Woolton Hill Preschool

Woolton Hill Pre-School Inspection report for early years provision

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507954 Unique Reference Number 13 September 2007 Inspection date Carol Readman Inspector

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The Church Hall, Woolton Hill, Newbury, Berkshire, RG20 9UL Setting Address

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07773 526927 or 01635 255065 Telephone number

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E-mail

Woolton Hill Pre-School 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 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?

Woolton Hill Pre-school opened in 1983. It operates form the church hall in the village, next to the local infant school. The group has access to the main hall, a kitchen, toilets and a small enclosed outdoor area. The group serves a wide area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The pre-school currently has 31 children on roll. This includes 22 funded three and four year olds. Children attend a variety of sessions a week. Children with special needs and English as an additional language are supported within the group.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The pre-school opens five days a week during term time, offering morning sessions from 09.00 to 11.30 and a lunch club from 11.30 until 12.30. There are afternoon sessions on Mondays and Wednesdays to 15.00. Older children may stay for all day sessions on these days.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are four staff members who work with the children. Of these, three have Early Years qualifications. The setting receives support from the local authority and staff attend regular training through this. A committee, which includes parents, runs the pre-school. The pre-school liaises closely with the village infant school.

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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 are learning to develop a healthy lifestyle. They play in a generally clean environment and staff ensure that the children learn appropriate hygiene routines. Children know the importance of washing their hands after visiting the toilet and before handling food. They do this without staff needing to remind them. However, the sinks in the toilets are not suitable for young children to use. Children share bowls of water for hand washing. This puts them at risk from infection and cross infection.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children can access a snack during the morning when they wish. This helps them to learn about their body's needs and manage their eating. They can select from a wide range of healthy snacks such as fresh fruit, crackers and soft cheese, bread sticks and dried fruit. Children are developing healthy eating habits.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children take part in daily activities that promote their physical development. For example, they use the indoor slide and rockers during free play and join in music and movement sessions. A wide range of bicycles and scooters mean that children can practise large muscle and spatial skills as they ride around avoiding the other children. For a large part of the day children can access outdoor play. Fun activities mean that children develop positive attitudes to an active outdoor lifestyle.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Children play safely in a warm and welcoming environment. Joint use of the building limits the amount of wall displays so staff supplement this by the use of display boards for children's artwork and posters. Children arrive in the morning and settle quickly. Some explore their environment, accessing resources from boxes around the room. Others head for activities already set out, such as play dough. Children develop confidence as they move freely around the safe playroom. Staff identify potential hazards through regular risk assessments and daily checks. They follow generally good procedures to ensure children keep free from harm. Good supervision of children at all times helps to keep them safe. However, not all the doors from the setting can be secured and not all gates are secure. This means that children could leave the setting unsupervised.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

There is a wide range of furniture to ensure that children can play and eat in comfort. Children enjoy playing with a wide range of toys and resources that are appropriate to their ages and stages of development. However, some of the youngest children can access toys that have very small parts. This puts children at risk from choking hazards. Staff ensure that resources are in good, safe and generally clean condition.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children learn appropriate safety rules such as walking when they are in the hall to keep themselves and their friends safe from accident and injury. The staff have completed a risk assessment and devised a daily written checklist to help keep the children safe. Staff have sound knowledge of child protection issues. This safeguards children’s welfare. Staff are aware of their role in child protection and the nominated person is aware of the routes of referral and local procedures.

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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. When the children arrive they collect their name tag, hang it up and wait eagerly for the pre-school to open. They enter happily and quickly become involved in their play. The setting uses very good processes to help less confident children separate from their carers and settle into the pre-school. Children enjoy their time in the setting and respond well to the staff's support and encouragement. Children become increasingly confident as they develop strong and secure relationships with warm and caring staff who know the children very well. Children new to the setting respond to the staff's sensitive support and encouragement, which helps them to settle quickly.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children play well together and enjoy one another's company. They take part in a broad range of activities, which support their development and learning by providing them with a wealth of fun experiences. For example, they experiment with objects finding out if they sink or float and enjoy stimulating music and movement session where they bang their hands on the mats to make a sound like thunder. They enjoy reading together looking at favourite books. Children enjoy their time in a setting where all thrive in a supportive environment.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Children play in a calm learning environment. Experienced staff provide a broad based curriculum that is tailored to meet the needs of the children at the setting. As a result, children develop new skills easily. They are supported by staff that use their in-depth knowledge of the Foundation Stage to provide varied activities that promote development in all areas of learning. Teaching from different areas of learning is skilfully woven together to enhance learning. For example, maths and counting occurs naturally during reading sessions and singing rhymes. This produces a wide range of fun and stimulating activities that cover all areas of learning and provide sufficient challenge to the children. Children really enjoy using their hands to create paintings and seeing the differences in the paintings when they paint listening to calm music and to faster, jerky rhythms. Staff

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

offer good support and encouragement to children. This means that children make good progress towards early learning goals. Staff use the daily plan timetable to very good effect to allow children time for free play, group activities, quieter times for reading and social snack and lunch times.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children develop good social skills as they play with staff and other children. They chat with their friends at snack and lunch times and warmly invite others to join them as they play on the computer or tuck dolls and teddies into bed. Staff help children separate from their parents and help them to settle quickly, asking questions about their recent holiday. Staff are interested in what children have to say. This increases children’s confidence and their language and communication skills as they recount how exciting it was to fly high in an aeroplane.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Staff offer praise and encouragement to children. Children are enthusiastic about their play, jumping excitedly when staff suggest playing another group circle game, such as ring-a-ring a roses. Children are keen to learn. For example, they huddle together to look at earwigs and a 'wiggly worm' when the manager moves a wooden log. Children ask questions about what they see. Staff foster children's curiosity well involving them in looking at why objects sink or float and the differences between wet and dry sand.

