Harvey Bears Nursery and Pre-SchoolOfsted inspection, 7 Oct 2014

Harvington Nursery and Pre- School Village Hall, 44 Village Street,Harvington, Evesham, Worcs, WR11 8NQ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 07/10/2014 07/03/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 4 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 4 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 4

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This provision is inadequate

 Staff do not fully understand the safeguarding policies and procedures of the pre- school. Therefore, they are unable to respond in a timely and appropriate way to any child protection concerns putting children at risk of harm.  The provider has not implemented effective systems for recruitment of all staff. Consequently, the suitability of all of the people working with the children cannot be established.  The provider's understanding of their roles and responsibilities for managing staffing are not clear. Subsequently, they are unable to effectively improve the overall quality of the provision for the children.  The provider has failed to implement effective staff supervisions and provide relevant coaching, training and support for all staff to be able to fully promote the safety and welfare of the children.

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It has the following strengths

 Children make good progress. Activities provided are stimulating and challenging because staff are well informed about how young children learn.  Staff are kind and caring. They develop positive relationships with children and their parents. As a result, children are confident and self-motivated to learn.

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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 toured the premises and observed activities indoors and outside.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the acting manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector had discussions with the provider and management of the provision and spoke to staff throughout the inspection.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's observation and assessment records and the planning documentation.  The inspector checked evidence of suitability of the staff and committee.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked qualifications of the staff and the provider's evidence of self- evaluation.  The inspector took account of the views of parents and carers spoken to on the day.  The inspector took account of the views of children spoken to on the day.

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Information about the setting

Harvington Nursery and Pre-School is a committee run pre-school that opened in 1976. It operates from two rooms in Harvington Village Hall, near Evesham. The pre-school serves both the local and wider catchment areas and has strong links with the village school. All children share access to a secure, enclosed outdoor area. The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. The pre-school also offers a breakfast club, holiday play scheme and collection service for children attending Harvington Church of England First School and the school's pre-school. There are currently 24 children on roll, all of whom are in the early years age range. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The pre-school is open Monday to Thursday from 8am to 3pm during term time and during school holiday periods subject to demand from 8am to 4pm. The pre-school provides funded early education for three- and four-year-

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Information about the setting

olds. It supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. The pre-school employs five members of childcare staff. Of these, one holds qualified teacher status, one holds an appropriate early years qualification at Level 5, one is qualified at Level 3 and two are qualified at Level 2. The pre-school receives support from the local authority.

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must:

 ensure that all staff are trained to fully understand the safeguarding policies and procedures of the pre-school to be able to respond in a timely and appropriate way to any child protection concerns

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must:

 implement effective systems for recruitment of staff and for ascertaining the suitability of all adults working with children

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must:

 ensure that all committee members and staff have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities to be able to effectively improve the overall quality of the provision

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must:

 ensure that effective supervisions provide relevant coaching, training and support for staff to be able to fully promote the safety and welfare of the children.

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who attend

Staff are well qualified and as a result, all key persons have a sound knowledge of how children develop and learn. They plan exciting activities and provide a good-quality range of learning experiences for children. This actively supports and promotes their good progress across each area of learning. The educational programmes are well balanced with a mix of child-initiated and adult-led play, both indoors and outdoors. Staff also use the wider environment to enhance learning, such as, trips to the local park, post office and the forest school. Staff place importance on embedding the prime areas of young children's learning, such as, communication, physical and social development. As children grow older they adapt their priorities to focus on early literacy and early numeracy. Therefore, all children are readily acquiring the skills, attitudes and dispositions they need for the next stage of their learning and ultimately school. Staff help parents to guide their

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who attend

children's learning at home. They provide activity ideas they can complete together and make sure they are aware of how their children are progressing in their development.

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who attend

The quality of teaching is consistently good and at times outstanding throughout. Staff create numerous opportunities to extend children's learning. For example, staff use the routine of setting up the pre-school to support children to lay out and then complete large shape puzzles. They appropriately take a step back as children work together and think for themselves. Children are able to experiment and develop strategies to complete the puzzle. This encourages children to enhance their games more independently, which enables them to shape their own learning. Staff skilfully extend this game on the mat as they introduce stepping stones. Staff provide nearby guidance for the children to enhance their physical skills, as they carefully step on tip toes between the stone, and jump off onto the mat at the end. Staff use lots of encouragement and praise as children keenly take turns for long periods at this activity. Equally, staff use play-dough activities to

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who attend

encourage children to use objects for role-play, such as making cakes, and provide support through demonstrating how to use tools to shape the dough. Staff provide extra resources as they are required, such as more flour and the role-play oven. As a result, the game can be enhanced and children can continue to develop their imagination. Staff know their key children really well and are accurate in their assessments of their development. Staff use the information they obtain from parents and their own assessments of children's progress to plan activities. They are quick to identify where children may need extra support and provide appropriate activities to help children make progress to catch up.

