Houghton & Wyton Pre-School Playgroup

Houghton & Wyton Pre- School Playgroup Green Lane, Wyton, Huntingdon, Cambs, PE28 2AP

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 9 February 2016 23 April 2012

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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

 Children make excellent progress and are prepared exceptionally well for school. The quality of teaching is consistently high. Staff play alongside children and skilfully use their interests to motivate and challenge them.  Managers and staff are passionate about children in their care. They make every effort to engage with and get to know parents and carers. They develop a deep understanding of each child's needs and help all children to realise their full potential.  Parents praise the pre-school highly. They say that staff truly care about their children. Staff work very closely with parents to put into place additional strategies where needed. All children, including disabled children and those with special educational needs and children who speak English as an additional language, thrive.  Inspirational leadership and a continuous evaluation of the quality of the provision makes this an exceptional pre-school. Highly effective monitoring of teaching practice

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This provision is outstanding

and a dedication to training has given staff a confident understanding of how children learn and develop.  Staff provide children with exceptional opportunities to learn about their own and other languages, faiths and cultures. Activities reflect children's individual, diverse backgrounds and promote their understanding of their own community and the wider world.  Children of all ages form secure emotional attachments to staff. This gives them a firm basis to independently explore, learn and develop with confidence.

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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

 continue to monitor and share the excellent professional knowledge of staff to enhance still further their responses to children's learning needs.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector carried out a joint observation with the manager.  The inspector observed the quality of teaching and spoke to staff about how they plan for children's progress.  The inspector looked at the premises and the resources available to children. A range of documentation was looked at, including staff suitability and training, some policies and procedures and children's records.  The inspector met with the manager and a representative of the management committee to look at and evaluate management processes.  Discussions were held with a number of parents and their views and comments were taken into account.

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management is outstanding

The well-qualified manager provides inspirational leadership to the strong staff team. She is thoroughly supported by the dedicated management committee. Staff have an excellent understanding of how to promote children's learning and welfare. They enthusiastically seek out learning opportunities to extend their knowledge. The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. Child protection is given a high priority and all staff have a confident understanding of the reporting procedures that help to protect children. Meticulous monitoring of the progress children make in their learning helps staff to ensure all children make the best progress possible. Close links with other agencies help staff to provide children with the support they need. Staff work closely with the school. They learn some useful techniques that children use in school, such as the correct formation of letters, so children are ready for their move on to the Reception class.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is outstanding

Staff plan precisely for each child's optimum progress. Children who are already achieving well continue to be challenged with new learning opportunities. Children whose learning is delayed are given effective support. Parents are encouraged to take an active part in home learning. They contribute what children have enjoyed and achieved at home. They take home favourite storybooks and ideas for activities to extend children's learning. Children enjoy learning mathematical concepts as, for example, they sort long and short pieces of string. Staff are adept at developing children's language skills, including those who speak English as an additional language. They engage children in detailed conversation, encouraging them to think about and explain what they are doing. Children explore different types of writing. They make a Chinese display with Mandarin script and learn about the language of Myanmar.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are outstanding

A very well-established settling-in process helps children to quickly become happy and confident individuals. Home visits are very popular with parents and give staff an early insight into children's aptitudes and their special people. Staff communicate very well with each other and have a real understanding of all children who attend. Innovative activities excite children. For example, finding out that dinosaurs laid eggs ignited children's interest. They researched in books and on the internet and made life-size eggs from paper and glue, then compared them to hen's eggs. They created a dinosaur land and hunted for fossils in sand. Older children develop excellent physical skills as they create obstacle courses from planks and tyres. Staff talk to them about risk and how to avoid trips by going across one by one. Younger children enjoy a richly resourced role-play area, where they act out their ideas and play cooperatively with their friends.

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Outcomes for children are outstanding

Children are given every opportunity to make rapid progress, given their starting points. Children receiving additional funding are supported effectively. Children are highly independent, self-motivated learners. They are very well prepared for their entry into school.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY433287 Local authority Cambridgeshire Inspection number 853393 Type of provision Sessional provision Day care type Childcare - Non-Domestic Registers Early Years Register, Voluntary Childcare Register Age range of children 2 - 5 Total number of places 26 Number of children on roll 43 Name of provider Houghton And Wyton Pre-School Playgroup Committee Date of previous inspection 23 April 2012 Telephone number 01480 466796

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Setting details

Houghton & Wyton Pre-School Playgroup is run by a voluntary management committee and re-registered at its current premises in 2011. It operates from a building within the grounds of the Houghton Primary School. The pre-school opens Monday to Friday during school term time. Sessions are from 9am to 3.30pm. The setting offers funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It supports disabled children and those with special educational needs and some who have English as an additional language. The pre-school employs eight members of childcare staff. Of these, the manager has a qualification at level 5, three staff hold qualifications at level 4 and three at level 3. One member of staff is working towards a qualification at level 5 and one 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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