Millbrook Pre-SchoolOfsted inspection, 2 Jul 2014

Millbrook Pre-School The Village Hall, Millbrook, Torpoint, Cornwall, PL10 1AY

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 02/07/2014 22/03/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 Previous inspection: 3 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 3 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision requires improvement

 Staff provide a broad range of resources and experiences that support children to make suitable progress in all areas of learning.  Staff establish effective partnerships with other professionals to implement consistent approaches to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.  Children are confident communicators, engaging in conversation with their friends and staff.

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It is not yet good because

 The pre-school do not maintain accurate registers of children's daily attendance to promote their safety.  Effective systems are not in place for management to further develop staff practice through regular supervision meetings to identify areas for professional development.  Staff do not always make best use of open questions to develop children's thinking skills and provide suitable challenge during mixed group activities.  Robust self-evaluation systems to identify breaches in statutory requirements and build on children's learning experiences are not effective.

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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 children indoors and on an outing.  The inspector held discussions with the manager.  The inspector examined a range of documents.  The inspector talked with parents, children and staff.  The inspector offered the manager the opportunity to complete a joint observation.

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Information about the setting

Millbrook Pre-school registered over 40 years ago and is run by a committee of parents. It operates from a designated room in Millbrook village hall, near Torpoint, Cornwall. The setting is open from Monday to Thursday, from 9.15am until 1pm during term time only. The provision is registered on the Early Years Register and children attend from the age of two years. There are currently 34 children on roll. The setting is in receipt of early education funding for three and four-year-old children and supports those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Most children live locally and some attend other early years settings. There pre-school employs seven members of staff, five of whom hold appropriate early years qualifications.

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must:

 keep an accurate daily record of the hours of children's attendance

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must:

 put in place effective arrangements for the regular supervision of all staff to provide support and coaching to further improve their skills and practices.

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

 improve the consistency of staff interaction and questioning techniques to provide additional challenge for children during mixed group activities

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

 develop routine self-evaluation systems to ensure all statutory requirements are met, to promote children's welfare, and further support their learning and development.

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who attend

The pre-school meets the learning needs of all children well. Children are familiar with the pre-school routine and know what to expect next, for example, when the bell rings; they know this is their cue to sit down on the carpet for registration. Overall, staff use good teaching techniques, which has a positive impact on children's learning and development. As a result, children make good progress from their starting points on entry. Staff actively help children to gain the skills they need for the next stage of their development and school. Staff deploy themselves so they sit with children and talk to them about what they are doing. This supports children to be confident communicators and constantly engage in conversations with their friends and adults. They learn a wide ranging vocabulary as staff introduce new words, such as 'paramedic'. Generally, staff ask well-phrased questions that extend children's learning further. For example, they encourage children to consider their

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who attend

response by asking 'what do you think that will feel like?' However, they do not consistently use effective questioning techniques with children to extend their thinking skills during group activities, for example, at circle time, meaning children need only give yes or no answers.

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who attend

Children are learning letter sounds as part of their daily routine. For example, having identified the day of the week, staff encourage children to suggest other words that start with the same letter. Children also learn the value of numbers. During a small group activity, staff select a number and children are challenged to jump that many times. When children become over-excited and jump without counting, the member of staff is able to re-focus children's attention back to the aim of the activity. She changes the physical challenge of jumping to sit-ups to provide a new challenge and counts with the children, which successfully maintains their concentration. This shows that staff understand how to re-shape tasks to extend children's learning further.

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who attend

Staff encourage parents to share useful information about their child when they start at the pre-school. Staff invite them to look through their child's 'learning journey', to keep up to date on their children's progress. Children's progress records show their achievements through photographs and observations. Termly assessment of children's progress helps the managers and staff to identify children's strengths and any gaps in achievement. Appropriate arrangements are in place to complete progress checks for children aged two- years. Staff plan activities to cover all areas of learning through the use of 'topics'. These systems are flexible to monitor children's changing interests. For example, staff identify that a previously popular topic is less successful at meeting children's interests this time around and so change the theme. Children learn about holidays during the summer months and enjoy outings to local beaches and for picnics.

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who attend

Partnerships with other professionals are strong. Staff work closely with them and parents to provide consistent approaches to better support children's needs. They effectively work together to implement and monitor learning objectives for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This means that all children make good progress in their learning. Staff welcome parents in to the setting, especially to share areas of expertise, such as cooking dishes from other cultures. Staff are keen to implement parent evenings to further develop their two-way flow of information sharing.

