Sticky Fingers Pre-School

Sticky Fingers Pre-School Houchin Memorial Hall, St John Church, Church Lane, LOUGHTON, Essex, IG10 1PD

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 07/10/2014 17/11/2011

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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 enjoy their time as they play and learn in a caring, supportive environment. The friendly staff team work hard to ensure that all children make good progress in their learning and development.  Staff have a good knowledge of how children learn, and provide a rich varied and imaginative learning environment.  Children are kept safe and free from harm because staff have a good understanding of how to promote their safety and well-being. The pre-school is safe and secure in all areas, which means that children are able to move about freely and decide where they want to play.  The manager and staff are keen to develop the service provided. They act on advice and staff attend training to enhance their knowledge. The plans for improvement are well targeted to strengthen practice for the benefit of all children.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 There is room to further enhance the good information gathered from parents at the outset, to ensure a very detailed picture of all children's current stage of development is in place so that this can be used as a starting point from which to accurately monitor progress.

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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 indoors and outside.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at a selection of policies, procedures and photographs of children joining in with different activities.  The inspector carried out a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

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

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Information about the setting

Sticky Fingers Pre-School was registered in 2010 on the Early Years Register. It operates from a church hall in Loughton, Essex. The pre-school serves the local area and is accessible to all children. There is an enclosed area available for outdoor play. The pre- school is open each weekday from 9.20am until 12.20pm and until 2.20pm on Tuesday and Thursday, during term time only. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 31 children in the early years age range on roll. The pre-school provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. The pre-school supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The pre-school employs seven members of staff, five of whom hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3.

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

 enhance methods for gathering information from parents about their children's stage of development at the outset, so that this provides an accurate basis upon which to monitor all future progress.

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who attend

Children thrive in this warm and welcoming pre-school and make good progress in all areas of their learning. They explore and play, displaying emerging levels of independence and self-confidence. They demonstrate a positive approach to learning, supported by the cheerful interactions of the staff team caring for them. Staff have a good understanding of the learning and development requirements. They know the children very well and talk in detail about their strengths and areas for further development. Staff record children's development in learning journals. They make effective use of these to plan and provide relevant experiences to meet the individual learning and development needs of all children. Consequently, all children make good progress, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff encourage parents to be involved in their children's learning. For example, they make effective use of daily discussions with parents

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who attend

to talk about children's progress. Staff also provide a wide range of information on how learning can be supported at home and ask parents to share their own observations of their children's achievements. However, there is room for staff to gain further valuable information about children's starting points from parents, so they can use this to plan for their ongoing development from the start. This will also provide staff with an accurate basis upon which to assess children's future progress.

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who attend

Interesting experiences and resources which cover all seven areas of learning and development are on offer both indoors and outside. Staff organise the playroom and plan activities to ensure that every child enjoys exciting learning and development experiences that meet their individual needs. Creative use is also made of ongoing learning opportunities to extend children's knowledge. For example, children talk about autumn, enjoy making leaf collages and going for listening walks to see if they can identify the different sounds of the season. Staff offer children a wide variety of opportunities that promote their physical development. For example, they learn to balance and coordinate their movements as they choose from a range of physical play equipment, including wheeled toys, hoops and balls in the outdoor area.

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who attend

Staff promote successfully the communication and language skills of all children, including those learning English as an additional language. Children enjoy stories in small groups and listen attentively. Staff encourage children to talk about the pictures and repeat new vocabulary and give young children time to respond. They give meaningful praise as they repeat new words and the children are keen and eager to learn. This is instrumental in developing the children's communication skills and helps to promote their early enjoyment of books, a useful attribute for when moving on to school. Children use different tools for making marks to practise early writing skills. Staff skilfully extend children's learning as they introduce simple mathematical concepts of shape and size. For example, while playing with water, staff encourage the children to talk about the shape and size of the range of containers they are using. Skilful questions by staff extend older children's

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who attend

thinking and they gently guide children to develop their skills. For example, during water play, staff encourage children to estimate how much water they will need to fill a container. Staff promote children's mathematical understanding further as they support them to count the number of scoops of water they add. Children are motivated to learn, interested, and engaged in activities. All children receive strong support to develop good attitudes and skills to learn effectively. Staff skilfully give young children the space and time to explore what they are interested in so that, when older, they concentrate and persevere in their learning. Consequently, children are gaining skills which help prepare them for their next stage of learning.

