Holy Trinity Preschool

Holy Trinity Playgroup Holy Trinity Church, Belle Vue Road, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY3 7LL

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 04/06/2014 12/12/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 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 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 Teaching is excellent. The staff of the playgroup have an exemplary understanding of children's abilities, expertly using this knowledge to provide highly stimulating activities which drive children's learning.  Children are exceptionally happy, confident and motivated to learn. They feel very safe, expressing extremely high levels of independence and enjoyment. Children develop very strong and caring relationships with the adults who care for them.  The playgroup staff have an excellent understanding of their roles and responsibilities in relation to safeguarding children. Very rigorous and clearly written policies and procedures are in place to ensure the safeguarding and welfare of children. These are reviewed annually to ensure children's safety and welfare.  The playgroup has established very successful ways to accurately observe children's development and plan for the next steps in their learning. These are shared with

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This provision is outstanding

parents and are used to enable staff to effectively target children's learning needs and interests.  Parents are very well informed about their children's needs. Very high levels of consistency and continuity of care, between the child's home and the playgroup, are very successfully supported by frequent and detailed exchanges of information about children's care needs and progress.

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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 inside rooms and the outside learning environment.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector had a meeting with the manager and the chair of the management committee.  The inspector undertook a joint observation with the manager.  The inspector looked at children's assessment records and planning documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of the suitability of practitioners working with children, and a range of other documentation, including the provider's self- evaluation form and improvement plans.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took into account the views of parents and children spoken to on the day.

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Information about the setting

Holy Trinity Playgroup was registered in 1993 on the Early Years Register and on both the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. It is managed and owned by Holy Trinity Church. It operates from rooms within Holy Trinity Church in Belle Vue, Shrewsbury. The playgroup has an enclosed area for outdoor play. The playgroup serves the local area and is accessible to all children. The playgroup opens Monday to Friday during school term times. Sessions are from 9am to 11.30am and from 12.30pm to 3pm. There is also a lunch club. Children are able to attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 52 children attending, all of whom are within the early years age range. The playgroup provides funded early education for three- and four-year-olds. The playgroup employs 11 members of childcare staff. Of these, six hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 and two have a degree in early years education. It supports

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Information about the setting

children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The playgroup receives support from the local authority.

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

 continue to build on the already excellent partnership with parents, for example, by developing further opportunities for parents to observe their children's learning and development at playgroup, so they are well equipped to continue their learning at home.

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who attend

Teaching is outstanding; staff support children exceptionally well, using adult-planned and child-initiated activities to extend children's thinking, interests and learning in innovative ways. For example, staff and children are actively involved in exploring the outdoor area, using a range of resources and highly effective teaching. Children identify letters on a seed packet and on the cover of a familiar story book, make competent attempts to write letters, and use mathematical language, such as more or less, bigger and smaller as they purposefully discuss and respond to staff questions. The children have planted vegetable seeds in the garden, enthusiastically discussing what they have planted and the tools they used. Their learning is successfully further developed as they plant lettuce seeds in the garden area outside, and discuss how seeds grow and what they will do with the lettuces later on. As a result, children are highly active and fully engaged in their learning, making

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who attend

extremely good progress. Superb and animated questioning enables children to develop their knowledge when independently playing and investigating. For example, staff and children explore outside and look for pictures of birds, discussing the names of the birds and talking about the bird box in their play area. Staff use signing to support children with language difficulties, planning specific activities to successfully support their learning and development. As a result, all children's communication and language is supported exceedingly well and they make excellent progress.

