Little Lambs Preschool

Little Lambs Pre-School Church of the Good Shepherd, Winklebury Centre, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG23 8BU

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 9 November 2015 9 June 2015

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This inspection: Inadequate 4

Effectiveness of the leadership and management Inadequate 4

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This inspection: Inadequate 4

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Inadequate 4

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This inspection: Inadequate 4

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Inadequate 4

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This provision is inadequate

 There have been failures to meet actions set at the previous inspection regarding recruitment procedures and information required by Ofsted about the committee to ensure all adults are suitable to work with, or be involved with children.  The quality of teaching is not monitored effectively and is inconsistent. Expectations of leaders and staff are not high enough and this hinders children's progress. Some staff do not have a secure enough understanding of how to promote children's learning and development and teaching is not matched to children's individual needs.  Staff deployment is not effective to ensure all children are sufficiently challenged and purposefully engaged in rich learning experiences.  Management of children's behaviour is not consistent.  Staff do not use the outdoor learning environment effectively enough to promote and support children's learning across all areas.  Arrangements to support young children with their toileting routines do not ensure that

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It has the following strengths

 Partnerships with parents are strong. Good arrangements are in place to gather information from parents about their children when starting pre-school. Staff help parents to understand how they can support their child's learning at home.  Secure relationships are established between staff and children.

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

The provision is inadequate and Ofsted intends to take enforcement action We will issue a Welfare Requirements Notice requiring the provider to:

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Due Date

 ensure all committee members complete the relevant documentation required by Ofsted in order to assess their suitability to be involved in the care of children 09/12/2015

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Due Date

 improve the procedures for the recruitment of staff by ensuring that references are taken up so that leaders can be assured that adults are suitable to work with children 09/12/2015

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Due Date

 improve the deployment of staff to ensure that all children are sufficiently challenged and purposefully engaged in rich learning experiences throughout the session 09/12/2015

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Due Date

 sharpen the focus of supervision to identify and address ways in which teaching can be improved so that it is all consistently of a good standard 09/12/2015

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Due Date

 improve the management of children's behaviour by giving clear messages to children about what is and is not acceptable so they know what is expected of them and are helped to understand how their behaviour impacts on others. 09/12/2015

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Due Date

To meet the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and the Childcare Register the provider must:

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Due Date

 improve the quality of teaching through regular monitoring so that leaders have an accurate picture of how well staff are helping children to make progress 09/12/2015

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Due Date

 improve the outdoor environment to ensure that all children are sufficiently challenged, able to make choices and are purposefully engaged in rich learning experiences that support their development across all areas 09/12/2015

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Due Date

 ensure children's behaviour is managed in a suitable manner by giving clear messages to children about what is and is not acceptable so they know what is expected of them and are helped to understand how their behaviour impacts on others. 09/12/2015

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed the quality of teaching and its impact on children's learning both indoors and outdoors.  The inspector held meetings with the manager, the nominated person and the special educational needs coordinator.  The inspector spoke with staff and children at suitable times throughout the inspection.  The inspector spoke to a number of parents during the inspection and took account of their views.  The inspector looked at a range of documentation, including evidence of staff and committee suitability, records of the progress children have made, planning documents and evidence to show improvements that have been made to the pre-school provision.

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management is inadequate

Safeguarding arrangements are not effective. Although leaders have met their legal responsibility to notify us of changes to the committee, they have failed to provide the required documentation to enable the necessary checks to be completed. Recruitment procedures are not rigorous enough and do not ensure that new staff employed are suitable because references have not been requested. Leaders and managers have made some improvements with the support of the local authority and have met the targets set by them. However, self-evaluation is weak because leaders do not have a secure enough understanding of the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage or high enough expectations of what staff and children can achieve. They fail to monitor practice effectively in order to identify and remedy the inconsistencies in teaching. Although staff access training and have regular supervision meetings, these are not used effectively to

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management is inadequate

target inconsistencies in practice to help teaching to improve.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is inadequate

The quality of teaching is too variable. Staff do not use children's play to support and extend learning effectively enough and spend too much time supervising activities and routines. While they become involved in children's play when invited, staff are soon distracted and called away to attend to something else. This means children's learning is interrupted; they lose interest and wander off to find something else to do. Staff make good use of group activities, such as 'show and tell' to introduce sounds and letters to children and sign language is used to help support those children with additional needs. Staff do not use information about what children know and can do well enough. Expectations of staff are not high enough and some staff do not understand how much more children can achieve, which means children do not make as much progress as they should.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are inadequate

Staff do not give clear messages to children about what is and is not acceptable when poor behaviour is observed. Consequently, children are not helped to understand how their behaviour affects other people or learn to value each other's feelings. Children's privacy is not respected. Young children are being toilet trained in the main play area while children engage in their play around them. Overall, children arrive happily to pre- school and are confident to separate from their parents. They are familiar with the routine and show a sense of belonging as they hang their coats and bags up on their named coat pegs and place their name card on the board. Staff help younger children to settle, for example by fetching resources they know the child likes when the parent leaves in order to distract the child. Most of the session enables children to make their own choices about where they play and what they play with. However, the outdoor area provides little

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are inadequate

challenge and stimulation for children to extend their play across the different areas of learning and keep them motivated and engaged in stimulating activities.

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Outcomes for children are inadequate

Weaknesses in teaching mean that children are not making the progress they should. Older children are not prepared well enough for school because they are not helped to concentrate and extend their learning through their self-chosen play. This is because activities offered do not always provide sufficient interest or stimulation or encourage them to persevere with their learning.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 110498 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 1030960 Type of provision Full-time provision Day care type Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 8 Total number of places 26 Number of children on roll 21 Name of provider Little Lambs Pre-School Committee Date of previous inspection 9 June 2015 Telephone number 07758 888123

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Setting details

Little Lambs Pre-School opened in 2000. It operates from the Church of the Good Shepherd in Winklebury, Basingstoke. The pre-school has access to two rooms and a large fully enclosed outdoor area. The setting is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently 21 children on roll, all of whom are in the early years age group. Children attend a variety of sessions a week. The pre-school supports children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. The pre-school opens Monday to Friday, during term time only. Sessions run from 9.15am to 2.45pm Monday to Thursday, and from 9.15 to 1pm on a Friday. There are three different starting times (9.15, 10.30 or 12 noon) and three different finishing times (11.45, 1pm or 2.45). Children who stay over the lunch period bring a packed lunch. There are six members of staff who work with the

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Setting details

children. Five staff hold early years qualifications, two at level 4 and three at level 3.

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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

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Setting details

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