Dagnall Under Fives Pre-School

Dagnall Under Fives Dagnall Village Hall, Dunstable Road, Dagnall, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 1RG

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 01/12/2014 28/01/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 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 3 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision requires improvement

 The enthusiastic staff provide children with some positive experiences. Most children readily join in adult-led activities and show enjoyment in what they do together.  Most children develop good skills in being confident and self-assured because staff involve them in decision making and encourage a sense of responsibility.  Staff encourage children to have a sense of their own and others' safety and this helps them learn about how to play safely and respect their environment.

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It is not yet good because

 Educational programmes are not monitored well enough by the manager to ensure the quality of teaching and learning is consistently good. This affects how well children make progress toward their learning goals.  Key people do not always use their knowledge of children's individual needs to plan effectively, particularly in relation to helping them develop communication and speaking skills or to enable them to express themselves creatively.  The induction process is not fully effective as new members of staff do not feel well informed about their roles and responsibilities.

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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 undertaken by children and staff.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector discussed practice with the staff and the manager. She also completed joint observations with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled documents in relation to children's learning and development and in relation to safeguarding, training, support and skills.  The inspector took account of parents' views through interviews.  The inspector took account of the setting's self-evaluation document.

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Information about the setting

Dagnall Under Five's Playgroup originally opened in 1975 and then reopened and registered in 2003. It is run by a voluntary management committee. It operates from two rooms within the village hall in Dagnall, Hertfordshire. A ramp to the main entrance means that the premises are accessible. Children have access to the fully enclosed outdoor play area. The setting is open each weekday; sessions are from 9.15am to 12.15pm, school term times only. There are currently 16 children attending between the ages of two and four years. The setting receives funding for the provision of free early education to children aged three and four years. Children attending live locally. This provision is registered by Ofsted on the Early Years Register. There are seven staff members. They all hold relevant childcare qualifications. One member of staff has qualified to teacher status.

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must:

 improve educational programmes for communication and language by understanding fully children's learning needs and using resources more effectively to help children communicate

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must:

 improve the monitoring and the delivery of the educational programmes to identify further ways to strengthen the consistency and quality of teaching

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must:

 ensure the effective use of the key person system to help ensure that every child's care is tailored to meet their individual needs and offer a settled relationship for the child.

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

 support further children's creative and imaginative skills by encouraging them to explore different kinds of media for mark making

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

 develop further induction processes for new staff, students and apprentices to ensure they have a secure understanding of their roles and responsibilities.

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who attend

Teaching skills vary. Staff show enthusiasm and are motivated to help children learn and in general they help most children make progress. Some are more knowledgeable than others about the Early Years Foundation Stage and the different areas of learning. On the whole, the environment they set out for children provides a broad range of activities. However, planned activities do not always differentiate between children's differing needs. Some staff are confident in setting learning goals and deliver these relatively well. Others are less confident in planning and fail to fully support or challenge children in their learning. Some activities are overly managed, such as those planned to support children's creative and imaginative skills. When key people are absent, there appears to be a lack of planning for children's needs and their interactions with adults are relatively brief.

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who attend

Overall, teaching promotes children's learning within the prime and specific areas of learning. Staff promote children's personal, social and emotional development relatively well. They settle children down through using a structured routine. Children initially spend time on the carpet for the register, show others their treasures and share news. For those children who are able to engage, this part of the morning builds their confidence and self- esteem within the group. They are encouraged to listen and be attentive to the staff and each other. The daily routine generally promotes children's physical development. Children are encouraged to join in with a movement to music session. In addition, they have time in the outside space to join in with actions to a living story session. They play on tricycles and other wheeled equipment. This provides opportunities to gain awareness of space, stretch and develop coordination. Children have opportunities to play with malleable

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who attend

materials, such as dough. There is some use of tools, such as rolling pins, scissors and shape cutters. This helps children strengthen hand and wrist muscles, which in turn supports early writing skills. However, children cannot freely use paints or other creative materials to experiment and use their own design ideas. On the whole, staff promote children's communication and language skills relatively well. However, they are not proactive enough in helping children who find communication more difficult. They do not always make the best use of their resources, such as visual aids, to aid children's communication. Staff keep up an ongoing commentary around children, but sometimes overlook those who would benefit from more focused support and interaction. They listen to what children have to say, make suggestions and some of their questioning is skilfully used. They use rhythm and music well and children particularly enjoy singing along to

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who attend

familiar songs during snack time. The staff are not working effectively enough to help gaps close between children who have good communication and language skills and those who do not.

