St Nicholas Pre-School

St Nicholas Pre-School Church Hall, Church Road, Whitchurch, Bristol, BS14 0PR

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 10/12/2014 06/05/2009

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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 take an inclusive and differentiated approach to teaching, which meets the needs of all ages and stages of children, so that they can all learn together and make good progress.  Staff teach children effective social skills which is why they are confident, make good relationships and behaviour is good.  Staff promote children's early reading and writing skills through everyday routines and activities. This is preparing them well for starting school.  Staff work in partnership with parents to share information about children's ongoing interests, progress and achievements.  Staff use open-questioning techniques skilfully to challenge and encourage children to think deeper and share their own thoughts and ideas.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 The resources in the play environments do not enhance children's learning about the lives of others.  Staff do not always make full use of the daily routines to help children enhance their independence and self-care 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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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in the play hall and the outside learning environment.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at documentation including a sample of children's records, planning and records to check the suitability of staff, committee and volunteers.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of some children, staff and parents spoken to on the day of the inspection, and of the provider's self-evaluation.  The inspector held meetings with the managers of the pre-school.  The inspector carried out a joint observation with one of the pre-school managers.

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Information about the setting

St Nicholas Pre-School registered in 2001 and is located in St Nicholas Church Hall, Whitchurch, a suburb of Bristol. It is owned and managed by a committee of parents who employ the play leaders and staff team. It is registered on the Early Years Register and cares for children aged two, three and four years. The pre-school uses the main hall, kitchen, indoor toilets and a small enclosed outdoor area. The pre-school is open term- time only from 9am to 12pm Monday to Friday and 12.30pm to 3pm Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. There are 36 children on roll, all of whom are in the early years age range. There are seven members of staff who are currently working with the children. Five staff hold early years qualifications at level 3 and two staff hold qualifications at level 2.

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

 enhance the opportunities for multi-cultural learning during the times when children choose their own activities, such as through enriching the range of accessible resources that promote diversity and reflect a range of cultural backgrounds

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

 enhance the meal and snack time routines to build on children's physical and independence skills such as, cutting their own fruit and serving themselves.

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who attend

Children settle quickly at the pre-school and are keen to explore the interesting and stimulating play activities. Staff work with the parents when their children start to find out about each child's interests and stages of development. Staff know children well and have a good understanding of how children learn, and of ways to promote their learning and development. Staff carry out on-going observations and use this information to plan activities so that they are of interest and relevant to the children. This is helping children move on to the next step in their development. Parents receive regular information about their child's progress and staff encourage them to share their thoughts of their children by writing in the daily diary for the staff. Staff invite parents to borrow their child's learning diary to go through at home. They offer regular meetings so that parents can discuss their child's current interests, needs and achievements. Strong partnerships with parents are

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who attend

The quality of teaching is good and as a result, children are making good progress in all areas of their learning and development. However, the educational programme for understanding the world does not provide children with the best opportunities to learn about the individual differences between themselves and others, particularly during their self-chosen play. For example, there are fewer resources to reflect a range of cultures. Children take part in a wide range of activities, and staff are particularly skilled in promoting children's communication and language development. For example, they use open-questioning to promote children's critical thinking during arts and crafts activities. They give children time to explore and talk about their ideas that have led them to draw and design particular things. Children look through books and talk about the pictures and staff extend their thinking further by asking additional questions.

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who attend

Interactions with children are good. The staff are actively involved in children's play and teaching is effective. For example, staff use strategies, such as adjusting the tone of their voice and adjusting their body language to capture children's attention when practising their nativity play. Children respond well to the staff interactions and often choose to play alongside them; this supports children's progress in their personal and social development. Children often choose to stay at activities for long periods of time and become fully engaged and fascinated in imaginative play activities. For example, they pretend to wrap presents for Christmas in the role-play area.

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who attend

The staff provide many experiences to promote children's literacy development and encourage children to have the confidence to read and write. The staff incorporate a good range of these activities into the daily routine. For example, as part of the snack time routine children found their name cards and displayed them to show that they had found their seat at the table. The staff encourage the children to develop their reading at home and provide parents with resources to borrow and tips so that they can further promote their children's literacy learning.

