Puddletown Pre-School

Puddletown Pre-School Puddletown First School, Dorchester Road, Dorchester, DT2 8FZ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 02/06/2014 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: Not Applicable 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

 Staff create an exciting and vibrant environment for children. As a result, children explore with interest and engage very well in their play.  Staff interact with enthusiasm and skill in children's exploration to extend their ideas and provide additional challenges. As a result, children are motivated to learn and make good progress in all areas.  Staff promote children's communication and language skills well. This encourages children to join in many discussions and confidently share their knowledge, ideas and views.  Children benefit from the close links staff maintain with the school. This helps them to build their confidence and prepares them well for their future move into the school.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Staff do not provide children with an inviting book corner indoors with space to read comfortably. As a result, children do not often look at books independently.  Staff do not always support children well in successfully balancing and building large constructions in the garden to promote their design skills further.

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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 compulsory part 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 and the quality of teaching in the playroom and outdoor play area.  The inspector sampled children's assessment records and planning documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held a meeting with the manager to assess the suitability and qualifications of staff and management's knowledge and understanding of the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.  The inspector took account of the views of parents.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the manager.

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Information about the setting

Puddletown Pre-School was first established in 1974 and re-registered in 2013 at the current premises. It operates from a classroom within Puddletown First School in Puddletown, near Dorchester, Dorset. Children have use of a main playroom, bathroom facilities and a playground for outside play. They also have use of the school hall and grounds. Children attend from the local surrounding areas.

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Information about the setting

This committee run group is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. There are currently 46 children on roll in the early years age group. The group is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education to children aged two, three and four years. The group supports children who learn English as an additional language, and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The group is open five days a week from 8.45am to 3pm, term time only.

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Information about the setting

There are eight staff members employed to work directly with the children, all of whom hold or are working towards relevant early years qualifications.

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

 improve the organisation of the indoor book corner to encourage more children to look at books independently

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

 strengthen children's design skills further by providing them with more support to successfully build large constructions in the garden.

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who attend

Staff plan and assess children's learning accurately. They work closely with parents to obtain clear information about each child's interests, needs and developmental stage. This helps staff to settle children in and start promoting their learning from the start. Staff monitor children's progress closely through observations and tracking their progress in all areas. They use this information to identify gaps in children's development and plan their next steps of learning. Parents actively contribute to their child's learning. They share information about what their child is learning at home and keep staff up to date with their child's interests and achievements each term. Staff keep parents closely informed every term with a summary of their child's progress, and complete the required progress check for two-year-olds. As a result, children are making good progress in all areas of their learning in relation to their starting points.

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who attend

Staff promote children's communication and language development well. They ask children lots of questions to encourage them to think and share their ideas and views. Staff provide children with time to think before responding and extend these discussions to keep children talking and communicating. For example, in a mask making activity, children tell staff what animals they think the blank masks look like. Staff question children's responses, such as asking why children think the masks look like deer; children tell her 'because it has antlers'. Staff extend this exploration further by using books to explore animal features and habitats with children. Staff follow this up encouraging children to re-call past events when they have worn the masks. This encourages children's to share their knowledge, re-call events and to learn more about natural life. Staff adapt and shape activities to meet children's individual needs. For example, they provide small

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who attend

speech and language group activities for children needing additional support. In these sessions, they include simple rhyming activities using popular story and song resources to support children's developing mouth muscles.

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who attend

Staff provide children with a wealth of resources to write for a purpose both indoors and outside. As a result, children spend long periods of time drawing on the tarmac, marking out parking bays, writing scores on clipboards for games they invent and label their work. Staff introduce sounds and letters to children through rhyming activities and extend this for older children to help them learn to recognise letters and write these correctly. Staff provide lots of written texts and labels to help children learn about words and there meaning. They include labels and books in children's home languages. Children have the opportunity to read a range of story and reference books indoors and outside. However, the indoor book corner offers limited space for children to sit comfortably in and is by an internal access door with many distractions. As a result, children do not often read books spontaneously indoors. Otherwise, children enjoy group story sessions when they listen

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who attend

well and join in with enthusiasm, and older children attend story sessions three times a week in the school reception class.

