Little Barn Owl's Forest School

Little Barn Owl's Forest School The Old Council Offices, Bonfire Hill, Church Lane, Southwater, Horsham, West Sussex RH13 9BT

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Inspection date 31 January 2019 Previous inspection date Not applicable

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This inspection: Outstanding 1

Previous inspection: Not applicable Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding 1 Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding 1 Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding 1 Outcomes for children Outstanding 1

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This provision is outstanding

n Staff work in exceptionally close partnership with parents to help provide high levels of continuity. Parents know precisely how to support their children's learning at home and are very well informed. They have access to excellent support, which include parent training sessions and opportunities for them to receive expert guidance to support children's well-being. n Staff skilfully build on children's ideas. They continually provoke children's deep thought and investigation during play and activities. For example, when children notice that the ground is too hard to bang sticks into. This becomes a wonderful activity where they compare the properties of sticks and experiment to find out which sticks can best penetrate the icy ground. n Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language make excellent progress from their

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This provision is outstanding

starting points. Managers work extremely closely with other professionals to provide the highly focused and attentive support that children need to meet their full potential. n Children learn extremely well how to keep themselves safe and healthy. They actively consider how to manage risks they encounter and recognise independently when resources are not safe to use. For example, they decide not to use icy play equipment. n Managers have an immense passion for ensuring children achieve excellent outcomes and have purposeful learning experiences. They continue to enhance the provision, such as reviewing practice robustly and considering the views of staff, parents and children. n Children behave impeccably. They learn exceptionally well how to manage conflicts in a mature and courteous manner. They frequently demonstrate this. Staff promote the development of social skills and manners exceedingly well. Children consistently listen

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This provision is outstanding

to each other and value their friends' comments and opinions.

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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

n enhance even further the robust systems for monitoring children's development by comparing the rates of progress made by different groups of children in greater depth.

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

Inspection activities n The inspector observed activities inside, outdoors and in the forest school provision. n The inspector talked with staff, children and the manager at appropriate times throughout the inspection. n The inspector looked at children's assessment records, staff's planning documentation and checked evidence of the suitability and qualifications of staff. n The inspector took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day of the inspection.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is outstanding

Safeguarding is effective. Managers and staff demonstrate an extremely strong understanding of how to notice if a child's welfare is at risk and know precisely how to act if a concern arises. Managers provide exceptional support for staff to build on their already admirable skills and knowledge with thorough and extremely effective performance management systems. New staff benefit from targeted training and guidance in the specific teaching philosophies that the setting follows and quickly meet the very high expectations that managers have of them. Managers monitor children's progress meticulously to ensure every child achieves to their full potential. However, they do not thoroughly compare the progress of different groups of children.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is outstanding

Staff provide excellent teaching. They promote children's development of early literacy skills highly effectively. For example, children learn to differentiate between sounds as they test out the noises different objects make to create their own musical jingle. Staff frequently act on children's interests to help them to explore the different purposes for writing. For instance, children labelled the creations that they made from reclaimed rubbish. They made marks to represent appointments in their 'dentist' role-play area and wrote letters to the Queen. Staff teach children about mathematics exceptionally well. They help children use numbers, including to solve problems in everyday activities. For example, children add and subtract numbers when they work out the correct number of chairs needed for lunchtime. Staff assess children's progress meticulously and understand each child's priorities for learning extremely well.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are outstanding

Staff form extremely strong relationships with children and their families. They use excellent procedures to help children settle quickly and feel safe. Staff show sensitivity and care in ensuring children develop the emotional well-being to cope with moving rooms, and when they move to other settings, including school. This includes by giving children many carefully considered outdoor experiences, to help them feel confident and ready to start enjoying the forest school activities on offer. Children understand and investigate in detail the differences that exist between people. For example, when a child noticed that her eyes were a different colour to her friends, this triggered a detailed investigation. Children looked at people of different ages, ethnicities and with differing abilities to compare eyes.

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Outcomes for children are outstanding

Children become exceptionally effective learners. They lead their learning with high levels of independence. They persevere exceptionally well to achieve their desired outcomes. For example, when creating a model with tubes and tyres, children take time to ensure the pieces fit together correctly. Toddlers get greatly involved in their explorations, they sit in trays of different materials and explore with their whole bodies. Children reflect on their ideas deeply and build on these at an advanced level. When they notice rubbish on a nearby field they explore their ideas intently, including creating a sign to help raise other people's awareness of taking care of the environment.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY541748 Local authority West Sussex Inspection number 10089852 Type of provision Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Registers

Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register, Voluntary Childcare Register Day care type Full day care Age range of children 1 - 5 Total number of places 28 Number of children on roll 55 Name of registered person Little Barn Owls Ltd

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reference number

Date of previous inspection Not applicable Telephone number 01403 732722

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reference number

Little Barn Owl's Forest School registered in 2017. It operates from a hall in Southwater, West Sussex. The setting opens from 7.30am to 6pm, Monday to Friday for 51 weeks of the year. The setting employs eleven staff. Of these, three staff have relevant qualifications at level 6 and five have qualifications at level 3.This setting follows the Reggio Emilia philosophy.

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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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procedures set out in the guidance Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted, which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . 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 and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, 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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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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