Dandelions Community Pre-School

Inspection of Dandelions Community Pre-School St. Marks Primary School, Danebury Road, Hatch Warren, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG22 4US

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Outstanding

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The provision is good

The dedicated manager and staff share consistently high expectations for every child. They provide a welcoming and nurturing environment where all children flourish. A well-established key-person system is used to promote children's emotional well-being and helps them to form secure attachments. Staff know the children well and share affectionate bonds with them. Children settle quickly and are happy and content.

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The provision is good

The manager and staff have a very proactive approach to working in partnership with parents. They arrange regular meetings and provide guidance to support parents in contributing to their children's early education and well-being. They initiate topics, such as healthy eating, and provide informative posters and leaflets. Staff provide regular feedback about children's progress and are extremely supportive towards families. Parents are highly positive in their comments about the pre-school, especially regarding the progress children make and how well staff care for them.

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The provision is good

Overall, staff demonstrate a good understanding of how children learn and develop. They provide an abundance of opportunities to enhance children's communication and language skills, such as through books, stories, songs and rhymes. Children listen intently and respond positively to adults and each other. However, on occasion staff do not recognise when opportunities arise to extend children's learning further.

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need to do better?

n Staff ensure the environment is stimulating and safe for all children. Children are confident and friendly. Staff are positive role models and teach children to listen to one another, communicate positively and to be caring. Children respond well, communicate positively and successfully develop valuable social skills which prepare them for their future lives. n There are good links with other professionals, and staff regularly liaise with them to seek advice, review children's progress and set challenging targets. This helps staff to support all children effectively, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, to make the best possible progress. n Children's communication and language development is supported well. There is a rich set of experiences to help develop children's listening, attention and speaking skills. For example, children benefit from participating in small

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need to do better?

language groups and use sign language, to help encourage their early communication skills. n Stories are promoted well within the pre-school. Children enjoy and act out stories enthusiastically, using props. Staff ask questions and encourage them to

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need to do better?

9 December 2019 recall and predict what might happen next. Children show they remember familiar stories very well and are eager to join in. n Children's behaviour is good. Children play harmoniously together and understand the need to share and take turns. Staff give meaningful praise to children for their very good behaviour and individual efforts, supporting them to develop a positive sense of themselves. n Children have ample opportunities to develop good physical skills. Staff actively encourage them to assess and manage risks as they climb, balance and gain good coordination. This is demonstrated when children play outdoors and skilfully balance on beams and manoeuvre around obstacles. n Overall, teaching is good. However, this varies throughout the session. Staff's interactions with children are not always highly effective to challenge and promote children's learning to the highest level. For example, staff ask some

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need to do better?

questions but these are not always skilfully targeted to extend children to develop and extend their own ideas and think creatively. n The manager monitors staff closely and observes them in their role. She makes suggestions as to how they can improve their practice further. She plans targeted training opportunities to help them to develop their knowledge and skills. However, there is still scope for continuous professional development opportunities to focus even more precisely on raising teaching practices to the highest level.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

The deployment of staff is effective and children are always supervised. Robust risk assessments help to ensure that children can play in the secure and safe environment. The provider has robust recruitment and induction procedures in place to check that staff are suitable to care for children. The manager ensures that staff undertake safeguarding training and attend meetings to keep their safeguarding knowledge up to date. There is a lot of useful guidance and advice displayed around the premises to raise awareness of the importance of child protection. Staff have a thorough understanding of what to do if they have concerns about a child's welfare.

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should:

n review and improve the deployment of staff to provide children with consistently effective support, so that they are challenged during activities, to build on their existing knowledge and skills n enhance the good systems for staff's supervision and support, to further develop their skills and raise the teaching to an even higher level.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY297275 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 10108588 Type of provision Childcare on non-domestic premises Registers Early Years Register Day care type Full day care Age range of children 2 to 4 Total number of places 26 Number of children on roll 56 Name of registered person Dandelions Community Pre-School

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reference number

Telephone number 01256818857 Date of previous inspection 24 November 2014

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Information about this early years setting

Dandelions Community Pre-School registered in 2004. The pre-school is located in the grounds of St Mark's Primary School in Basingstoke, Hampshire. It opens each weekday during term times from 8.30am to 4pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions and some stay all day. The pre-school receives funding to provide free early education for children age two, three and four years. There are 11 staff members who work with the children, four of whom hold relevant early years qualifications at level 3 or above. The manager holds a qualification at level 6 and one other member of staff holds early years professional status.

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Inspection activities

n The inspector and the manager completed a learning walk across all areas of the pre-school to understand how the early years provision and the curriculum are organised. n The manager and the inspector completed a joint observation of an activity. n The inspector asked the staff questions throughout the inspection to establish their understanding of how to safeguard children, and how they assess and plan for children's learning. n The inspector observed the interactions between staff and the children, and considered the impact on their learning. n The inspector held discussions with parents and considered their views.

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Inspection activities

We carried out this inspection 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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Inspection activities

9 December 2019 regulates and inspects to 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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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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