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who attend

Parents are welcomed into the setting. They are able to stay and support their children as they learn. They receive some useful information about the Early Years Foundation Stage and are able to access their children's learning records easily. Staff regularly observe children and track their development against expected levels of attainment for their age. On occasion, next steps identified for children's further learning are vague and lack focus. This does not provide good information to help future planning. However, for the most part, staff help children move forward with their learning. There are systems in place to implement the progress check for two-year-old children which include parents in the process. The manager ensures each parent is given time to talk to their child's key person at least once a term about their child's progress. Parents are keen to share other events from children's lives with the pre-school and this helps children share news at the start of

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who attend

their day. Overall, children enjoy their time in the setting and make sound progress in their learning and development, gaining suitable skills to help them in their future learning.

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

The key-person system works relatively well overall. However, some key people's knowledge of individual children is not as secure as others'. In addition when key people are absent, the setting does not have a plan in place to ensure children receive the support they need. However, staff show good levels of affection for children and most children appear to be happy and settled. Staff promote children's self-esteem which helps children feel good about themselves. Children respond well to staff and use resources safely. Staff teach children about safety hazards by involving them in daily safety checks. Staff model how to behave and how to play safely. Children respond by showing an awareness of their own and other people's safety through their behaviour. The staff encourage children to make friendships. There are lots of opportunities for children to join in with group activities and to share in routines. Children play alongside others, and those

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

who are more confident engage with each other. They help their friends and staff to set the table and prepare snacks showing increasing levels of independence.

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

The setting promotes children's healthy lifestyles. Children are encouraged to share their ideas for snacks when offered healthy choices. The setting keeps an allotment which children visit and help to manage. They grow vegetables, harvest them and have them as snacks. In this way children gain understanding of the world, learning where vegetables come from. Drinks and snacks are healthy and nutritious. Staff sit with children while they eat, encouraging social interactions. The daily routines encourage children to be independent in their personal hygiene, with staff supervising hand washing and assisting as needed. Children are encouraged to be physically active throughout the session.

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

The environment is safely maintained and the resources are of good quality and age appropriate. Staff ensure children feel comfortable and are able to access many resources independently. The range of resources set out and available offers a varied choice of activities. However, the resources are not always used well by staff to extend children's learning and development.

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

The setting has close links with the local schools and other early years professionals. They work together to help children achieve the basic skills they need to move forward in their learning. Most children show good levels of independence and confidence, are emotionally ready for the next stage in their learning and are able to cope with changes.

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provision

The systems to monitor children's development are not thorough enough. The manager's evaluations of teaching practice are not working successfully to identify any areas of weakness. Most staff show a secure understanding of learning programmes, but not all. Some areas of learning are being delivered better than others and this affects how well children make progress. Systems to monitor the quality and consistency of observations are not fully effective. Some observations are not thorough and planning is sometimes vague. In general, the tracking of children's progress against their expected levels provides some accurate information.

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provision

Management evaluate the quality of their provision. They take account of parents' and children's views. In general, they identify aspects where they can develop the quality of their provision further. However, at times the manager lacks confidence to carry through their improvement plans. The manager is working with a well-established staff team who support each other in many different ways. Most staff are qualified to a good level and seek to follow a personal journey of professional development. They are not always sufficiently reflective on issues which affect individual children. The training undertaken does not always change the quality and improve practice adequately. Some children's experiences are not as good as others'. The manager's systems to supervise, support and coach staff members are not thorough. She does not give staff time to reflect and develop practice through a system which supports and guides them. She is not reflecting back on

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provision

the quality of their key-person relationships and on how well they know their children. She is not doing enough to ensure that the delivery of educational programmes helps every child to make good progress.

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provision

The manager ensures all staff receive regular safeguarding training. Staff demonstrate a confident knowledge of how to identify and deal with any concerns about a child's well- being. They know to report any concerns to their designated person on the premises and, in turn, to the appropriate safeguarding agencies. The setting's policies and procedures are reviewed annually. These include issues, such as whistle blowing, and the safe use of mobile phones, cameras and social networking sites. Robust recruitment procedures are implemented and staff undergo suitable vetting procedures to ensure their suitability. Induction of new members of staff, students and apprentices is of varying quality. This affects how well new staff understand their roles and responsibilities.

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provision

Partnerships with parents and others who have a role in supporting children's progress are sound. Staff ensure relevant information is shared regularly and staff follow individual education plans initiated by other professionals. Sometimes staff over rely on guidance from outside professionals to decide how to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They are reluctant to use their knowledge of the children's individual needs and teaching skills without the external guidance. The lack of confidence in their own abilities mean that staff sometimes delay giving children the educational support they need and this affects the progress children make from their starting points.

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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 EY260853 Local authority Buckinghamshire Inspection number 837253 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 32 Number of children on roll 16 Name of provider Dagnall Under Fives Committee Date of previous inspection 28/01/2009 Telephone number 07816 358342

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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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