilleshall Pre-School Limekiln Lane, Lilleshall, NEWPORT, Shropshire, TF10 9EY

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 22/05/2014 17/03/2010

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early years provision

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

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This provision is inadequate

 The chairperson of the pre-school committee and manager are unable to show the inspector records to verify that Disclosure and Barring Service checks have been undertaken for committee members. This means that legal requirements are not met and that children's safety and well-being cannot be assured.  The provider has not notified Ofsted of a change of individuals to the committee and therefore, has not met the statutory requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register.  There is scope to evaluate the use and number of small group times, to ensure that younger children also have the time they need to play freely.  There is room to develop how practitioner's performance is evaluated, to help children to achieve to the very highest levels.

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It has the following strengths

 Teaching is good because practitioners employ effective questioning techniques to support children's thinking and learning, particularly promoting communication and language development. As a result, children are making good progress.  There is an effective self-evaluation process in place that identifies areas for improvement.

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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 the room used, school grounds and outdoor play area.  The inspector carried out a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held a meeting with the manager and spoke to three members of staff throughout the inspection when appropriate.  The inspector spoke with the chairperson/nominated person of the committee.  The inspector reviewed policies and documents provided.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector saw evidence of suitability checks and qualifications of practitioners working with children and the manager's self-evaluation documents.  The inspector took account of the views of parents and carers.

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Information about the setting

Lilleshall Pre-School was registered in 1970 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It operates in a purpose built brick building, situated next to the school. The pre-school serves the local and surrounding areas. There is an enclosed outdoor play area. There are currently 34 attending, who are in the early years group. The pre-school is open during term time, from 9am until 3pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions throughout the week. The pre-school supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. The pre-school employs six members of childcare staff. Of these, five hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 and one with Early Years Professional Status. The pre-school receives support from the local authority and is a member of the Pre-school Learning Alliance.

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must:

 make records easily accessible and available to demonstrate the suitability of committee members, including Disclosure and Barring Service checks.

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

 increase the opportunities for younger children to explore and play independently, for example, by reviewing the use and number of small group times

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

 extend the monitoring of staff performance, for example, by observing them teach, to evaluate this and further enhance the quality of teaching so that children are best supported to reach the very highest levels of attainment.

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who attend

On arrival at pre-school, children, parents and carers are warmly welcomed by practitioners. Children settle quickly into their routine of self-registration by selecting their name cards and engage in play without the need for too much support from adults. This is attributable to the positive relationships formed between children and the practitioners. The pre-school environment is well-resourced, both indoors and outdoors, providing stimulating and interesting activities across all areas of learning. As a result, children are readily motivated to play and explore, engaging in learning activities of their choice. Children have access to both learning areas throughout the session. However, the daily routine involves many small group times, which does not always provide younger children the time they need to play freely.

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who attend

The quality of teaching is good and children make good progress in their learning. The experienced team of practitioners have a good knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Practitioners work in partnership with parents to get to know children's starting points and understand their individual needs when they begin the pre-school. They assess and monitor the progress children are making through regular observations in all areas of learning. This information is regularly shared with parents and children's next steps in learning are agreed. Children's interests are taken into account when planning their learning. For instance, one child's interest in volcanoes becomes a topic for the group to explore. Where children have special educational needs and/or disabilities, key persons liaise with the special educational needs coordinator and other professionals, such as a speech and language therapist, to ensure children's needs are being met and good

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who attend

progress is made. The progress check for children between the ages of two and three years is completed and shared with parents. Children are given plenty of opportunities to practise their speaking and listening skills appropriate to their stage of development. For example, a group of younger children go on a listening walk to identify new sounds and learn new vocabulary. Older children speak confidently in small groups, sharing their news and in this way, learn to listen to each other. Consequently, children learn to become good communicators.

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who attend

Practitioners support children to make good progress in literacy by encouraging children to identify letter sounds in words they hear in a story, everyday language and their names. Additionally, children are encouraged and supported to practise writing for purpose by labelling their own pictures. Children learn about the world around them through stories. For example, children are introduced to the lifecycle of a butterfly by reading a story. This activity is then further supported by associated resources and children are given opportunities to create their own min- beast using different media. This learning is further enhanced where children are supported to observe the change in tadpoles at pre-school and they excitedly point to the newly grown legs. Practitioners support children to become independent thinkers by using effective questioning and role modelling language. For example, during a painting activity children are encouraged to predict what colour paint

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who attend

will become when mixing two colours and to persist with the activity until the child is happy with the result. Children receive lots of praise and encouragement from practitioners and therefore, are motivated to continue with their learning. Children take pride in their achievements and happily show their work to all practitioners, who respond appropriately. Practitioners take advantage of unplanned learning opportunities, such as when the weather changes. This quickly prompts discussion and listening opportunities about rain, thunder and dark clouds. Children are secure, confident and enjoy their play and learning. Consequently, they are keen to seek out new experiences and learn in readiness for their transition to school.

