Little Ducks Pre-School

Little Ducks Pre-School Scout Association, Scout Hall, Wash Road, Hutton, BRENTWOOD, Essex, CM13 1DJ

p.1

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 17/11/2014 02/02/2010

p.1

early years provision

This inspection: 1 Previous inspection: 3 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

p.1

This provision is outstanding

 The leadership, management and the dedication of the staff team are key strengths in ensuring exceptionally high learning and development outcomes for children.  Staff maintain exceptionally strong partnerships with parents and ensure that they are fully involved in their children's learning.  Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those who are learning to speak English as an additional language, receive highly individualised support, which ensures that any gaps in their learning are quickly closing and they make extremely good progress.  Staff demonstrate a robust understanding of their responsibilities to safeguard children. They ensure that they regularly update their knowledge by undertaking relevant training courses. This ensures that all staff have the knowledge and understanding they need to protect children from harm.  Staff ensure that children form exceptionally close attachments to their key person and

p.1

This provision is outstanding

have excellent relationships with all other staff and children. Children settle well because staff employ effective strategies to help them to feel safe and secure.

p.1

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

p.2

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.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector observed staff interaction with children engaged in activities indoors and outdoors.  The inspector spoke with the provider, manager, staff and children.  The inspector carried out a joint observation with the provider.  The inspector took account of parents' views by speaking with them on the day.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled a range of documents including policies and procedures, staff suitability records, risk assessments and children's progress records.

p.2

Information about the setting

Little Ducks Pre-School was registered in 2009 and is on the Early Years Register. The pre- school is privately owned. It operates from a main hall and smaller room within a Scout Hall in Hutton, Essex. There is an enclosed area for outdoor play. The pre-school opens every weekday, from 9.15am until 12.15pm and from 12.15pm until 2.45pm, during school term time only. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are currently 41 children attending who are in the early years age group. The pre-school provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. The pre-school employs eight members of childcare staff, including the manager. Of these, six hold early years qualifications at level 3. The pre-school supports children who speak English as an additional language and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

p.3

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

 enhance the already excellent support for children who speak English as an additional language, and help children to understand differences in language, for example, by increasing the use of written examples of children's home languages around the setting.

p.3

who attend

Staff are dedicated to ensuring that all the children in their care make exceptional progress in all areas of learning. They have an extremely secure knowledge of the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. They fully understand the different ways in which children learn, and how to motivate them. Staff provide interesting, exciting and challenging activities and experiences for children to ensure they achieve exceptional outcomes. The confident and enthusiastic staff team work exceedingly well together. They receive excellent support from the management team, and from each other, which enables them to feel confident in their delivery of high quality teaching strategies that promote children's successful development. Staff carefully observe and assess children's learning and they evaluate the activities they provide. They effectively identify, and plan for the next steps in children's learning and incorporate children's

p.3

who attend

interests to ensure they stay motivated and eager to learn. Staff actively encourage parents to share information about their children's activities at home to contribute to their continuity of learning within the pre-school.

p.3

who attend

Staff liaise with parents and other professionals involved in children's care, to assess their learning accurately and to identify the next steps in their development. Staff employ exceptional strategies to promote the learning and development of children who are learning to speak English as an additional language and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This means that staff support all children extremely well and they make very strong progress towards the early learning goals. All children achieve outstanding outcomes because staff use their secure understanding of individual children's needs to provide interesting and imaginative resources and challenging activities to enhance their learning. An excellent balance of child-initiated and adult-led play activities provide children with plenty of choice and this encourages their natural curiosity to learn. Children are eager to participate in the activities provided, and they consistently

p.3

who attend

demonstrate the characteristics of effective learning. Staff experiment with different and interesting natural resources that spark children's curiosity and imagination. For example, children thoroughly enjoy playing with toy farm animals in a tray of porridge oats. They scoop the mixture, pour it and let it run through their fingers, feeling the sensory texture and finding out about its properties.

p.4

who attend

Staff promote communication and language development by talking with children all the time. They use careful questioning techniques to encourage their thinking skills, and they wait patiently for children's responses to ensure they have plenty of time to think and formulate their replies. Staff use songs, rhymes and stories to motivate children to become involved. Children sit still to listen, enthralled by staff's exciting and enthusiastic storytelling. They learn the letters of the alphabet and they learn how they sound. Children see the written word around their environment and learn to recognise the letters in their names. Staff display welcome signs in a variety of languages. However, there are not many more examples of different languages around the environment, to help children to understand differences in language and enhance the support for children who speak English as an additional language. Staff promote children's physical development in a

p.4

who attend

variety of ways, indoors and outdoors. They strengthen their arm muscles by throwing hoops and waving streamers, which helps them to develop control for early writing. Children learn an excellent range of skills to help them become ready for moving on to their next setting and, eventually, school.

p.4

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

Children settle in extremely well because staff react sensitively to their emotions and employ successful strategies to help them to feel safe and secure. The highly effective key-person and buddy system ensures that every child forms exceedingly secure bonds and emotional attachments with the adults who understand their needs. They develop very high levels of self-assurance and confidence as they learn to cooperate with each other. Children's confidence and independence continually thrive through making choices and decisions with regard to their play. Staff provide an interesting and exciting range of resources that inspire children to investigate. For example, staff provide some frozen peas, jugs and containers for children to explore. They are immediately attracted to the bright green colour and a new and interesting activity. Staff support the children to scoop, pour and measure, and find out about quantity and volume. They learn how the peas become

p.4

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

less cold and change from solid to squashy in their hands. They learn to share and take turns, promoting their personal, social and emotional development.