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

Children build friendships with one another and play together well. Children are interested and occupied in play and as a result, they behave well. Staff are good role models for children, they use consistent teaching strategies, which promotes children's well-being and children have good relationships with staff. The system for allocating staff to specific children is well established, and works well to ensure that there is an ongoing exchange of information between home and pre-school. This helps to ensure that they meet children's individual needs. Parents have a good understanding of the role of the adults and they feel well supported and informed by their child's allocated adult.

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

Settling-in sessions before children start helps them to feel confident in the pre-school. Children spend time in the pre-school with their parents and staff to help them to become familiar with the environment and build their confidence. Staff interact in a warm way with children, they always take time to listen and they provide cuddles and reassurance when children feel unsettled. Children understand the importance of sharing and turn taking, such as waiting for their turn to go on the slide. Staff praise children regularly, which builds their self-confidence. At snack times staff sit with children, which makes it a social time as they talk to them about their lives developing children's conversational skills. Staff encourage children to be independent. For example, they wash their own hands before meals. This helps children to be ready for school and helps them to develop good personal hygiene routines. However, there are some missed opportunities at snack times to extend

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

this further because staff prepare, cut and dish up children's food for them, rather than encouraging them to do it for themselves.

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

The learning environments are fully inclusive and well organised to encourage children to make decisions. The environment and displays are sensitive to meet the needs of children with visual impairment and celebrate children's learning well. Children have access to a good range of quality toys and resources that challenge their development successfully. Children have opportunities to be outside and active in a well-equipped outdoor environment. This includes a section of imitation grass and a playhouse. Staff take children to places in the local community, such as the garden centre to look at the Christmas decorations to support their understanding of the wider world.

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

Staff keep children safe. Staff are clear of their roles and responsibilities in order to keep a safe and secure environment. They implement a range of policies and procedures and carry out regular risk assessments of the areas used by children. This helps to minimise hazards to children. Staff supervise children well as they move safely between different areas indoors and outdoors. This means children are getting fresh air and regular exercise, which benefits their health and well-being.

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provision

Staff have a good understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage safeguarding and welfare requirements. They are familiar with the pre-school safeguarding policy and have had training to help them identify any child protection issues promptly. All staff are clear about the procedures they must follow if they have any concerns about children in their care. Staff who are qualified in first aid are deployed effectively so that they are on hand to provide first-aid treatment in the event of an accident or incident. Robust recruitment and vetting procedures help to ensure that all staff, committee members and volunteers are suitable to work with children. Staff ensure that parents are well informed of the pre- school's policies and procedures. Staff maintain all of the required documentation well to ensure that children are safe and secure.

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provision

Staff have a secure knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage learning and development requirements. There are comprehensive systems in place, which include observation, assessment and planning to support the staff in monitoring children's progress effectively. Staff plan together and key persons highlight specific activities for their allocated children, as they know them best. This means they can ensure that activities meet children's interests and individual needs most effectively. The managers of the pre-school have responsibility for monitoring the delivery of the educational programme, which they do effectively. Therefore, staff are working well together to support children and as a result, children are making good levels of progress. The managers and staff team all demonstrate that they have a drive for improvement. There are effective self-evaluation tools in place; these allow the staff team to reflect on

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provision

what is going well and what they want to develop further. The managers support staff well to ensure that they have regular opportunities to enhance their professional development. Staff receive regular and effective supervision, which provides them with opportunities to listen to feedback about their performance. Staff are clear about their roles and responsibilities and are well updated of current issues. The pre-school staff work in the local community to offer further support to children and their families through stay and play groups. This is effective in promoting play and learning opportunities for children that are too young for pre-school and supports parents to contribute to their child's learning at home. The pre-school completes improvement plans that prioritise areas of development, such as plans to develop the use of the outdoor play areas. They regularly work with local authority advisors to review their practice and identify their strengths and

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provision

areas to improve. This helps to ensure that improvement plans are fit for purpose.

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provision

Staff have good links with the local schools and organise regular activities and visits to prepare the older children for the eventual move into school. All value the ongoing partnerships with parents; they welcome this and use this as an opportunity to link children's family life to their time at 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 155709 Local authority Bath & NE Somerset Inspection number 841980 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 5 Total number of places 20 Number of children on roll 36 Name of provider St Nicholas Pre-School Playgroup Committee Date of previous inspection 06/05/2009 Telephone number 07759 381610

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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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