Love Lane Pre-School

Lovelane Pre-School

Inspection report for early years provision

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Lovelane Pre-School

507889 Unique Reference Number 29 November 2006 Inspection date Doreen Forsyth Inspector

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Lovelane Pre-School

Love Lane, Donnington, Newbury, Berkshire, RG14 2JG Setting Address

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Lovelane Pre-School

0790 0120202 or 0118 9713956 Telephone number

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E-mail

Lovelane Pre-school Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Sessional care Type of 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

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

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?

Love Lane Pre-School has been established for many years, the pre-school moved to its present premises at Shaw-cum-Donnington Village Hall in 1988. The setting is situated near the edge of Newbury in Berkshire. The pre-school is a community group and is organised by a management committee

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The setting is registered to care for up to 26 children aged from two to five years old. There are currently 24 children on roll, this includes 13 children who are in receipt of government funding for nursery education. The pre-school welcomes children that may have a learning difficulty or disabilities, or children that speak English as an additional language.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The pre-school opens from 09:00 until 11:30 from Tuesday until Friday during school term times.

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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 There are four full-time staff members who work with the children, three of these hold relevant early years qualifications at level 3 or above. The pre-school receives support from the local authority and is a member of the Pre-school learning Alliance.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children are well taken care of if they become, ill or have an accident as staff follow good health and hygiene practices, two members of staff have up to date first aid training. All the required documents to record accidents, any medications and children's allergies or dietary requirements are in place. Children learn good hygiene routines such as washing their hands after visiting the toilet and before eating, but they often use shared water to wash their hands in which presents a risk of cross infection.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children enjoy a range of healthy snacks each session. These are provided by parents and are usually a variety of different fruits. On special occasions, such as a child's birthday, they may have birthday cake. Children are offered milk or water to drink and there is drinking water available on the side in case children become thirsty.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children have good opportunities to take part in regular physical activity, both indoors and outside. There is an enclosed paved area attached to the hall where children play each day. In good weather this area is freely available for children during most of the morning, allowing children space to use wheeled toys or balancing resources and to play with role play resources such as dolls and buggies. Children have good opportunities to move freely and with expression when moving to music. In the hall equipment is set out that helps to develop children's physical skills, such as balancing beams, a trampoline or climbing resources.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children do not usually need to rest while at the pre-school, but they could use a small bed in the quiet book corner if necessary.

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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 village hall, the premises are warm and pleasant, and although all the resources and displays have to be put away after every session, staff ensure the environment is welcoming and friendly for the children. Children's safety is promoted because the staff have risk assessed the hall and outside play area, identifying and minimising any potential hazards. The hall and outside area are secure, when the front doors are open, a member of staff is always by the door ensuring children are kept secure and collected by an appropriate adult. Children and staff regularly practise how they would safely leave the hall in an emergency.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The pre-school is extremely well resourced. Children have access to a very wide range of toys and equipment. Staff arrive long before the children each session, to ensure there is a extensive range of activities set out ready for children to choose from. The resources are regularly checked for safety and are suitable to help children progress in the Foundation Stage of learning.

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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 Children are well safeguarded because staff understand their role in child protection and are able to put appropriate procedures into place if necessary. Most staff have attended relevant safe-guarding children training. However, parents are not informed of the pre-school's safe-guarding children procedures before children enrol into the setting.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children enjoy their time at the pre-school, they play busily and are always well occupied exploring the wide range of activities provided. They quickly become settled into the pre-school because the setting has very good settling-in procedures and allows time for children to become familiar and happy within the setting with the support of their parents and carers.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Teaching and learning are good. Staff have a suitable understanding of how children learn and how they progress along the stepping stones towards the early learning goals. All the six areas of children's learning are equally well promoted. Staff plan a range of interesting activities that help all children learn. They use the information they gain from their frequent observations on children's progress to plan for children's individual learning needs. Activities are based on different topics and themes, but these are flexible and could change if necessary to follow the children's different interests. The planning is clear and easily understood by the staff, it shows what they intend children will learn from the adult-initiated activities. Children's progress is observed and noted onto a local authority assessment scheme. Staff also take photos of the children undertaking different activities to add to the records and to share with parents. When

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

children start at the pre-school parents fill in a short questionnaire about what their children can do. During their first term the child's key-worker meets with parents to assess where children are in their learning so they can then build on what children already know.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children have some opportunities to develop their independence, for example, they use the toilet and wash their hands by themselves and are encouraged to put on their own aprons for messy play and own coats when they play outside, they are able to choose freely what they do from the range of activities set out. At snack times they lack the opportunity to serve themselves or others, or to pour their own drinks. Children understand the rules and routines of the setting such as wearing an apron when taking part in messy activities. They are learning well to share and take turns. The have made some strong friendships and are encouraged to consider the feelings of others. They co-operate and play together well. Children are becoming confident, for example, they are able to speak their lines in front of the others when practising their nativity play.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children begin to recognise their own names, when they arrive at pre-school in the morning they find their name cards and self register. They have many opportunities to write and mark make, there are writing materials freely available. However, staff usually label children's work rather than developing children's writing skills by encouraging them to write their names on their work. Children enjoy stories and often listen to stories and read books in the well resourced and comfortable book corner. Children learn about mathematical concepts and learn to count in their everyday play. For example, in an adult-led and planned craft activity children were

