Ketton Pre-School

Ketton Pre-School Room 3, Ketton Primary School, High Street, Ketton, STAMFORD, Lincolnshire, PE9 3TE

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 25/06/2014 25/03/2010

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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

 Teaching is outstanding. Staff consistently show high quality teaching skills and provide a rich, varied, challenging and imaginative range of learning opportunities. They have an excellent understanding of how children learn. As a result, children are extremely confident, enthusiastic learners who make excellent progress from their starting points.  Highly effective parent partnerships ensure a shared approach to supporting children's learning, both in the setting and at home. This ensures a consistent approach to meeting the learning needs of children is maintained and children make very rapid progress.  Leadership and management are excellent and inspirational. The manager uses a range of highly effective strategies to produce continuous improvement across the setting. The manager involves children, parents and staff to ensure that priorities are identified and are focused on teaching.  Robust safeguarding policies and procedures are in place. This ensures that children's

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This provision is outstanding

welfare is exceptionally protected. Additionally, children are kept safe and are supported by highly skilled staff.  The key-person system is highly effective and children's social and emotional needs are exceptionally well met. Relationships with staff are excellent and this fosters a sense of belonging and enables children to be confident 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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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 playroom and the outside play areas.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of suitability and qualifications of staff working with children, the provider's self-evaluation form and improvement plan.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held meetings with the manager of the provision and spoke to staff and children throughout the inspection as appropriate.  The inspector looked at children's assessment records and planning documentation.

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Information about the setting

Ketton Pre-School opened in 1992 and is on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and the voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It operates from a purpose-built building within the grounds of Ketton Primary School in Ketton, Stamford, Lincolnshire. The pre- school is open five days a week during school term time for children aged from two and a half years to five years. It serves the village and surrounding area. Sessions are from 8.45am until 11.45am and from 11.45pm until 3.45pm. Children are able to extend the morning or afternoon session by attending the lunchtime session. This runs from 11.45am to 1pm. There are currently 37 children on roll, all of whom are within the early years age range. The nursery receives funding for the provision of free early education for two-, three-and four-year-olds. It supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. The manager and

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Information about the setting

seven part-time staff work directly with the children. Of these, six hold relevant qualifications at level 3 and two hold level 2.

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

 enhance the already very good opportunities for children to demonstrate and express their own creative ideas.

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who attend

The standard of teaching is excellent with a superb balance of adult-led, focused and child-initiated activities which are highly challenging and stimulating for children. Children of all ages settle in extremely well as the familiar framework of routines and activities are filled with rich and challenging opportunities for learning and development. For example, a member of staff tells a story using an animated voice to help children tune in. The children immediately point out familiar characters in the story and anticipate what will happen next. They are given puppets and encouraged to participate and tell the story themselves. They are actively engaged throughout the story. This means their listening and attention skills are extremely well supported, and as a result, they develop an early love of books and reading. Children make excellent progress as the quality of teaching is highly effective and they are fully engaged by one stimulating learning experience after another. Children

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who attend

have excellent opportunities for outdoor play as they freely choose between indoor or outdoor play. There is an enclosed outdoor area with a wide range of resources including natural materials, such as mud, a rope swing and materials for weaving large structures. Children delight in balancing, building and digging. This effectively develops children's physical, personal, social and emotional skills. Additionally, children's communication and language is further enhanced when they excitedly revisit and engage in discussions about the recent story. Staff amend their planning according to needs and opportunities that arise and constantly model and encourage excellent use of language and communication skills. Through the well-planned activities, the highly skilled staff team and the range of excellent resources ensure children are enthusiastic, highly motivated learners who make rapid progress across all areas of their learning and development. Children with special

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who attend

educational needs and/disabilities are exceptionally well supported through a very strong partnership with parents and relevant professionals, such as the speech and language therapists. Staff knowledge of the children is meticulously detailed and they support and enhance their learning through well-focused planning. Staff are highly reflective and meet the needs of children by having clear expectations for children's learning and knowing each child's starting points and readiness to be challenged.

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who attend

Staff are highly effective at meeting the needs of the range of children who attend and use a range of excellent teaching strategies to reinforce learning and ensure children are developing well in both the prime and specific areas. Also, the expert teaching strategies result in children being given choices to promote their thinking and independence. Children competently and independently use the computer and cameras. Staff model being a thinker as they ask, 'I wonder what happens if we press this? What do you think might happen?' Children show great enthusiasm as they mix paint and create pictures. However, there is scope to extend the already very good opportunities for children to experiment and follow their own creative ideas. The excellent, highly stimulating learning environment provides a range of high quality resources, which children access because they are labelled clearly with pictures and words to support their decision making. The

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who attend

mark making resources are provided in units, which enables children to move them to any area they wish, to enhance their own play and use writing for a purpose.

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who attend

There is a very strong focus on communication and language and mathematical skills that support children who are preparing for school. Staff work extremely well with parents and have developed exceptional partnerships to support children in being ready for their next stage in learning. Parents say they are extremely happy with the progress their children are making and the exemplary support that they receive from staff to enable them to carry out activities at home to support their children's learning. For example, all parents are provided with activity plans with ideas for consolidating the learning and play at home. Further high quality information is shared between key persons and parents through the use of information books, daily verbal communication, termly reports on their children's progress and arranged meetings with parents. The highly effective learning journals and tracking sheets show all children are making rapid progress and are achieving significantly

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who attend

enhanced levels of development in the prime and specific areas of their learning and development. Children relish opportunities to be fully involved in preparing for activities and take ownership for their environment. They have a wonderful time as they make marks and take part in a variety of focused sessions, which develop skills and attitudes that prepare them for transition to school. Staff use high-quality teaching methods to support and challenge children's learning as they help children to sound out and make marks for the different letters. Lots of praise and encouragement are given for children's emergent reading and writing, which in turn greatly boosts children's self-esteem and confidence, preparing them very well for school.

