Little Pioneers Nursery & Pre-School

Little Pioneers Nursery & Pre-School

Unique reference number (URN): 319135 Address: 1 Neville Street, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, NE1 5DP Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 25/02/1994 Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR Registered person: Buffer Bear Limited

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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 show that they take pride in their achievements. For instance, older children happily take on responsibilities, such as being 'lunchtime leaders'. They carry out their roles with confidence. In addition, young children's individual 'celebrations' are displayed on a 'proud cloud', and staff talk to them about the positive things that they have done. This helps to develop children's self-esteem.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children show a 'can-do' attitude as they explore obstacle courses and make good use of outdoor resources, supporting their physical development. Overall, children make typical progress from what they know and can already do when they start the setting. They develop suitable key skills needed for their next stage in learning. All children, including disadvantaged children, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those who are known (or previously known) to children's social care, generally achieve well. They benefit from adaptations in practice, such as the use of visual cues and prompts. Children enjoy listening to stories and join in with songs and rhymes. This helps to promote children's communication and language development.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

Children show that they enjoy their time at the setting through their interactions with their friends. They show kindness and affection as they play together. Children hold hands, hug each other and laugh together during shared activities. They manage minor conflicts appropriately and are supported to recognise and talk about their feelings. Children explore similarities and differences between themselves and others, which promotes respect and understanding.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

Children form close, trusting bonds with their key person. This supports children's confidence, independence and resilience, demonstrated through their willingness to persevere with self-chosen tasks. Children demonstrate active listening skills and follow instructions well. Younger children's achievements are celebrated through approaches such as a 'proud cloud', recognising milestones like sitting at the table with peers. This supports children's self-esteem and sense of belonging. Leaders and staff work effectively with parents to promote expectations for behaviour and support good attendance.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

Children behave well and demonstrate positive attitudes to their learning. However, leaders do not ensure that aspects of the daily routine are well planned. On occasion, children are left waiting too long between key transition times of the day. This is when engagement in learning begins to dip.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Staff are good role models and encourage children to develop appropriate self-care skills, such as how to follow good hygiene routines. They talk to children about the importance of following a healthy lifestyle, for instance, through activities such as growing and preparing food. Staff support children to make foods such as beetroot and chocolate cake and talk about different healthy choices. Children begin to recognise the importance of rest after physical activity, such as learning to breathe deeply and slow down their heart rates after circle and dancing games.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Older children join in with group activities, including chanting daily affirmations that help to promote children's emotional wellbeing. Children join in with talking about how they work together as a team. They are confident and show that they are secure in the care of their key person. Children, including young babies, invite others into their play and share resources. This demonstrates children's effective social development.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Children develop increasing independence and learn to do things for themselves. For instance, they gather their own outdoor clothing ready for outdoor play, such as their own shoes and sun hats.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Typically, children benefit from learning that is shaped around their individual interests, which helps them to remain suitably motivated. Children who face barriers to their learning have individual action plans in place. Staff have props and resources such as visual timetables and cues that they can use to help children to communicate. As a result, children are generally well supported to access the curriculum and make progress in their learning. However, staff do not consistently provide high-quality interactions for children to excel in all areas of their learning. For instance, staff do not consistently adapt their teaching to build on and extend children's thinking skills. Leaders have not implemented targeted monitoring of the quality of staff interactions to recognise and swiftly address the weaknesses in teaching.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Children enjoy creative experiences, including music sessions where they explore a range of instruments. This helps to develop their creativity, confidence and self-expression. Older children build on their early mathematical understanding as they engage in activities such as creating maps and clues, which they post around the pre-school room. They begin to use positional language as they describe where objects are hidden around the environment. Overall, children benefit from a suitably varied and engaging curriculum that supports their development across different areas of learning and helps to prepare them for their next stage in learning.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders and staff work in effective partnership with parents to support all children, and particularly those who face barriers to their learning. Many children speak English as an additional language, and staff are able to support all areas of children's development through their own bilingual ability. This helps staff to build strong relationships with families and support communication with parents to help continue their children's learning at home. Staff provide guidance and practical resources for use at home. This includes developing the use of English through songs, stories, rhymes and repetition while valuing home languages. Furthermore, staff work collaboratively with parents to ensure that additional funding is used purposefully. This helps them to meet children's individual needs. For example, leaders have considered ways to enhance the outdoor environment to further support children's physical development. Children benefit from planned experiences,

