Coleview Pre-school

Coleview Pre School Towcester Road, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN3 4AS

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 10/06/2014 06/05/2010

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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

 Staff have extremely good knowledge of how children learn and provide children with high quality play and learning experiences. Consequently, children are happy, have fun and make excellent progress across all areas of their learning and development.  Children are highly confident and show a superb level of independence for their age. This is because of first class staff practice and a stimulating learning environment that is organised so that children are consistently able to select resources for themselves.  Staff skilfully support children to develop their conversational skills. As a result, all children make rapid progress in their communication and language development.  Partnerships with parents are outstanding. Excellent relationships between staff, children and parents ensure that children feel safe, secure and highly valued. Children benefit significantly from the excellent two-way flow of information between their main

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This provision is outstanding

carers, which promotes a highly consistent approach to meeting their individual needs.  The leadership and management of the pre-school are excellent. Staff are highly enthusiastic about their work, which leads to children being equally motivated in their learning.

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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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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities inside and outside and spoke with the manager, staff and children at appropriate times throughout the inspection.  The inspector carried out a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held a meeting with the nominated person and the manager on separate occasions.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled a range of documentation including policies, attendance registers, accident book, planning, and children's learning and development records.  The inspector spoke to several parents to obtain their views.

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Information about the setting

Coleview Pre-School registered in 1980. It operates from purpose built rooms in a community centre within a residential area of Swindon. The pre-school rooms have direct access to toilets and an enclosed outdoor play area. It is managed by a voluntary management committee. The pre-school is open five days a week during school term times. Sessions are from 9am until 12pm Monday to Friday and from 12.30pm until 3.30pm Monday to Thursday. There is an optional lunch club from 12pm to 12.30pm Monday to Thursday. The pre-school offers older children a lunch club session on Friday from 12pm to 2pm. There is a flexible system where children can attend for whole days. There are currently 62 children on roll. The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register. It receives funding for the provision of free early education for children aged three and four years. The pre-school supports children with special educational needs

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Information about the setting

and/or disabilities and also supports children who speak English as an additional language.

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Information about the setting

There are seven members of staff who work directly with the children. The manager and two other members of staff hold a recognised childcare qualification at level 4. One member of staff holds a Foundation Degree in Early Years. Two staff hold recognised childcare qualifications at level 3 and another is working towards this.

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

 further enhance children's understanding of plant life cycles and where food comes from by, for example, growing fruit and vegetables to eat at snack time.

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who attend

Children flourish at this welcoming pre-school because experienced and knowledgeable staff have an excellent understanding of how children learn and develop. Staff know and understand children extremely well. This is based on highly successful information sharing with parents and frequent observations and assessments of children's progress and their individual learning needs. Staff recognise the importance of basing planning on children's interests and abilities to enthuse and motivate them to learn. They use this information to plan an individualised educational programme for each child. Staff share information effectively with parents through regular discussions, the communication link book and formal parent consultations. Staff complete regular written summaries of children's learning and development, including the required progress check for two-year-old children. Key persons suggest fun activities that will promote further children's learning

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who attend

and development at home. For example, to play games to develop turn-taking and sharing skills, and to go on a listening walk to develop attention and listening skills. This successfully involves parents so that they can continue children's learning at home.

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who attend

Staff are sensitive to the needs of the children. They make extremely good use of all opportunities to support children to move on in their learning and development. Staff know what children need to do next. They join in with activities in a low-key way and then build on this using the children's self-chosen play resources and activities. This means that staff do not need to take children away from what they enjoy for adult-led activities to meet their next steps in development. For example, children enjoy role play in the train station. Staff develop children's understanding of the world as they look through a book to decide where they are going to visit on their journey. Staff promote children's mathematical skills as they encourage them to talk about the price of train tickets and ice- creams in the shop. Staff are skilful in extending children's learning as they wonder whether they could make some ice-creams to sell in the shop. Children eagerly move to

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who attend

the superbly resourced craft area. They become absorbed as they work to produce their own creations producing three dimensional ice creams and ice-lollies. They show persistence and creative thinking, due to the skilful support of staff and the extensive range of easily accessible craft resources. Staff allow children to become deeply involved in their play without being fearful of making a mess or getting it wrong. This means children can experiment, explore and fulfil their natural curiosity and inquisitiveness.

