Pepperpot Bathford Preschool

Pepper Pot Bathford Pre School Dovers Park, Bathford, Bath, BA1 7UB

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 05/01/2015 28/09/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 Previous inspection: 3 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

 Children are confident, happy and settled. Staff provide a good range of activities and experiences that challenge, and excite children effectively.  Staff use open questioning techniques successfully, which encourage children to share their thoughts and ideas and extend their learning.  Strong partnerships with parents and good communication effectively contribute to staff meeting children's individual needs well.  Staff robustly monitor children's progress through their effective observation and planning. This ensures that children make good progress in all areas.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Children's choice to play inside or outside is not always flexible to meet all children's needs, particularly those that learn better outside.  Staff do not always make full use of daily routines to further enhance children's independence 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 and the quality of interaction between children and staff, both indoors and outdoors.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held discussions with the manager, staff and children throughout the inspection.  The inspector invited the manager to complete a joint observation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector sampled a range of documentation, including planning and children's records.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of children, parents and carers spoken to on the day of inspection.

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Information about the setting

Pepperpot Pre-school re-registered in their current premises in 2001 and is governed by a parent committee. It operates from a purpose-built building in the Bathford area of Bath. It has strong links with the village school, which is in the adjacent building. Children have access to all areas of the building and an enclosed outdoor play area. The pre-school is open from 9.15am to 11.45pm each weekday morning. It currently operates a lunch club on Friday until 1pm, and they offer afternoon sessions until 3pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. These increase with demand. The pre-school is registered on the Early Years Register. They are in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education to children aged three and four. There are currently 20 children on roll. There are three members of staff employed to work with the children, all are qualified to level 3. In addition, four volunteers with various skills and qualifications work with the children.

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

 extend the opportunities for children to play outside

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

 enhance snack time routines to further encourage children's independence.

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who attend

Staff provide a good range of activities and resources which interest and challenge the children appropriately. Staff know the children extremely well and have a good understanding of how children learn and develop. They carry out regular observations of the children engaged in play and use their assessments well to provide activities, which support children to make good progress in all areas in relation to their starting points.

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who attend

The quality of teaching is good. As a result, children are inquisitive and motivated learners. There are many opportunities for the children to develop their literacy skills and practice their early reading and writing. For example, the manager asked the children to name words that begin with the same initial sound as her name and the names of the other staff. Children came up with ideas and used words such as, milky, mousey and marching. They smiled with confidence as the manager praised them for using such good words. This effectively boosts their confidence and self-esteem and shows that they have a good understanding of sounds and letters. Children easily recognise the initial sound in their name and other words, which supports their communication, language and literacy. Children have good opportunities to enjoy fresh air and exercise in the garden. They ride on wheeled vehicles, and use their imaginations to role-play a garage scene. They take it

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who attend

in turns to fill up their vehicles with fuel and engage in conversation with staff about what they are doing. Staff said that they provide opportunities for children to access the outside area as and when they wish to. Although, this is not consistent, on the day of the inspection the children did not have free access to the garden. Instead, all children played outside, just before home time. This means that learning opportunities for those children who learn better outside are sometimes limited and children are not always encouraged to make decisions about their play.

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who attend

The activities and experiences that the children have at this pre-school support their learning and extend their knowledge. For example, one child was overheard telling another that in the winter, the trees are dead and in the spring, they come back up again. This shows that children are developing their understanding of the world, the seasons and nature.

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

Staff act as good role models and children share warm and trusting relationships with them. As a result, children are confident and secure in the pre-school, and behave well. This prepares them well emotionally for the next stage in their learning. There is an effective key person system, which includes an ongoing exchange of information between home and the pre-school. This ensures that staff are aware of children's changing interests and needs and enables them to meet these successfully. This supports their physical and emotional well-being effectively. Children demonstrate increasing independence as they dress themselves for outside play, they use the bathroom independently, washing and drying their hands before meals. This helps children to be ready for school and helps them to develop a good understanding about the importance of personal hygiene. However, there are some missed opportunities during daily routines,

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

such as snack time to extend this further. This is because the child who is the special helper for the day helps cut up, prepare the snack, and pour the drinks, rather than each child doing it for themselves.

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

Staff teach the children how to keep themselves safe. They practise the emergency evacuation procedure with the staff, which develops their awareness of how to get out of the building quickly and safely in an emergency. Children learn about the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. Staff promote children's physical development well because they provide a good range of physical activities, which children enjoy. For example, they ride on wheeled vehicles in the garden and play ring games inside. Children have access to a wide range of resources and good-quality toys.

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provision

Staff have a good understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements for the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are clear about their role and responsibility to safeguard children. They are able to identify the signs and symptoms that may be a cause for concern and are clear about the reporting procedure they must follow. Staff carry out regular risk assessments on the premises and the outside area, to ensure that hazards are minimised and risks reduced. Management have robust recruitment and vetting procedures to help ensure that all staff, volunteers and committee members are suitable to work with children. Supervision and annual appraisals ensure ongoing suitability, and identify any training needs. This also provides opportunities for staff to share ideas and good practice to further drive improvement.

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provision

The staff work very well in partnership with parents. The parents spoken to on the day of the inspection were extremely pleased with what the pre-school provides. They are very happy with the progress that their children are making and appreciate the updates from the staff team. They commented that because of the good relationship the pre-school has with the school, children make the transition easily. They love the photographs the staff take of the children and feel that the staff know their children exceptionally well. Parents get very involved in the pre-school, they volunteer on the parent rota, come in to cook with the children or talk about different foods and cultures. Parents comment that their children's confidence and enthusiasm at trying new things has grown tremendously since starting pre-school. There are also strong partnerships with other providers when children's care and learning are shared. For example, staff share children's individual

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provision

learning needs and planning. This helps to provide consistency and continuity in learning for the children. There are good partnerships with other professionals to support children identified with additional needs for example, the Speech and Language Therapist.

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provision

Staff have a good knowledge and understanding of the learning and development requirements. They monitor the educational programmes well, providing a wide range of activities and experiences, which promote children's learning in all areas. Their observation, assessment and planning systems help staff to monitor children's progress effectively and quickly identify any gaps in learning. This means that staff can plan targeted activities to support individuals and narrow any gaps in learning.

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provision

There are effective self-evaluation tools in place, which allows the staff team to reflect on what is going well. They meet regularly to discuss the setting, evaluate and plan for further improvements. The pre-school staff have an open dialogue with the parents. They gather the parent's thoughts and ask for their views through yearly questionnaires. Staff use the parents responses to feed into their evaluation of the setting so that the improvements are relevant to the parents and children attending. The staff team complete improvement plans that prioritise areas of development. Such as, plans to develop the outdoor play area and to label all resources inside so that children can see what is on offer more easily. The staff team have addressed the actions and recommendations raised at the last inspection successfully. This includes carrying out risk assessments for any outings that they take with the children and all staff now have up-to-date knowledge of child

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provision

protection issues. This demonstrates a good capacity to maintain continuous improvement.

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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 133065 Local authority Bath & NE Somerset Inspection number 813791 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 5 Total number of places 24 Number of children on roll 20 Name of provider Pepperpot Bathford Pre-School Committee Date of previous inspection 28/09/2011 Telephone number 01225 852 555

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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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