Magdalene Preschool

Magdalene Pre-School Playgroup St Mary Magdalene Church, Canning Road, Croydon, Surrey, CR0 6QD

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 27/11/2014 07/12/2009

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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

 Children are making excellent progress in relation to their starting points. This is because staff plan a superb range of activities and experiences that are challenging, interesting and fun.  The experienced staff team works very well with each other and are absolutely committed to working hard to continually improve their service for all the children and families in their care.  Partnerships with parents are outstanding. The staff team actively supports children's feeling of belonging in the pre-school. Key persons suggest tasks linked to the pre- school activities that parents can do with their children at home.  Children thoroughly enjoy being able to choose from the extensive range of interesting and stimulating activities and play opportunities inside and in the well- resourced outdoor play area.  Children are successfully prepared for their transitions to school. The staff team works closely with each other, with parents and with other providers to ensure that each

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This provision is outstanding

child's needs are taken into account and catered for.

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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 in the main play area, soft playroom and in the outdoor learning environment.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector spoke with the manager, the staff and the children at appropriate times throughout the inspection.  The inspector carried out a joint observation with the pre-school manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessment records, planning documents and checked the suitability and qualifications of the staff team.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector read the pre-school's self-evaluation form prior to the inspection taking place. The inspector had conversations with parents and took account of their views.

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Information about the setting

Magdalene Pre-school Playgroup registered in 1992 and is registered on the Early Years Register. The pre-school operates from a church hall in the London Borough of Croydon, and is run by a committee on behalf of the Parochial Church Council for St Mary Magdalene with St Martin. The pre-school has access to a main play area, a side room and fully enclosed outdoor area.

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Information about the setting

The pre-school employs six members of staff, five of whom have relevant childcare qualifications. The pre-school is open from 9:30am to 12:30pm from Monday to Friday during term time only. There are currently 39 children on roll who are in the early years age group. The pre-school supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those children who speak English as an additional language. The pre- school receives support from the local authority through an early years advisor.

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

 expand on the existing inspiring and rich indoor provision, for example by providing materials and media for writing for different purposes to further enhance children's literacy skills.

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who attend

Staff have an excellent understanding of how children learn and develop. Together they plan and provide rich, varied and imaginative educational programmes. Planning is based extensively on each child's personal interests and current stage of learning.

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who attend

Staff communicate exceptionally well with parents at the start of the placement. This helps to ensure that staff are fully aware of every child's individual starting points and that they meet children's needs and interests from the outset. As a result, each child receives a comprehensive, balanced and individualised learning experience.

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who attend

Children enjoy a rich and vibrant range of activities that cover all areas of learning both inside and in the outside play area. There is scope however, to expand children's opportunities even further to support their literacy skills in other areas such as the role- play area.

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who attend

Activities are very well planned and thought out by staff whose quality of teaching is outstanding. For instance, children's personal social and emotional development are greatly nurtured by the extremely caring and supportive staff. Families are given time to settle their children into the pre-school and encouraged to stay and support their child when they first start. Staff are very good at offering encouragement and support to children who are anxious on separating from their parents. Staff are excellent at acknowledging children's feelings and reassuring them so that they feel comfortable and join in the activities.

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who attend

Children's physical skills are supported within the indoor environment. Children can practise their fine physical skills when they choose to fix links together which involves small intricate movements.

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who attend

High priority is given to children's communication and language skills. Staff are highly skilled in asking the children open-ended questions to encourage them to think about what they are doing. For example, during the inspection, children explored with a mixture of dried lentils and porridge oats using different sized containers. A member of staff asked the children to predict what would happen to the lentils when they filled the plant pots which had holes in the bottom.

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who attend

The staff make excellent use of systems for observation and assessment, including the progress check for two-year-old children, and these are very well recorded. Staff use this information extremely effectively to closely monitor children's progress and accurately identify the next steps in each child's learning. Each key person knows the children extremely well and this relationship contributes to children making exceptionally good progress. The key person also works very closely with other professionals who are involved with the children to ensure a consistent approach to their learning.