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who attend

Staff support children extremely well to develop their speech and language. Staff model language in a reassuring and positive way using the correct word for things to help develop children's vocabulary and pronunciation. For example, when younger children talk about the lead for their 'doggy', staff talk about the lead for the 'dog'. They take time to listen to children's conversations and ideas with interest using a range of effective methods to encourage communication. This includes the use of picture cards, a picture exchange system and sign language. Staff gather key words from parents in children's home language to further support communication for children learning English as an additional language. Consequently, all children make rapid progress in their communication and language, and are able to express themselves and make their needs known. This effectively prepares them for their future learning. Children enjoy looking at

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who attend

books independently, with their friends and with staff. Staff bring the stories to life as they read adapting their voices and using bodily gestures, for example to demonstrate high and low. They actively encourage children to join in by, for example, making the noises of the animals that they read about. Staff support children to think about what might happen next which helps to develop their imagination and promotes their understanding of the structures of stories. Early reading skills are further promoted through attractive displays, pictorial signs and labelling around the rooms, which enhance children's understanding of the written word. Staff provide a broad variety of messy play experiences for children to learn through their senses. Children enjoy making patterns in the sand, cornflour and water mixture, and using paint brushes and water on the tarmac. Staff challenge children by asking why the water is evaporating to promote their critical thinking skills. Staff

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who attend

provide a range of stimulating activities to enable children to strengthen the small muscles in their fingers, wrists and hands to prepare them for early writing. For example, children enjoy playing with real keys and padlocks and making patterns with pegs in peg boards and manipulating clean mud and dough. Staff support children to write name labels for their creations encouraging them to sound out the letters of their name. Older children are beginning to form recognisable letters and words. Staff extend learning effectively by encouraging them to differentiate between lower and upper case letters. This means that children are developing the skills they will require for their next stage in learning such as school.

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who attend

Children develop their understanding of shape and space as they take part in large-scale building projects. They construct bridges, balancing beams, dens and towers using easily available resources such as milk crates, tyres, wooden planks and cardboard boxes. For example, they make a 'water pipe' bridge and work out the best way to put resources together. Children adapt their design throughout the morning, adding traffic cones to the sides and working cooperatively together. This deep level of involvement in their play increases children's attention, concentration and sustained investigation, and empowers children to become active learners. Staff teach children about life-cycles as they provide frog spawn which turns into tadpoles and frogs. Children are fascinated with the caterpillars which transform into cocoons and then butterflies, and use magnifiers to examine them. Staff extend children's learning highly successfully by using reference

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who attend

books about butterflies as they encourage children to compare the illustrations in the book to the butterflies in the net. They explain that caterpillars have hairs on them to protect them from the birds who like to eat them. Children tend to the pet African snail with care and know that they need to spray it with water to keep it moist and that it likes to eat 'salad'. This supports children to develop an understanding of how to care for living things.

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

Children make excellent progress in their personal, social and emotional development. They are very happy in their environment. They clearly feel safe and secure as they explore and investigate, and they develop warm and trusting relationships with all staff and each other. Staff give children clear and consistent messages to teach children about the behaviour expectations. This includes use of praise, encouragement and good role modelling. As a result, children are very confident and self-assured, behave exceptionally well and play together harmoniously with others. They share and take turns well. Staff use a traffic light system as a visual cue to warn children of changes in the daily routine, for example, tidy up time. Staff encourage all children to take on a job as they put resources away. Children are kind and considerate towards one another as they work as a team to carry the toy boxes back to their storage spaces. Children show great care and concern for

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

other living things because staff provide them with gentle reminders and clear explanations of their actions. For example, they remind them to be gentle with the butterflies and not to tap the net because it will frighten them.