p.4

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

Staff provide a welcoming, safe and well-resourced environment where children thrive and are free to explore and use their imagination. Resources are of an exceptionally high quality and are freely accessible to children as they are stored at their level. Children sit and chat together in the cosy book corner or engage in role play with their friends. Staff supply useful resources to promote diversity and they explore children's cultures and festivals to increase their understanding of the social world around them. Staff use frequent praise and encouragement to raise children's self-esteem. Children behave exceptionally well in the pre-school because they are always engaged in interesting activities that hold their concentration. Children flourish because they feel emotionally secure. They feel safe in the pre-school and they learn to keep themselves safe as staff remind them about their rules and boundaries. Staff follow exceptionally robust and clear

p.4

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

risk assessment procedures every morning to ensure the children's play environment is safe and that staff protect children from any potential dangers. Staff practise fire evacuation procedures regularly with children, so they know what to do should an emergency occur.

p.5

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

Children develop excellent self-care skills as they independently manage their own care and personal hygiene needs. They thoroughly understand why they wash their hands before eating and after messy play or using the toilet. Staff promote children's health through the provision of fruit for snack time, and they support children's choices of food when they unwrap their packed lunch. To further promote children's understanding of what constitutes a healthy diet, staff introduce a matching game where they separate healthy food items from unhealthy foods. Children have the opportunity to play outside in the well-resourced outdoor area all year round. Staff ensure that children are appropriately dressed for the expected weather conditions and rearrange the outdoor area to make sure that children can play there in comfort and safety. Staff work hard to ensure that all the areas of learning are purposefully available for children outdoors, as well as

p.5

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

inside, to extend their learning experiences. Children benefit from healthy exercise indoors as staff teach them how to move to keep fit and how their bodies react. Staff ensure that all children are included, to secure their personal, social and emotional development. They use a visual timetable, so that all children know what to expect. Staff make sure that children feel emotionally secure when moving on to other settings and school. Pre-school children wear a uniform if parents wish and they can receive homework on request. Staff take them to visit a local school to watch a school performance, and all this helps children to become familiar with the new school environment and its expectations.

p.5

provision

Staff are extremely secure in their understanding of the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. They have an outstanding knowledge of safeguarding practices, policies and procedures and, subsequently, they ensure that they protect children's welfare by undertaking relevant training to keep their knowledge up to date. Staff ensure that children are safe as they closely monitor any visitors to the pre-school and check their identity. They have a robust policy restricting the use of mobile phones on the premises and all staff's mobile phones are stored away from the children. Staff recruitment is rigorous in ensuring that all staff receive background vetting checks to ensure they are suitable to work with children. Staff management is of an exceptionally high standard, and a key strength in ensuring that staff meet all children's needs successfully at all times. All staff receive regular individual support and supervision and the staff team work cohesively

p.5

provision

together to ensure consistency of practice. The management team observe staff and carry out spot checks to ensure children receive a high standard of care and learning. As a result, all adults who are working with the children share a strong drive for excellence.

p.6

provision

The management team effectively monitor the educational programmes and planning. Children's continued development is closely analysed to ensure that all children achieve their full potential. This enables the management team to track individual children's progress to identify any gaps in their learning, and to seek appropriate intervention and professional advice if necessary. Consequently, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive comprehensive support. Key persons meet with parents to discuss children's progress on a regular basis. Partnerships with parents are especially strong. Staff invite parents into the pre-school to look at their children's learning journals and to leave their own comments. Parents are actively involved in their children's learning and their views are extremely important to the staff to help them drive improvement in the outcomes for every child. The staff carry out the required progress check for children

p.6

provision

between the ages of two and three years in partnership with parents, which helps to ensure that children continue to make extremely good progress. The management team maintain high levels of consistency across the pre-school, as staff are encouraged to support each other and there is exceptionally strong leadership.

p.6

provision

Parents speak especially highly of the staff and for the successful way their children are learning. Parents, staff and children actively participate in a robust self-evaluation process. The pre-school has successfully addressed all recommendations from previous inspections. Clear action plans for improvements to the pre-school mean that self-reflection and continuing development remains a high priority. Staff are extremely passionate about their individual roles and they ensure that their knowledge is as up to date as possible by taking additional training in their specialist areas. Highly successful staff deployment, along with strong adult-to-child ratios, means that all children receive consistent and highly effective support in their play and learning. The local authority development team give excellent support to the staff and encourage the management team to share their knowledge and practice with others. Extremely effective partnerships with other professionals support

p.6

provision

staff in their excellent care of children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. The management team and staff work in close partnership with local schools to ensure the children receive the support and encouragement they need when they move on to school.

p.6

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

p.7

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.

p.7

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.

p.8

Setting details

Unique reference number EY397589 Local authority Essex Inspection number 879304

p.8

Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 30 Number of children on roll 41 Name of provider Michelle Ann Yarwood Date of previous inspection 02/02/2010 Telephone number 01277234346

p.8

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.

p.8

Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

p.8

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.

p.8

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.

p.8

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.

p.9

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,

p.9

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’.

p.10

Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

p.10