Sir George Monoux Sixth Form College

Bredhurst Busy B's Playgroup Inspection report for early years provision

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127040 Unique Reference Number 26 March 2007 Inspection date Annie Williams Inspector

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Bredhurst Village Hall, Hurstwood Road, Bredhurst, Gillingham, Kent, ME7 3JZ

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Setting Address

01634 231679 077544 68515 Telephone number marygough6@hotmail.com E-mail Mary Louise Gough Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Sessional care, Out of School care Type of care

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Setting Address

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 inadequate - notice of action to improve. The registered person does not meet 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 inadequate - notice of action to improve.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Bredhurst Busy B's Playgroup is a privately run group. It opened in 2001 and operates from the village hall in Bredhurst, Kent. A maximum of 24 children may attend the group at any one time. The playgroup is open three days each week from 09.15 to 12.15 for 37 weeks of the year. In addition a holiday play scheme is provided for five days in the summer. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 24 children aged from two to under five years on roll. Of these, 15 children receive funding for early education. The playgroup supports children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and also supports children who speak English as an additional language.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The playgroup employs four staff; of these, the manager holds appropriate early years qualifications. The playgroup receives support from the Local Authority.

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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

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is satisfactory. The premises are cleaned to a satisfactory standard. Accident and medication records are clear and compliant. Children learn about hygiene through the toileting routine, for example, they wash their hands after visiting the toilet and are able to explain why. Parent’s written permission is obtained to enable the setting to seek emergency medial advice or treatment and the registered person has up-to-date first aid training. Therefore, practitioners are able to act in the best interest of children in a medical emergency.

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Helping children to be healthy

Snack time is a popular feature of the session. Children learn to make healthy choices of the food provided, such as, fruit and bread sticks. However, they are not involved in the preparation of snack to develop independence and explore differences in foods. Choices of drinks are less healthy, for example, squashes and milk.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children enjoy physical play within the setting; they run, climb, practise balancing on the brightly coloured balancing walkway and have fun pretending to be 'Mr Crocodile' crawling under the parachute. However, insufficient planning and assessment means that children's physical development is not appropriately challenged or monitored to ensure that they reach their full potential.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is inadequate. Children's welfare is not sufficiently safeguarded because practitioners do not have an adequate knowledge of child protection and the procedure to follow in the event of allegations being made against a member of staff or volunteer. In addition procedures to ensure that un-checked staff do not have unsupervised access to children are not in place.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The premises are safe and secure. There are effective procedures for the arrival and collection of children. As a result, children are only released into the care of authorised adults. The premises are brightly decorated and staff work hard to ensure that the environment is welcoming for children and their parents when they arrive. Fire drills are carried out periodically; exit signs are clear and fire detection equipment is accessible in all areas of the building. However, the planned fire drills do not take into account children's pattern of attendance. As a result, not all children receive experience of a fire drill. There are plenty of toys and equipment that are clean and in good condition and cater for a range of ages and stages of development. Children know the safety rules for outings because they are reminded gently of the rules by practitioners before they leave the building.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is inadequate. Children generally arrive happily and separate from their main carer easily. They are able to play as soon as they arrive from a range of toys that practitioners set out. However, there are no systems in place to monitor what activities are set out each day, children's involvement, interest or their development. There is currently no differentiation for the younger children through the routine, because all children in the setting are offered the same. For example, story time and snack time is in large groups and does not meet the needs of the younger 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 Nursery Education

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The overall quality of teaching and learning is inadequate. Practitioners are very kind and caring in their interactions towards the children and provide those children who get upset on separation from their parent with a reassuring cuddle. Practitioner’s knowledge and understanding of the Foundation Stage is weak. There is assessment records prepared but no entries made. Therefore, there is no record to present a clear picture of children's progress over time. Practitioners do not establish what children know and can do and there are no clear systems in place for checking their progress as they take part in activities. There is no planning system to provide sufficient guidance for practitioners to support children's learning and development towards the early learning goals. Activities and resources set out each session are not monitored to establish children's interest or progress. Consequently, children's development or next steps are not

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

monitored or identified to ensure children are reaching their full potential. A theme is used within the group but this is not linked to the six areas of learning and consists of worksheets, such as, tracing over numbers or worksheet activities related to mini beasts.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children visit the toilet independently but they receive too few opportunities throughout the session to be independent learners, for example, pouring their own drinks, preparing their own snack and independently self selecting resources. Children are encouraged to relate to adults and other children, for example, by working with different adults and children in different sized groups and are confident speakers. They receive daily opportunities to recognise their name through the self registration system on arrival at the group. Mark making materials are out each session but practitioners do not encourage children to label their own work. There is print around the hall so that children experience print through labels, signs and posters. However, practitioners rarely point out print to the children so that they become aware that it carries meaning. Story time is a regular feature of the routine but this is not organised to meet the