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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 encouraged to explore size and compare length when cutting and sticking ribbon and tape. At snack time a member of staff helped a child count the number of segments of orange he had, and at group time the children help to count the number of children present. The setting has good resources for children to sort, match and grade.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children learn well, about their own environment, about the natural world and about the wider community. They go on local visits, for example, to the library and to the local church, they often have visitors into the setting that are linked to topic work. At the inspection children were learning about textures and were able to explore interesting objects on an interest table. Children celebrate their own and other's special events and festivals, they celebrate Chinese New Year and Diwali, when they made bracelets. At present they are beginning to celebrate Christmas and are practising their nativity play. Children use computers and everyday technology such as tape players to support their learning.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children express themselves and their feelings very well through role play. The setting has organised the role play equipment thoughtfully to help encourage children's imaginative development. There is a very well resourced home play area and an extensive selection of dressing up clothes. Children explore a good range of different materials including craft and collage materials, different malleable materials such as clay, sand and play-dough. They regularly paint at an easel, enjoying and mixing colours. Children freely explore musical instruments and have fun listening to different genres of music on the tape player. Children can sing a number of songs from memory as demonstrated when children sang Christmas songs for the nativity. Children's physical development is well fostered. They play outside daily, using good resources to help them learn control, co-ordination and a sense of space. They take part in physical

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

activities both indoors and outside. Children use many tools such as pencils, scissors, the computer mouse and glue sticks that help them to learn to appropriately control their small muscle movements.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. All children are welcomed and valued by the setting, including those with disabilities, learning difficulties and those that speak English as an additional language. A Special Needs Co-ordinator has been appointed, she ensures all children's needs are met as far as possible. She seeks the advice and support of the Area Special Needs Co-ordinator and works with other professionals if necessary. Children learn about diversity through using a good range of resources, through their topic work and celebrating different festivals. These include small world toys and figures, dressing up clothes, dolls and books.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children in the pre-school behave very well, if children do have any behaviour difficulties they are given extra attention and support if necessary; staff are skilled in using a range of suitable strategies to promote children's positive behaviour. Children receive praise for their efforts and sometimes they are given stickers as a reward. The pre-school behaviour policy is available for parents to see. Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour; they provide them with good role models as they are polite and courteous to the children. Children's social, moral, spiritual and cultural development is fostered appropriately.

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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 partnership with parents and carers is good; parents are very involved in the pre-school. They are welcomed into the setting, many serve on the management committee. Parents spend a session in the setting at least once each half term, when they can watch their children play and catch up with seeing the records kept on their children. Parents help with fund raising, provide fruit for the snack on a rota system and are able to visit the setting at anytime. There is a parents' notice board and they receive regular newsletters. There is a display in the hall about the early learning goals and how the activities children undertake promote their learning in the six different areas. Parents receive a booklet about the setting when they enrol which states that the policies and procedures of the setting are always available to parents and carers.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

A suitable complaints procedure is in place, but there is not a log of complaints kept available for parents to see if they wish.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

When children start at the setting parents help staff to complete an initial assessment form to find out about where children are in their learning, they are then able to see the assessment records kept on their children at anytime. There are no planned opportunities for parents to discuss children's progress with staff, but parents feel the setting has a good 'open doors' policy and they can speak to the staff whenever they wish. Parents are not often given any suggestions or ideas of how they can continue to help their children learn at home.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. The pre-school has been established for a number of years and retains a philosophy of allowing children to learn freely through their play. The setting is well organised, promoting children's learning and development. Staff are very experienced and most have good childcare qualifications. They all attend further training to update their skills and knowledge. The setting has suitable vetting, induction and recruitment procedures in place, however, these have not been required recently as all staff have worked at the pre-school for a long time. All the current staff have been appropriately vetted, any unvetted adults do not have unsupervised contact with the children.

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Organisation

All the required documentation and records that help to promote children's health, safety, enjoyment and well-being are in place and work in practice. A suitable record of children's, adults', and visitors' attendance is kept, although the times of children's attendance are not recorded sufficiently. The provision meets the needs of the range of the children for whom it provides.

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Organisation

Leadership and Management are good. Staff and committee work in partnership to ensure the nursery education programme contributes to children's progress. The present chairperson has recently taken on this responsibility, but the previous experienced chair offers ongoing support and advice. The chairperson and committee evaluate and monitor the provision by regularly spending time in the pre-school, observing children's progress and listening to parents' comments. Regular staff appraisals are carried out, these are used to monitor staff development and to identify any training needs. The setting values training, and encourages staff to attend relevant training opportunities. The pre-school leader uses the self evaluation form to continuously evaluate and review the nursery education, she values the support and advice of outside early years professionals such as the local school staff and field development workers.

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Organisation

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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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last care inspection the pre-school was set two recommendations regarding recording of accidents and the provision of healthy snacks. Children now benefit from the provision of healthy and nutritious snacks each day, they are learning well about the importance of a healthy lifestyle. All the required records regarding accidents are in place, so children's health and well-being is well safeguarded.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the nursery education inspection the setting was asked to consider children's individual interests and needs when planning. The current educational plans are based on planning for children's learning on an individual basis so that all children are helped to move onto the next steps in their learning as necessary.

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Complaints since the last inspection

Since 1 April 2004 there have been no complaints made to Ofsted that required the provider or Ofsted to take any action in order to meet the National Standards. 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 children have appropriate hand washing facilities • ensure there is a suitable log in place to record any complaints from parents

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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): • provide parents with ideas of how they can continue to encourage children's learning at home. • encourage children to label their own work.

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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 set out in the leaflet Complaints about Ofsted Early Years: concerns or complaints about Ofsted's role in regulating and inspecting childcare and early education (HMI ref no 2599) 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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