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who attend

Children are prepared extremely well for their move to school. Children are encouraged to self-register when they arrive at pre-school so they can quickly begin to recognise their names. Once the snack bar is open children are able to choose when to stop playing and eat their snack. The pre-school staff invite reception teachers to visit the children and they share relevant information including children's development assessments.

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who attend

Children are making significant progress in their learning and development. Staff create a vibrant, safe and enriching environment. This enables children to make independent choices from an extensive range of activities and experiences which supports children's development in all areas of learning.

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

Children enjoy attending the pre-school and are thriving. They clearly demonstrate a particularly strong sense of belonging and well-being. Through conversations with parents, key persons have a comprehensive understanding of each child's individual backgrounds, needs and personalities. Staff provide worthwhile activities for children to do together at home. Bertie the pre-school bear also goes home with different children. This provides a very good link between home and pre-school life as parents write and include photographs of their child's weekend and family holidays with Bertie. Children behave particularly well, as they are engrossed in their chosen activities. They cooperate, share and take turns with each other, developing excellent social skills. They successfully manage everyday tasks for themselves, such as changing into their wellington boots when choosing to play in the outdoor play area. Outdoor play contributes

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

considerably to children's good health. Children are able ride tricycles and scooters while following the direction of the arrows. Each scooter and tricycle is labelled with a number, and children are encouraged to find the corresponding parking space with the matching number.

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

Staff are teaching children about how to grow fruits, vegetables and herbs to support their healthy lifestyles. Children plant tomatoes, lettuce, carrots and potatoes and the staff teach the children how to care for and water the plants. Children are then able to harvest the produce and take this home. Such activities extend children's learning through purposeful firs-hand experiences, which are valuable for the future. There is also a digging area where children are able to use tools such as spades to dig for treasure.

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

Children learn about good hygiene routines through washing their hands after playing outside, after using the bathroom, engaging in creative activities and before eating their snacks.

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

If children decide that they do not want to play in the outdoor play area, they are still able practise their large physical movements. Staff organise space for children to enjoy energetic play in a side room where children can bounce on inflatables. As children bounce they are encouraged to count, therefore developing their mathematical skills. Children also use their imagination as they make a boat with the inflatables. For example, children were asked questions during the inspection, such as 'Where are we going?' One child replied 'London Bridge'. Children then continued their play and were engrossed with their imaginative game.

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

The staff at the pre-school work extremely well to support children and their families who speak English as an additional language. Staff find out about the home language spoken and, where possible, introduce parents to each other who speak the same language. This help families to feel welcome and serves to settle the new family into the pre-school. There are also displays of different languages displayed within the pre-school, reinforcing messages of belonging and inclusion for all children.

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provision

Leadership and management of the pre-school are very strong. The manager and staff work closely to bring about the best possible outcomes for the children. Self-evaluation is extremely strong and clearly shows the pre-school's key strengths and the areas they are currently working on to further enhance outcomes for children.

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provision

Staff have an excellent understanding of safeguarding procedures. All safeguarding requirements are met effectively. Staff understand and implement the Local Safeguarding Children Board procedures comprehensively to protect children's welfare. Robust risk assessments are in place for the inside and outdoor play areas. Children are particularly well supervised during their time at the pre-school. Highly rigorous recruitment procedures are in place, as are vetting checks to ensure adults are suitable to work with children.

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provision

Documentation is maintained to an exceptionally high standard and all records required for the efficient management of the pre-school are readily available. A comprehensive range of policies and procedures have been devised and updated to reflect current changes in legislation. Staff implement these policies rigorously in all aspects of their work to safeguard children and promote their welfare.

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provision

The effective key-person system helps to ensure parents receive extremely good information about their children's achievements and developments. Parents speak very highly of the staff team and of the care their children receive. They comment on how well staff get to know their child and how supportive they are of their child's unique needs. Parents also describe the staff team as 'friendly, approachable, experienced, fantastic and wonderful'. All the parents spoken to said they would highly recommend the service provided by the staff team at the pre-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 124999 Local authority Croydon Inspection number 840509 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 5 Total number of places 40 Number of children on roll 39 Name of provider St. Mary Magdalene Parochial Church Council Date of previous inspection 07/12/2009 Telephone number 07769115981

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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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