Willow Bank Infant School

Timsbury Preschool

Inspection report for early years provision

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Timsbury Preschool

109889 Unique Reference Number 18 January 2007 Inspection date Amanda Shedden Inspector

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Timsbury Preschool

Jubilee Hall, New Road, Timsbury, Romsey, Hampshire, SO51 0NL Setting Address

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E-mail

Timsbury 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 satisfactory. 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?

Timsbury Pre-school is managed by a voluntary committee of parents. It opened in 1972.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

It operates from a community hall in the village and serves the local and surrounding area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 26 children from two years to five years on roll. There are 19 funded three and four-year-olds. At present there are no children attending who have additional needs or for whom English is an additional language. Children attend for a variety of sessions.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The group opens four days a week during school term times. Sessions are from 09:30 until 12:00.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are five members of staff who work with the children including four with early years qualifications.

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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. Children benefit from the clean and spacious environment where they access many resources to enhance their physical development. Children show good spatial awareness as they play circle games with the parachute, lifting it up high and running underneath. They move their arms around in large movements, waving scarves around then they push and pull back and forth with the scarves and each other without falling over. They throw them up high seeing how high they can get them negotiating the space not knocking into each other. Children develop control and increase their manipulative skills as they thread beads, use paint brushes and scissors.

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Helping children to be healthy

Staff have a clear understanding of the procedures to follow when recording accidents and the administration of medication. Parents are required to sign to acknowledge the entries, keeping them informed at all times. There are always staff in the room who are competent in first aid, ensuring that children will be attended to immediately and appropriately if they have an accident.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children learn the importance of personal hygiene and are encouraged to wash their hands after using the toilet and after messy play. However, the procedure of washing hands before snack does not prevent the spread of infection.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children sit together for snack in small groups making it a social occasion. They are offered a piece of fruit each day and a choice of drinks. However, drinks are not readily accessible to the children during the session. Effective procedures are in place to ensure that children do not access foods that the parents do not wish to them to have.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Staff ensure that the hall is made welcoming for children. Each day they put out a range of resources and display colourful posters reflecting people from around the world, numbers, letters and shapes. Children can freely access the wide range of resources that are out each day, which are suitable for their stage of development, children move easily and safely around the environment. However, during some activities they have limited choice, for instance, only four puzzles are put out. During good weather children access the field which is adjacent to the hall.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are protected through the effective health and safety procedures that are in place. Daily risk assessments are used effectively to ensure that all areas that the children access are safe. Staff ensure that all children and staff practise the fire drills on a regular basis ensuring that if there was a real emergency it would be responded to appropriately.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

All required documentation is in place and understood by staff to ensure children's welfare is safeguarded. Staff have a sound understanding of procedures to be followed if they had a concern over a child.

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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

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children are confident when they arrive at the setting and feel comfortable in the environment. Staff greet children warmly and encourage them to choose from the range of activities on offer. Children who become upset are nurtured and reassured by staff who listen to their needs ensuring that they participate in the activities but are not overwhelmed.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children play well together and individually; for instance, with the farm animals conversing with each other or playing with the train track. They concentrate and persevere whilst they paint their pictures choosing which colours to use.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

They have good relationships with the staff who through their positive interaction ensure that children are happy to communicate their thoughts, wishes and feelings thus fostering their self esteem.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Staff have a secure knowledge of the Foundation Stage and how children learn; they ensure that children are provided with a range of stimulating and worthwhile activities. The key worker system enables staff to know those children well, they monitor the children's achievements and use this information to form action plans for each child encompassing all six areas of learning. This information is not however, always shared with all staff, nor is it reflected in the daily plans enabling all staff to help all of the children progress.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are confident and eager to participate in the activities, freely moving from one activity to another. Staff are good at supporting children in their play, and, at times extend the activity. For instance, by stimulating the children's imagination as they help them make a "train carriage" from chairs; encouraging conversations about where they were going and what they needed to do. They encouraged the children to write out and distribute tickets.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are becoming confident in reading their names and linking sounds to letters through planned and incidental activities. Each week children learn a new letter and circle time is used to explore the sound of the chosen letter and words that begin with that sound. Children eagerly respond calling out brown, ball and butterfly to the letter "b" . They read their names at circle and snack times and they enjoy listening to stories in the well resourced book area. Many children can write their names and have fun doing so, for instance, when playing in the shaving foam, however this is not consistently encouraged.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are gaining an understanding of mathematical language, calculating, size and shape frequently through planned and incidental activities. They count how many children are present, how many there are at the snack table and how many blocks there are in the tower they built. Staff encourage children to estimate for instance how many cups of water would be needed to fill the big bowl in the water tray. Puzzles give children the experience of fitting different shapes together.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children enjoy creating, they work well together making train tracks, and individually as they decorate their crowns. They use their imagination as they dress up as firemen climbing aboard