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who attend

Staff regularly complete assessments of children's progress. This includes the progress check for children between the ages of two and three years. This means that they have a very clear picture of each child's abilities. Staff use these well to ensure they are well placed to meet each child's individual needs. As a result, all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language, make good progress in their learning and development. The special educational needs co-ordinator is highly experienced and well-focussed on supporting those children that may need it. She uses her own knowledge, parents support and the advice of relevant agencies to ensure that appropriate intervention is made. This includes making adaptions to the pre-school where necessary and conducting small group work or one to one work for children with additional needs. This good practice means that such children

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

A key-person system supports children to form strong bonds and attachments to staff. This allows them to feel safe and secure in the pre-school. However, because some staff's knowledge of safeguarding procedures is weak and recruitment procedures are not fully robust, these feelings of security are somewhat misplaced. Children learn about the importance of adopting healthy lifestyles as staff teach them good hygiene practices, such as hand washing after messy activities and before eating food. Staff ensure that children get plenty of fresh air and exercise throughout the day and try to allow unlimited access outside. Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour and give gentle guidance to help children to learn to manage their behaviour for themselves. For example, they remind children about the boundaries set, such as sharing resources. They give clear and simple explanations of these rules to the children. As a result, children behave well, sharing and

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

The key persons successfully engage with parents when children start to ensure that relevant information is shared about children's care needs, learning achievements family and home routines. All parents are welcomed into the pre-school and staff use settling in sessions to get to know them. Staff support parents to fill in All about me documents, which ensures they have all the necessary information to meet children's individual care needs. This helps staff to put in place appropriate arrangements to help children settle in. The pre-school is large, bright and airy. It provides a warm and stimulating environment. Staff make use of all available spaces and corners to provide varied displays of children's work and information for parents. All children display good levels of self-esteem and are motivated to explore independently and engage in various activities. Resources are well matched to children's ages and actively promote their learning and independence.

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

The pre-school prepares children well for school. For example, key persons use group time to build on social and listening skills. Children are consistently encouraged to take care of themselves and manage their own self-care. For example, staff use meal times as an opportunity to promote independence as children find their place at the table and help give out cups and plates. Children learn to keep themselves safe as, for example, staff show them how to risk assess the outside environment, by teaching them road safety and how to use a large climbing equipment in the park.

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provision

Children are not suitably safeguarded at this pre-school because the provider has failed to train all staff to understand how to follow correct safeguarding procedures, when they have a concern involving a child or a member of staff. Fundamentally, this lack of training means that children are at risk of harm. Furthermore, the provider has also failed to implement robust recruitment procedures for all staff. The provider does ensure some relevant checks are in place before new members of staff start at the pre-school, but the vetting processes are not always consistent. Consequently, staff's suitability to work with children cannot be established. This is a breach of requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and the Childcare Register. The provider does support new members of staff to go through an induction process, which explains some policies and procedures followed at the pre-school. Safeguarding information is displayed for staff and parents

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provision

throughout the pre-school and there is a written policy in place. However, not all staff understand the content of the policy or how to implement this, which fails to protect children in the event of a child protection concern. Some other staff do demonstrate they have an adequate knowledge of what to do if they have any concerns, which goes some way to protecting children in their care.

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provision

The manager understands her role in meeting the learning and development requirements and monitors the educational programmes. The manager conducts regular checks on children's learning profiles and all progress reports. In addition, planning is now more focused on individual learning targets and goals for each child. The manager has an overview of children's development which she shares with the provider. She uses an electronic tracking system to clearly highlight where children have made progress and any areas of delay. This means that these can be clearly seen and addressed. The manager conducts regular observations of staff practice and they also regularly observe her. These provide opportunities for feedback, regarding the effectiveness of staff practice and the activities carried out. Currently, these are more focussed on improving the educational programmes they deliver as a team. The manager has ensured staff's understanding of

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provision

observation and assessment processes is secure, which means children benefit from highly stimulating and challenging learning experiences, tailored to their specific needs at all times. Staff are highly qualified, which has a positive impact on the quality of teaching.

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provision

The provider has conducted some supervisions on the manager. However, they have delegated all the other supervisions of staff to the manager and have had little involvement themselves. Supervisions have been not be regularly conducted and this has not been appropriately monitored. Therefore, key areas of weakness that supervisions have previously identified, such as staff training needs surrounding safeguarding knowledge, have not yet been effectively addressed. Staff are given some training opportunities to improve their qualifications and skills. However, the system for supervision does not provide sufficient support, coaching and training to ensure that all staff have the knowledge and skills to fulfil their roles successfully. In turn, this has an impact on staff's ability to promote the safety and welfare of children. There are some strategies in place to evaluate the quality of the provision. Staff are encouraged to reflect

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provision

on their practice and share their ideas. Parents' and children's views are also taken into account. This includes making use of a parents' feedback board, questionnaires and suggestions box, which highlights parents' opinions. This means the management is able to identify some areas for improvement. However, arrangements for self-evaluation are not fully robust, as the provider has failed to recognise where there are breaches in requirements regarding safeguarding. The provider and some staff do not have a clear understanding of their current roles and responsibilities. Subsequently, they are unable to effectively improve the overall quality of the provision for the children.

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provision

Staff develop partnerships with parents and external agencies. Parents say that they feel the pre-school staff have contributed to the progress their children have made. The staff regularly share information with parents and reach out to them in a variety of ways. They make use of daily feedback, communication books, letters and events to make sure parents are fully involved in their children's learning. Staff encourage parents to share their children's achievements in the communication books and on a wow board. Partnerships with other agencies, such as social workers, speech and language therapists, visual improvement workers and the area special educational needs coordinator ensure that children with specific needs receive the support they need. The manager makes use of a local development officer to support better practice and highlight where improvements are still to be made. Partnerships with the local nurseries and schools

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provision

ensure that children moving on feel confident and ready to leave the pre-school and move to the next stage of their learning.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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actions)

The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

 ensure that all staff are trained on the written statement of procedures to be followed to safeguard children from abuse or neglect (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that effective systems are in place to check the suitability of anyone caring for or who is in regular contact with the children (compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that effective systems are in place to check the suitability of anyone caring for or who is in regular contact with the children (voluntary part of the Childcare Register).

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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 205490 Local authority Worcestershire Inspection number 864099

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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 24 Name of provider Harvington Pre-School Committee Date of previous inspection 07/03/2011 Telephone number 07775129234

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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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