Leverton Hall

Clutton Playgroup Inspection report for early years provision

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133095 Unique Reference Number 03 October 2007 Inspection date Beverly Anne Self Inspector

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The Cabin, Off Station Road, Clutton, Bristol, BS39 5PF Setting Address

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E-mail

Clutton Playgroup Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Sessional care Type of care

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E-mail

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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ABOUT THIS INSPECTION

The purpose of this inspection is to assure government, parents and the public of the quality of childcare and, if applicable, of nursery education. The inspection was carried out under Part XA Children Act 1989 as introduced by the Care Standards Act 2000 and, where nursery education is provided, under Schedule 26 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. This report details the main strengths and any areas for improvement identified during the inspection. The judgements included in the report are made in relation to the outcomes for children set out in the Children Act 2004; the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding; and, where nursery education is provided, the Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage. The report includes information on any complaints about the childcare provision which Ofsted has received since the last inspection or registration or 1 April 2004 whichever is the later.

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

For more information about early years inspections, please see the booklet Are you ready for your inspection? which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the care are good. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are good.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Clutton Playgroup is run by a committee. It opened in 1968. It operates from a hall, and the group have access to the kitchen, toilets, quiet room and an enclosed outside area. It is situated in the rural village of Clutton, near Bath and serves the local area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 22 children from two to five years on roll. This includes 16 children receiving funding for nursery education. Children attend for a variety of sessions.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The group opens Monday to Friday from January through to July, then from Tuesday to Friday from September through to January. Sessions are from 09.30 until 12.00, the group opens during school term times.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Six staff work with the children, five of whom hold early years qualifications. Two staff work full-time and four work part-time with the children.

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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 good. Children's health is well promoted. They learn about personal hygiene through simple hand washing routines, as they wash hands before cooking activities and snacks, and after using the toilet. Children have their own individual towels for drying hands, although they do not wash their hands under running water. However, adequate measures are in place to reduce cross infection.

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Helping children to be healthy

Staff follow good health procedures, such as cleaning tables before snack time. They are all qualified in first aid, so emergencies can be dealt with effectively and they ensure that accidents are recorded accurately.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children help themselves to a drink when they are thirsty, as staff make sure there is a jug of water and cups readily available. Children start to learn about healthy eating and where foods come from by taking part in cooking activities, and through a planned topic which is currently 'food'. The children enjoy making their own pizzas, choosing from a variety of different toppings and discussing how the pizza changed after cooking, stating that "the cheese has melted".

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Helping children to be healthy

The children are involved in a variety of activities that promote physical development. They play outside when the weather is fine and regularly use a climbing frame, slide and small trampoline inside. Children also take part in music and movement, and a yoga teacher visits the group once a week to take a yoga session with the children. They bend, stretch, roll and follow the teachers instructions as they learn to move their bodies in different ways.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Children are cared for within suitably maintained premises, where activities and toys are set out to make the play area inviting. There is a space for the children to hang their coats in the lobby area, they have their own drawers for their belongings and their art work is displayed around the room. This helps to create a welcoming environment.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children have access to a wide range of toys and play provision appropriate for their stage of development. They choose freely from the toys and activities set out by staff at the beginning of the session. Children do not have access to anything that is not safe for them to use independently, for example they use scissors at a planned activity under staff supervision.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The children are well supervised through effective staff deployment. Daily checks of the premises are carried out by staff to make sure the play areas are hazard free and suitable for the children. However, the fire exits are obstructed by furniture and toys, and the main door into the premises is not kept locked. Therefore, this is a potential risk to the children's safety.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children's welfare is appropriately safeguarded as staff have sound knowledge of child protection issues through training.

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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 enjoy their time at the playgroup. They arrive and settle quickly and easily, confidently choosing what they want they would like to do from the activities set out. The children play on their own or in small groups, they make their own games when in the role play area and enjoy dressing-up.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Staff sit with the children and help to extend their play. The children respond well to staff and chat easily with them about things they have done at home. The children are provided with a good range of age appropriate activities and experiences, which encourage them to learn new skills.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Staff have a good knowledge of the Foundation Stage curriculum. They support children well in their play and use good questioning skills. These skills encourage the children to share what they already know, helps them to increase their knowledge and develop further.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Weekly plans show the activities which the children will take part in, the areas of learning that will be covered and what the children will be learning. However, these plans are not consistently evaluated, and do not clearly show how activities are extended to meet individual children's needs with regard to their different stages of development.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The staff record and monitor what the children do. They make daily observations of the children's achievements and use these observations to show how the children have progressed along the Foundation Stage. These progress records are regularly shared and discussed with parents.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are happy, settled and becoming increasingly independent. They play co-operatively in small groups and are generally well behaved. The children understand the concept of sharing and how to be kind telling you, "I have brought some sweets from my holiday for the children, we are going to share them". They are forming positive relationships with the staff and peers, as they seek out friends to play with and go confidently to staff to ask for help.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The children ask their own questions and reply to staff questions. They make conversations with each other and take turns to speak. This shows that they can communicate well and enjoy talking and listening to each other. Children are able to see letters and words written around the room, on displays, toy boxes and on their drawers for belongings. Some of the children can recognise their own names and some are able to write the first letters of their names. There are good opportunities for the children to handle books and listen to stories.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are using maths in everyday activities. They use mathematical language during play, such as up, down, over and under. Many of the children can name basic shapes and some can differentiate between big and small, and identify long, longer and longest. They count by rote as they join in with counting songs and are able to count objects from one to eight. The children start to learn about volume as they play in the sand filling containers and buckets.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The children have good opportunities to express themselves and take part in creative activities. They really enjoy role play, the home corner and re-creating familiar scenarios. Two children sit together at the table, as if sitting at a mealtime. One pretends to pour from a tea pot and says to the other "there you are, there's your coffee", they pretend to drink their drinks and

