Baddesley & Grendon Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children play in a stimulating environment and demonstrate high levels of curiosity and concentration. Staff observe, assess and plan well to challenge children and ensure they make good progress across the seven areas of learning.

Teaching practice is strong. Children confidently explore and investigate different textures and materials. They practise their good handling skills in a variety of ways.

For example, some children decide to make greetings cards. They create their own designs using pens, coloured paper, scissors, glue and sticky tape. Children explore textures and smells while they play in the 'dinosaur swam...p'.

They talk about the texture of porridge oats, rice and cooked spaghetti, and they compare how different herbs smell. Children who are new to the group settle quickly with their key person's support. Children are keen to get involved in activities and they confidently make decisions about their play.

They behave well and play cooperatively. Staff acknowledge when children are helpful, and their praise helps to boost children's self-confidence and self-esteem. The relationships between staff and children are very good.

Children learn to manage their personal needs independently, and they understand and adopt healthy habits. They learn to manage tasks for themselves, including putting on their coats and cutting up fruit at snack time. Children are physically active in the outdoor play area every day.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

There has been significant improvement since the last inspection. Staff support children effectively so that they acquire skills and a capacity to learn. Staff continually assess what children know and can do.

They use this assessment, alongside children's interests, to ensure that they consistently provide challenging activities for children. Children develop good skills that help them to be ready for the move on to the next stage in their education.Staff work with parents and other early years professionals to ensure that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive the additional support that they need.

Partnerships with all parents are good. However, partnerships with other providers where children attend part time are not fully effective in ensuring continuity of learning for children.Children continually engage in conversations with their friends and with staff.

Older children express themselves confidently and young children's speaking skills are developing well. Children play cooperatively and talk to each other while playing with role play resources. They pretend to be shopkeeper and customer while playing with a toy cash register.

Children sit together for a group time at the beginning of the session. Older children are fully engaged while challenged to name the day of the week and the current month when the staff member makes the sound of the first letter in each word. Older children recognise the number five when they talk about the date.

They know that six comes after five. Older children remain interested throughout the session. However, some of the two-year-old children are not interested or engaged, even though they are happy to sit in the large group.

Children make good progress in their literacy development. Children aged from two to four years collect a card to register their attendance. For the younger children, the card shows their photo and first name.

As children's literacy development builds, staff remove the photo so that the children choose a card by recognising their name in print.Children gain some awareness of similarities and differences in society. However, staff do not fully promote children's awareness of cultures, traditions, beliefs and families outside their own experience.

Procedures for recruitment, selection, induction and supervision meet requirements. The manager, deputy manager and staff work effectively as a team. They support each other to ensure that their own welfare, as well as the children's, is consistently addressed.

The provider has failed to notify Ofsted of a significant event, which is a requirement of their registration. A director of the company that is responsible for the pre-school is not known to Ofsted. However, the impact on children's safeguarding and welfare is negligible because the person has no role in decision-making or the operational management of the setting.

The person does not visit the setting and has no contact with children.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager and deputy manager are the designated leads for safeguarding in the setting and they share the knowledge they gain on their training with the staff team.

Staff supplement their knowledge by completing online courses. They know the signs of abuse and neglect and the referral procedures to follow if they have a concern. Staff are aware of their responsibilities to prevent children being drawn into situations that may put them at risk.

The premises are safe and secure so that children cannot leave unsupervised and unwanted visitors cannot gain access. Staff identify and successfully minimise potential risks indoors and outdoors.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: build on partnerships with other early years settings where children also attend in order to ensure continuity of learning for these children review some group times to ensure that all children asked to take part are engaged and interested strengthen practice for teaching children about similarities and differences in communities, families and traditions beyond their own.

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