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who attend

Staff show genuine and purposeful interest in children's play and interactions and as a result, relationships between children and staff are exceedingly positive, warm and strong. Children are very happy, confident and have consistently high levels of independence. They are highly active and motivated learners. They freely engage in many independently selected activities, which they sustain for long periods of time. For example, a small group of children play with play dough and make cupcakes with candles. They enthusiastically encourage each other, take turns and successfully share tools and resources with obvious enjoyment. Staff expertly challenge children to develop their skills and extend their learning. For example, children climb trees showing excellent awareness of their own safety and that of others as they swing, climb and jump down. Staff have a deep and comprehensive understanding of children's progress, needs and interests. Assessment is

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who attend

rigorous and exceptionally comprehensive, giving an accurate picture of children's progress from their starting points. Learning files for all children are started as the child begins at playgroup using information provided by the parents. Observations of children are carried out on their first day and again shortly after starting, to monitor the child's progress, and identify their needs and interests. These are shared with parents in termly meetings. Detailed observations are undertaken frequently, recorded and cross referenced to the areas of learning. Staff have developed highly effective ways to monitor and track children's progress and achievement. Termly summaries of children's learning and development in all areas are completed and discussed, and shared with parents and carers at planned meetings where they are encouraged to add their own comments. The summaries are supported by digital photographs and examples of children's work. Staff

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who attend

use all information in a highly effective ways to develop weekly plans, individual learning plans and adult-led activities, which are matched to children's needs and interests. As a result, children are making exceptional progress in their learning and development. The children's learning file provides a delightful and detailed reference to share with parents.

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who attend

The playgroup operates from rooms and the grounds of Holy Trinity Church. These provide large spaces for children to explore, investigate, move and develop their physical skills, independence levels and confidence. There are exceptional outdoor areas, such as a large adventure play area, with trees for climbing, open areas to dig, investigate and explore. These offer scope for many different activities to develop children's skills and learning, across all ages. Children take part in regular and frequent forest school activities, either at the local primary school or in their own outdoor spaces. These provide excellent opportunities to develop children's knowledge and understanding of the natural environment and to play outside, extending their physical skills, imagination and independence. It also provides opportunities for children to develop an understanding of risky and challenging play. Children's transitions between the playgroup and the next

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who attend

stage in their learning are very well supported. They become familiar with the school through forest school activities and visits to the school for special events and assemblies. As a result, children's needs are given utmost priority and they are exceedingly well prepared for future stages in their learning. Parents are warmly welcomed into the playgroup by the staff and have frequent exchanges of information. There is an excellent range of high-quality resources freely available for the children. As a result, children engage in an extensive range of self-chosen activities, both inside and outdoors, which interest and motivate them.

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

Children's personal, social and emotional development is very effectively supported within the playgroup. This enables children to form very strong and caring relationships with their peers and the staff. There is a strong Christian ethos which is evident in all aspects of the playgroup's excellent provision. A highly effective key person system is well embedded, however, all staff know the children very well. As a result, children show a real sense of belonging; they feel very safe and have an especially well developed sense of trust. For example, children cuddle into familiar adults, receiving loving and sensitive attention when listening to stories. Behaviour within the playgroup is exceptionally good and children respond to instructions and directions exceedingly well. Staff are exemplary, positive role models for the children. They treat them with great respect and loving care. Boundaries within the playgroup are very sensitively reinforced which ensures that children are safe

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

and cared for in first class ways. Children's understanding of safety issues is demonstrated effectively through their play. For example, when climbing trees the children understand to look out for others who might be underneath them before they jump down.

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

Staff ensure a very clean, highly organised and attractive environment is provided. They give children time to develop their own play activities, at their own pace. Staff support children in highly effective ways to develop good hygiene practices, to prevent the spread of infection. For example, children respond positively when asked to wash their hands before lunch. They know how to dispose of used tissues and ask to help wash up after snack time. Parents are encouraged to bring in fruit for children to share at snack time and provide healthy foods in children's lunch boxes. Drinking water is freely available. Older children are fully independent in their personal hygiene routines. Younger children are given due respect and privacy when their personal care needs are being met. The extensive outdoor environment and forest school activities give children abundant spaces to move around freely, explore and extend their physical skills.

