Shepley Preschool Playgroup

Shepley Pre School Playgroup Inspection report for early years provision

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311310 Unique Reference Number 11 June 2007 Inspection date Jill Lee Inspector

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The Portacabin, Firth Street, Shepley, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, HD8 8DD

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E-mail

Shepley Pre School Playgroup Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day 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?

Shepley Pre-school Playgroup opened in 1968. It operates within a portacabin in the grounds of Shepley First School, near Huddersfield and serves the local area. The playgroup is a registered charity and is managed by a voluntary management committee. Most of the children attend Shepley First School.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The playgroup room is sectioned off to provide areas for a variety of activities. Children have access to a secure enclosed area for outdoor play.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The playgroup opens each weekday from 09.00 to 11.30 and from 12.45 to 15.15, during term time only. Wraparound care is provided from 11.30 until 12.45 and out of school care is provided from 07.30 to 08.55 and from 15.30 to 18.00. There is also a holiday play scheme, which opens from 07.30 to 18.00 during school holidays.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The playgroup is registered to care for a maximum of 26 children. They are currently caring for 138 children, of whom 49 receive funding for nursery education. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The playgroup supports children with learning difficulties and disabilities.

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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 11 staff members employed to work directly with the children, all of whom hold an appropriate early years or play work qualification. The playgroup receives support from the local authority. They have achieved the Kirklees Healthy Choice Gold Award and are undertaking the Kirklees Quality Assurance Scheme.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children enjoy daily activities outdoors, whatever the weather. A wide and varied range of experiences is planned using the outdoor environment and children are able to spend much of their time outdoors, if they prefer. They are excited as they run and chase each other, and especially love running fast in the big field next to their play area. They clamber up and down the climbing frame with confidence. They learn to pedal and scoot safely, avoiding obstacles, and to balance carefully on the stilts. They dance with delight, moving rhythmically with their shakers and waving the ribbons in the air. They make large models, like a train, with boxes. Children skilfully use a wide range of equipment. They are developing a healthy independence and feel secure because staff give them confidence to explore and try out new challenges. Physical play is well planned to help children develop coordination and to move in imaginative

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Helping children to be healthy

ways. Older children plan lots of activities, like building tepees, on the school playing field in the school holidays.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are cared for in a bright and welcoming environment. Staff implement health and hygiene guidelines systematically and arrangements for first aid and administering medication effectively protect children. Staff use daily routines well to help children learn how to keep themselves healthy and to be increasingly independent in attending to their own personal care. For example, they spontaneously wash their hands before they decide to have their snack and learn to get tissues independently to blow their own nose. Everyday conversations raise their awareness of health issues. They talk about why it is important to wear a hat and apply sun cream in hot weather. They pour themselves drinks regularly to help them cool down. Key staff liaise closely with parents, so that they are very alert and responsive to individual development needs. All children are made to feel very special and they enjoy close interactions with well

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Helping children to be healthy

known staff, enhancing their sense of security.

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Helping children to be healthy

Parents' wishes are fully considered so that children's individual health and dietary needs are met. Children bring a packed lunch each day and the playgroup works closely with parents to ensure the food provided is balanced and healthy. Well presented displays about healthy eating and carefully chosen books encourage conversations about what is good for your body. Children are introduced to a wide variety of different fruits at snack time, encouraging them to try new tastes and textures. They are asked to suggest their own ideas for snack menus and often help prepare their own food. They grow some vegetables. Snack and lunch times are highly enjoyable and relaxed occasions, where staff and children sit together, sociably sharing conversation. A well planned project in their last term at pre-school helps older children learn to manage their lunch time independently, in preparation for school.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. Children are cared for in an environment where staff confidently balance freedom and safe limits. Children's understanding of safety is strongly promoted because staff discuss limits and

