Selby Community Preschool

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is inadequate

The pre-school has been through a turbulent period of change in the past year and a new management team have recently taken over the leadership of all aspects of the setting. However, the manager has not ensured that safeguarding policies and procedures are robust enough to keep children safe. Additionally, child protection concerns have not been responded to swiftly.

The manager has recognised this and is taking immediate steps to rectify these concerns.That said, assessment and planning for children's learning are strength of the pre-school and staff understand the needs of their community very well. The curriculum is a...mbitious in its aim to support children from a diverse range of backgrounds to develop strong language and communication skills and leave pre-school as happy and confident learners when they move on to school.

Trips and visits are provided to support children's knowledge of the world around them. Staff follow children's interests and join in with their play. This helps children to feel their ideas and interests are valued and important.

Staff make the most of opportunities in play to support children's knowledge across all areas of learning. For example, at the play dough table, members of staff model mathematical language and encourage children to make a variety of shapes as well as promoting their muscular skills while using a variety of tools.The pre-school has a particular focus on promoting good manners and respect for one another.

Children demonstrate this as they smile and chatter happily with friends in their play. Staff teach children to follow routines calmly, such as when washing their hands before mealtimes.

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

Policies and procedures relating to safeguarding are not effective.

The safeguarding policy does not support staff, including the designated safeguarding leads, with clear procedures to follow where there are safeguarding concerns for children. As a result, record keeping in relation to concerns about existing injuries and disclosures from children have not been recorded or responded to well enough. When new children are admitted to the setting the designated safeguarding lead has not followed procedures to gain enough information regarding social services involvement with families.

Due to the failures in policies and procedures, action to ensure children's safety has not been taken.The culture of safeguarding is weak. There is a lack of awareness that safeguarding children is everyone's responsibility.

Staff do not have a detailed enough understanding of how to respond to safeguarding concerns, including signs of abuse. In some instances, staff have not ensured that disclosures from children have been recorded and responded to by the designated safeguarding leads. As a result, children have not been safeguarded effectively.

The curriculum in the pre-school is largely centred around supporting children with their communication and language skills. This focus is particularly important as many children who attend are learning English as an additional language. Effective strategies are used to support children in these skills.

For example, staff learn and use key words from children's home languages. Visual cues are displayed with step-by-step instructions for routines such as handwashing. Songs, rhymes and story times are used to promote children's confidence in using language.

As a result, children are making good progress in their language acquisition and this prepares them well for starting school.Staff support children to express their thoughts and emotions. During the daily circle time session, children show they understand they can talk to any staff member if they feel worried or sad.

A special area of the room is dedicated to helping children explore their feelings. This includes a mirror so children can explore facial expressions and emotions more deeply. This helps children to feel well supported if they are experiencing big emotions.

The well embedded daily routines support children to understand what to expect through the session. As a result, children are calm and happy, demonstrating they feel safe and secure. Staff model positive behaviours and children respond to this.

For instance, all children have beautiful table manners at snack time.The setting promotes children's physical safety when on the premises and on outings. For instance, there are high levels of vigilance around site security and daily risk assessments.

High levels of staff supervision during mealtimes promotes children's safety when eating. Most staff hold paediatric first aid certificates. This helps to keep children safe at pre-school.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported. Where it has been identified that children will require an educational health care plan (EHCP) to support them in their learning and development the manager, who is also the SEND coordinator, has worked with outside agencies to ensure children have this in place before they move to school. This helps to give children with SEND a strong start to their education.

Parents are happy with their experience of the pre-school. They say that the staff are very friendly and approachable and that staff notice when their children require extra support, such as when needing more comfort and cuddles than usual. They state that communication is helpful in understanding how their children are progressing.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.There is not an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage, the provider must: Due date implement robust policies and procedures in relation to all safeguarding matters to ensure that record keeping is effective and safeguarding incidents are responded to appropriately 19/02/2024 provide further training to ensure that staff fully understand and follow all safeguarding policies and procedures, particularly in regards to disclosures made by children.

19/02/2024