Holy Trinity Pre-school

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is inadequate

Children are occasionally cared for by staff whose suitability has not been confirmed. Additionally, a member of the management committee has not had their suitability checked. This is significant because committee members are involved in the governance of the pre-school and make decisions that affect children's care and education.

Children enjoy their time in the pre-school garden. Staff support them to play a game of football, during which children practise kicking the ball with increased accuracy. Staff help children to play as part of a team.

They encourage children to take turns and to recognise when one of ...their friends has not yet had a go. This supports children's social development. However, this learning happens by chance.

Some staff are not clear on what they want children to learn over time and how this learning should be sequenced.The management team have procedures in place to make sure children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive support from specialist services when required, such as speech and language therapy. However, on a day-to-day basis, children with SEND have variable experiences.

They are sometimes cared for by staff who do not know enough about them to meet their individual care and learning needs. As a result, some children with SEND wander around, and become upset because they are bored. Furthermore, staff do not consistently plan or provide appropriate learning experiences outside.

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

The management team fail to ensure that all staff members and committee volunteers are recruited following safe recruitment procedures. They have not undertaken vetting checks to confirm the suitability of some staff who occasionally care for children, when covering other staff's absences. The management team have not notified Ofsted of new committee members, dating back over a year.

This means that Ofsted has been unable to complete the suitability checks that they are responsible for.Staff provide children with activities and resources that link to their interests, but staff are not sure about what they want children to learn long-term. Staff plan some activities that support children's learning, such as a number hunt for pre-school children.

However, they are unclear about how this learning connects to children's wider understanding of mathematics, what individual children already know and what they want children to learn next.As staff do not have a secure understanding of what they want children to learn, they struggle to keep children focused and engaged in meaningful activities for sustained periods of time. Children's attitudes to their learning are not always positive.

For example, some children swipe resources off tables and throw toys, rather than using them in a purposeful way. That said, staff encourage children to use polite manners. They remind children to say thank you when their friends share toys with them.

The management team lack sufficient oversight of what is happening in the pre-school. They delegate tasks to experienced team members, such as inductions for new staff. However, they do not check that this is happening.

As a result, new staff do not have the knowledge that they need to fulfil their roles to the best of their abilities. Additionally, the management team do not check that staff are consistently using the support, coaching and training they receive to provide appropriate learning experiences for all children.Despite the weaknesses, the management team have found successful ways of engaging parents and carers in their children's learning.

They work closely with the local authority to provide workshops, where they give parents ideas, of little or no cost, that promote their children's development. For example, waving scarfs to develop children's arm muscles, which is essential for their later writing ability. Parents comment that they like the photos that staff send through an electronic app, showing them what their children are doing at the pre-school.

Staff support children to learn skills that they can use to independently manage their own care needs. For example, they teach children techniques to put on their coats. Staff provide opportunities for children to pour their own drinks at snack time, and they encourage children to wash their hands before they eat, to promote their good health and hygiene.

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 and Childcare Register the provider must: Due date obtain an enhanced criminal record check for every person who works directly with children and complete all other relevant vetting checks to confirm staff's suitability to fulfil their roles 27/03/2025 provide Ofsted with information about changes to members of the governing body (management committee) so that the relevant vetting checks can be completed 13/03/2025 design and implement a broad, ambitious, and well-sequenced curriculum that ensures children learn across the prime and specific areas of learning and development 27/03/2025 make sure all staff receive sufficient induction training to help them understand their roles and responsibilities 13/03/2025 ensure that supervision arrangements are effective in making sure staff use the support, coaching and training they receive to provide quality care and education for all children.

13/03/2025