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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 Children make good use of the computer, learning to operate the mouse and play computer games that help them learn to count and recognise numbers. They have plenty of opportunities to practise both large and small muscle skills and develop strength and co-ordination as they use climbing frames, slides, rockers or sit with friends writing in notebooks. Children can recognise their own name and have opportunities to see some familiar words around the setting. This helps develop early reading and writing skills.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

There is a happy and relaxed atmosphere at the setting where the staff use their knowledge of the Foundation Stage curriculum to involve all the children in a calm learning environment where they make good progress towards early learning goals. However, not all planning contains details of learning outcomes. This means that staff are not always aware of the intentions of the activity so opportunities to extend learning are missed. Staff take care to ensure that all children have opportunity to take part in activities and support them in their achievements.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children at the setting have their individual needs well met by staff who have a good understanding of equal opportunities and help all at the setting to take part fully and enjoy their day. Children learn about their own cultures. Parents from different cultures join in activities at the setting to give children opportunities to learn about different lifestyles and taste food from other countries, cooked by the parents. This helps children to develop positive attitudes to different cultures. Staff support children with learning difficulties and disabilities. They work with other professionals, such as speech therapists, to provide appropriate programmes to support children's learning.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children are happily engaged in their play and benefit from consistent strategies that promote positive behaviour rules. They receive gentle reminders of the rules of the setting such as they must walk and not run around the hall. Staff reward acts of consideration and kindness with warm acknowledgement and praise. This helps children understand how they should behave and helps to foster positive attitudes. As a result children behave well.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered. Staff help children reflect on the world around them as they discover earwigs and a worm when moving a wooden log in the outside area. They form good friendships and social groups as they play together with the toy animals and chat happily to friends and staff at snack and lunch time. Children are learning what is right and the behavioural expectations of the staff. They are learning to manage their own behaviour and be kind and considerate to others.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnership with parents and carers is good. A prospectus gives parents information about the setting including its educational provision. Parents are very happy with the provision. They feel their children are happy and settled. Frequent newsletters give parents opportunities to discuss the current topic with their children. They are very pleased with the progress their children make at the setting.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. Staff at the setting are very experienced in caring for children. They use this experience to care for children in a warm and caring setting where children can play happily. The room is ready

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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 for free play when the children arrive and staff ensure that the children all settle quickly and begin to play. There are good relationships between staff, children, their parents and carers.

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Organisation

Children are learning about keeping themselves safe and healthy. Staff record all the details they need for parents and children and maintain medicines administered and accident records appropriately. However, the setting does not have a written formal procedure to follow in the event of a child becoming lost. This is a breach of regulations and puts children at risk. Generally however, there are good policies and procedures that work well in practice to promote children's health and safety. Children are free to play in a warm and caring environment where all participate fully. The provision is successful at making sure that the outcomes for children are positive. The childcare practice is generally effective and the setting has a strong commitment for improvement.

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Organisation

The leadership and management is good. Very good relationships between staff and committee mean that they work together to enhance the development of the children. As a result, children thrive at the setting. There is a good focus on education and staff plan to ensure that children benefit from a wide range of activities and experiences that reflect their interests and help them progress in all areas of learning. This brings about good outcomes for children's learning and progress towards the early learning goals. Staff deliver a broad based curriculum, making very good use of their knowledge of the Foundation Stage and how children learn. There is a commitment to staff training and staff attend courses to further develop their expertise. However, the manager has not yet implemented a system to ensure that children's records of achievement are up to date and the next steps in the children's learning are identified. This

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Organisation

has an impact on the children as it reduces opportunities for them to reach their full potential. The setting meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection the pre-school was set two recommendations regarding ensuring that staff were deployed effectively to supervise children appropriately at all times and to provide clear guidelines and boundaries that are applied consistently. Staff now supervise the children at all times. During free flow play, two members of staff are deployed inside and two outside to ensure constant supervision. This helps to keep children safe. Staff discuss how to ensure that they are consistent in their management of behaviour and have very clear boundaries that they apply at all times. This helps children understand behaviour boundaries and as a result children's behaviour is very good at the setting.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the nursery education inspection the setting was asked to evaluate the curriculum to reflect outcomes and the children's learning. Staff now informally evaluate activities, such as making play spectacles, and discuss the outcomes achieved and how these were extended for individual children. This improves the learning opportunities offered to individual children and reflects how future activities might be adapted to meet individual needs.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The setting was also asked to ensure that parents had access to and contributed to their children's records. Parents now are regularly invited to review records and complete profiles on their children which contribute to these records. This improves communication between parents and staff.

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Complaints since the last inspection

Since 1 April 2004 there have been no complaints made to Ofsted that required the provider or Ofsted to take any action in order to meet the National Standards.

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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 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): • improve hand washing procedures to minimise the risk of infection and cross infection • ensure that children cannot leave the setting unsupervised • ensure that children access toys appropriate to their ages and that young children cannot access toys with very small parts • ensure there is a clear procedure to follow in the event of a child becoming lost and that this is made available to parents and staff.

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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 all chldren's records are up to date and used to inform next steps in children's learning • develop planning to better reflect learning outcomes for children.

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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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