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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 boundaries within everyday activities. They routinely explain and reinforce safe practice, like sweeping up spilt sand and not running indoors. They ensure children learn appropriate skills to manage the steps to the garden safely. Appropriate planning promotes children's awareness of how to keep themselves safe, for example, when near busy roads. Good supervision encourages children to behave in responsible ways, for example, they all help to tidy away the toys before lunch time.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children learn to use the large and well planned space purposefully, developing awareness of the needs of others. Staff enable them to access all areas of the environment with safety. A well considered range of good quality resources is stored at child height, so that children can select most of them without help. Appropriate risk assessments are conducted. Registers are kept correctly, evacuation procedures are practised routinely and the details of visitors are recorded. Good liaison ensures that clear arrangements are in place for collection of children from the school.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are cared for by staff who give the highest priority to protecting children and keeping them safe. They enable children to feel confident to share their feelings and make their needs known and sensitively establish very supportive relationships with parents. Staff access appropriate training opportunities and fully comprehend their responsibilities within the procedures of the Local Safeguarding Children Board, so that children's welfare is effectively safeguarded. However the system for recording of existing injuries is not implemented sufficiently clearly.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children love coming to both the playgroup and the out of school care, where they are very settled, happy and secure. They freely explore and enjoy the whole environment, developing self confidence as they plan their own play. Their self-esteem is nurtured as staff show interest in everything they do and listen closely to their ideas. Activities are completely child-led, so that children's play is relaxed, unhurried and uninterrupted by routines.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children develop their own ideas, freely exploring the environment. They experiment with lots of different media like sand, water, paint and dough. They fill and empty the water containers, roll and stretch the play dough and make wonderfully colourful pictures. They spend a long time in the huge sand pit outdoors, digging and pouring, scooping things up with the digger and burying them. They develop extended imaginary games with their friends, as they make up stories using the small world people, the animals and the train track. They dress up and enjoy role play in the home corner, cooking food and making drinks for each other, as they care for the dolls. They re-enact stories, like the lion king, making their own music. Children are encouraged to be interested in change and the world around them, as they explore natural materials, observe creatures and grow their own plants in the garden. Children in the holiday

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

play care enjoy sculpture mornings and visits from the 'zoo lab'.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children under three years usually attend the morning session where they settle well and play contentedly. Staff observe children closely and talk frequently with parents, so that their needs are well known. They plan a stimulating environment, using the 'Birth to three matters' framework. However, planning of the morning session does not place sufficient emphasis on introducing ways to promote the independence skills of the younger children. For example, they cannot reach to put their own paper on the paint easel and are not able to independently access some of the stored resources to enhance their 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 Nursery Education

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and children's learning is good. Staff have a clear understanding of the Foundation Stage curriculum. Comprehensive planning ensures that children enjoy a broad range of well planned activities and experiences, which motivate them and sustain their interest. However, detail in planning does not sufficiently clearly identify the focus of teaching and what children are intended to learn in all areas of the continuous provision. Children are well motivated. They learn to concentrate and persevere very well with activities they enjoy. They make friends and relate well to others, learning to be caring towards younger children.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are confident communicators and staff actively encourage them to share their experiences. For example, children are introduced to new language and staff nurture children's ability to communicate their ideas. Staff actively reinforce 'good listening'. Children love reading books and enjoy a wide range of factual books, which promotes their awareness of the world around them. They listen with pleasure to stories. They have many opportunities to write for real purposes in their role play. They learn to recognise and write their name and become interested in letter sounds.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children count and become familiar with number concepts and shapes within their everyday routines. At group times, they count all the children and act out number rhymes. They investigate mathematical ideas as they roll and shape dough, fill and empty containers in the water and build models. However staff do not sufficiently actively promote opportunities for use of mathematical language and practical problem solving in everyday play and routines. For example limited construction resources are available. Opportunities for children to design and make using their own ideas, are not maximised.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children have many opportunities to find out about the natural world. They talk about the seasons and the weather and love listening to the rain pattering on the big umbrella. They search for creatures in the garden and make treasure maps. They grow beans, potatoes and strawberries in grow-bags. They observe growth and change with great wonder, as they watch the baby chicks hatch out.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Staff interact very effectively with children to stimulate their curiosity and consolidate learning. They model skills and consistently reinforce expected behaviour, so that children learn to work cooperatively and use all activity areas productively. Staff have developed clear and varied systems to observe children's interests and monitor their individual progress. Assessments of progress are clearly linked to the stepping stones. However, staff do not always fully utilise this information to differentiate learning opportunities and challenge children within the everyday environment.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children develop a strong sense of belonging to both the playgroup and out of school care. They are warmly welcomed into the inviting and child-friendly environment. Support for children's individual needs, and especially those with learning difficulties or disabilities, is a real strength. Enabling and very inclusive approaches ensure all children are included and each child's individuality is nurtured. Children are cared for by familiar and well know staff. They develop secure and trusting relationships, promoting their confidence and self-esteem. They are encouraged to suggest their own ideas for planned activities and help staff look through

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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 catalogues to choose new toys. The older children requested football training sessions during the school holidays.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children learn to be kind, caring and polite as staff very consistently reinforce rules and boundaries. Their good behaviour is sensitively encouraged and supported. They learn to keep the play environment tidy, to share, take turns and think about others. They tidy away their own dishes after snack time. Staff very clearly explain why certain behaviour is unacceptable, so that children feel supported and know that staff will always help them to resolve any difficulties.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children learn about different cultures and lifestyles as they engage in activities, like role play and dressing up, which reflect their local community and wider world. A map of the world shows children where different fruits come from. The library is used well to introduce books to raise children's awareness of other people and places. Well displayed posters show images of other cultures and scripts and small world resources, like jigsaws and a doll in a wheelchair, help them think about different abilities. Outings are planned only very occasionally but regular visitors to playgroup, like the lollipop lady and the optician, help to promote children's awareness of their local community. Staff very successfully create a participative environment in which children make lots of choices and decisions. They learn to express their own needs and preferences and actively contribute to their own experiences. This positive approach fosters

