Thorpe Acre Pre-School Playgroup

Thorpe Acre Pre-School Playgroup c/o Thorpe Acre Infants School, Alan Moss Road, LOUGHBOROUGH, Leicestershire, LE11 4SQ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 07/10/2014 30/10/2008

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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 provide an exceptionally broad range of focused and well planned activities and interesting play experiences. As a result, children make excellent progress in their learning.  Children who speak English as an additional language and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities reach their full potential through excellent targeted support.  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 promotes a sense of belonging and makes sure children are confident in their learning.  Robust safeguarding policies and procedures are in place. This makes sure that children's welfare is exceptionally well protected. Additionally, children are kept safe and are supported by highly skilled staff.  Leadership and management is inspirational. The manager uses a range of highly effective strategies to produce continuous improvement across the pre-school. The

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This provision is outstanding

manager involves parents and staff to ensure that priorities for change are identified and are focused on teaching.

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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 had a tour of the preschool.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children during activities in all areas of the preschool, both indoors and outdoors.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessment records and a range of other documentation. These were discussed with staff at regular intervals.  The inspector took account of the views of parents and carers spoken to on the day.

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Inspection activities

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

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Information about the setting

Thorpe Acre Pre-School Playgroup registered in 1968 on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The pre-school operates from a mobile unit situated in the grounds of Thorpe Acre Infant School in Loughborough, Leicestershire. A separate outdoor area and enclosed garden can be freely accessed by children throughout the day. The pre-school is open 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, term time only. Children attend a variety of sessions each week. A lunch club operates daily for these children if required. The pre-school also runs a holiday club for two weeks during the summer holidays. There are currently 32 children on roll, all of whom are in the early years age group. The pre-school offers funded sessions for two-, three- and four-year-old children. The pre-school supports both children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language. Six staff work with

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Information about the setting

children and all hold relevant early years qualifications. The pre-school receives support from the local authority.

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

 consider how staff changes impact on information sharing with specific outside professionals, such as speech and language therapists, and take steps to make sure that the high level of consistency and continuity of learning support normally achieved is always maintained.

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who attend

All staff have an outstanding understanding of the learning and development requirements for the Early Years Foundation Stage. The standard of teaching is excellent with a superb balance of adult-led, focused and child-initiated activities planned, which provide children with highly challenging and stimulating experiences. Children make excellent progress and they are fully motivated by one stimulating learning experience after another. The daily routines and activities are filled with rich and challenging opportunities for learning and development. For example, a member of staff tells a story about a little red hen using an animated voice to help capture children's imagination. Children are given puppets and encouraged to participate and tell the story themselves, learning that stories have a beginning, middle and end. They anticipate what will happen next and share their ideas, which the staff value. They are actively engrossed throughout the story. This means their

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who attend

listening and attention skills are extremely well supported and, as a result, they develop an early love of books and reading.

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who attend

Children have excellent opportunities for outdoor play and they freely choose between indoor or outdoor play. There is an enclosed outdoor area with a wide range of resources, including wheeled toys, outdoor child-sized gymnasium equipment and sensory areas, where children listen for sounds and feel different materials. Children are encouraged to take the toys they have been playing with indoors and use them outside. This encourages children to extend their play ideas by experimenting with using different toys together and to discover what else they can do when they have more space. For example, the large grassed garden area provides space for children to explore nature and provides challenge for their developing physical skills. Additionally, staff take children to the infant school next door to use the soft-play equipment in the hall. This provides children with a wider range of physical climbing, balancing and coordination equipment and helps them to become

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who attend

familiar with the on-site school they are likely to move on to at a later stage. As a result, the children acquire all of the necessary skills and knowledge in preparation for their move to school.

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who attend

Staff amend their planning according to needs and the opportunities that arise throughout the day. They constantly model and encourage excellent use of language and communication skills. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are exceptionally well supported through a very strong partnership with parents and relevant outside professionals, such as the local speech and language therapists. Staff's knowledge of children is meticulously detailed and they support and enhance children's learning through well-focused planning. Children's language is developing extremely well. Staff have a very good understanding of how to support children's developing speech and languages skills because they have attended Every child a talker training and put this into practice. This promotes a deeper understanding of how to support the language development of young children and those who speak English as an additional language.

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who attend

Home languages are highly valued and parents share important words from home to help children feel secure, as they take part in new experiences. Staff also use pictures and signs to support children's understanding of the daily routines and what happens next. Children are given wide opportunities to make decisions about what they want to do. They are keen to share their play ideas with staff and confident in asking questions. As a result, they draw both adults and other children into their play with ease and so benefit from learning from others. Staff are highly effective at meeting the needs of the range of children who attend and use excellent teaching strategies to reinforce learning and ensure children are developing well in both the prime and specific areas of learning. These result in children being given choices to promote their thinking and independence, which are important skills they will need for their future learning. For example, children competently

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who attend

and independently use the computer, compact-disc player and mp3 player, and staff further extend this knowledge by encouraging children to try new things. They ask probing questions, such as, 'I wonder what happens if we press this?' and 'what do you think might happen?' Children enjoy talking about what will happen if they press certain buttons and finding out. As a result, they show the characteristics of effective learners, as they become confident in getting the most from the technology they use. Children show great enthusiasm as they create pictures in the creative area where they can use a wide range of creative materials of their choice. 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.