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

Staff have high expectations of the children and encourage their independence by giving them responsibility to undertake tasks. For example, there is a special person each session who helps with circle time registration and other daily routines such as ringing the bell to signify when the snack bar is open. Snack is offered as a caf style where children choose when to eat their snack so that their play is not interrupted. They choose from a selection of carbohydrates, fruit and vegetables, and drink milk or water. This promotes the importance of a healthy diet very well. Children competently prepare their own snack using knives to spread cheese spread on their pitta bread and cut up their apples. They pour their own drinks from small jugs, put rubbish in the bin and wash up their own cup and plates without reminders from staff. Children enthusiastically take apple seeds from their snack to plant into pots outdoors. This helps them develop an awareness of plant life

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

cycles as they sow the seeds in pots. However, there is scope to enable children to grow fruit and vegetables on a larger scale to eat at snack time to further develop their awareness of where food comes from. Children develop excellent self-care skills and are becoming competent in managing their personal needs. For example, they are aware of the importance of following good hygiene practices, such as washing their hands before eating and after toileting. They confidently help themselves to tissues and wipe their own noses.

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

Staff provide extremely stimulating and well-resourced indoor and outdoor environments, which enable children to explore and select resources with significant confidence and curiosity. The dedicated playrooms are bright, cheerful and very well equipped with an abundant range of high quality toys and resources stored in labelled boxes with pictures and words. These include a broad range of resources to promote equality and diversity to support children's awareness of individual differences, families and the wider world. Staff expertly organise furniture and resources to create focused areas where children use toys and equipment that make links in their learning. This helps children to make independent choices and decisions about what they want to do and where they want to play.

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

Staff promote the importance of a healthy lifestyle and exercise. Children experience learning outdoors in all types of weather because they have free-flow access to the outside throughout the day. The outdoors provides rich learning opportunities, with cosy spots for children to settle down for a story, engage in imaginative play and talk with their friends, or for children to construct, experiment and explore nature. Children develop their physical skills while they are active in the fresh air. They climb up the steps to the slide, they kick balls, manoeuvre toys and equipment around obstacles. They run, hop, jump and wave ribbons around as they dance to music. These activities effectively promote children's all-round learning and development. Children benefit from many visitors to the pre-school such as the vet, the fire service, the community police officer, the vicar, the road safety officer and guide dogs for the blind. This successfully helps children to develop

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

an awareness of the role of others in the local community.

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

Staff maintain a safe and enabling environment for all children. They supervise the children well and maximise opportunities to teach children about their own and others' safety. For example, as children use scissors to snip paper and use knives to spread butter. Staff carefully remind them about the rules of the outdoor area and model them during play. For example, children cycle and scoot around the edge of the play area and are mindful of others. They know that they need to wear cycle helmets when they ride the bicycles and that they need to wear wellington boots when they ride the fast mini cars to protect their toes. Children practise the fire drill with staff so that they know how to evacuate the building to keep themselves safe in the event of an emergency.

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

Staff have excellent partnerships with local feeder schools. Staff take children on visits to the reception classes for stay and play sessions. They arrange for teachers to visit the pre- school so that they can meet and play with the children in a familiar environment. Staff provide photograph albums of the schools, including photographs of the staff who work there, which children take home to share with their parents. This helps to prepare children extremely well for school.

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provision

There is a very strong commitment to meeting, and understanding of, the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Staff and the management team foster a culture of continual improvement so that all children are able to develop to their full potential. The manager has high expectations for herself and staff. Consequently, this results in a well- trained, experienced and knowledgeable team who recognise how children learn. All staff have an excellent understanding of their responsibilities to promote children's safety and welfare. The comprehensive policies and procedures underpin their outstanding practice. Staff are aware of possible symptoms that may indicate a child is at risk. They are secure in their knowledge of the procedures to follow should they have any child protection concerns to keep children safe. Staff carry out regular risk assessments on the premises, toys and equipment, which help them to identify potential hazards. They take prompt

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provision

action to minimise these. This effectively helps to protect children's safety and welfare.

