Grange Kindergarten

Grange Kindergarten Broom Lane Methodist Church, Broom Lane, Broom, ROTHERHAM, South Yorkshire, S60 3NE

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 15/07/2014 04/07/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 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 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 Children are gaining a good range of skills to support their move onto school because the quality of teaching is good and practitioners demonstrate a sound understanding of how to promote children's learning and development.  Effective partnerships with parents means there is a continuity of learning between the pre-school and home, which contributes to the good progress children make.  Children form secure emotional attachments with their key person because practitioners provide a nurturing environment where children feel valued and cared for. As a result, children separate from their parents with ease because they feel safe and happy.  The manager and practitioners demonstrate a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities to successfully promote children's well-being and keep them safe and protected.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 On occasions, practitioners miss moments to extend children's critical thinking skills further.  There is capacity to enhance the systems to monitor teaching practice, to benefit children.

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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 in the two playrooms and the outdoor learning environment.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke with the manager, deputy manager, children and practitioners at appropriate times throughout the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of practitioner's suitability, training certificates, policies and procedures, risk assessments and the pre-school's self-evaluation.  The inspector spoke with parents to gain their views on the quality of the provision.  The inspector looked at children's assessment records.

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Information about the setting

Grange Kindergarten was registered in 1992 and is on the Early Years Register. It is situated within Broom Methodist Church in the Broom area of Rotherham and is managed by an individual owner. The pre-school serves the local area and is accessible to all children. It operates from two rooms and there is an area available for outdoor play. The pre-school employs 10 members of childcare staff. Of these, all hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2 and above. The pre-school opens Monday to Friday, term time only. Sessions are from 9am until 3pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 58 children attending who are in the early years age group. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It supports a number of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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

 enhance opportunities for children to extend their critical thinking skills further, for example, by encouraging them to think and guess before supplying an answer

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

 strengthen the monitoring of teaching practice even further, for example, by introducing peer observations to support practitioners in achieving outstanding teaching practice, to benefit all children.

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who attend

Teaching is effective overall and practitioners demonstrate a secure understanding of how to support children's learning and development. They use their knowledge and information gathered from parents, to identify specific starting points for each child. Regular observations are recorded to establish how each child is developing and to determine their next steps in learning. Practitioners observe children regularly and carry out consistent assessments, including the progress check for children between the ages of two and three years. Therefore, each child's development and progress through the Early Years Foundation Stage is monitored, to ensure they are making good progress towards the early learning goals. Furthermore, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well by caring practitioners who understand their individual needs.

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who attend

Children show how they sit and listen attentively, as they name the days of the week. Open questions encourage the children to describe the sky outside as white and the weather as windy. Children show their early mathematics skills as they count the number of days, up to 21. Children enjoy sharing their favourite books with practitioners and their friends, which helps to promote their early literacy skills. Consequently, children throughout the pre-school are gaining a good range of skills to support their future learning and their move onto school. Outdoors, children play cooperatively as they eagerly include each other in their play activities. Children ride their wheeled toys around cones and road layouts, stopping to hand over their pretend ticket to practitioners who take on the role of the ticket collector. Practitioners make activities meaningful, as they provide additional resources, such as real tickets to support children's imaginary play. Children

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who attend

enjoy learning about the natural world and displays of their work outside show pictures of spiders they have observed. Children also observe snails. They talk about what snails like to eat and where they live. However, on occasions, practitioners miss moments to extend children's critical thinking skills further as they answer children's inquisitive questions without asking them first what they think the answer might be.

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who attend

Practitioners build good relationships with parents and ensure they are involved in their children's learning from the start. Parents' evenings are carried out twice a year and parents are provided with opportunities to add any comments to their children's learning journal. Parents are also invited to attend play and stay sessions where practitioners share activities with parents that they can do at home with their children. At these sessions, practitioners also encourage parents to discuss their children's interest and learning at home. This shared approach to children's learning and development successfully contributes to the good progress children make and demonstrates a continuity of learning between the pre-school and home.

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

The role of the key person is implemented effectively ensuring every child's care is tailored to their individual needs. Practitioners greet children and welcome them into the setting, which helps them to feel valued and cared for. A nurturing environment is created, in which children are fully supported by consistent routines. Practitioners work closely with the child and their parents to build effective close relationships. As a result, the move between home and the pre-school is supported well and children form strong emotional bonds with their key person and other members of the team. Consequently, children's emotional well-being is secure and they very quickly adapt to the environment and daily routines. As a result, children are happy to attend, form new friendships and confidently separate from their parents on arrival.