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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 the train to reach the fire. They are encouraged to use their senses, they relish covering their hands with foam, staff encouraging them to talk about the feel of it, they use their hands to squeeze and manipulate the play dough and they enjoy the sensation of the water as it pours or trickles through the different shaped resources in the water tray.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children enjoy the music and singing sessions. They listen well and move their bodies according to the song from 'a Flippy Floppy scarecrow' to marching along to the 'Grand Old Duke of York'. Children enjoy singing simple songs and nursery rhymes from memory and perform the actions that go with them

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is satisfactory. Children are valued and respected as staff have a good understanding of their individual needs. Children's behaviour is very good and their understanding of right and wrong is increased as they respond to gentle reminders from the staff to care for each other and the resources.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

At present there are no children attending who have additional needs. However, the staff have supported children previously with the help of other appropriate agencies. Their positive approach fosters children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The positive relationships with parents ensure that parents value the pre school. There is an established parent helper’s rota ensuring that if they wish, they are able to help the staff and to share in their child's session.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnership with parents of nursery funded education is satisfactory. Parents are aware of the Foundation Stage and the experiences their child is having. They are encouraged to extend the curriculum at home and to encourage their child to bring resources in to support the current theme. They are aware that records are kept on their child and that they may access these at any time. Informal sharing of information about the children's achievements takes place but parents are not fully informed of their child's educational progress.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. Children's care is supported by the organisation and the pre school's daily routines. Staff know the children well and the high staff to child ratios ensure that they are well cared for.

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Organisation

The stable staff team are suitability qualified and experienced to work with children. They attend courses to update their knowledge and skills. Policies and procedures are in place and displayed for the parents and staff to refer to if they wish. Overall, the setting meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides.

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Organisation

Leadership and management is good. The staff and parents committee work together to enhance the care and education for children. There is good deployment of staff, space and resources for working with children and communicating with parents. The management team are committed to continually develop, reflect upon, and improve the provision through training and working

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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 with the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership. Staff meet regularly to monitor the provision and take advice from the local authority to enhance the provision.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection the preschool were asked to have an action plan to ensure they had enough qualified staff. The supervisor has now completed her Developing Pre school Practice course and other members of staff have undertaken suitable courses ensuring that over 50 percent of the staff are qualified. Staff's knowledge of the understanding of child protection issues needed to be increased. One member of staff has attended a course about child protection and she has cascaded the information to all of the staff, enabling all staff to act appropriately if they had any concern over a child.

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Improvements since the last inspection

They were to ensure good hygiene practices were in place regarding hand washing, children now wash their hands before snack and after messy play. However, improvements still need to be made to reduce the risk of cross infection. Improvements in undertaking risk assessment and safety arrangements to ensure the safe arrival of children and that evacuation procedures are effective were required. This is now in place and used effectively ensuring that the environment is safe for children. Documentation needed to be improved to ensure that the register was completed correctly and that parents were informed of Ofsted's contact details. Ofsted's contact details are on display in the hallway and the registers are completed correctly ensuring that staff are aware of who is in the building at all times.

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Improvements since the last inspection

There were three requirements to improve the nursery education provision. Staff now have a clear understanding of Early Learning Goals and the planning of the curriculum links to the stepping stones. However, ensuring that those activities are delivered at the right level for individual children is still an area that is being developed. Assessments are now undertaken across all six areas of learning by the children's key worker. They make individual plans to support the children to progress. Records of achievement are now linked to the Foundation Stage. The supervisor reviews the planning to ensure that over the year all required elements of the curriculum are included.

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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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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 satisfactory. 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 good hygiene practices are in place regarding hand washing. • ensure that children are able to access drinks throughout the session.

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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): • ensure that the planning of the curriculum reflects the outcomes expected and that the activities provide challenges for all children in each area of learning • ensure that children are consistently encouraged to write their name or make their mark.

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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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