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

Children are extremely happy and well settled in the pre-school. The indoor and outdoor environments provide a dynamic mix of adult-led and child-initiated, high quality and challenging activities, which results in children being extremely confident and self-assured active learners. The strong focus on promoting children's social skills means they learn to work and play together as they develop friendships with their peers. An extensive range of high quality equipment and resources, along with the consistently high quality teaching strategies, result in children having exceptional skills in their personal, social and emotional and physical development. The children enjoy climbing on the outdoor trim trail and excitedly communicate with each other about the experience, as well as developing their physical skills and sense of well-being exceedingly well. Children are extremely confident and self-assured, and demonstrate their excellent understanding of the

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

importance of a healthy lifestyle and self-care skills. For example, they attend to their personal needs and wash their hands independently before snack time. Additionally, children are encouraged to serve themselves with drinks and fruit as and when required, and this promotes their independence.

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

A robust and highly effective key-person system is in place. Outstanding monitoring and tracking systems result in superior staff awareness of each child's individual needs. This means children form very secure relationships with their key person and settle quickly into the setting. Parents comment on the incredibly professional and warm welcome they receive at all times. Children are calm and highly confident as they engage in conversations and welcome visitors. Staff obtain detailed information from parents about children's needs, likes and dislikes, which means they are very aware of how to support each child and meet their individual needs. Children are impeccably well behaved and are very responsive to the individual attention given by the staff. Children's self-esteem is significantly raised because staff constantly praise and encourage children to try new activities and develop their independence. Children learn extremely good skills for their

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

future development and when moving on to school. They help to set the lunch table, unpack their own lunch boxes and tidy up afterwards. They can wait for their turn before speaking and are encouraged to listen to others in group times, all of which prepare them well for school life.

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

The inspirational learning environment is clean, safe and extremely well resourced, resulting in children being highly motivated and active learners. Staff and children are innovative. For example, mystery parcels addressed to the children are found to contain sunglasses and this sparks excitement and a range of new child-led activities, which include mark making and role play. Children are actively encouraged to make choices about what they want to do. For example, stories chosen by children are detailed in the meticulous planning, and children choose by vote which group game to play outside. There are a number of superb low-level interactive displays for children to access with photos, puppets and information and communication technology resources for them to explore. This results in children feeling valued and confident in making contributions, and further extends their developing skills in communication and language. Staff are extremely

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

attentive and caring, and make an outstanding contribution to the well-being of the children. The exceptional warmth and unabated interest of staff in children's achievements help children to feel valued and confident to explore further afield. They approach trusted adults and initiate conversations, asking them for help or simply sharing something funny with them. They consistently engage confidently in the wide range of high quality learning activities, resulting in them being highly motivated, imaginative, enthusiastic learners who show tenacity and enjoyment in what they set out to do. For example, children and staff regularly use Makaton signing and make use of this in singing and everyday play. Children also speak, sing rhymes and count in French with pleasure and real confidence in group sessions. Children are kept safe during a breadth of challenging learning experiences where they are supported by highly skilled staff to manage risk.

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provision

Inspirational leadership, dedicated management and highly effective team working result in an outstanding setting clearly aimed at supporting children to achieve their full potential. They have an open-door policy and aim to make themselves available to talk through any concerns parents may have on the doorstep or in a quiet place to promote good partnership working. Safeguarding policies and procedures are fully understood by all staff and extremely rigorous. All staff have completed relevant safeguarding training in line with Local Safeguarding Children Board requirements. Daily risk assessments are carried out by staff and relevant policies and procedures are in place to keep children safe, including fire procedures, accident recording and medication policy. These are regularly reviewed with clear actions listed to ensure they work in practice. Resources are high quality and stored safely but remain accessible to children. This ensures that children's

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provision

Highly committed, inspirational leadership and management result in the provision of a fully inclusive, safe environment in which children thrive. The manager models exemplary practice and is animated, enthusiastic and focused. As a result, staff and children are highly motivated and participate in high quality learning activities. Meticulously detailed systems are in place to monitor and track children's progress and meet individual learning and development needs in line with Early Years Foundation Stage requirements. Children, parents and staff contribute effectively to long-term, medium-term and short-term planning. The setting has a highly effective transition policy and exceptionally good links with the host schools to support children in moving on to their next stage of learning. All staff are qualified and have an extensive range of training and experiences with young children. All staff are extremely well supported with highly effective supervisions and

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provision

observations in place. Observations focus on high quality teaching strategies and link exceptionally well to the characteristics of effective learning, which show how they impact on children's learning and development. Clear outcomes and actions are identified and addressed with individuals and as a team. This fosters the excellent ethos of continuous improvement. Self-evaluation and monitoring are extremely strong and enable the manager to focus on priorities.

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provision

Highly effective partnerships with parents and professionals result in the individual needs of children being met consistently. Partnerships with parents are a significant strength of this setting. Parents comment that 'the pre-school is amazing and staff are exceptional. They are always there to offer support and children are making great progress since starting'. The family atmosphere of the pre-school is valued highly. Parents are highly committed to supporting the work in the setting. For example, they actively contribute and often come to the sessions to read stories, talk about their jobs or to share their experiences of other countries. This results in children being given significantly enhanced opportunities to extend their learning and to enjoy the company of other adults.

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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 254364 Local authority Rutland Inspection number 866873

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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 37 Name of provider Penelope Ann Butcher Date of previous inspection 25/03/2010 Telephone number 01780 721676

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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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