Noah's Ark Preschool

Noah's Ark Preschool

Unique reference number (URN): 105882 Address: CULLOMPTON BAPTIST CHURCH HIGH STREET, CULLOMPTON, DEVON, EX15 1AA Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 23/07/2001 Registers: EYR Registered person: Noah's Ark Preschool Cullompton Committee

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children typically make good progress from their starting points, including those who are disadvantaged and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They benefit from effective one-to-one and small-group interventions, which support their access to and engagement with the curriculum. Practitioners prompt positive interactions between children and adults, modelling conversations and introducing new vocabulary.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children are motivated by the activities on offer and demonstrate perseverance and resilience when challenges arise. For example, they use a range of scissors and glue to cut and stick small gems and jewels when making Christmas baubles for friends and family. Most children sustain concentration and show curiosity, which reflects their positive attitudes towards learning.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children gain knowledge and skills across all 7 areas of learning. They consistently develop their independence skills, which supports a smooth transition into school.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

Children form secure and positive attachments with their key persons, which strongly supports their emotional wellbeing and readiness to learn. Most children, regardless of their age, are highly engaged in activities and consistently demonstrate positive attitudes towards learning.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

Leaders and staff have high expectations for children's behaviour and attitudes. This creates a culture of patience, respect, resilience and curiosity. Staff demonstrate a clear understanding of the importance of developing children's personal, social and emotional skills. They support children to manage their own feelings and behaviour through sensitive and purposeful interactions. Incidents of poor behaviour are addressed promptly. Staff act as positive role models and regularly use praise to reinforce children's positive behaviour.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

Developing children's independence underpins the curriculum. Staff embed opportunities in daily routines. For example, at snack time, they encourage children to confidently select their own healthy snack. These approaches ensure that children develop self-confidence and a strong sense of belonging. Leaders promote the value of good attendance and work with parents and carers when children arrive late. Staff work proactively with partner schools to support the best interests of children.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

The setting places a strong emphasis on supporting children's welfare, mental health and wellbeing, especially for those children who are disadvantaged and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff are responsive to the needs of young children, offering comfort, reassurance and encouragement when required. They build warm and trusting relationships that promote children's confidence and independence, helping children to develop essential self-care skills. Children demonstrate this by independently putting on their coats as they move between environments. Staff also ensure that hygiene practices are effective in meeting the personal care needs of children as they progress through the setting's phases of toilet training.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Children enjoy their play and learning, showing curiosity and enthusiasm as they explore a wide range of activities and have daily access to outdoor learning. Leaders and staff create a safe, welcoming and inclusive environment where children feel valued and secure. Children's transitions from their parents and carers into the setting are managed exceptionally well. Children arrive happily, demonstrating that they are settled and excited to begin their day.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Through positive interactions and a nurturing approach, staff support children to manage their feelings and develop resilience. Leaders ensure that the environment remains calm and consistent, enabling children to thrive in a space where their wellbeing and learning are prioritised.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Staff's interactions with children place a strong emphasis on developing their vocabulary, language and comprehension, particularly for those children who are disadvantaged. Staff prioritise children's physical development from the earliest stages. They demonstrate a clear understanding of the steps needed to build children's strength, coordination and motor control. Staff promote these skills through a well-planned and ambitious curriculum that incorporates indoor and outdoor learning opportunities.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