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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 eat the play food they have on their plates stating "that's a nice cake". There are daily opportunities for the children to experience free painting, play dough, cutting, sticking, singing and dressing-up.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children use everyday technology in the role play area, for example plastic work benches with tools, cash tills, kettles, and compact disc players and digital cameras are used at the playgroup. However, the children's access to programmable toys and technology is limited. Through planned activities the children are learning about the world they live in. They learn about their local community and the people who help them through visits from the lollipop lady, policeman, vicar and fire people.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children are encouraged to learn about the wider world through planned activities and topics of festivals, such as projects about Chinese New Year and Ramadan. The children have access to a varied range of toys, books and resources that show positive images of diversity. The children are treated as individuals by staff and their feelings are respected, for example when some of the children do not want to join in with certain activities.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The playgroup has a designated special educational needs co-ordinator in place. She is well equipped with the knowledge and skills to support children with additional needs. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children are generally well behaved, they remain focused on activities and become involved in what they are doing. They know what is expected of them through following daily routines, such as helping to tidy away the toys and getting a book and sitting down before snack time. The children are encouraged to use good manners, and demonstrate this as they say 'please' and 'thank you' when the snacks are passed around.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnership with parents and carers is good. Parents are kept well informed about their child's progress by reading their progress records, talking to their child's key worker and helping out at the playgroup as part of the parent rota. They also receive information about the Foundation Stage curriculum and the six areas of learning in the groups starter pack.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Good information about the provision is provided in the form of a prospectus as well as a starter pack. These include copies of policies and procedures, registration forms, playgroup and parental agreements. There is also a notice board, regular newsletters and parents are invited to attend the playgroups annual general meeting.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. Children are cared for by an established team of staff. Most of them hold appropriate early years qualifications, and all of them have experience in child care to support them in their roles at the playgroup. Staff regularly attend ongoing training courses to update their knowledge of childcare and education. There are effective systems in place to ensure staff are suitable and qualified to carry out their roles, and staff appraisals monitor staff development and ongoing suitability. However, staff record files have not been fully updated for some time and records of recent staff appraisals were not available for inspection. Documentation, policies and procedures to promote children's care and development are in place although a system 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 record medication is not available and some health and safety procedures do not follow best practice at this time.

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Organisation

Leadership and management is good. The playgroup is run by a committee who support the staff team effectively, meeting frequently to discuss the running of the setting. The joint play leaders lead the staff well and all the staff work together efficiently. This enables the playgroup to provide smoothly run sessions, and shows the staffs commitment to their roles and responsibilities. The playgroup have joined an accreditation scheme which is helping them to monitor and evaluate their practice and the setting. The provision 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 it was recommended that the provider ensured all staff were given the opportunity to update their child protection training and that the floor space was organised so that the children could play safely and freely. It was also recommended that the playgroup plan to challenge more able children to manage age appropriate tasks, to use technological resources to support their learning and to develop an understanding of other people's cultures and beliefs. Also to improve the system for monitoring and evaluating practice to ensure ongoing improvements.

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Improvements since the last inspection

All staff have now attended child protection training to update their knowledge in this area. The floor space is organised so that children can move around freely, although obstructions of fire exits do compromise safety, as highlighted at this inspection. Plans do show some general challenge for more able children, but this is not tailored to individual childrens needs, and children's regular access to programmable toys and technology is limited. These areas have recommendations following this inspection. Activities are planned to help the children's understanding of other people's cultures and beliefs, and the playgroup have joined an accreditation scheme to help monitor and evaluate practice at the setting. As a result of previous recommendations staff have undertaken training, children are further developing their understanding of the wider world and there are systems in place to monitor and evaluate the

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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 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 AND 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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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 fire exits are not obstructed and can be easily opened from the inside, and make sure the premises are secure so that unwelcome visitors cannot enter • update staff records and appraisals, and develop a system to record the administration of medication

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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): • further develop planning to include evaluation of activities and how activities are extended for individual children • improve children's accessibility to programmable toys

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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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