Brixworth Centre Pre-School

Brixworth Centre Pre-School

Inspection report for early years provision

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Brixworth Centre Pre-School

220216 Unique Reference Number 11 December 2006 Inspection date Andrea Ewer Inspector

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Brixworth Centre Pre-School

Church Street, Brixworth, Northamptonshire, NN6 9BZ Setting Address

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E-mail

Brixworth Centre 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?

Brixworth Centre Pre-School opened in 1984 and operates from the church hall within the village of Brixworth, Northamptonshire. Children attend from the village and surrounding areas. The

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

pre-school is open each weekday from 09:30 to 12:15 during the school term. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

A maximum of 26 children may attend the pre school at any one time. There are currently 27 children aged from two to under five years on roll. Of these 15 children receive funding for nursery education. The pre-school is able to support children with learning difficulties and children who speak English as an additional language.

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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 The pre-school employs eight members of staff. Of these, five staff including the supervisor hold appropriate early years qualifications. Three members of staff are working towards a qualification.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is satisfactory. Children's good health is promoted well. They benefit daily, from a wide range of activities that promotes their physical skills both indoors and outdoors. Children negotiate space as they speed up and slow down to avoid others when running around outdoors, and develop good co-ordination as they throw and catch hoops and balls and balance bean bags on their heads with increasing skill. Children develop their large muscles as they ride wheeled toys and kick the ball into the goal.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are cared for in clean, tidy premises and start to learn the importance of good hygiene practice as part of everyday routines. They wash their hands before snacks and cooking activities, and after visiting the toilet. This helps to prevent the spread of infection. Staff effectively maintain standards throughout the day by implementing the clear hygiene procedures. Tables are cleaned before and after snacks are served and good attention is given to ensuring all areas are kept clean and tidy. This contributes to positively promoting children's good health.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children receive appropriate care in the event of minor accidents or illness because all staff hold an up-to-date first aid qualification and a readily accessible first aid kit is available. Records that support staff to promote children's good health are well maintained such as, information from parents regarding any special medical or dietary needs and written consent to seek emergency medical treatment. Children enjoy healthy meals and snacks, which take account of their individual dietary needs, for example, crumpets, fresh fruit and a choice of milk or water to drink.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Children play safely in the well-organised and welcoming environment. Space is used effectively and allows children to move around freely as they participate in a wide range of activities. Careful monitoring of access to the premises ensure children are protected from unknown visitors, and are unable to leave unsupervised. Regular risk assessments ensure potential hazards are minimised, and effective measures are in place to prevent accidents. Children are cared for by suitably qualified and appropriately vetted staff who are deployed effectively, and vigilant about their safety. Safety gates ensure children are unable to access unsuitable areas of the building and fire drills are carried out at regular intervals which ensures they are familiar with the procedure to follow in the event of a fire.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children choose what to play with from the wide range of good quality resources and equipment, that meets their play and development needs well.

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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's safety is potentially compromised because although staff have secure knowledge of the signs and symptoms of child abuse, they lack confidence in the procedure to follow if they are concerned about a child and not all records that comply with local Safeguarding children procedures are kept.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children become confident in the warm caring environment where they share very good relationships with staff and their peers. They settle quickly because staff carry out home visits before children start so they have a familiar face to relate to when they start the pre-school. This significantly contributes to helping children settle and subsequently feeling secure.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Overall children participate in an interesting range of activities which promotes their physical, emotional, intellectual and social skills. Children look forward to seeing each other and play harmoniously together. Staff however, do not yet use the 'Birth to three matters' framework to plan and provide activities for children under the age of three years. As a result, their individual play and development needs are not always sufficiently met.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Children are making good progress towards the early learning goals because most staff have sound knowledge of the Foundation Stage, understand how children learn and use a variety of teaching methods. Children benefit from planned activities that they are interested in and promotes their learning both as individuals and a group. Progress records show what children can do and identifies the next steps in their learning. This information, however, does not link to the stepping stones and does not give a clear picture of what stage children are at. Information from children's records is however, used to inform planning and ensure individual children make progress. Evaluation of activities is used successfully to identify where the planned activity has promoted children's learning and how the activity could be improved or extended.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are highly motivated and make links in their learning as they enjoy a variety of activities around a theme. They concentrate well as they play both co-operatively within small groups and independently. Children share and take turns as they take on the roles of customer and cashier in Santa's toy shop and play well together with the animals in the ark. Children have very good opportunities to become independent and learn to take responsibility for themselves. They decide when to have their snack, put spread on their own crumpets and wash their own plate and cup after eating.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children speak confidently and are well supported to develop their language and thinking skills as they engage in conversations with staff and their peers. During circle time children talk enthusiastically about their special items bought in from home and participate in group discussions. Children have many opportunities for mark making and older children are starting to form letters correctly. They write letters to Santa at the writing table, make out shopping lists in the home corner and write their name independently on their artwork. This helps children understand that writing is used for various purposes and that print carries meaning. Children