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

Children play a full and active role in their learning in this warm and welcoming environment. They demonstrate how safe and secure they feel through their willingness to separate easily from their parents and run eagerly into the playroom and seek out their key person and special friends. Staff treat children with warmth and kindness, which promotes their emotional well-being. Children explore their surroundings, supported effectively by attentive staff. Regular praise and encouragement helps to promote children's self-esteem. Staff gather good information from parents about their child's individual care needs and effective settling-in routines help children create strong bonds with staff. As a result, all children form secure emotional attachments to staff, confidently seeking them out for reassurance when needed. These good relationships also help to prepare children for future transfers, for example, to other early years settings and later to

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

school. Staff support children's emerging understanding of the importance of a healthy lifestyle that involves physical exercise and a healthy diet. Nutritious snacks, which include fruit and vegetables, are provided and children's individual dietary requirements are met. Children are learning about the need for good hygiene practices as they routinely wash hands before touching food and after visiting the toilet. Children benefit from regular fresh air and exercise during outdoor play.

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

Children behave well at pre-school because staff have consistent boundaries and are skilled at keeping children well motivated and interested in purposeful activities. Children show a genuine caring attitude as they help one another with tasks and work well together in routines, such as tidying away and sweeping sand from the floor. Children's self-help skills are fostered well by staff and as a result, they are largely independent in the area. Resources are generally of good quality and support children's learning across the seven areas. Staff have a good understanding of how to keep children safe and include effective measures, such as risk assessments and checks of the environment, into their daily tasks. As a result, children are able to play and learn as free from harm as possible.

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provision

The proprietor owns and manages the pre-school. She has a secure understanding of her responsibilities to ensure that practice meets the safeguarding and welfare and the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. She and her staff team have a good understanding of safeguarding procedures and know how to identify and report concerns they may have about children in their care. Policies and procedures support their work well, as do the effective partnerships with outside agencies where necessary. Recruitment procedures are robust and include background checks and an induction to the pre-school. Team meetings, appraisals and supervisions are in place to support staff in their role. Staff undertake regular training and as a result, children benefit from their enhanced skills and knowledge.

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provision

The small staff team are dedicated to their roles and demonstrate a genuine interest in improving children's outcomes. Self-evaluation is embedded in practice, with the opinions of all staff, parents, children and others, informing plans for the future. Improvements are well targeted to promote children's learning and currently this means further developing and enriching the environment, particularly in the outdoor area. Monitoring of educational programmes is effective and ensures that children benefit from a wide range of experiences to help them make good progress towards the early learning goals. Staff also have effective systems in place to monitor children's progress and abilities. This means that, where necessary, children receive appropriate interventions to meet their individual needs.

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provision

Effective procedures have been established to work with parents and as a result, parents speak positively of the care and learning their children receive. Parents praise 'the warm family environment' and describe the staff team as 'friendly, approachable and caring'. They keep up to date about their child's learning through daily verbal feedback and regular newsletters. Effective relationships with other professionals and external agencies are established, so that children's needs are supported and help them to make progress. Staff promote good links with other early years providers, which further aid children's progress and development. Information sharing is effective and this eases children's move to other settings or on to school.

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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 EY415476 Local authority Essex Inspection number 851617

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 26 Number of children on roll 31 Name of provider Pauline Elizabeth Manning Date of previous inspection 17/11/2011 Telephone number 07580207822

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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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