All children have frequent opportunities to develop their independence, supported by purposeful interactions with staff. They confidently manage tasks, such as tidying away resources and serving themselves at mealtimes. This helps to build children's resilience and self-care skills. Most children engage well in independent play, although some lose interest when staff provide activities that do not sufficiently extend their thinking skills.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Practitioners observe children during play and daily routines to gather evidence of learning and inform curriculum planning. This allows practitioners to tailor teaching to the children's different starting points, needs and stages of development. Observations focus on areas such as communication, physical development and social-emotional skills. Assessment outcomes are shared with families to support learning at home, encouraging partnership between the setting and parents.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Story sessions are engaging. Children listen attentively and predict what might happen next. They build effectively on their prior knowledge and deepen their love of stories and their understanding of the diverse world in which they live. Children also enjoy songs and rhymes, enthusiastically joining in with actions modelled by staff. These experiences support children's language development and encourage them to express themselves creatively.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The curriculum is carefully planned and sequenced to ensure that children make progress in their communication, physical development and independence. Staff's interactions are purposeful, enabling children to develop the skills they need to transition into the next stage of their learning.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Parents and carers speak positively about the setting's effectiveness in identifying and supporting their children's individual needs. This includes securing additional funding and working collaboratively with external agencies to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). This has been allocated to support additional key-person time and tailored speech and language interventions. Parents have a clear understanding of how individual support plans help their child to make progress in learning. Leaders make well-informed decisions about the use of additional funding to ensure that it supports children's next steps in learning. Parents are actively involved in these decisions, and leaders monitor and review the impact of interventions regularly.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Staff receive guidance from leaders to support all children, particularly those facing barriers to learning and wellbeing, including disadvantaged children, those with SEND and looked- after children. The majority of these children have their needs met and make progress. Staff make timely and appropriate referrals in most cases.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders work closely with parents and professionals to secure interventions and support as needed. Where appropriate, staff assist families in accessing community food banks and are provided with resources to meet children's basic needs through partner organisations. The special educational needs coordinators undertake regular training to extend their knowledge and expertise. This ensures that staff can support children with gaps in their learning and development effectively.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders have a secure understanding of the setting's context. They place the best interests of children at the heart of all decision-making. Leaders maintain strong partnerships with parents and carers and professionals, enabling children to settle quickly when they join the setting. Recent training priorities have focused on the implementation of speech and language tools and developing the value of friendship.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders have strategically identified the setting's strengths and areas of improvement. They have the necessary ambition for those children who are disadvantaged and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders demonstrate a strong commitment to professional development by offering a wide range of high-quality training opportunities and access to relevant qualifications. These opportunities are highly valued by staff and have a clear and positive impact on the quality of the curriculum and children's outcomes.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Staff's morale is high. Leaders take decisive action to ensure that staff feel valued and that workload and training are carefully managed and prioritised. This proactive approach fosters a motivated workforce. This enables staff to continually enhance their practice and meet the needs of children effectively. As a result, the setting maintains the expected standards of care and education through focused leadership and a culture of evaluation and improvement.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Children settle quickly into their day, supported by well-established routines and knowledgeable staff. Staff, parents and carers and children feel a strong sense of community and belonging. Staff work effectively with parents to identify and meet children's individual needs. These secure relationships promote children's emotional wellbeing, confidence and resilience.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Children consistently demonstrate positive behaviour and attitudes towards their learning. Staff support children well to understand and regulate their emotions and behaviours. They provide highly effective opportunities for children's personal and social development, enabling children to cooperate successfully, share and form meaningful friendships.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Children engage purposefully in play and learning, making sustained progress across all areas of the curriculum. They show enthusiasm for familiar stories, recall key events accurately and develop a genuine love of reading, songs and rhyme. Staff model language with precision. They provide rich opportunities to extend children's vocabulary and sentence structure. This ensures strong foundations for children's communication and language. Children typically recall their prior learning. For example, children confidently describe the size and shape of objects using age-appropriate language.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Staff actively promote children's physical development. Mealtimes are highly sociable occasions, where children display courteous eating habits and independently pour drinks. Staff value purposeful discussions about healthy and balanced nutrition.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Outdoor activities are carefully planned. They offer rich opportunities for children to develop their core strength, coordination and confidence in a safe and stimulating environment. Children enjoy climbing and using simple tools to build structures in the construction area.

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Address:

CULLOMPTON BAPTIST CHURCH HIGH STREET CULLOMPTON DEVON EX15 1AA

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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Address:

Registered person: Noah's Ark Preschool Cullompton Committee

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Address:

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:30 - 15:30

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Next steps

Leaders should further develop opportunities within the children's independent play to extend their thinking skills.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders, staff, the special educational needs coordinator, parents and carers and children during the inspection.

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About this inspection

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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About this inspection

A quality assurance visit by an additional inspector was carried out at this inspection.

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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