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

The consistent staff team and suitable key person system helps children to settle and feel secure. Staff greet children by name as they arrive, making children feel welcome. Additionally, they encourage parents to stay each morning until they feel their child is fully settled. Consequently, children are developing close and trusting relationships with the staff. This also contributes to their personal, social and emotional development as they progress through the pre-school.

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

Children enjoy a warm and welcoming environment, which they explore with interest. Staff rotate the resources each day to maintain children's interest and divide the large room into areas for different types of activity, such as quiet and messy play. This helps staff to monitor the variety of activities they offer. As children develop, the playrooms provide designated areas for learning to promote children's independent play. Children move around the different play areas to make full use of the activities and to experience different learning environments. As a result, children are happy and excited as they change activities. Staff carry out risk assessments to help to ensure the environment is kept clean and safe. They keep written records of any accidents, incidents and existing injuries to children, which they share with parents and use to monitor safety within the setting. Registers record the names of children who attend each day. However,

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

management do not maintain accurate times of children's departure. This does not promote the welfare of children and is a breach of a statutory responsibility.

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

Staff promote positive attitudes and use appropriate strategies to manage children's behaviour. During lunch times, children sit at a table with their key person who positively role models suitable social skills and mealtime behaviours. Staff provide encouragement and praise to build children's confidence and self-esteem. They nominate each child to become the 'special person' for a day, during which they undertake tasks such as counting the children during registration. Children are encouraged to bring in something special from home to share with their friends, and their parents receive an invitation to attend for the day. This helps children to feel valued and supports their social skills as they begin to understand the differences between people; skills that will support them as they develop their emotional wellbeing in preparation for the next stage of learning. Staff arrange for a local reception teacher to visit the setting to observe and get to know children in an

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

environment they feel comfortable, to support their transitions to school.

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

Children understand to wash their hands before eating and enjoy visits from healthcare professionals, such as the ambulance service. They benefit from fresh air during their regular outings to local parks and the lake to see the wildlife. In the absence of a secure outdoor play space, this provides suitable alternative opportunities for physical activities, exploring nature and learning about road safety. Children enjoy nutritious snacks of fruit and crackers. Staff encourage children to drink water regularly to keep them hydrated. This all supports children's understanding of how to keep healthy. Staff support the development of children's independence skills through daily self-care tasks, such as pouring their own drinks during snack time.

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provision

Overall, the preschool appropriately meets most of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Management update the pre-school self-evaluation and complete an additional safeguarding and welfare audit. During this process, they identified the need to provide regular supervision meetings for all staff to discuss and address any ongoing issues, and provide coaching to improve the quality of teaching. However, this is not frequently undertaken to provide effective ongoing support to all staff to build upon any weaknesses and enhance the quality of the teaching further. This is a requirement of the Early Years Foundation Stage. In addition, systems to record the accurate times of children's attendance are not effective to meet the requirements. This shows that self-evaluation processes are not robust to ensure that they meet all requirements and are able to promote continuous and targeted improvements.

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provision

The building is secure and staff suitably supervise children through effective deployment. The manager is the named safeguarding officer and fully recognises the responsibilities of this role. Staff understand the appropriate procedures to follow in the event of any child protection concerns. Several staff have completed safeguarding training and this is monitored by the manager. Staff also attend food safety and paediatric first aid training to ensure they are able to promote children's health. Additionally, management supports staff to attend further training to promote different areas of children's learning and development.

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provision

The management maintains appropriate documentation, including a good range of policies and procedures. These available to parents at all times so they are clear on staff practices when caring for their children. Staff notify parents when changes are made to procedures through the regular newsletter. This helps to keep parents involved and up-to-date. The manager follows appropriate recruitment and vetting systems to ensure that staff are suitable to work with children.

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provision

Staff work closely with parents and outside agencies to ensure children with special educational needs are supported and continue to progress. Photographic evidence and examples of children's work form part of the children's learning journals, which staff share with parents to involve them in their children's learning experiences. Parents also receive regular informal updates about their children's progress from their key person. Parents comment that their children quickly develop good relationships with their key person and receive good support to become independent.

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provision

Management have established suitable relationships with other local settings that children attend. They plan outings together and meet informally during ongoing training sessions. Staff are developing systems to invite staff from other settings children attend to regular meetings to discuss individual children's needs, interests and development in more depth. This shows they understand the importance of sharing information to build a more detailed picture of the child to plan more meaningful learning experiences.

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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 102926 Local authority Cornwall Inspection number 813234 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 4 Total number of places 20 Number of children on roll 34 Name of provider Millbrook Pre-school Playgroup Committee Date of previous inspection 22/03/2011 Telephone number 01752 823982

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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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