Newick Pre-schoolOfsted inspection, 12 Oct 2015

Newick Pre-School Old Reading Rooms, Church Road, Newick, Lewes, East Sussex, BN8 4JX

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 12 October 2015 21 November 2011

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This inspection: Outstanding 1

Effectiveness of the leadership and management Outstanding 1

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This inspection: Outstanding 1

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding 1

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This inspection: Outstanding 1

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding 1

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This provision is outstanding

 The manager evaluates the progress of the pre-school meticulously. She actively seeks the views of parents and other professionals to review the provision accurately. This results in continuous improvement in meeting the children's needs.  The partnerships with parents are outstanding. Staff keep parents fully up to date with their children's progress and offer a huge amount of communication and support. This engages parents and helps children build on their learning at home.  The quality of teaching is extremely strong. Staff provide exciting and challenging activities based on the interests and development of the children. Children thoroughly enjoy their learning and, as a result, make excellent progress.  The children behave exceptionally well. Staff use exemplary methods to encourage children to listen to, and to respect, each other. Their support helps children understand their own actions and how these affect the feelings of others.

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This provision is outstanding

 Children thoroughly enjoy playing with a wide range of stimulating toys. Strong relationships help them actively seek out friends and staff to share in their play. As a result, children are exceptionally confident, happy and secure.  The manager works very closely with staff to monitor the progress and achievement of children. This quickly identifies any children who may need extra support, which helps close achievement gaps.

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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

 further strengthen the already good teaching skills in encouraging children's thinking and problem solving.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed teaching and the impact this had on children's learning.  The inspector held discussions with the manager, staff and parents.  The inspector read some of the pre-school committee's documentation, including the safeguarding policy.  The inspector viewed some of the children's development information and records.  The inspector completed a joint observation of staff practice with the manager.

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management is outstanding

The manager is highly qualified and has an outstanding understanding of her role and the requirements. She has extremely high standards for the level of care and learning children receive. The manager leads by example and supervises the staff closely, working on new areas for improving teaching practice. For example, by introducing the learning of letter sounds to both children and parents. Children benefit from this ambitious drive to better their learning experiences. The pre-school has excellent links with local schools. It has highly organised arrangements to keep all staff well informed and help children's move to school go smoothly. Safeguarding is effective. The manager and staff follow detailed policies and procedures and have thorough knowledge of how to keep children safe.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is outstanding

The key-person system is extremely strong and staff have an outstanding knowledge of the children. They use regular and detailed observations alongside parents' contributions to accurately assess learning and development. From these, staff create next steps for learning, which they link with children's interests to plan exciting and challenging activities. For example, children learn about hibernation and then use their imaginations and creativity to make dens for the animals. These experiences motivate children in their learning and, as a result, they are very willing to give things a go. Staff are highly skilled in allowing children time to learn through their own play. They identify when to offer children support and then extend their learning. For example, they expertly aid early mathematics by encouraging children to count and compare sizes. However, not all staff make use of every opportunity to encourage children to think of ideas and to solve

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are outstanding

The pre-school space is set out with inviting activities. Children are incredibly confident and independent and make full use of choosing whether to play indoors or outside. There are enjoyable physical challenges outdoors and children enjoy exercising and managing risks, such as on climbing equipment. Children thoroughly enjoy helping to prepare snacks and serving their own food and drinks. They thrive on the responsibility and learn from staff about healthy food as they eat. Children listen extremely well to staff and each other. At registration time, for example, they wait for their turn to talk and concentrate on the discussion. They learn to respect differences and similarities between children and families.

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Outcomes for children are outstanding

All children make excellent progress in their learning in relation to their starting points. Clear next steps mean that there is a sharp focus on achieving new targets in their development. Children learn strong mathematics, communication and early literacy skills. They gain the confidence and skills needed for their next stages in learning and school.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 109467 Local authority East Sussex Inspection number 824886 Type of provision Full-time provision Day care type Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 8 Total number of places 23 Number of children on roll 40 Name of provider Newick Pre-School Playgroup Committee Date of previous inspection 21 November 2011 Telephone number 07788 603633

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Setting details

Newick Pre-School opened in 1969 and registered with Ofsted in 2001. It is located in Newick, East Sussex. It is open each weekday during school terms from 9am to 3pm. The playgroup employs six staff, five of whom hold appropriate early years qualifications. The manager holds Early Years Professional Status. The pre-school is accredited to receive government funding for children aged three and four years, and for some children aged two years.

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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

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Setting details

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Setting details

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Setting details

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