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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 develop their early reading skills as they have regular access to books that they look at for enjoyment. They listen intently to stories read by adults and develop their language for thinking as they make up their own stories and recall events in familiar stories.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are developing a very good understanding of mathematical concepts. They regularly count as part of everyday activities. Children count how many of them are going outside, how many fingers are being held up and how many buttons they put on their gingerbread men. Children confidently use mathematical language such as bigger, smaller, more than and the same as. They start to understand simple calculation during action songs and rhymes and gain an understanding of opposites, sequences, shape and size while building models, sorting insects and matching shapes to pictures.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are starting to make sense of the world. They enjoy learning about the local community during visits from the local vicar during harvest festival, fire officers who visit with their fire engine and the community police officer. They gain an understanding of living things as they stroke the falcons who visit from a local falconry and feed the baby lambs from the local farm. Children show interest in how things work as they investigate using mobile phones, camera's and binoculars and become competent in the use of simple programs on the computer. Children use their imagination creatively as they paint pictures using bright colours, and older children confidently mix colours and understand that red and blue make purple. Children act out real life situations in the home corner set up as Santa's toyshop, and explore media and materials as they make marble pictures.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural needs are fostered. Children enter the nursery happily and are welcomed warmly by staff. They feel valued because they share caring relationships with consistent staff who know them well. Individual children's needs are met because staff work effectively with parents. Useful information is obtained from parents about their children and shared regularly thereafter. This ensures children receive appropriate care. This is further supported by the positive comments received from parents. Children develop a positive self-esteem as they play with toys and use resources that positively represents themselves and helps them appreciate diversity. They play with dolls of various colours, some in traditional dress, puzzles, small world people including some who have a disability and books. They start to understand their own and the beliefs and culture of others as they participate in

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Helping children make a positive contribution

activities to celebrate various cultural festivals such as Diwali, Christmas and Chinese New Year.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Although there are no children currently attending who have learning difficulties, staff demonstrated clearly during discussion, how children would be fully included and any additional care requirements incorporated into the daily routine. Staff have experience of working with parents and outside agencies to support children who have learning difficulties to reach their full potential.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children respond well to the regular praise and high expectations for their behaviour. They learn to share, take turns, respect each other, and use very good manners because effective strategies are used to promote good behaviour. Children look forward to their name being

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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 placed on the board of achievement and receiving a sticker for helping to tidy up or being especially kind.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The partnership with parents and carers of children in receipt of nursery education is good. Parents receive useful information in the form of the pre-school prospectus and an attractive scrapbook showing children involved in activities relating to each area of learning. This helps parents gain an understanding of the Foundation Stage. In addition, information about the current theme is displayed, with activities to be provided and monthly newsletters given. This enables parents to contribute positively to their children's learning at home. Parents have regular access to their children's progress records which keeps them informed of their achievements and progress towards the early learning goals. They are not, however, able to contribute their own observations to children's progress records.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. The provision meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides. Children's welfare, care and safety are promoted well because space, staff and resources are organised effectively and allows children to play and develop their ideas in a safe, stimulating environment.

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Organisation

Children's well-being is promoted because effective recruitment and vetting procedures are in place. Sufficient staff are deployed to ensure children are well supervised and appropriate care is given. Clearly written policies and procedures that staff understand and implement consistently, underpin the day-to-day practices in the nursery and contribute to the welfare, care and safety of all children.

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Organisation

The leadership and management is good. The quality of care and nursery education children receive is continually enhanced because of the strong commitment to staff training and development. New staff attend core training which gives them a clear understanding of their role in promoting children's care and learning and all staff attend staff meetings and have regular appraisals. This helps to maintain the high standard of care and nursery education given to children. Overall the use of evaluation is effective in monitoring the quality of teaching and children's progress towards the early learning goals.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The last care inspection recommended that the pre-school ensure that radiators in the toilet area are made safe or inaccessible to children and that the toilet area is suitable for children to use. The temperature of radiators are now thermostatically controlled and pipes boxed in. As a result the radiators no longer pose a hazard to children which ensures their safety. The toilet area has been re-decorated making it suitable for young children to use safely.

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Complaints since the last inspection

There have been no complaints made to Ofsted since the last inspection. the provider is required to keep a record of complaints made by parents, which they may see on request. The complaints record may contain complaints other than those made to Ofsted.

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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

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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): • develop staff's understanding of child protection procedures and ensure records are kept that comply with local Safeguarding children procedures • improve outcomes for children under the age of three years by using an approach in line with the 'Birth to three matters' framework.

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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 children's progress records to link more closely to the stepping stones • develop the opportunities for parents to contribute to children's progress records.

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

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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