St Pauls Second Steps Pre School

St Pauls Second Steps Pre School St Pauls Church Hall, Torquay Road, Preston, Paignton, Devon, TQ3 2DZ

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 8 March 2016 14 February 2011

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This inspection: Good 2

Effectiveness of the leadership and management Good 2

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This inspection: Good 2

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good 2

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This inspection: Good 2

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good 2

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This provision is good

 The manager provides effective support and coaching for all staff through ongoing meetings and by organising training to build on their good skills and knowledge.  Staff work in strong partnership with parents to meet children's learning and care needs effectively. For example, they regularly share information about children's achievements, individual next steps and upcoming planned activities, to involve parents in their children's experiences.  Children make good progress from their starting points. Staff observe children closely, to make accurate assessments and plan a broad range of activities that interest children and generally extend their learning.  There is an effective key person system in place. This helps to promote children's welfare and emotional development. Effective care practices help children to form secure attachments with all staff.

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It is not yet outstanding because:

 The provider has failed to notify Ofsted of changes to committee members, as required. This is also a breach of the Childcare Register.  On occasion, staff do not plan opportunities to challenge older children's thinking as much as possible, to extend their learning even further.  Staff do not routinely share information about children's learning with other settings that children attend, to promote a more consistent approach.

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

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Due Date

 inform Ofsted in a timely manner of changes to committee members. 25/03/2016

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Due Date

To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

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Due Date

 strengthen planning to reflect the needs of older children even more accurately, to provide high levels of challenge and consistently extend their learning as much as possible  develop closer links with other settings that children attend, to regularly share information about children's achievements, to help plan for and support children's all- round learning and development.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children's self-chosen play and adult-led activities, both indoors and outdoors.  The inspector carried out a joint observation with the manager.  The inspector took account of the views of children, parents and staff.  The inspector held a meeting with the manager at an appropriate time during the inspection.  The inspector sampled documentation, including staff and committee members' suitability checks, policies and procedures, and children's learning records.

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management is good

The provider has not completed the process to inform Ofsted of new committee members. Nonetheless, this has no impact on children's welfare because all committee members have full suitability checks and do not have unsupervised access to children. The provider intends to take immediate action to rectify this. The manager and staff are clear about the procedures to follow if they have any concerns regarding children's welfare. Safeguarding is effective. The manager effectively evaluates the provision to ensure that they continually make improvements to benefit children. She monitors and tracks children's achievements and progress successfully, addressing any gaps in their learning. For example, staff are currently creating more opportunities for boys to develop their early reading and writing skills. Staff use training well. For example, training on children's emotional well-being has led them to identify further ways to help children learn about

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

Overall, staff have a good understanding of the children's development and of how to move them forward to the next stage of learning. They plan activities to promote children's development around their interests. For example, staff provide various containers, digging equipment and toys in a tray of soil to encourage children's curiosity as they explore and investigate. Staff build on children's ideas, such as supporting a child to plant an apple pip after snack, following discussion about growth. Staff interact well and have conversations with the children, promoting their good language development. They extend children's mathematical skills well. For instance, children have frequent opportunities to hear number names and join in with counting during daily routines, and they eagerly try to match numbers with numerals.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are good

Children develop warm relationships with their key person and behave well. Staff implement consistent strategies to engage children, and teach them the importance of taking turns and sharing. Children are happy, safe and confident in the pre-school environment. They have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe, such as remembering to look for cars when crossing the car park. Staff provide frequent opportunities for children to learn to be independent, in preparation for their next steps in learning. For example, children put on their coats and peel their own fruit for snack.

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Outcomes for children are good

Children make good progress and acquire the skills they need for school. They have good coordination and control, and routinely practise these skills, such as when dancing to music and using small equipment to manipulate playdough. This supports their early writing skills and extends their literacy development.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 139472 Local authority Torbay Inspection number 836564 Type of provision Full-time provision Day care type Childcare - Non-Domestic Registers Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register, Voluntary Childcare Register Age range of children 2 - 4 Total number of places 26 Number of children on roll 21 Name of provider St. Pauls Second Steps Pre-School Committee Date of previous inspection 14 February 2011 Telephone number 07758002796

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Setting details

St Paul's Second Steps Pre-School opened in the late 1960s and operates from the premises of St Paul's Church Hall in the Preston area of Paignton. The pre-school uses the large church hall, except from 1pm to 3pm on Tuesday, when it operates from the Francis Norris room within the church hall premises. The pre-school is open between 9am and 3pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and between 9am and 1pm on Friday, in term time only. There are four members of staff, all of whom hold early years qualifications to at least level 3. The pre-school receives early education funding to provide free places for children aged two, three and four 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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