Devizes & District Opportunity Centre

Inspection of Devizes & District Opportunity Centre Opportunity Centre, Bellevue Road, Devizes, Wiltshire SN10 2AJ

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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 Outstanding

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The provision is outstanding

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities flourish in this specialist centre. Children benefit from excellent setting-in procedures to help them settle in this extremely welcoming learning environment. The experienced and caring staff team places children's individual needs at the heart of everything they do.

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The provision is outstanding

All staff know children, their interests, and their abilities extremely well. The curriculum is highly stimulating and individualised. This, alongside staff's consistently high-quality interactions, helps each child to achieve the best possible outcomes from their starting points.

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The provision is outstanding

The manager and staff have high aspirations for children. They prepare children exceptionally well for their next steps in education and their future life as citizens in the wider world. Children benefit from outings in the community, such as to the local shops to deliver certificates of thanks for funds raised and to the local nature centre.

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The provision is outstanding

Staff sensitively support children to understand behaviour expectations and changes in routine. Children gain listening and attention skills and are eager to explore books. Staff successfully engage children as they read a book about a bear. Children move their bodies with excitement and clap their hands in delight as they listen to the story. Staff expertly support children to look at the pictures in the book and make excellent use of signs and speech to reinforce children's understanding.

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need to do better?

n The manager is inspirational. She, alongside the staff team, is committed to providing an extremely high-quality provision. The manager meticulously reflects on the provision and staff practice. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic restricting home visits before children start at the setting, she introduced tailored assessment visits for children and parents at the centre. She ensures staff receive effective support and training to enhance their skills further. Additional funding is used well, such as purchasing new resources for the role-play area to develop children's social skills and understanding of the world. n The manager and staff build exceptional partnerships with other professionals to provide children and their families with expert support. This includes outreach support for other settings children attend and to support children's move to school. Parents and carers speak glowingly about the centre, staff support, and

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need to do better?

the progress their children have made since starting. They appreciate the wealth of strategies that staff share with them through discussion and online to help them support their children's learning and development at home. n Staff plan a wealth of purposeful activities that help children to build on what

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need to do better?

3 March 2022 they can do. They skilfully support children to engage in activities that are out of their comfort zones, to extend all areas of their learning. Staff use highly successful strategies to teach children to communicate their needs. This includes picture exchange cards, signs and symbols alongside speech. Children benefit immensely from the individually targeted communication and language sessions. n Children behave well. Staff teach children how to share as they take turns to press buttons on toys, for example. Children become deeply absorbed in their play. Staff talk to children constantly and successfully encourage them to keep on trying during activities, to enable them to achieve. For instance, during sand play, staff demonstrate how to 'tap, tap, tap' the sand down into the bucket with scoops to fill the bucket up to the top. n Children eagerly sit down and engage in planned singing activities with staff.

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need to do better?

Staff support children to make decisions, such as showing them pictures to help children choose the next song. Staff increase children's enjoyment and physical skills, as they help them to 'row, row, row the boat' and to 'wind the bobbin up'. n Children enjoy exploring sensory resources, for instance water containing glitter, and manipulating dough. Staff extend children's physical skills, encouraging them to 'press down hard' on plastic cutters to make shapes in dough. Staff weave mathematics into activities, such as talking about the rectangle and star shapes. Staff embed simple counting in activities and some children recall and vocalise number names in their play. n Staff support children extremely well to develop their self-care skills, such as teaching them to drink out of open top cups. They use highly successful strategies to encourage children to eat a variety of food to support their good health. Staff work in partnership with parents to potty train children, when they

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need to do better?

show signs of readiness. Staff support children's social skills well, such as sitting with children to eat their own lunch and chatting to them.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

The manager implements stringent recruitment and vetting procedures to ensure staff's suitability to work with children. She ensures new staff complete a thorough induction and training programme to enable them to understand their role and responsibilities. Staff-to-child ratios are high. Staff deploy themselves extremely well, not only to support children's learning highly effectively, but also to supervise children constantly to help keep them safe.

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Safeguarding

The manager and staff have an excellent understanding of how to promote children's welfare and protect them from harm. They monitor children's attendance and well-being diligently. They know the correct procedures to follow if they need to report a concern about a child or adult. The designated safeguarding lead liaises with other professionals promptly when needed, to help safeguard children.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 145904 Local authority Wiltshire Inspection number 10125945 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 Sessional day care

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inspection

Total number of places 30 Number of children on roll 21 Name of registered person Devizes and District Opportunity Centre

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reference number

Telephone number 01380 726077 Date of previous inspection 28 April 2014

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Information about this early years setting

Devizes & District Opportunity Centre registered in 1978 and is a specialist centre for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. It operates from a purpose-built centre in Devizes, Wiltshire and families are referred from local towns and villages. The centre opens each weekday during school term time. Sessions on Monday morning are only for children under three years old who are accompanied by parents and/or carers. Other sessions are Monday 11.30am to 2pm, Tuesday 9.15am to 11.45pm, Wednesday 9.15am to 11.45pm and 12 midday to 2.30pm, Thursday 9.30am to 10.45am for child assessments and 11.30am to 2pm, Friday 9.15am to 11.45pm. The centre is in receipt of funding for the provision of free early education for children aged two, three and four years. There are 10 members of staff working with the children, including the manager. The manager holds a recognised early years qualification at level 5 and a relevant management

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Information about this early years setting

qualification at level 6, seven staff hold early years qualifications at level 3, one staff member holds a level 2 early years qualification and one staff member is unqualified. The centre uses a number of teaching methods that are specifically for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Inspection activities

n This was the first routine inspection the provider received since the COVID-19 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 manager completed a learning walk with the inspector and discussed the curriculum and ethos of the centre and what she wanted children to learn. n The inspector observed the quality of staff interactions with children indoors and outdoors. n The inspector talked to staff at appropriate times and carried out a joint observation of a singing activity with the manager. n Parents and carers shared their views of the centre with the inspector. n The inspector met with the manager and looked at a sample of documents, including staff suitability checks.

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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

3 March 2022 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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