Thumbs Up Club located at Addington School

Thumbs Up Club located at Addington School Woodlands Avenue, Woodley, READING RG5 3EU

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Inspection date 5 August 2019 Previous inspection date 4 April 2013

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This inspection: Outstanding 1

Previous inspection: Outstanding 1 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

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This provision is outstanding

n The club is extremely well managed by qualified teachers who have high levels of additional training and experience in supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The dynamic parent committee helps the club go some way to meeting the enormous local demand for their services. n Accurate and thorough self-evaluation includes the views of staff, parents, children and advisory services. The manager is swift to attend to guidance on all areas of safeguarding and welfare and to implement improvements. Parents praise staff for their professional conduct and attention to safeguarding practices. They are confident that their children are safe, protected and having fun. n Staff think creatively about how they can overcome barriers and develop children's self- confidence. Children in wheelchairs access a new ball pool, because it has sides that can deflate. Physically vulnerable children enjoy the safety of their own bouncy castle

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This provision is outstanding

while playing alongside new friends. Children thrive in rare opportunities to be fully included, make friends and embrace adventure. n Many parents described the very positive impact that the club achieves. They say that in caring for the children, the club also provides respite care, improves family unity and sustains parent-child relationships. Children flourish. n Staff make excellent use of very different experiences to promote children's communication skills. For example, children have plenty to communicate about when a travelling farm visits the club.

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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 follow through ideas to enhance the already excellent partnerships with parents, professionals and other settings that children attend, to support even greater consistency in their care and development.

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

n The inspector read many letters from parents and carers and talked to many of them at the outset of the inspection to gather their views on the nursery and their children's progress. n The inspector observed, listened to and talked with children as they played indoors and during outdoor play. n The inspector looked at children's records and discussed staff's planning and evaluation of activities, and how they exchange information with parents. n The inspector reviewed records and procedures relating to safeguarding and risk assessment, and discussed a range of other procedures relating to children's welfare with the manager and the deputy manager. n The inspector observed care routines and completed a joint observation with the manager. Together they discussed how staff's training has contributed to children's welfare and development.

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is outstanding

The manager continues to develop her ambitious vision for the club. She is diligent in meeting high professional standards in every aspect of the club. The senior management team ably meets the needs of the rapidly increasing number of children with more- complex SEND, who enrol at the holiday and after-school clubs. Their partnership with the host school is exemplary and provides extremely safe, purposely designed and diverse play areas for all the children. The manager is astute and listens carefully to parents. She sees the enormity of the services that the children and families in her care need and structures improvements in rapid, but manageable, steps. For example, she has identified new ways to enhance consistency in children's care and development with schools and other clubs that children attend. The manager ensures that all staff undertake training in safeguarding before they work with the children. She continues to

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Effectiveness of leadership and management is outstanding

check and extend their understanding of how to protect children with SEND. Safeguarding is effective.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is outstanding

Highly effective communication between the manager, parents, visiting professionals and staff helps children achieve new skills in the short time they attend the club. For example, the manager establishes children's next steps in learning before they join the setting. Visiting professionals, such as physiotherapists, show staff how to achieve them. Staff follow their guidance and develop opportunities throughout the day for children to practise new skills. Children noticeably develop at a faster rate. For example, they begin to use changes in eye-gaze more consistently to express their choices or move a finger towards a page to indicate they are ready to continue with a story. Highly qualified and experienced senior staff continue to work alongside, coach and train junior staff. They have realistically high expectations for each child, inspire them to manage new challenges and share their achievements with their parents each day.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are outstanding

The manager and her deputy ensure that every child has a care plan in place before they start at the club. Parents say that they are hugely reassured and confident that staff meet their children's individual and often complex needs through their exemplary practice. Staff double check children's needs, allergies and attitudes against activities planned for the day in their early morning briefing. For example, children with allergies may take pictures of visiting farm animals rather than stroking them. Staff prepare other children, who do not particularly like change, to anticipate the fun of seeing real ducks and move on to a new adventure. Staff completely understand how children respond to high levels of stimulation. They help them to develop ways of managing anxiety and to make positive choices about their behaviour. Children who are physically and mentally exhausted after energetic soft play and social interactions relax in calm spaces, such as

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are outstanding

the sensory light room or the splash pool.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY401960 Local authority Wokingham Inspection number 10112935 Type of provision Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Registers

Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register Day care type Full day care Age range of children 4 - 19 Total number of places 61 Number of children on roll 40

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Name of registered person

Activity Club for Children with Special Needs (Berkshire) Committee

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reference number

Date of previous inspection 4 April 2013 Telephone number 0118 966 9073

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Thumbs Up Club located at Addington School began in 2002 and reregistered in 2009. The charity is run by a small committee and is based at Addington School in Woodley, Wokingham. The holiday club operates each weekday from 9.30am until 4pm for two weeks in the Easter holidays and four weeks during the summer holidays. The after- school club operates each weekday during school terms from 3.30pm to 6pm. Both clubs care for children from the surrounding area who are three to 19 years of age with SEND. Together, the club employs 52 staff, 20 of whom hold relevant qualifications at level 2 or above. Of these, 12 staff hold qualifications at level 6. Three of the management team are qualified teachers. Most of the remaining staff have experience of working with children with SEND.

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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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