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

needs of the children and therefore, children loose interest. A number is introduced as part of a theme. However, children are introduced to number concepts through worksheets which provide them with little opportunity to explore through practical play opportunities.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Careful consideration is given to providing children with opportunities to recall past events; a vast amount of photographs are available in the setting for children to look at and talk about past events. Photographs show that children explore and investigate with a range of materials, such as, coloured rice. Children are very cable and able to use scissors, sharpeners, rolling pins and cutters as part of their play experience. However, the lack of planning and assessment means what children can do and their next steps are unidentified and therefore, activities lack challenge.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is satisfactory. Children are generally settled and separate from their main carer easily. They are generally well behaved at the setting but do engage in some inappropriate behaviour because they are not sufficiently challenged or spend too long waiting for changes in the routine. A special educational needs coordinator is in post and works closely with outside agencies to meet children's needs. Photographs show that practitioners provide opportunities for children to find out about the local and wider world, such as, a visit to the church and a visit to collect a huge pumpkin to make soup. However, these lovely opportunities are not planned and monitored to ensure that all children get the chance. Children learn the importance of taking care of living creatures, for example, they help to feed and clean the tank out for 'Brian' the giant African snail. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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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 Parents find out about the pre-school through newsletters, displays and talking to the practitioners known as 'Aunties' at the group. They are greeted warmly by the practitioners who are caring in their approach toward the children. On special days, such as, Mothers day and Fathers day, parents are invited into the setting to play with their children. The teddy bear 'Fred' is sometimes taken home by a child providing useful links between the group and home. There are a range of policies to keep parents informed on the provision but some require up-dating.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The partnership with parents and carers of funded children is inadequate. As yet, practitioners do not establish from parents what their child can do on entry in the group. There is no planning or children's assessment records to share with parents and keep them informed of their child's progress along the stepping stones towards the early goals.

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Organisation

The organisation is inadequate. Overall the provision does not meet the needs of the range of children for whom it provides. Most adults working at the setting have undergone checks to establish their suitability, but the systems to ensure that those yet to be checked do not have unsupervised accessed to the children are not in place. This compromises children's safety. There are insufficient staff that hold a relevant childcare qualification to promote children's learning and development. The registration certificate is displayed to inform visitors and parents of registration and the attendance register confirms that the provider complies with the conditions of registration.

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Organisation

The Leadership and management of the setting is inadequate. The lack of rigorous systems to monitor, review and evaluate the educational programme means that weaknesses in the provision have not been identified. Practitioners are kind and caring in their interactions with the children and clearly work hard setting out the many resources and packing away each day. Insufficient planning and assessment means that practitioners lack guidance about the learning intentions of the activities set out each day. Practitioners are not involved in planning and assessment so, therefore, they are unaware of where children are at in their learning to sufficiently challenge them. The organisation and routine of the session does not sufficiently meet the needs of the children. Although the routine contains time for children to play freely and have snack, story and singing, children spend too long waiting for changes in the routine. Because so many toys

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Organisation

and resources are set out each day there are too many for practitioners to manage and support children in their learning. In addition these are put away early to enable practitioners to manage the tidy up process. As a result, children spend un-necessary time waiting for snack and drinks and engage in running around the hall because they are not sufficiently challenged and supported.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Following the last inspection five recommendations were made. These were to provide further opportunities for children to self-select, ensure all children, especially older, more able children, are being provided with appropriate and sufficient challenges, improve staff's knowledge of the Early Learning Goals and the Foundation Stage, develop an appropriate and effective staff supervision and appraisal system and to develop the planning system to include a broad range of activities and details of what the children are expected to learn, the intended area of learning and how staff will identify individual children's next steps in their learning. Insufficient development has been made in all five recommendations and as a result, these remain outstanding.

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Improvements 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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Complaints since the last inspection

Since the last inspection 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.

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Complaints since the last inspection

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 inadequate - notice of action to improve. The registered person does not meet 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 inadequate - notice of action to improve.

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The quality and standards of the care

To improve the quality and standards of care, the registered person must take the following actions: • update the safeguarding children's welfare policy to include procedures to follow in the event of an allegation being made about a member of staff or volunteer and ensure all staff know about child protection • make sure effective procedures are in place to ensure that un-checked adults do not have unsupervised access to children These actions are set out in a notice of action to improve and must be completed by the date specified in the notice.

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

To improve the quality and standards of nursery education, the registered person must take the following actions: • establish systems to identify children's starting points and provide parents with opportunities to share and contribute to their child's development records • plan a range of challenging and interesting activities that build on children's existing skills and knowledge and promote their progress in all six areas of learning • establish systems for assessing regularly what children know, understand and can do, and use this when planning activities [applies to care also] • re-organise the session so that children do not spend too long waiting for changes in the routine and the amount of resources set out are manageable and enable practitioners to sufficiently challenge children in the activities that they complete [applies to care also] • improve leadership and management by developing rigorous systems to monitor, review

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

and evaluate the educational programme. These actions are set out in a notice of action to improve and must be completed by the date specified in the notice.

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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 The Department for Education and Skills and the local authority have been informed.

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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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