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who attend

Children benefit from lots of activities to learn about natural life. They plant and tend to fruit and vegetables in the garden, look for creatures in their bug hotel and handle many animals and bugs during visits from animal specialists. Staff provide children with resources and encouragement to create and use their imaginations. Children choose tools, fabrics and materials to paint and make models, adding colour, sparkles and decorations that they then show off with pride. Outside, children use large-scale equipment to construct models. However, staff do not always provide children with the support they need to succeed in creating their designs. For example, children struggle to successfully build and balance guttering pipes to create a slide for wheeled toys, and soon give up on the task.

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who attend

Staff respond quickly to children's interests and ideas to keep them engaged. For example, children become involved in playing with the trucks and cars. Staff extend this interest to help children find out about monster trucks using the tablet computer with children. Staff encourage children count the wheels, compare the sizes and colours and discuss the use of the vehicles. This skilful interaction motivates children to learn more and successfully promotes other aspects of learning, such as mathematical concepts and using technology. This all helps to develop children's skills for the future, in readiness for school.

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

The key person system successfully helps children to settle in well and feel secure. As a result, children arrive happy and excited, and seek out staff to share their news and for cuddles when they need comfort. Staff work extremely closely with the school, which all children attend. Children benefit from attending school events, story sessions and activity afternoons. Children also meet the lunchtime supervisors and teaching staff who visit them in the pre-school. This helps to support children in the move between their home and the pre-school, and their future move into the school.

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

Staff provide children with an exciting and vibrant environment in which children choose freely and lead their own play and exploration. As a result, children are interested in their learning and maintain attention for long periods in their chosen activities. Staff support children well in developing good independence. As a result, children manage tasks and self-care activities for themselves, which builds their self-confidence. Children develop positive attitudes and behave well. This is because staff make their expectations clear to children through consistent messages, and encouraging children to manage issues for themselves. For example, children use a sand timer to manage turn taking fairly. Staff step in to discuss kind play and help children understand about the feelings of others. As a result, children are forming friendships with others who they seek out to play with and hug spontaneously.

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

Children are cared for in a safe and secure environment in which they move around freely between the indoor and outdoor play areas. This allows the more active children to release energy when they play outside using the wheeled toys, playing ball games, digging, gardening, balancing, building and running freely. Staff remind children of the safe play rules, such as using steps one at a time to prevent accidents. They introduce children to visiting professionals, such as the police to learn about stranger danger. This all helps children to learn how to keep themselves safe effectively. Children enjoy healthy snacks at their indoor and outdoor snack bars during the day. This allows children to remain well-nourished without interrupting their play.

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provision

Management and staff have a good knowledge and understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. They have a secure knowledge of the correct procedures to follow if they have a concern about the welfare of a child, and their responsibilities to safeguard children's welfare. Management implements secure vetting procedures to help ensure staff are suitable to work with children. In addition, staff keep children safe and secure as they implement daily checks and risk assessments. These help staff to maintain and ensure good standards of health and safety. Management successfully evaluates the impact of staff practice on children's learning. The manager observes staff's interactions with children on a daily basis, and organises supervision sessions each half term. This also allows her to monitor how well staff are promoting the learning and development requirements and to ensure each child is making good

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provision

Management involve staff and parents in evaluating the quality of the provision by sharing their views on questionnaires and feeding back strengths and weaknesses in the provision. The management use this information to complete a self-evaluation form and identify areas for improvement. In addition, staff work closely with the local authority to implement changes and improvements successfully. As a result, the pre-school has made several improvements since registering. For example, children benefit from being able to play outside when they choose due to an all-weather curtain and good staff deployment.

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provision

Staff establish successful partnerships with parents who they provide with clear information about all aspects of the provision. Staff keep parents informed through face- to-face communication each day, displays and meetings. Parents are encouraged to contribute their views of the pre-school. They state their children have all settled very well and they appreciate the warm interaction with staff who keep them well informed and involved. They state their children often repeat the activities they have enjoyed in pre- school at home. Staff establish good links with the other early years settings children also attend. This helps to further promote children's needs consistently.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory 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 EY473896 Local authority Dorset Inspection number 948727 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 4 Total number of places 24 Number of children on roll 46 Name of provider Puddletown Pre-School Committee Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 01305 849533

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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

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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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