Melbourn Playgroup And Out Of School Club

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

Children spend their time purposefully.

They are consistently engaged in an exciting range of activities and experiences that stimulate their learning effectively. Children concentrate and persevere for long periods of time. Children use their imaginations as they construct with large wooden bricks and staff's interaction is excellent.

For example, staff encourage children to test out their own ideas while risk assessing their creations. Children confidently identify particular hazards and quickly change their creations to ensure safe play. This demonstrates how children are supported in understanding how to kee...p themselves and others safe.

Children behave exceptionally well. The care they show for their surroundings, resources and each other is excellent. For example, children kindly ask one another to join in with activities.

They respond positively with reactions such as, 'Of course you can'. This demonstrates children's high levels of mutual respect and their natural consideration of welcoming other children into their play. Children's communication and language development are excellent.

Staff provide children with exceptional opportunities to develop new words and vocabulary. For example, they read stories on request in the middle of activities, encourage children to use a range of descriptive words during a 'feeling game' and model words, such as 'fantastic', when praising children for their efforts.

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

The leadership and management team are inspiring.

The co-managers and committee work significantly well together. Each person demonstrates an extremely good understanding of their role and responsibility. The committee are very active, meeting regularly with the co-managers and staff team.

They take a significant interest in the setting and offer high levels of support to all.Children make outstanding progress given their starting points and capabilities. They interact and engage in conversation with staff exceptionally well as staff join in with their play.

For example, as children explore a variety of coloured rice, they use scales and other tools to pick up and transport the rice. Staff extend their learning, encouraging the children to develop an excellent understanding of similarities and learn how to balance using cups and spoons. Staff's excellent quality of teaching and modelling aids children's learning exceptionally well.

Staff have exemplary partnerships with parents. Parents state that they receive 'excellent' communication, are highly involved in children's learning and develop strong bonds with their child's key person and whole staff team. Parental involvement actively contributes to children's learning.

For example, parents are encouraged to come in and share their own skills and interests, join their children for story time and regularly share their children's progress and achievements from home.The co-managers work with integrity to ensure that additional funding is used effectively to promote children's learning. They monitor children's progress and decide on resources that will aid children in achieving their full potential.

For example, additional cooking activities for small groups of children successfully help to strengthen their personal, social and emotional development.Children are extremely motivated and have excellent opportunities to develop their physical skills. They explore as many outstanding opportunities outside as they do inside.

For example, children create their own café. They write menus, take orders and pretend to cook for staff and children as they play imaginatively. This has a very positive impact on children's self-confidence.

They demonstrate a meticulous understanding of their own safety, taking turns as they move around the play space, puddle jump and climb the central 'hill' to reach the slide.The co-managers are highly reflective of their practice. They consistently review and evaluate the day-to-day operation of the setting and the views of parents and children.

The co-managers have an ongoing action plan and follow the local authority quality framework to help ensure their evaluations are rigorous. This means the setting continually improves. The co-managers' vision and ethos are meticulously shared amongst staff.

The team demonstrate meaningful engagement to secure continuous development that significantly improves children's education.Children thrive on opportunities to be independent and develop the essential knowledge they need to prepare them for future learning. For example, staff and parents work collaboratively on the 'coat challenge', which encourages young children to put on and do up their own coats.

Staff encourage and empower children to be confident in social situations. For example, during small-group activities children speak up and join in with staff as they talk about numbers and sounds in front of others.Staff's supervision, well-being and professional development are managed extremely well.

Staff report that they are very happy. They state that they are consistently supported to undertake further training and continuous professional development to provide highly skilled teaching. This has an excellent impact on staff's workloads, their quality of teaching and children's learning.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The committee, co-managers and staff team demonstrate an excellent knowledge and understanding of their roles and responsibilities in safeguarding children. They each attend regular training and discuss safeguarding changes at each team and supervision meeting to ensure that policies and procedures remain robust.

The management team implements comprehensive recruitment and induction procedures to ensure that staff are suitable to carry out their roles. Staff are highly confident in their knowledge of how to identify and report any concerns about children. This impacts extremely positively on children's safety and welfare.

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