Focus School - Cambridge Campus

Minster Lovell Playgroup

Inspection report for early years provision

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Minster Lovell Playgroup

Unique Reference Number 134454 Inspection date 17 July 2006 Inspector Dorcas Forgan

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Minster Lovell Playgroup

Setting Address St Kenelms School Grounds, Wenrisc Drive, Minster Lovell, Witney, Oxfordshire, OX29 0SP Telephone number 07803 102 968

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E-mail

Registered person Minster Lovell Playgroup Type of inspection Integrated Type of care Sessional care

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E-mail

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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ABOUT THIS INSPECTION

The purpose of this inspection is to assure government, parents and the public of the quality of childcare and, if applicable, of nursery education. The inspection was carried out under Part XA Children Act 1989 as introduced by the Care Standards Act 2000 and, where nursery education is provided, under Schedule 26 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. This report details the main strengths and any areas for improvement identified during the inspection. The judgements included in the report are made in relation to the outcomes for children set out in the Children Act 2004; the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding; and, where nursery education is provided, the Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage. The report includes information on any complaints about the childcare provision which Ofsted has received since the last inspection or registration or 1 April 2004 whichever is the later.

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough For more information about early years inspections, please see the booklet Are you ready for your inspection? which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the care are good. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are good.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Minster Lovell Playgroup opened in the 1970s. The group is managed by a committee of volunteers and it operates from a portacabin within the grounds of St Kenelms Primary School in the village of Minster Lovell, which is approximately five miles from Witney and 15 miles from Oxford. The playgroup serves the local area and surrounding villages. A maximum of 24 children may attend the pre-school at any one time. The pre-school opens five mornings a week during school term times from

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 09.00 until 12.00. There are currently 30 children from two to five years on roll, of whom 22 are in receipt of funding for nursery education. The setting currently supports a number of children with learning difficulties there are none who speak English as an additional language. The pre-school employs four members of staff, one of whom, holds an appropriate early years qualification. One member of staff is currently undertaking early years training.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children stay healthy because practitioners follow environmental health and hygiene guidance, policies and procedures effectively. These include guidance to the parents about excluding children when they are sick or infectious. The majority of staff are trained in administering first aid have the relevant permissions in place. Children are gaining independence in their personal care and are learning about good health and hygiene practices through consistent guidance and support. They follow good hand washing routines and remember to wear a sun hat when it is warm. Children benefit from healthy nutritious snacks, which the group have recently introduced. Staff provide fresh fruit, daily, which the children take turns in helping to prepare. They choose the drinks that they prefer either water or milk and help themselves, independently. Children enjoy the positive experience of sitting together

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Helping children to be healthy

in small groups chatting with each other and an adult. Children are encouraged to help themselves to water from the dispenser as they feel thirsty, which often involves coming in from the garden to cool off. They are gaining a very good understanding of their bodies needs. Children enthusiastically take part in the wide range of physical activities that are available to them in the fresh air. They have opportunities to use the playhouse and dressing up clothes to develop their imagination. Water and sand are available for them to experiment and manipulate. They practise physical skills such as peddling bikes, scooting, playing with balls, climbing and sliding. Children are becoming healthy and are developing their physical skills very well.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. Children are cared for in a welcoming, secure and safe indoor environment that is very attractive and appealing, especially the area that the children have developed themselves to display their pictures and work. Risks of accidental injury are minimised as the staff regularly use risk assessments to reduce hazards. There are

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 effective security procedures in place for example at the beginning and end of the sessions. Staff maintain a high ratio of adults to children, staff are effectively deployed to ensure children are well supervised. Children are cared for in one main room, which is very well organised with separate areas for creative activities, a comfortable book corner, group sessions and an area for children to sit and work at more challenging activities. They select items independently from a very wide range of resources, which staff display around the room. Such as the children who took out the train set and with the help of an adult built the track, or the child who decided to play with the dolls house furniture and items. Children are learning to keep themselves safe and avoid accidental injury

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

through clear guidance and support, with reminders to walk up the steps with care and not to run when inside. They are also learning to care for others and be considerate, sitting carefully and not to pushing neighbours. Children are well protected by staff because they have a clear understanding of their role in child protection and they have good knowledge of the comprehensive policies and procedures. Some of the staff have attended additional training.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children enter the group enthusiastically and with confidence. Staff greet all the children individually, they are made to feel welcome. Children have formed good relationships with the staff. Many children have made friendships and are eager to meet up, they chat animatedly. They play happily together, such as the group of children who play on the bikes and climbing frame and another group who initiate an imaginary game. They are becoming familiar with choosing their own resources and activities. Staff are using strategies to extend the children’s concentration span. Some still need support. Nursery Education The quality of teaching is satisfactory. Children are lively and keen to take part in activities, they are well motivated. The staff help and support the children to make progress. One member of staff has a very competent knowledge of the Foundation Stage other staff are developing their understanding through training and experience.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The plans include all areas of learning, they clearly show the learning intentions of the focused activities, but do not show how adaptations can be made. Staff have introduced some interesting topics. They make short observations of the children's achievements which are used to complete the profiles. Profiles and assessments have only been completed for the older children this term; these have not included their next steps of learning. The daily routine of the playgroup is very well organised to maximise the amount of time children can spend at their chosen activities. Children benefit from the very wide range of resources, which are used effectively; themes are particularly well resourced with interesting artefacts and information. Children are becoming independent through making a wide range of choices, such as what to play with and who to play

