St John's Preschool Hook

Inspection of St John's Preschool Hook St. Johns Pre School Nursery, London Road, Hook, Hampshire RG27 9EG

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Overall effectiveness Outstanding

The quality of education Outstanding Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Outstanding Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Not applicable

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The provision is outstanding

Children are happy, settled and flourish in the highly stimulating environment. They benefit from highly impressive individual settling-in arrangements. Staff are extremely nurturing. They understand and respond swiftly to children's individual care needs. This supports children's emotional development extremely well and helps them to build secure attachments with a key person. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), thrive in the extremely warm and welcoming pre-school.

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The provision is outstanding

Children show an excellent attitude to learning. They become deeply engaged in activities and show extremely high levels of concentration. They exhibit phenomenal critical thinking skills to solve problems. For example, they explore different ways to transport water from one vessel to another. They try a range of methods, including buckets, sponges, and pipes. Older children recognise that they need to join pieces of pipe together, to make them long enough to reach. They explore different ways to make water travel through the pipe and eventually hold the pipe above their heads. When questioned why, they comment that water cannot flow uphill.

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The provision is outstanding

Children's behaviour is exemplary. They demonstrate exceptional levels of confidence in social situations and establish consistently high levels of respect for others. Staff have remarkably high expectations of children's conduct. They provide clear and consistent boundaries and use positive strategies to guide children's behaviour. For example, a soft toy 'watches' children throughout the session and rewards their good behaviour. Children delight in receiving stickers saying 'Charlie Chimp says well done'.

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need to do better?

n The highly qualified staff use their significant knowledge and experience to create an inspirational environment. They focus on helping to support children's development across all areas of the curriculum. They are exceptionally committed to their roles and responsibilities and meticulously analyse and identify children's learning needs. As a result, children develop detailed knowledge and skills across all areas of learning. They successfully develop the skills they will need for the future. n Staff understand children's learning extremely well. They assess their progress accurately and know what they need to learn next. They plan activities that build on children's interests and strengthen their knowledge and understanding. n Staff interact exceptionally well with children. They engage in conversations with them to check their understanding and identify misconceptions. They use effective teaching, such as providing children with different materials, to help

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need to do better?

12 July 2021 them to differentiate between soft and smooth. This was demonstrated when children explored shells. Children struggled to identify that one shell was smooth and hard and described it as soft. Therefore, staff provided soft dough and children explored how it felt compared to the shell. This enabled children to identify the differences between the soft dough and the smooth shell. n Children show extremely high levels of motivation and consistently cooperate with others. For example, during role play they act out owning a car wash and take on different roles. Some children take on the part of the cashier and take payments from other children. Others wash and vacuum the cars and park them ready for their 'owners' to collect them. n Children have excellent communication skills and competently articulate what they know. For example, they talk about technology, including laptops, lamps, and voice-activated speakers. They explain in detail what these are used for and

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need to do better?

demonstrate how they work. n Staff are highly skilled in helping children to widen their vocabulary. They regularly introduce new words, such as 'curious', and explain to children what this means. Staff incorporate the words during discussions with children. For example, when children show an interest in shells, staff comment that they are curious to explore the different textures of the shells. Children speak with increasing confidence and fluency and consistently use new vocabulary. n Staff share consistently high expectations for all children. They establish exceptional partnerships with parents and other professionals, such as speech and language therapists. This helps them to support children with SEND superbly. Staff regularly liaise with professionals and parents to review children's progress and set them challenging targets. Parents speak extremely highly about the wonderful staff in the pre-school.

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need to do better?

n Leaders place top priority on staffs' ongoing professional development. They maintain a strong focus on ensuring staff can support the individual children in their care. For instance, staff working with children who are non-verbal or have limited speech have recently completed sign language training. This has enabled them to focus on developing children's communication skills more effectively, so that children are fully included in all activities.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff have an excellent understanding of their obligations to safeguard the children in their care. Leaders ensure staff complete regular refresher training to ensure they keep their safeguarding knowledge up to date. Regular quizzes help leaders to identify any gaps in staff knowledge and provide further training and support. Staff demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of how to keep children safe, including the signs that might indicate that a child is at risk of harm. They are clear about what to do if they have any concerns, including the procedures to follow if leaders do not promptly respond to their concerns.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY560993 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 10191077 Type of provision Childcare on non-domestic premises Registers Early Years Register Day care type Full day care

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inspection

Total number of places 21 Number of children on roll 40 Name of registered person St John's Preschool Hook Ltd

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reference number

Telephone number 07704255330 Date of previous inspection Not applicable

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Information about this early years setting

St John's Preschool Hook registered in 2018. It operates from a church hall in the village of Hook, Hampshire. The pre-school opens each weekday from 8.45am until 3pm during school term time only. The pre-school is in receipt of funding to provide free early education for children aged three and four years. There are seven members of staff, three of whom hold qualified teacher status and four hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3.

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Inspection activities

n This was the first routine inspection the provider received since the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the provider and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the provider. n The inspector completed a learning walk with the manager and discussed how the curriculum is organised. n The views of parents were gathered through written and face-to-face feedback. n Staff were questioned through the inspection, to establish how they keep children safe. n The inspector observed the quality of teaching during activities and assessed the impact this has on children's learning.

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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

12 July 2021 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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