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who attend

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 newsletters detailing ideas for consolidating their child's learning and play at home. Further high quality information is shared between key persons and parents using home- setting boxes, daily chats and the key-person meetings held each term to discuss children's progress. The highly effective learning journals and tracking sheets completed by staff show all children are making rapid progress and are achieving enhanced levels of development in the prime and specific areas of their learning and development.

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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. Children form very secure relationships with their key person and each other. The strong focus placed on promoting children's social skills means they learn to work and play together as they develop friendships with their peers. Children take part in planned social and communication sessions that involve group friendship songs. Children fully understand their responsibilities of looking after their own belongings. They independently hang their belongings on their own pegs and sign themselves in to the setting using name cards, which they put on a board to show they have arrived. Consequently, children show a strong sense of belonging and self-confidence. Children respond quickly to the clear and concise guidance given by staff and so are learning to put on their coats and shoes when they are getting ready to play outside. They are given small responsibilities, such as

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

helping at tidy up time, so children are keen and helpful and are beginning to take pride in their environment. Staff implement a highly effective transition policy and have built exceptionally good links with the host school to support children in moving on to their next stage of learning. Parents are able to attend stay and play sessions with their children before they start at the setting. This supports the transition from home to pre-school and as a result, children settle quickly.

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

Children learn about healthy lifestyles and follow very good hygiene practices as they take responsibility for washing their hands appropriately throughout the day. Independence is further promoted at meal and snack times. Children are encouraged to help themselves to a nutritiously prepared snack and a drink, so that they learn to monitor their own hunger and thirst needs. Parents provide a packed lunch for children that adheres to the healthy eating policy of the pre-school, so that there is continuity in the approach to making sure children have a healthy lifestyle. Children delight in opening their lunch and seeing what they have. Lunchtime is used as a social occasion where children talk about their day and share stories about their home lives. As a result, children are extremely sociable, confident and develop the emotionally security needed to help them to progress to the next stage in their learning, or the eventual move on to school.

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

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. The inspirational learning environment is clean, safe and extremely well resourced, resulting in children being highly motivated and active learners. Staff are extremely attentive and caring and make an outstanding contribution to the well-being of children. Staff's exceptional warmth and unwavering interest in children's achievements help them to feel valued and confident to explore further afield. They consistently and confidently take part in the wide range of high quality learning activities offered, showing tenacity and enjoyment in what they set out to do. Children are beginning to understand the simple rules, which are in place to teach them about their own and others safety. They are

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

becoming aware how to manage risk when they take part in physical play outside and how their actions affects other children playing nearby.

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provision

Safeguarding policies and procedures are fully understood by all staff and extremely rigorous. Staff have a clear understanding of what to do if they have concerns about a child's welfare and recognise the signs and symptoms of child abuse. All staff have completed relevant safeguarding training in line with Local Safeguarding Children Board requirements. Daily risk assessments are carried out by staff and children to ensure the pre-school is safe and suitable for use. An extensive and most impressive set of written policies and procedures, including fire procedures, accident recording and a medication policy, are relevant, informative and user-friendly. These, coupled with detailed and confidential record keeping serve to provide a service that promotes the care, safety and welfare of all children who attend. These are regularly reviewed with clear actions listed to ensure they work in practice. Highly committed, inspirational leadership and management

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provision

results in the provision of a fully inclusive, safe environment in which children thrive.

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provision

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. All staff are qualified and have an extensive range of training and experiences with young children. They are extremely well supported with highly effective, supervisions and observations in place. Clear outcomes and actions are identified and addressed with individuals and as a team. The staff team have successfully met the recommendations of the last inspection and continue to seek feedback for improvement. This fosters the excellent ethos of continuous improvement. The manager is able to focus on priorities for change, as self-evaluation is strong and focused.

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provision

Highly effective partnerships with parents and professionals result in the individual needs of children being met exceedingly well. Parents speak highly of the commitment of staff and the support that their children receive. Additionally, parents comment that staff are always there to offer support, and their children have made great progress since starting. There is a strong multi-agency approach, and this makes sure that children who need additional support are quickly identified and interventions are provided through very effective partnerships with other agencies. As a result, targeted learning and strategies are developed to make sure that all children make excellent progress, taking into account their starting points, age and stage of development. However, occasionally changes in personnel can impact on the normally high levels of continuity achieved between the pre- school and outside professionals, such as speech and language therapists, and there is a

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provision

little more to do to ensure secure steps are taken to overcome this. Staff have made excellent links with the teachers at the host school and children often visit to take part in story time and assemblies. The pre-school manager also holds regular meetings with the school's foundation stage teacher to support children's move into school, so that there is a collaborative and cohesive approach to meeting children's ongoing learning and development needs.

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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. We re-inspect nurseries and pre-schools judged as requires improvement within 12 months of the date of 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

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Grade Judgement Description

is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected again within six months of the date of this inspection. Met There were no children present at the time of the inspection. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not met There were no children present at the time of the inspection. 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 EY283409 Local authority Leicestershire Inspection number 872831

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 23 Number of children on roll 32 Name of provider Thorpe Acre Pre-School Playgroup Committee Date of previous inspection 30/10/2008 Telephone number 07803 054757

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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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