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

Staff work highly effectively as a team, sharing information about children's care needs and interests. There are very high levels of consistency and continuity and, as a result, parents are very well informed about their child's needs. Staff ensure that they tailor the children's care according to their needs and ages, placing exceptionally high emphasis on getting to know children's preference and interests. Highly purposeful conversations take place between staff and children, to plan and get their views on the playgroup's activities. For example, children discuss different places to hide pictures of birds when exploring outside and consider safety issues relating to their suggestions. As a result, children are involved, active and motivated by the very interesting and highly innovative opportunities and experiences available to them.

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provision

The leadership and management of the playgroup is outstanding. The principles of the playgroup, promoted by the manager, is one where children are the centre of everything they do and staff have the highest aspirations for each child. There is a highly positive pervasive 'can do' attitude across all areas of the playgroup. The manager is exceptionally passionate about the playgroup and is highly articulate in enthusing her staff to share her vision and aspirations. The manager is very well organised in all aspects of her work. She robustly ensures that the staff team comply with all aspects of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. For example, there are numerous, very thorough and clearly written policies and procedures in place to ensure the safeguarding and welfare of children. These are implemented highly effectively to ensure children's safety and welfare. All staff know and fully understand their roles and

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provision

responsibilities in relation to safeguarding children. There are effective, robust and rigorous recruitment, vetting and induction procedures in place to ensure that adults caring for children are suitable. All the required policies and procedures, including risk assessments and emergency evacuation practices, are in place. These are regularly reviewed by the management team and staff.

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provision

The manager and her deputy are highly qualified, contributing to the exceptionally high quality of the provision. Training and staff development is given high priority and all staff are actively encouraged to access training opportunities, in order to extend and support children's learning and development. The training is evaluated and reflected upon during weekly staff meetings and appraisals. Staff show an exceptionally strong commitment to the care and well-being of all children and are expertly supported by the manager, her deputy and the management team. As a result, staff show excellent understanding of ways to support and extend children's learning and thinking in all areas. For example, staff praise children's efforts and achievements in a variety of ways using words such as, 'fantastic' and 'brilliant' instead of 'good' which helps to develop children's vocabularies. They use gestures, cuddles and genuine enthusiasm to inspire children. Staff performance

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provision

is effectively monitored through an appraisal system and weekly staff meetings. The staff have an excellent understanding of the educational programme, ensuring the highly positive environment and innovative teaching methods contribute effectively to children's progress and learning. Children's achievements are very effectively and clearly tracked against the early learning goals to monitor their progress. All children achieve well. The playgroup has developed its own effective format for completing the progress check for children between the ages of two and three years. This check is well embedded into the assessment and tracking arrangements of the playgroup. A designated meeting enables the completed progress check to be shared with parents and carers. There are very clear and achievable improvement plans in place. These are accurate, realistic and challenging, and are developed through discussions with staff, children and through parents' feedback.

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provision

For example, ceiling to floor windows have been installed to enhance free-flow play between the indoors and outside. Plans are also in place to develop a seating area inside for parents to observe their children at play and provide opportunities for staff to support parents if required. Recommendations from the last inspection have been met in full. This demonstrates a strong capacity for further improvement.

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provision

Parents and carers are exceptionally complimentary about the service provided by the playgroup. Parents are very well informed about the playgroup through several attractive and informative notice boards and very approachable, friendly staff. Parents provide detailed information about their child before they start at the playgroup and as a result, staff can plan appropriate and supportive activities to help the child settle. Frequent discussions with staff enable information to be shared about children's care and activities. Partnerships with the feeder schools and other providers are very strong and effective. As a result, children develop confidence and are well supported in the playgroup as they prepare for the next stage in their learning. Regular visitors to the playgroup, such as the minister of Holy Trinity Church and a local bee keeper, help children to develop a greater understanding of their local environment.

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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 224115 Local authority Shropshire Inspection number 871332

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 24 Number of children on roll 52 Name of provider Holy Trinity Playgroup Committee Date of previous inspection 12/12/2011 Telephone number 01743 241195

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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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