The Squirrels Pre-School

The Squirrels Pre-School Meadowcroft County First School, Little Green Lane, Chertsey, Surrey, KT16 9PT

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 29 February 2016 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

 Leadership and management are exemplary. The manager ensures that the excellent staff team shares her vision, determination and commitment to seek ways to improve the provision further to benefit children and their families.  The quality of teaching is outstanding. The staff are very enthusiastic and provide enriching experiences for children, indoors and outdoors. They help children to thrive and become highly confident learners, preparing them for the next stage in their learning or move to school.  Staff make thorough use of observations and assessments to ensure that all children, including those who speak English as an additional language, make the best possible progress.  Partnerships with parents are excellent. Parents comment extremely positively about the excellent communication from staff.  Children's behaviour is superb. Children play happily together and show great respect and tolerance towards each other.

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This provision is outstanding

 The manager and staff consistently give the highest priority to the safety of children. For example, they are vigilant in their supervision and have an excellent knowledge of what to do if they are concerned about a child in their care.

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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

 review the organisation of the well-resourced role play area to make it easier for children to fully explore their ideas and imaginations as they play.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed the quality of teaching during indoor and outdoor activities.  The inspector spoke to the manager, staff, parents and children at appropriate times during the inspection.  The inspector carried out joint observations with the manager and deputy manager.  The inspector examined a sample of policies, including staff qualifications and suitability checks, children's assessment profiles and planning documentation.  The inspector examined the setting's self-evaluation record and explored how the provider evaluates the quality of provision and practice to drive improvements.

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management is outstanding

The leadership and management team supports staff extremely well. Ongoing training motivates staff to provide excellent care for the children. For example, staff attended training to help them provide an even more enriching environment to benefit children. The manager is highly successful in driving the excellent standards. She involves staff and parents in evaluating the quality of service. The manager reviews staff performance rigorously and uses supervision meetings to actively encourage the sharing of ideas and skills. Safeguarding is effective. The management team and staff are very clear of their role in protecting and safeguarding children. For example, staff maintain a daily record of attendance, including a record of visitors, and complete thorough daily risk assessments. The manager implements robust vetting and induction procedures to ensure staff are qualified and suitable to help keep children safe.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is outstanding

Staff use their outstanding knowledge to provide a rich and stimulating environment. For example, children have a wonderful time painting, exploring minibeasts and practising their number skills outdoors. Children show high levels of imagination, although the role play area is not organised well to enable them to fully explore their ideas. Staff observe and track children's development accurately and plan precisely for their future learning. They share information well with parents and fully include them in contributing to their children's progress. Staff develop highly successful partnerships with other settings to support children as they move on to school. For example, the manager invites other professionals to visit the pre-school.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are outstanding

Staff have high expectations of children and promote their independence extremely well. For example, staff know when to stand back while children manage their own risks to build houses and towers with building bricks. Children relish their time balancing and stacking the bricks, developing superb social and physical skills. Staff are highly sensitive to children's needs and offer high-quality praise and encouragement, such as, 'This looks amazing' and 'Very well done'. Staff are superb at promoting healthy lifestyles. Children take part in lots of physical play activities and follow well-established hygiene routines.

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Outcomes for children are outstanding

Children make rapid progress and behave exceptionally well. They carefully consider the skilful questions posed by staff and demonstrate excellent abilities to solve problems and think about what may happen next. All children are confident, independent and highly motivated learners.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 120217 Local authority Surrey Inspection number 840316 Type of provision Sessional provision Day care type Childcare - Non-Domestic Registers Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register, Voluntary Childcare Register Age range of children 2 - 5 Total number of places 26 Number of children on roll 34 Name of provider Sara Louise Hatchwell Date of previous inspection 21 November 2011 Telephone number 07840 208616

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Setting details

The Squirrels Pre-School registered in 2000. It operates from Meadowcroft Infant School in Chertsey, Surrey. The pre-school operates from 9am to 3pm on Monday to Friday, during term time only. The pre-school receives funding to provide free early education to children aged two, three and four years. The pre-school employs seven members of staff including the manager; two hold Early Years Professional Status and three hold relevant qualifications 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

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Setting details

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Setting details

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Setting details

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