Three Bears Pre-School

Three Bears Pre-School St George's Church Hall, Jumpers Road, Christchurch, Dorset, BH23 2JR

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 26/11/2014 08/05/2009

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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

 Staff provide a welcoming environment for children with close support to help them settle in and feel secure. As a result, children form warm and trusting relationships.  Staff respond skilfully to children's interests and ideas. As a result, children are motivated learners and engage well in their play.  Staff maintain a safe and secure environment and close supervision. As a result, children play freely and safely.  Management and staff demonstrate a good commitment to driving continuous improvements in the quality of children's care, learning and development. Consequently, children make good progress.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Younger children cannot always choose additional toys for themselves to further promote their independent play and exploration.  Staff do not consistently talk to children about colour to help extend their expressive arts and design skills.

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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 compulsory part 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 observed activities and the quality of teaching in the play rooms and outdoor play area.  The inspector sampled children's assessment records and planning documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held a meeting with the registered person to assess the suitability and qualifications of staff and management's knowledge and understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage.  The inspector took account of the views of parents.  The inspector conducted a joint observation with the registered person.

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Information about the setting

Three Bears Pre-School registered since 2005. It operates from two rooms in St George's Church Hall in a residential area of Christchurch, Dorset and serves families in the local area. There is a large garden for outdoor play. The pre-school opens five mornings a week during school term times, from 8.30am to 3pm. The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register and on the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. The pre-school receives funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two, three and four years. It supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and children learning English as an additional language. There are currently 63 children on roll in the early years age group. The pre-school employs seven members of staff, all of whom hold early years qualifications.

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

 develop the organisation of play provision for the younger children to further promote their independent play and exploration

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

 strengthen children's understanding of colour to help further promote their expressive arts and design skills.

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who attend

Staff have a good understanding of the learning and development requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. They work well with parents from the start to find out what children can do and their interests and needs. Staff use their observations of children to assess each child's progress accurately and to identify any gaps in their learning as they progress. Where assessments show that progress in any area is below the expected stage of development, staff take quick action to plan additional activities to support children further. Staff keep parents involved in their child's learning. They provide parents with a summary of their child's learning each term and the required progress check for two-year- old children. As a result, children make good progress in relation to their starting points.

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who attend

Staff plan and provide a good balance of free-exploration and organised play for children in designated play areas. In these areas, they organise small group activities with a specific learning focus to meet each child's needs. For example, a small group of children joined in a story with the intention of helping them learn about and explore their emotions. Staff talked about the different emotions the characters were feeling, such as scared during a stormy night. Children told staff that one character was angry, another sad and to make them happy they could 'get some toys' and 'give him a cuddle'. Staff encourage children to talk and answer questions. They introduce new words to extend younger children's vocabulary using stories and songs. They provide lots of new words through topics with older children. For example, they learnt what an archaeologist was during the dinosaur topic and what snarl, swish, and flutter mean during their pirate topic.

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who attend

Staff interact skilfully to question and challenge children well and make suggestions to keep children interested and involved. For example, children explored play foods with staff; they named the different foods and talked about who might eat these. Staff introduced a cookery book to extend this interest and involved mathematical language to name the shapes of the foods, such as the star-shaped biscuits. Staff then included a discussion about Christmas and healthy eating. This spontaneous activity and skilful interaction promoted children's communication and language, interest in books and understanding of shape and health.

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who attend

Staff respond quickly to children's ideas to extend their play. For example, children became very involved in making cakes in the garden sand tray. Staff interacted to talk about where else children might find sand and to ask what sort of cakes they were making. They supported the children's creativity by finding twigs for them to use as candles and sung happy birthday before blowing these out together. As a result of this positive interaction, children engaged for a long period using their imaginations and exploring the sand. However, staff do not regularly talk about or name colours with children to further promote their understanding of colour and design skills.

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

Staff provide a consistent team of key persons who know the children well. They work closely with parents to meet children's needs and care routines consistently. Younger and less confident children benefit from a quieter playroom which provides a calmer environment for them to settle in. Staff make family photograph displays to further help children feel secure. As a result, children are happy, and form warm and trusting relationships with staff. This supports children well in the move between their home and the pre-school.

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

Staff provide well-organised playrooms in which children enjoy a good range of activities in defined areas of play. This allows children space to play undisturbed. Older children choose further toys and creative resources and tools for themselves from the units around the main playroom. However, younger children have less additional choice, which does not help to further promote their independent play and exploration. Children move around freely and safely between the indoor and outdoor play areas. This is because staff provide a safe and secure environment and supervise children closely at all times. Staff help children to learn about keeping safe through completing risk assessment checklists with them around the setting and reminding children of the safe play expectations.

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

Staff help children to develop positive attitudes. They make their 'Three Bears rules' clear to children and discuss these every day. As a result, children behave well and enjoy helping. Staff encourage children of all ages to develop good independence. Younger children helped to tidy up willingly when asked and attempted to dress themselves for outdoor play. Older children helped to set out and prepare the fruits for snack time and carried out tasks to help when asked. These experiences promote children's personal, social and emotional development well and prepare children for their future move to school. Staff use the small group snack and meal times to discuss healthy eating to promote children's understanding of a healthy diet. They provide children with lots of time to play outside when they choose. Here, children played ball games, made obstacle courses with cones and stepping stones, rode wheel toys, drew on wall mounted chalk

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

boards, dug in the sand tray, sung action songs and ran around freely. This all helps to promote children's health and physical development well.

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provision

Management and staff have a good knowledge and understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. They have a secure knowledge of the correct procedures to follow if they have a concern about the welfare of a child. They are clear about their responsibility to safeguard children's welfare. Management implements secure vetting procedures to help ensure staff are suitable to work with children. Staff implement daily checks, risk assessments, policies and procedures to keep children safe and secure.

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provision

Management and staff demonstrate a good commitment to drive improvements in the quality of children's care and learning. They complete activity evaluations and a self- evaluation form which identify the on-going improvements they prioritise for the pre- school. As a result, they have made many improvements since the last inspection. For example, staff have improved partnerships with parents by providing a setting in book for new children, a daily home book and consultation meetings throughout the year. Management has included a second playroom to nurture the younger and less settled children to help them feel secure while settling in. Management has introduced structured staff supervision and appraisal sessions throughout the year. As a result, management successfully monitor staff's knowledge and understanding of how children learn and the impact of staff practice on children's care and learning. Consequently, children make good

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provision

Staff establish successful partnerships with parents, who they provide with comprehensive information about all aspects of the provision. They keep parents informed through daily communication, newsletters, displays and home link books. Parents share their views of the pre-school. They state they are happy with all aspects of the pre-school, their children settled very well and key persons keep them closely informed. They state their children are much more confident and have made friends. Staff exchange information with the other early years settings some children also attend. This helps to further promote children's needs consistently and well.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory 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 EY312682 Local authority Dorset Inspection number 834358 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 8 Total number of places 40 Number of children on roll 63 Name of provider Nicola Carter Date of previous inspection 08/05/2009 Telephone number 07917 820040 or 01202 496163

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Setting details

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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