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Helping children make a positive contribution

children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Parents are encouraged to spend time settling their child, so they get to know staff well. They enjoy relaxed and comfortable relationships, which promotes children's sense of security. Staff work very hard to promote parents' involvement and aim to develop shared strategies to ensure consistency with home. Parents are confident to raise any concerns. Policies and procedures are displayed, along with the Ofsted poster for parents. The complaints procedure clearly reflects current requirements.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The partnership with parents and carers is good. Parents receive an information brochure and staff talk through policies and procedures in detail. They share information about the 'Birth to three matters' framework and the Foundation Stage curriculum. Photographs are used creatively to record and share children's experiences in their development records. Parents communicate informally about their child's progress on a daily basis and are readily able to access their child's development profile. Regular newsletters keep parents updated about planned topics, so that parents are encouraged to become actively involved in their child's learning. A recent questionnaire has helped staff to identify that feedback is an area some parents feel could be improved.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. The nursery environment is very well organised to promote children's welfare and safety. Daily routines are clearly planned and flexibly implemented to respond to children's varying needs and interests. Staff are deployed very effectively to ensure appropriate levels of care and supervision. They sensitively support children's interests.

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Organisation

The leadership and management of children's care and education is good. Space and resources are organised well to promote older children's independent participation. The staff team is strong and cohesive. They have developed an effective approach to shared reflective practice. Systematic self-evaluation procedures are being introduced, which are more clearly linked to

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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 helping staff evaluate how they promote the outcomes for children. Well planned observations of children help staff to track children's progress. There are effective systems in place to monitor the quality of teaching and its impact on children's learning. Children's experiences are improved by staff's well planned access to appropriate training and development opportunities, like developing outdoor play and promoting positive behaviour. Well developed links with the school significantly enhance children's experience of transition.

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Organisation

The comprehensive policies and procedures are mostly effectively implemented, so that children's welfare is safeguarded. Recruitment systems are established, to ensure that staff are suitably skilled and experienced to work with children. However, there was some lack of certainty regarding which members of the management committee require vetting by the regulator. Documentation is systematic, accessible and stored confidentially. Well planned induction procedures, together with ongoing staff monitoring and recently reviewed appraisal systems, ensure staff are able to support children's individual needs. Required documentation which contributes to children's health, safety and well-being is in place and there are procedures in place for regular review. Parents' wishes regarding their child's care clearly influence day-to-day practice and clear written agreements are recorded.

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Organisation

Overall, the provider meets the needs of the range of the children for whom it provides.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection the provider was asked to develop the operational plan to consider more clearly how the needs of children of different ages are met and to extend the planning for outdoor play. With regard to nursery education, the provider was asked to extend children's opportunities to link sounds to letters within the day to day activities and to develop the assessment and planning systems used to plan for the children's next stage of development.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The play group environment is planned to allow children to have a wide range of experiences within all areas of their development each day. Children are generally encouraged to access play areas freely and make their own play choices. Younger children, aged under three years, are only admitted to the morning sessions. This allows staff to manage their needs more effectively and to plan more challenge for older children during afternoon sessions. The impact, however, is that challenge is more limited during the morning session for some of the younger children. Planning for use of the outdoor play environment is now very creative. The outdoors is used daily, whatever the weather, and activities are planned to promote all areas of children's learning. These measures have enhanced children's opportunity to make independent choices and ensure that they are well stimulated in their play.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Staff plan effectively to introduce activities, which promote children's interest in letter sounds. For example, older children enjoy a phonics session as part of their group time. Staff have liaised closely with the reception class teacher to ensure that their approach supports children's ongoing learning. Children are routinely observed in their play and these observations are used to track their progress through the stepping stones. They are used to inform planning, but only in a direct way on a half termly basis. Staff have good systems in place for informal sharing of information about children's needs, so that staff interactions effectively support their learning.

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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

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): • record children's existing injuries with more consistency • plan the daily play environment to further promote the independence skills of younger children • review the vetting procedures, particularly in relation to management committee members, and ensure these are consistent and robust.

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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 the focus of teaching to enhance challenge for the more able children • develop children's access to construction and design resources, and increase their opportunities to explore and solve practical problems • use and evaluate the observations and assessments of children to plan more directly for the next steps in their learning.

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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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