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

Disclosure and Barring Service checks are available for practitioners but not for all committee members and therefore, statutory requirements for the Early Years Foundation Stage are not met. As a result, children's safety and well-being cannot be assured. Practitioner's knowledge and understanding of safeguarding is otherwise sound. They have attended training for safeguarding and a policy is in place. Additionally, there is a policy for the use of mobiles telephones and the use of cameras. Steps are taken daily to ensure that the play areas are safe for children by conducting a daily check and the gates are bolted closed.

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

Children are relaxed and happy at pre-school as the effective key-person system promotes children's feeling of security. As the key persons know their children well, they meet their individual needs to support them to play. For example, a child who is shy and needs help to make a choice in their play is supported by their key person to settle in, solving a puzzle.

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

The pre-school offers children the opportunity to choose to play indoors or outdoors during the session, effectively meeting the needs of children who have a preference to learn outdoors. Children are encouraged to be healthy by playing outdoors whatever the weather and appropriate clothing is provided for children, who put this on independently. They are supported where necessary by practitioners. Outdoor learning is further developed as the pre-school runs 'Welly Wednesday', which involves all children walking to the small forest area in the school grounds where children learn about their local environment and nature, as well as promoting physical development. Children are aware of the routine of their day and carry out tasks independently, such as washing their hands after outdoor play, messy activities and prior to eating with little support from practitioners. Children's independence is further promoted during the healthy rolling snack

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

offered where children are supported to pour their own drinks and make a choice of fruit for themselves. Children clear away crockery independently and tidy up after activities as a group. Children are given small tasks through the day to increase their confidence, such as taking responsibility for setting out the lunch boxes and feeding the tadpoles. Practitioners remind children about the boundaries of behaviour and to respect each other. For example, children are asked to have kind hands with each other and older children to recognise that some children are younger than them and have different abilities. Consequently, children's behaviour at the pre-school is very good. The pre-school has in place good activities to support children's transition to school, such as school visits.

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provision

The legal requirement of the Early Years Foundation Stage to notify Ofsted of any changes of the individuals who form the committee has not been adhered to. As a result, there is a breach of legal requirements on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary part of the Childcare Register.

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provision

The manager has recruited and retained a team of practitioners, who are experienced and well-qualified. As a result, the quality of the learning environment and planned activities support children's learning well and they make good progress. There is a safe recruitment process in place to employ new practitioners, which has been successfully deployed recently. Parent partnership working is generally good and a number of strategies are employed to engage parents with their children's learning, such as, parents being represented on the pre-school committee, newsletters, open days, sharing learning journals and supporting day trips.

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provision

The manager, who is the pre-school's Early Years Professional, monitors the overall educational programme and supports practitioners to plan for children's learning at weekly team meetings. The manager oversees all learning journey records for children and progress reports are completed by practitioners. There is a system in place to track children's learning and ensure all children make good progress. Where children are not making good progress in an area of learning, she ensures that a targeted plan is in place to address this gap. She facilitates for other professionals to engage with practitioners to support children's learning and transitions to school. The setting has developed a process to transition children going to school, such as organising school visits for familiarity and teachers joining pre-school for a session to meet with children. The manager holds regular staff meetings, supervision and annual appraisals with the team of practitioners. The

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provision

manager and practitioners identify staff training needs and practitioners attend training courses to ensure children make good progress. For example, a newly recruited practitioner attended an Early Years Foundation Stage course to increase her understanding of how to support children's learning and development. There is a supervision process in place to support practitioners and identify training needs. However, it does not include observation of practitioner's teaching practice to further enhance the quality of teaching, so that children are best supported to reach the very highest levels of attainment. The manager has in place a process for self-evaluation, which includes practitioners, parents and committee member's views. This has resulted in action plans for improvement, for example, a requirement to find a way to communicate more effectively with parents, who do not bring their children to pre-school.

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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 any persons caring for or have regular contact with children has obtained an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  inform Ofsted of changes to the name, address or telephone number of all those who make up the registered person (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  the registered person must ensure that any persons caring for or have regular contact with children has obtained an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service check (voluntary part of the Childcare Register)  inform Ofsted of changes to the name, address or telephone number of all those who make up the registered person (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 208223 Local authority Telford & Wrekin Inspection number 865528

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 26 Number of children on roll 34 Name of provider Lilleshall Pre-School Playgroup Committee Date of previous inspection 17/03/2010 Telephone number 01952 604809

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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

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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