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

Children's behaviour is good as practitioners share consistent expectations and are good role models themselves. Children willingly take on responsibility, such as tiding away their toys before outdoor play. This is because practitioners regularly praise their efforts, which promotes their self-esteem and self-confidence. Nutritious snacks, which include fruit and vegetables, are provided and this helps children to learn about healthy food choices. A continuous snack provision also allows children to listen to their bodies and decide when they are hungry or thirsty. As a result, children show how they are beginning to recognise their own personal needs and take independent action to meet them. Children independently wash their hands before meal times and after going to the toilet, demonstrating their self-care skills. Meal times are sociable occasions and everyday tasks reflect those children will experience in school. For example, children are nominated to

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

help set the table for lunch. They put out plates for their friends and empty their left over food into a bin when they have finished, before stacking their plate.

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

Practitioners support children's emerging understanding of the importance of a healthy lifestyle that involves physical exercise and a healthy diet. For example, children take part in a morning exercise session where they follow a wake up, shake up routine. Children demonstrate how they can follow instructions and actions, as they find a space to stand in. They step side to side, clap their hands, stamp their feet and cheer loudly at the end of the song. Practitioners ask open questions about the effect exercise has on their bodies and children show their understanding, as they say that 'the blood in their bodies goes everywhere'. In addition, children enjoy daily fresh air and outdoor facilities are an asset with well-equipped areas for children to explore and learn. This positively benefits children's physical development and well-being. Outdoors, children also learn to take sensible risks and keep themselves safe, as they walk the plank and step in and out of

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

tyres. Children become acquainted with teachers from the local school, as teachers visit them several times in the pre-school. Accordingly, when the time comes for their move onto school, they are welcomed by a familiar adult.

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provision

The manager and practitioners demonstrate a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities with regard to safeguarding children in their care. All practitioners have attended relevant child protection training and know the action to take if they have any concerns about a child. Safeguarding policies and procedures are robust and include the action to be taken in the event of an allegation being made against a practitioner. In addition, they include the restricted use of mobile telephones and cameras in the pre- school, to protect children from their possible misuse. Clear procedures are in place to protect children from harm. For example, written risk assessments are conducted on areas used by children and reasonable steps are taken to minimise hazards. The security of children is maintained and visitors to the pre-school are carefully monitored using an entry intercom system. Furthermore, good procedures for the arrival and departure of the

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provision

children helps to promote their welfare and prevent unwanted visitors entering the premises. Recruitment and vetting procedures are sound and records show that all practitioners undergo necessary checks. This helps to guarantee their suitability to work with children.

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provision

The manager and her team demonstrate a good understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage and their responsibilities to promote the learning and development of all children. The manager takes overall responsibility for overseeing the educational programmes, ensuring that they are implemented effectively. In addition, she monitors children's learning records regularly, to make sure that they are up to date and that observations and tracking reflect children's learning and progress. As a result, children with identified needs are supported well with appropriate intervention, to help ensure they reach their expected levels of development. The manager supports practitioners practice through regular team meetings, supervisions and appraisals. Practitioners are encouraged to consider their own training needs and where they feel they may require extra support to improve and achieve in their own professional development. The manager regularly

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provision

works alongside practitioners to evaluate their quality of teaching. In addition, she is supported in this monitoring process by her local authority representative who has started to observe practitioners on a more formal basis. This process of observation helps to identify practitioners sensitivity, levels of stimulation and autonomy when guiding children's learning. However, there are opportunities to introduce a regular peer observation system, where all practitioners have the opportunity to observe each other's practice and offer their critique. This will help to enhance the already good quality of teaching and support practitioners in achieving outstanding teaching practice.

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provision

The pre-school benefits from a dedicated manager and very stable team of practitioners who are all enthusiastic about their roles. They all share the same passion for the pre- school which is to provide high quality learning experiences for all children. As a result, they are continuously open to advice and guidance from outside sources, such as the local authority and other professional agencies. Several quality improvement programmes have been implemented by the pre-school to evaluate the quality of their provision and drive improvement forward. Clear improvement plans are in place and the manager and practitioners continuously identify their strengths and weaknesses. Parents views are also valued and these are sought through the use of parent questionnaires and verbal feedback. This keeps them fully involved in any changes to the environment or service they receive. Positive relationships have been established with parents and they speak

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provision

very highly of all practitioners. They describe practitioners as 'brilliant' and 'wonderful' and talk of how they always keep them informed of their children's development and learning. The pre-school has also established good relationships with the local school. This promotes consistency of care for children and helps to ensure that no child is disadvantaged.

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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 303231 Local authority Rotherham Inspection number 871714

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 32 Number of children on roll 58 Name of provider Mandy Jayne Rattenbury Date of previous inspection 04/07/2011 Telephone number 07887 947722

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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

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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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