St Alban's Pre School

St Alban's Pre-School St Alban's Catholic Primary School, Priory Lane, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK10 3HJ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 12 May 2015 19 October 2009

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This inspection: Outstanding 1

Previous inspection: Good 2 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend Outstanding 1

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This inspection: Outstanding 1

The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children Outstanding 1

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This inspection: Outstanding 1

The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision Outstanding 1

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This inspection: Outstanding 1

The setting meets legal requirements for early years settings

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This provision is outstanding

 The staff have an exemplary understanding of children's abilities. Children are making excellent progress from their starting points. Staff provide a vibrant range of activities, which captivate children and widens their knowledge of the world. Excellent communication with parents ensures they can build on these activities at home.  Teaching is outstanding as staff expertly promote and extend children's learning at every opportunity. They encourage them to develop critical-thinking skills and to become active learners, who are inquisitive and very confident.  Children are successfully prepared for their next stage of learning. This is because staff enable them to become competent in their self-help skills, develop their skills in literacy and mathematics, and teach them about social behaviour.  Staff have excellent records of children's abilities, and actively use these assessments as a basis for planning activities. Children's progress is carefully reviewed by staff and

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This provision is outstanding

the manager.  Children's personal, social and emotional needs are extremely well met. The friendly and community-based ethos of the pre-school, ensures that children settle quickly and develop excellent relationships with their key person, other staff and each other.  The management team and staff are very well organised. They draw on their highly effective partnerships with the school and other professionals, for advice and training opportunities, in pursuit of continual improvement. This ensures they keep up to date on learning and development issues.  Leadership is inspirational. Meticulous self-evaluation and reflective practice, ensures that staff, parents and children are all highly involved in the setting's continual development, in pursuit of excellence.  Excellent safeguarding procedures are well known and implemented by staff, who place the utmost importance on ensuring children are extremely safe and secure at all times.

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

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

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

 include more opportunities for staff to observe each other's teaching and provide feedback to each other on strengths and areas for improvement.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in the main playroom and outside play area.  The inspector held meetings with the manager of the setting, and undertook a joint observation with her.  The inspector looked at children's records, including their assessment records, staff's planning documentation and a selection of policies.  The inspector reviewed evidence of the suitability checks and qualifications of staff working with children.  The inspector took account of the pre-school's self-evaluation and improvement plan as well as the details held on its website.  The inspector took account of the views of parents and school staff, spoken to on the day.

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who attend. This is outstanding

Staff actively teach the children throughout the day. A key strength of the pre-school is the conversations between children and staff. Staff expertly promote children's confidence and curiosity. The way staff pose questions and the tone of their voice, gives the impression that children and adults are on a learning journey together. For example, staff encourage children to ask a visitor questions which helps them piece together clues about what the visitor's job is. Children are provided with a very rich, range of activities, which promote their communication and literacy skills. They enjoy using rhythm and rhyme, and tap out patterns, as they start to understand about rhyming words. Focused sessions, using letter sounds, extends their understanding. Children have many opportunities to make marks and move on to shapes and letters. Self-registration name cards provide children with regular opportunities to practise recognising their name, and they are used

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who attend. This is outstanding

to copy from when writing their name. Children who speak English as an additional language, are well supported to make connections between their home language and English. Staff use every opportunity to reinforce mathematical language. They actively plan activities which reinforce children's understanding of number, colour and language.

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outstanding

Children understand the rules of the group and are very kind to their friends. Routines are clear and promote successful learning. The children are able to concentrate and cooperate in groups. There are key skills they will need when they move into primary education. They are very independent and show immense pride when they undertake special roles, such as preparing snack. Children have a deep understanding of how to keep themselves and others, safe and healthy. For example, children understand that two people are needed to carry heavy blocks, and they know why the visitor to the pre-school sometimes needs a high-visibility jacket to keep him safe.

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provision is outstanding

The children benefit from a pre-school with a strong management team. The clear emphasis on regularly checking the quality of children's learning and staff teaching, means that improvements are constantly implemented. Staff keep excellent records of children's learning and complete detailed summaries of their progress on a regular basis. Staff regularly check each other's written assessments to ensure they are a true reflection of children's abilities. The manager observes staff teaching and gives feedback on how they can improve. There is scope to extend these observations, to give all staff an opportunity to learn from observing each other's teaching. Parent partnership is excellent. Opportunities to become involved in children's learning are wide ranging. For example, children borrow books, and parents have prompt sheets to explain how they can get the best out of reading times. Staff are well qualified and have high levels of training, which

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provision is outstanding

are constantly extended. Specialist training, such as block play, phonics and mathematics teaching, have a positive effect on staff's ability to provide exemplary care and education.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 305313 Local authority Cheshire East Inspection number 867584 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 5 Total number of places 40 Number of children on roll 70 Name of provider St Alban's Pre School Committee Date of previous inspection 19 October 2009 Telephone number 01625 431929

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Setting details

St Albans Pre-School was registered in 1981. It is run by the St Albans Pre-school committee, a sub-committee of the governing body of St Alban's Catholic Primary School in Macclesfield and operates from the school campus. The pre-school employs eight members of childcare staff. Of these, one holds an appropriate early years qualification at level 6, one at level 5, three at level 3 and one at level 2. The pre-school is open five days a week from 8.40am to 11.40am and 12.20pm to 3.20pm, during term time. The pre- school provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language, and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Setting details

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

procedures set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. 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, safeguarding and child protection.

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Setting details

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Setting details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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