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provision

Staff maintain all the required records and documents necessary to promote children's care and well-being. They keep an accurate record of children's attendance. Accident records are promptly completed and shared with parents on collection of their child. Visitors to the pre-school are required to sign in and out. Management complete rigorous recruitment procedures to check the suitability of staff to work with children. New staff receive a thorough induction before they first start and mentoring from more experienced staff to help them understand what is expected of them in their roles. The manager monitors staff's practice through regular observations, supervision meetings and appraisals. There are excellent systems in place to support staff in their professional development through well-considered training that meets the needs of the children. This enables staff to achieve consistently high standards.

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provision

Self-evaluation is extremely good and includes the views of committee, staff, parents and children to help with this process. The manager meets with the local authority to further identify areas for improvement. This helps to inform future action plans that improve the quality of children's care and learning. Staff are highly reflective and constantly reflect on the success of activities during their weekly meetings. They identify and monitor children's individual achievements and record how they can extend children's learning further through their current interests. The manager carefully monitors what the children are learning using a software program to ensure they are covering all areas of learning. Consequently, each area of children's learning and development is successfully promoted through planned, purposeful play and an extremely good balance of adult-led and child- initiated activities. This demonstrates an excellent capacity for continual development to

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provision

further improve the outcomes for children.

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provision

Staff establish outstanding open relationships with parents and others to identify and meet children's individual needs. Parents receive a wealth of information about the pre-school and their children's achievements. Staff encourage parents to regularly share information and staff respond by incorporating their suggestions into their planning. Staff develop excellent links with other early years settings that the children attend through a two-way flow of sharing information. This promotes a complementary and consistent approach to children's care, learning and development. Staff have developed excellent links with other agencies and professionals involved in children's development to help meet their additional needs.

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provision

Parents spoken to at the inspection talk enthusiastically about the progress their children are making and are appreciative of the pre-school's friendly, welcoming, caring and knowledgeable staff. Parents describe how well staff support their children's needs and respond to their individual preferences going 'over and above the call of duty'. Parents feel that their children are progressing exceptionally well in speech and language and personal, social and emotional development. They state that the settling-in procedure is very good and that their children are extremely happy and enjoy attending the pre-school. Parents explain that they know what their children are learning at the pre-school and they feel fully involved in their children's learning. They appreciate that the key persons listen to their opinions and incorporate these into the planning, explaining that they 'feel listened to' and 'respected'. Parents appreciate the suggestions for activities that knowledgeable

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provision

key persons send home to extend their children's learning. They know they can see their children's learning journals at any time and are provided with a formal opportunity to discuss their children's learning and development. As a result, parents are effectively involved in their children's learning.

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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 109054 Local authority Swindon Inspection number 839565 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 5 Total number of places 40 Number of children on roll 62 Name of provider Coleview Pre-school Committee Date of previous inspection 06/05/2010 Telephone number 01793 828688

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Setting details

set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

Full-time provision is that which operates for more than three hours. These are usually known as nurseries, nursery schools and pre-schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the higher fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Sessional provision operates for more than two hours but does not exceed three hours in any one day. These are usually known as pre-schools, kindergartens or nursery schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the lower fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Childminders care for one or more children where individual children attend for a period of more than two hours in any one day. They operate from domestic premises, which are usually the childminder’s own home. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Type of provision

Out of school provision may be sessional or full-time provision and is delivered before or after school and/or in the summer holidays. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Where children receive their Early Years Foundation Stage in school these providers do not have to deliver the learning and development requirements in full but should complement the experiences children receive in school. achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children,

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Type of provision

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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