Crescent Under Fives

Inspection of Crescent Under Fives 148 Wokingham Road, Reading RG6 1JR

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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

Children arrive happy and show much affection for the caring staff team. They form strong emotional bonds with staff and demonstrate a sense of belonging in the safe environment. Staff know their key children well and have clear intentions for what they want children to learn next. Children are eager to play and motivated to learn. They play cooperatively with their friends and clearly enjoy their time they spend at the pre-school. Staff sequence children's learning well to support their progress over time. As a result, all children make good progress.

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The provision is good

Staff are very sensitive in supporting children who initially struggle to settle into the setting. They work closely with parents to ease the transition from home. Staff plan a broad and inclusive curriculum around the children's interests. Children busily play in a calm environment where they can explore various resources. They thoroughly enjoy being physically active outside, where they climb, paint, care for the plants and develop small muscle movements as they use pegs to hang socks on the line. Children squeal with excitement as they observe and compare how far they can roll toy cars, when launched down a tube.

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The provision is good

Staff understand and support children's behaviour effectively through the use of positive language, guidance, targets and encouragement. Overall, children are respectful of their environment and display good behaviour. Staff help children build a positive sense of self and celebrate their various skills, cultures and languages.

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need to do better?

n The recently appointed pre-school leaders have made a positive impact in a short time. They have worked closely with the staff team to prioritise improvements to the environment, organisation of the sessions and staff morale. n Staff plan an interesting curriculum that it is ambitious and has high expectations of what the children can learn. Children benefit from the learning opportunities that staff provide. This helps to inspire and engage children in their learning at pre-school. For example, children eagerly investigate growth and life cycles and predict what may happen when adding water drops to paper caterpillars made in an experiment. Overall, staff involve the children in making decisions about their play and their learning. In this way, children learn to become confident, independent and resilient learners. n Children's communication and language skills are given a high priority. Staff encourage children to become confident communicators and use every

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need to do better?

opportunity to engage children in meaningful conversations. Children join in with familiar and interesting singing and story times, which staff lead well. Staff teach children about heathy eating and talk about the different fruits available at snack time. Children excitedly link this to their focus book of 'The very hungry

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need to do better?

24 June 2024 caterpillar'. n Leaders target any additional funding effectively. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities benefit from additional adult support to enable them to access the curriculum and continue to learn safely. Staff fully utilise the advice they receive from other professionals when completing children's personalised learning plans. n Staff organise the learning environment well. They position themselves around to support children's play and ensure children are always vigilantly supervised. The daily routine is consistent and well established. However, there are times during the day when children's play is stopped for routine activities. This means children do not have enough time to fully explore their own chosen emerging interests. n Partnerships with parents are good. Staff share information with them in a range of ways. For example, they talk to them at handover times and share relevant

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need to do better?

learning and development information using the online platform. Parents are very happy with the care and education their children receive. They speak highly of the staff. Parents feel welcomed, supported and informed. They comment on how happy their children are to attend. n The manager knows her staff well because she works closely alongside them. She welcomes open team discussions and supervision sessions are in the early stages of development. Staff attend mandatory training such as safeguarding and paediatric first aid and keep their knowledge and skills up to date. However, the coaching and monitoring of staff is not fully embedded and an area of focus, to help strengthen and raise the quality of teaching to even higher levels.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

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should:

n review the organisation between routine tasks and activities, so that children have more time to develop their emerging interests n continue to monitor and focus on strengthening staff practice to raise the quality of teaching practice to even higher levels.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 116827 Local authority Reading Inspection number 10349294 Type of provision Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Registers

Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register Day care type Sessional day care

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inspection

Total number of places 26 Number of children on roll 34 Name of registered person Crescent Under Fives

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reference number

Telephone number 0118 901 0012 Date of previous inspection 3 December 2018

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Information about this early years setting

Crescent Under Fives opened in 1970 and registered in 2001. It operates from the grounds of Alfred Sutton Primary School in Reading, Berkshire. The pre-school employs 13 members of childcare staff. Of these, eight hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2 to level 6. The setting opens for 38 weeks of the year. Sessions are on Monday to Friday from 8.40am until 3.20pm. The setting provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children.

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Inspection activities

n This was the first routine inspection the setting received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the setting and has taken this into account in their evaluation of the setting. n This inspection was carried out as part of a risk assessment process. n The inspector observed activities in the main base rooms and garden. She talked to staff about the progress individual children are making and what they want the children to learn. n The manager and the inspector completed a learning walk across all areas of the pre-school to understand how the early years provision and the curriculum are organised. n A joint observation was carried out by the inspector and the manager. The inspector observed interactions between staff and the children and the impact these have on children's learning. n The inspector reviewed relevant documentation, including the arrangements for

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Inspection activities

paediatric first-aid training. The inspector had a discussion with leaders about the evaluation of the setting and plans for improvement. n The inspector spoke to parents and children during the inspection and took account of 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

24 June 2024 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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