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 with. They are developing confidence and self-esteem as they talk in small groups about their home life and their likes and dislikes. They show great pride in the work they have achieved within the happy positive atmosphere. Most of the children attend very well during story time, they join in anticipating what might happen and repeating the rhymes like 'there are ants in my pants'. There are a very wide range of attractive story and reference books that the children look at independently. Children are beginning to recognise their own names and some of the older children write them, they are also becoming familiar with the sounds that letters make. They make good use of the mark making resources especially in imaginary games. There are many mathematical resources and displays for the children to use and play

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

with, but counting and the regular use of numbers is not heard frequently. Children enjoy sorting animals into sets by their colour and doing puzzles. They design and construct models very well, using their imagination and matching skills, they enjoy building the train tracks. Children use the art and craft resources freely to design and make their own pictures and models, which they later exhibit in the gallery. They explore a varied range of media such as sand, water, play dough and paint, they became very excited when they found yellow and blue paint mixed together made green. They are learning to care for the sunflowers that they have grown by regularly watering them. Children are gaining skills when using the computer; they manipulate the mouse and follow simple instructions. They use a wide range of tools to develop their hand eye co-ordination such as pencils, scissors, printing blocks, glue sticks and

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

construction. Imaginary play is very well resourced, children become very involved in their make believe games, and use their imagination well.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children form very good relations with each other and the staff, they are gaining a sense of belonging and self-esteem because the staff treat them as individuals and understand their needs. They settle children into the group sensitively and make them feel welcome and valued. Children are becoming aware of the wider society, through different activities and resources, such as the basket of dolls in national costumes and posters. The group is forming close links with the school and the community through joint activities. Staff are developing effective procedures to support children with learning difficulties. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered. The majority of children behave very well. Staff have recently introduced procedures to support and guide all children to learn self-discipline and consider others. Staff are good role models, they remain calm and patient and provide clear guidance and

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Helping children make a positive contribution

explanations. The children react very well to the positive strategies used to promote self-esteem and confidence such as stickers and a treat pot. Children benefit from the positive and friendly partnership staff have with parents. The positive relationship reinforces children's sense of belonging and ensures confidence in the setting. Display boards are effective in informing parents and keep them up to date with the group and the activities. Parents are encouraged to help in

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Helping children make a positive contribution

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 the group to develop the partnership. Information is exchanged informally on a daily basis to ensure individual children's needs are met.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. Children benefit from their care being well organised. Staff use all available space effectively to ensure children can move around freely and choose the activities they wish to take part in. The committee of volunteers manage the staff and carry out competent employment procedures they ensure all staff and committee are vetted. However, staff do not have job descriptions and have not had any formal appraisals. The committee and manager have reviewed the policies and procedures so that they are working documents that support the children's welfare and education. Leadership and management is good. The new manager is an extremely good role model, supports, and guides the staff very well. She has clear aims and objectives for the playgroup and all the children who attend. She has carried out an evaluation of the playgroup and identified areas that need to be developed. The dedicated team of staff work well together to meet

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Organisation

the individual children's needs. Staff are deployed very well so that all children receive appropriate support. They deliver the curriculum successfully for all children through interesting and stimulating activities. All adults involved in the group are committed to further improvement. The provision meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The last Children Act inspection recommended that the playgroup should ensure an accurate register is maintained and ensure snacks are healthy and nutritious. An accurate register is now maintained for all children and staff. The contents of the snacks have recently been changed to fruit, to provide children with healthy options. At the Foundation Stage inspection key issues raised were; resources should be improved to develop the children's skills, extend challenges and increase opportunities for children to be creative. Systems to monitor the children's progress, the effectiveness of the provision and the reviewing procedures, should be developed. The resources have been added to and are presented attractively so that children can access them as they wish so that their skills are being developed further and they can create work as they wish. The older children are being challenged very well through focused activities. Systems to monitor the children's progress have

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Improvements since the last inspection

begun but are not in place for all the children yet. The committee and manager have reviewed the procedures and are implementing ways of monitoring the provision.

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Complaints since the last inspection

There have been no complaints made to Ofsted since the last inspection

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Complaints since the last inspection

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 The provider is required to keep a record of complaints made by parents, which they can see on request. The complaints record may contain complaints other than those made to Ofsted..

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the care are good. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are good.

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The quality and standards of the care

To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • ensure that there are effective procedures in place to manage and support the staff

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

To improve the quality and standards of nursery education further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • develop further the staffs knowledge of the Foundation Stage • develop further the assessments made on children to include their next steps of learning which can be used in the planning • ensure frequent use of mathematical language and familiarity with numbers.

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

procedures set out in the leaflet Building better childcare: Compliments and concerns about inspectors' judgements which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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