First Friends Pre-School

First Friends Pre-School Vincent Street Hall, Vincent Street, Crewe, CW1 4AA

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 23 May 2017 28 January 2015

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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

 Staff expertly support and extend children's learning at every opportunity. Children's excitement in learning is evident. Staff keep all children captivated and encourage them to be active, participants in learning.  Children are exceptionally well prepared for their next stage of learning in school. Staff enable them to become independent thinkers and develop their skills in literacy and mathematics. They develop excellent social behaviour, for example, in general group situations and during group learning tasks.  Staff have excellent records of children's abilities and actively use these assessments to plan activities. They provide a vibrant range of activities which captivates children and widens their knowledge of the world. Staff carefully monitor children's progress to ensure interventions are in place to drive all children's learning forward.  Parent partnership is excellent. Opportunities to become involved in children's learning

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This provision is outstanding

are wide ranging. For example, parents can stay and play to see how staff promote children's learning, and have prompt sheets to explain how they can further extend children's communication and literacy skills at home.  The friendly community-based ethos of the pre-school enables children to quickly settle and develop excellent relationships with staff and each other. Staff meet children's personal, social and emotional needs extremely well.

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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

 evaluate further the impact of staff's training and research on teaching and learning.

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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 spoke with staff and children during the inspection.  The inspector completed a joint observation with the pre-school manager.  The inspector held a meeting with the pre-school manager and provider. She looked at relevant documentation and evidence of the suitability of staff working in the pre- school.  The inspector spoke to a number of parents during the inspection and took account of their views.

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management is outstanding

Children benefit greatly from a small pre-school with an extremely strong management team. The manager works exceptionally well with health service staff and other professionals to ensure their evaluations of children's abilities lead to additional help being provided rapidly when required. Staff are very well qualified and have extremely high levels of training. The manager has identified how to review the impact training has on their provision and children's learning outcomes even more robustly. Arrangements for safeguarding are effective. All staff put children's safety at the heart of everything they do. They have up-to-date knowledge of the signs of possible harm and what to do if concerned about a child's welfare.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is outstanding

A key strength of this group is the conversations children and staff have. Staff are expert in promoting children's confidence and curiosity, they give children ample time to think and answer any questions. Even the least experienced staff understand their vital role in extending children's thinking and are skilful in directing conversations to help children make connections and consolidate skills. Staff enable children to enjoy using rhythm and rhyme and children are extremely confident in using letter sounds. Staff use every opportunity to reinforce mathematical language. They plan innovative activities to reinforce children's understanding of number, colour and positional language.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are outstanding

Staff model exemplary behaviour for children to follow. All children show extremely high levels of respect for each other and the atmosphere is calm and industrious. Staff reflect on what they need to change. For example, they changed the routine and introduced more structured group work in response to situations where older boys needed more challenge. Children enjoy exercise and learn to manage risk highly effectively. For example, they knew to only look and not touch the bee they found outside.

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Outcomes for children are outstanding

Children concentrate and cooperate in groups at an exceptional level and learn skills they will need when they move into primary education. They are developing confidence in the building blocks of reading and in their understanding of mathematical concepts, including simple calculations. They have excellent general knowledge and develop very good thinking skills. Children have excellent opportunities to build on their knowledge and reflect on events over sustained periods of time. For example, they cover themes, such as bugs where they look very carefully at reference photographs when painting pictures of their own bugs, working with precision and determination. They also confidently use an excellent range of descriptive words as they explain how different insects move.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 305057 Local authority Cheshire East Inspection number 1090595 Type of provision Full-time provision Day care type Childcare - Non-Domestic Registers Early Years Register Age range of children 2 - 4 Total number of places 30 Number of children on roll 23 Name of registered person First Friends Pre-School Playgroup Committee

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reference number

Date of previous inspection 28 January 2015 Telephone number 01270 251912

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reference number

First Friends Pre-school registered in 1991 and is located in Crewe. The pre-school is open during term time only, Monday to Friday from 9.15am to 2.15pm. There are five members of staff. Of these, all hold appropriate early years qualifications, four at level 3 and one holds early years professional status. The pre-school receives funding for two-, three- and four-year-old children.

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reference number

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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reference number

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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reference number

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reference number

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reference number

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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