Oakley Preschool

Oakley Pre School Oakley C of E School, Worminghall Road, Oakley, Buckinghamshire, HP18 9QY

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 27/11/2014 01/10/2009

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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 an exciting and stimulating educational programme, both indoors and outside. This helps children to make good progress in their learning and development.  Staff have established good relationships with parents. This benefits children as staff meet their needs well.  Staff support children's growing understanding of how to keep themselves safe and healthy very effectively.  The leadership of the preschool is good. Self-evaluation is a key feature of the preschool's drive to continue to improve the quality of the provision.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Staff have been less successful at building their relationships with other provisions, particularly with regard to other schools, to maintain consistency in children's learning.

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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 children's activities indoors and outdoors.  The inspector undertook a joint observation with the manager.  The inspector had a discussion with the manager.  The inspector talked with staff, some children and parents to obtain their views.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector scrutinised a ranged of relevant documentation relating to safeguarding, suitability records, policies and procedures.

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Information about the setting

Oakley Preschool Group is committee run and opened in 1966 on split sites in the village of Oakley. In 2008, the sites amalgamated and moved to accommodation within Oakley Combined Church of England School in Buckinghamshire. In addition to its own room and enclosed outdoor play area, the playgroup has access to the school's toilets. It also has access to the hall, library and outdoor playground on a timetabled basis. The preschool receives funding for free early education for two-, three- and four-year-olds. Strong links exist between the playgroup and the school's Early Years class. The preschool is open five mornings per week in term time, between 9am to 12 noon. It is also open on Monday to Thursdays for lunch clubs and afternoon sessions between 12 noon to 3pm. Five staff are employed. Three have relevant childcare qualifications and two are currently working towards a childcare qualification at level three. The playgroup is registered on the Early

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Information about the setting

Years Register only. There is wheelchair access available via the school's rear entrance.

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

 strengthen the partnerships with other schools, by enhancing the two-way flow of information and visits offered to teachers, to help build consistency in all children's learning..

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who attend

Staff offer an exciting and stimulating educational programme, both indoors and outside. This helps children to make good progress in their learning and development from their starting points on entry. They provide a range of meaningful activities to help develop children's communication and language skills. They model new words and encourage children to explain their thinking and ideas. For example, staff use skilful open-ended questioning to encourage children to explain the role-play they are acting out with each other. Staff extend children's vocabulary during play; for example, when exploring the variety of dinosaurs on offer, children learned the name of each one. Children benefit from daily singing and story times that staff provide. As a result, children are confident talkers, who speak and sing with each other.

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who attend

Staff integrate mathematics into play well. They provide plenty of easily accessible resources and activities, which help children to learn concepts such as numbers, shapes and measures. For example, while playing with the dinosaurs, staff asked the children to measure their lengths to see which was the longest. They counted how many spines there were on each of their backs. Staff provide many opportunities to develop children's physical skills. They provide free access to the garden, which gives children plenty of fresh air and exercise. In addition, they have timetabled use of the onsite school field, playground and sports hall. Staff provide a wide range of resources and utensils such as pencils and paints, which children access freely, to be creative and develop early writing skills. For example, children combine glitter, sequins and glue, to create their own 'sparkly' pictures.

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who attend

Staff have a strong link with the onsite school. They meet with the teachers and share a two-way flow of information as the children move up. They provide all children with weekly opportunities to visit the reception class, where children meet teachers and other children in the group. They also join in with the school events, such as sports days. This helps children to become familiar with a typical school day. It also helps children to build relationships with the new teacher before they move up. However, not all children do move up to the onsite school. Staff have been less successful in building similar relationships with other local schools.

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who attend

Staff have effective systems in place to assess and monitor children's progress. They make accurate records of achievements from observations on the children. They summarise their progress on tracking sheets. This helps them to successfully identify any gaps in learning and plan activities that challenge and support those gaps. Staff have established good relationships with parents. Staff provide parents with regular information about their child's progress through termly parent meetings and daily discussions. This helps all children to make positive progress from their starting points. Staff gather information from parents on children's development at home and they share ideas on further learning between the home and preschool setting. This benefits children, as staff meet their needs well. During discussions, parents comment on the calm, patient staff and how well they engage with the children.

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

Staff welcome children and parents into the preschool with sensitivity and care. They work closely with families to understand children's routines and individual needs. This helps children to settle quickly and confidently leave their parents to explore the preschool and try out new activities. Staff provide clear routines and consistent expectations of children as they initiate their own play. They are patient with children and interact well with them. As a result, children are calm and caring towards adults and each other. Children thrive with the praise and encouragement, which staff provide. This all helps children to behave well and develop good personal, social, and emotional skills. Staff foster children's independence as they encourage them to have a go at new things, such as putting on and taking off their own shoes and coats. Children pour their own drinks and learn to toilet themselves. This helps them to learn good skills before moving up to school.

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

Staff support children's growing understanding of how to keep themselves safe and healthy very effectively. They plan fun and educational visits from people who work in the community, such as the police, nurses and doctors, to talk to children about safety. Staff take children on occasional walks around the local community. This provides them with good opportunities to teach children about road safety. For example, they wear their high visibility jackets and look for cars before they cross the road. Children access their own tissues to blow their noses. Staff remind them to wash their hands, to prevent the spread of infection. This all helps children to live healthy and safe lifestyles.

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

The vibrant and well-resourced environments, inside and outdoors, effectively support children's all round development. Staff offer plenty of choice to the children, as they store everything at child height and label boxes with pictures. This helps children to play and learn in their own preferred styles. For example, some children play for longer periods in the garden, while others enjoy their time in the dressing up and role-play areas.

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provision

The leadership of the preschool is good. The manager has a clear understanding of the learning and development requirements. She monitors the educational programmes closely and meets with staff regularly, to evaluate the planning and track children's progress. This gives her good opportunities to share information with staff and to identify and support any gaps in children's learning.

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provision

The management team, including the school chairperson, implement a robust recruitment and vetting procedure for new staff and any volunteers. This process checks carefully their suitability to work with children. Staff undertake an induction, where the manager shares the preschool's policies and procedures, job description and their routines. This helps them to learn about their new roles and responsibilities. The manager is developing her supervision meetings with staff, to identify future training needs and to monitor the quality of their work. She confidently states the benefits of these meetings and how she will use observations on staff to effectively monitor their performance.

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provision

The designated safeguarding person and staff have a secure understanding of their role and responsibilities in reporting safeguarding concerns, and of the local procedures. They display information on boards in the room, so that staff and visitors can easily follow the correct guidelines should they have a concern about a child's welfare. Staff prepare detailed risk assessments on all areas and activities within the preschool, and when planning outings. Through daily checks on the environment, regular checks of equipment, and high quality supervision of the children, the staff help to keep children safe.

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provision

Self-evaluation is a key feature of the preschool management's drive to continue to improve the quality of the provision. The manager clearly identifies strengths and areas for development accurately. She completes an ongoing action plan to show how she will put improvements in place. The views of parents, children and staff, form part of the process. Parents are highly appreciative of the friendliness and expertise that the preschool shares to meet the needs of every child. The manager attends regular network meetings and seeks support and advice from other professionals, such as early years advisory teachers. This also helps her to reflect on the preschool practice and plan improvements.

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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 EY269261 Local authority Buckinghamshire Inspection number 833344 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 20 Number of children on roll 36 Name of provider Oakley Pre School Committee Date of previous inspection 01/10/2009 Telephone number 07791 226473

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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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