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Inclusion Expected standard

including visits from external providers, such as animal workshops. This helps to promote children's personal, social and emotional development.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders have established support plans for children, and staff use visual cues and timetables to support children's spoken language. While staff complete observations and assessments of children's learning, including the statutory 2-year-old progress check, leaders do not monitor this information closely enough. Consequently, changes to provision are not sharply focused or reviewed rigorously to ensure they lead to sustained improvements in children's experiences and progress.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

There have been recent changes within the leadership team. Despite this, leaders demonstrate a secure understanding of the setting's strengths and areas for development. They show ambition for improvement and are beginning to take steps to strengthen practice across the provision. Leaders understand their responsibility to notify Ofsted of significant changes. They have recently reviewed risk assessment procedures to ensure headcount procedures are followed when children leave and return to the building following outdoor play.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders place an emphasis on working in partnership with parents. They are particularly effective in supporting families who are new to the area. They help them to access the setting and build relationships with others in the community. Leaders work closely with local agencies and signpost families to relevant services and support. They also engage parents through an online platform, sharing ideas and activities to support learning at home. For example, parents can access a lending library and practical resources to extend children's experiences beyond the setting. They value opportunities to share familiar stories at home, with children confidently joining in with sounds and words. Parents speak positively about the provision, noting the progress their children make and the strong relationships they develop.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Staff wellbeing is supported through regular supervision sessions, which help to ensure that workloads are manageable and that staff feel supported in their roles. However, leaders do not consistently monitor the quality of teaching through regular observation of staff practice. As a result, opportunities to identify and address areas for improvement in teaching are not always fully realised. In addition, they do not rigorously monitor children's assessments to swiftly identify emerging gaps and help to build sustained improvements in children's experiences and progress.

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Compulsory Childcare Register requirements

This setting has met the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register.

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Register

When we check if settings meet the Compulsory Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes:

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Voluntary Childcare Register requirements

This setting has met the requirements of the voluntary part of Childcare Register.

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Register

When we check if settings meet the Voluntary Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes:

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

Children are happy, confident and well cared for in this safe and secure environment. They separate from their parents with ease and quickly form secure attachments with the adults who care for them. This helps children to settle well and feel emotionally secure. Children show that they feel safe through their confidence, positive behaviour and willingness to explore their surroundings independently. Children develop positive social skills and form caring friendships. They greet one another warmly, play cooperatively and show kindness and respect towards their peers. Children enjoy learning and eagerly participate in a range

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Inspector:

Emma Allison of stimulating and engaging activities. They confidently talk to adults about what they are doing and share their ideas and experiences. For example, younger children explore early literacy skills as they use twigs and sticks to make marks in the sand, describing the patterns they create.

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Inspector:

Children are curious and motivated learners who enjoy exploring the world around them. They take part in meaningful experiences, such as investigating insects outdoors and engaging in imaginative play with their peers. These opportunities support their creativity, problem-solving skills and understanding of the world. Children show pride in their achievements and are developing independence and resilience through their play. Children's regular attendance is promoted through leaders working with parents to promote the importance of helping children to establish regular daily routines. Children who face barriers to their learning benefit from multi-agency working and support within the setting. As a result, all children make suitable progress in all areas of their learning.

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Next steps

Leaders should closely monitor assessments to ensure changes to provision are rigorously reviewed to lead to sustained improvements in children's experiences and progress. Leaders should implement targeted monitoring of the quality of staff interactions to support a consistent teaching approach and to support children to excel in all areas of their learning. Leaders should review key transition times of the day to ensure that they are well planned and that children are not left waiting too long before the next part of the routine.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders, parents, staff, the special educational needs coordinator 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

We carried out this inspection as a result of a risk assessment, following information we received about the provider. The provider will be able to give parents further information about this.

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Address:

1 Neville Street Newcastle upon Tyne Tyne and Wear NE1 5DP

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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Address:

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:30

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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

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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