The Village Preschool

The Village Preschool Upham New Millennium Village Hall, Mortimers Lane, Southampton, Hampshire, SO32 1HF

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 14 March 2016 13 May 2010

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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

 Children are happy and settled. They have positive relationships with each other and adults, which helps to foster a strong sense of security and emotional well-being.  Partnerships with parents are excellent. Highly successful strategies engage parents in their children's learning, in the pre-school and at home.  Children have fun exploring the stimulating, well-resourced indoor and outdoor learning environments, which helps to keep them motivated and interested.  Staff know children well and regularly assess and plan for their individual learning and development. Children make good progress.  Children have access to a welcoming reading area and a wide range of books, which helps to support their early reading skills effectively.  The management and staff have a clear drive for improvement and continually reflect on the play activities. Staff work together well to ensure the sessions run smoothly.

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This provision is good

 Children benefit from good opportunities to increase their physical skills as they play indoors and outdoors, and take part in activities, such as music and movement.

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It is not yet outstanding because:

 At times, group activities are not organised around all the children's needs, and some younger children are less engaged.  Staff sometimes do things for children that they could do themselves, not making the best use of opportunities to extend children's learning further.

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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 group activities to make sure that they take account of children's differing ages and abilities, in particular the younger children  build further on children's interest in activities to target teaching to extend learning experiences as fully as possible.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children's play and staff interaction, indoors and outdoors.  The inspector talked with the provider, staff and some parents.  The inspector completed a joint observation with the manager.  The inspector looked at documentation, including a sample of children's developmental records, planning and staff suitability records.  The inspector looked at and discussed the systems used to review and evaluate the pre-school.

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management is good

Safeguarding is effective. Thorough recruitment and vetting procedures are followed to check the suitability of staff. The management has effective systems in place to monitor staff practice and ensure that children receive good care and support. Staff are well qualified. They are supported well by the management to continue to update their skills, for instance, through training such as 'sounds and letters' to improve teaching of literacy. Staff have responsibility for specific activities to make sure that these are well resourced and inviting. Effective monitoring of children's progress helps staff to plan activities that support children in their learning. The management and staff have a clear drive for the continued development of the provision. For example, they are improving the 'gardening' areas to increase children's learning experiences. Parents receive regular information about how their children are progressing. They comment positively about how staff, 'know

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management is good

their children really well' and that staff are, 'so supportive'.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

Children enjoy coming to the setting. They are keen and motivated to learn through the enjoyable and stimulating play activities and experiences. For example, they are fascinated to observe different objects under the microscopic camera. Staff ask questions to skilfully develop children's thinking and help extend their language skills. For example, children get involved in making dough. They enjoy pressing, pushing and rolling it, telling others, 'it's squishy' as they mould shapes. Staff recognise the importance of encouraging children's sense of exploration and risk-taking, while giving children clear boundaries, such as in the outdoor area. Babies have fun playing and exploring with the various resources. For example, they experiment making noises with spoons and pans outside.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are good

All children are valued and respected. Staff act as positive role models, helping children to learn about differences between each other. Children behave well. They show kindness and consideration towards others, which helps them build positive relationships. Praise from staff helps to boost children's self-esteem. Children show good independence in their personal care. Staff have a good understanding of their responsibility to follow safe working practices to support children's health, safety and well-being.

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Outcomes for children are good

Children are settled and content. They show high levels of confidence as they make choices about how and where they want to play. Children play well, eagerly investigating their surroundings with interest. For example, they had great fun exploring the various sensory play activities. Children make good progress from their starting points. They are gaining key skills to help prepare them for the future, and their move on to school.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 110224 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 839688 Type of provision Full-time provision Day care type Childcare - Non-Domestic Registers Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register Age range of children 1 - 4 Total number of places 37 Number of children on roll 60 Name of provider Claire Jane Parry Date of previous inspection 13 May 2010 Telephone number 01489 861330

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Setting details

The Village Pre-school registered in 1995. It is a privately owned group and operates from Upham New Millennium Village Hall, Hampshire. The pre-school opens five days a week during school term times and sessions are from 7.30am until 5.30pm. A team of 14 staff works with the children; of these, 10 hold early years qualifications. The owner has obtained Early Years Professional Status and the manager holds a qualification at level 5.

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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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