Therfield Village Pre-School

Therfield Village Pre- School Therfield Village Hall, Church Lane, Therfield, Royston, Hertfordshire, SG8 9QB

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 11 November 2015 12 January 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 quality of teaching is outstanding. Group time is a very positive experience. Staff use highly innovative teaching methods to introduce children to planned activities for the day to aid their understanding. Children remain completely engaged and captivated by staff's interactive and fun storytelling. The length of their attention and concentration is superb for children of a young age.  Staff have an excellent knowledge of how children learn. They focus on the individual needs of children to provide highly stimulating and creative activities. For example, children use their hands to squeeze and create different shapes with dough while also moving their whole bodies in rhythm to upbeat music. Staff skilfully support children who speak English as an additional language.  The strong skills of all key persons ensure that children form very warm and caring bonds with them. Children are very happy and demonstrate that they feel exceptionally

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This provision is outstanding

secure and confident in their care. Excellent settling-in arrangements help children to make a very smooth move from home to pre-school.  The highly qualified leader and dedicated team of staff have successfully achieved a local authority accreditation award.  Staff form excellent partnerships with parents. They highly value them as their children's first educators and involve them in every aspect of their children's learning. Parents are extremely well informed to support their children's learning at home. They take an active role in their children's development. Parents describe the staff as fantastic.

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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

 expand the excellent opportunities for all children to share information and ideas about themselves and their achievements to gain an even greater understanding of themselves.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed the quality of teaching during activities indoors and outdoors and assessed the impact this has on children's learning.  The inspector completed a joint observation with the pre-school leader.  The inspector held a meeting with the nursery leader and deputy leader and had a telephone conversation with the provider prior to the inspection.  The inspector joined staff and children on a visit to the local church and also to the local primary school.  The inspector spoke to staff about children's learning and also spoke to the headteacher of the local primary school.  The inspector looked at relevant documentation, such as the pre-school's self- evaluation and evidence of the suitability of committee members and staff working in the pre-school.  The inspector spoke to a small selection of parents, carers and grandparents during the inspection and took account of their views.

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management is outstanding

The leader is inspirational and she works extremely well with the proactive committee. Together, they have an exemplary understanding of their responsibilities in meeting and implementing the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. The arrangements for safeguarding children are highly effective. Robust recruitment procedures are in place. The leader's checking of children's progress is sharply focused in identifying gaps as soon as they emerge. The leader and exceptionally motivated staff team meticulously evaluate each aspect of the pre-school superbly. They set highly challenging and achievable targets for improvement. Regular supervision meetings and excellent training opportunities ensure staff are consistently up to date with their knowledge and skills. This enables them to extend children's learning experiences even further. Staff form highly successful partnerships with other early years settings that children attend. The leader also shares

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management is outstanding

her first-class knowledge with staff from other settings to help improve outcomes for other children.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is outstanding

The well-qualified staff team use a variety of different observations and precisely assess children's learning. Staff invite parents to planning meetings to ensure a collaborative approach to identifying children's precise next steps in learning. Staff actively listen and react to children's choices of activities; on 'mix it up days', children are enabled to individually express their preferences as to which activities they wish to do. Children develop high levels of understanding the world and learn to respect others. They visit the local church and lay a poppy wreath in remembrance of Armistice Day. Wonderful first- hand opportunities help children to gain an excellent awareness of how to care for animals as they bottle feed lambs. Staff have high expectations of what children can achieve. Children make predictions and solve advanced mathematical problems as they respond to staff's probing questions.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are outstanding

A positive community spirit runs throughout this pre-school. Children are excited as they arrive and are immediately ready to learn in the highly stimulating indoor and outdoor areas. Children confidently engage in social interactions with ease. They explain how the buddy bench in the outdoor area has helped them to make friends with new children. Staff give all children lots of praise and reassurance, which motivates them to have a go at challenging tasks. Staff continue to introduce innovative ideas that provide children with excellent opportunities to establish an even greater understanding of themselves. Newly registered children make and share books about themselves. Staff plan to expand the use of these for all children to share their achievements with each other. Superb daily opportunities are available for children to take part in physical exercise in the fresh air.

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Outcomes for children are outstanding

All children make very high levels of progress in their learning given their starting points in readiness for school. Exceptionally strong partnerships with local schools are in place. Staff use the same teaching methods to those used in local schools.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY216156 Local authority Hertfordshire Inspection number 872444 Type of provision Full-time provision Day care type Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 4 Total number of places 26 Number of children on roll 30 Name of provider Therfield Village Pre-School Committee Date of previous inspection 12 January 2011 Telephone number 07789 012419

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Setting details

Therfield Village Pre-School was registered in 2002. It operates from a village hall and is managed by a voluntary committee. The pre-school employs seven members of childcare staff. Of these, five hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 and above. The pre-school opens from Monday to Friday during term-time only. Sessions are from 9.30am until 12.30pm, with an optional lunch club until 1.30pm. An afternoon session is also available on Wednesday from 1.30pm until 3pm. The nursery provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It supports children who speak English as an additional language.

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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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