Ilfracombe Arts College

Harting Village Pre-School Group Inspection report for early years provision

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113513 Unique Reference Number 20 September 2007 Inspection date Amanda Shedden Inspector

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Harting Village Hall, Peasecroft, South Harting, West Sussex, GU29 0LB Setting Address

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E-mail

Harting Village 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 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?

Harting Village Pre-School is a committee run group providing care for children aged two years to five years. The pre-school opened in 1983 and is situated in the village of South Harting near Petersfield. It operates from the village hall and serves the surrounding area. Accommodation consists of a large hall and a smaller room and the pre-school has a fully enclosed rubberised safety surfaced outside area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 31 children from two years to five years on roll. This includes 17 funded three and four-year-olds. The setting currently supports children with special educational needs and English as an additional language. The group opens on Mondays from 08.45 to 12.30 for children starting school in September and on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 08:45 to 12:00 and 12.15 to 14.45 during school term time for all children. Children may attend for a variety of sessions.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are five full-time members of staff who work with the children. Three members of staff hold relevant childcare qualifications. The other two members of staff are experienced in working with young children and attend courses on a regular basis.

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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 The pre-school is a member of the Pre-school Learning Alliance. It receives support from the local authority and liaises closely with the local primary school.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children play in a clean environment where they learn to follow good hygiene practices. Well organised daily routines and explanations help children understand why they must wash their hands. Children are encouraged to wash their cups up after having a drink and tidy up after eating snack. In the bathroom there are notices reminding and encouraging children to wash their hands and staff support the young children in mastering this skill. Children readily wash their hands before cooking knowing that they need to "get rid of germs".

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Helping children to be healthy

Staff have a clear understanding of the procedures to be followed if a child were to need medication or if they were in an accident. All staff in the setting have a suitable first aid qualification ensuring that if a child were to have an accident they would be attended to immediately and treated appropriately. There is a sick child policy in place, however, it is not shared with the parents effectively ensuring that they are fully aware of their responsibility if their child was unwell.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children enjoy a range of healthy snacks; in the morning the children's independence is encouraged as they choose for themselves when to eat and drink. Children and staff sit together at lunch and afternoon snack time making it a social occasion. Procedures are in place to ensure that children do not have access to foods that they may be allergic to.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children's physical development is a strength of the pre school. Children demonstrate a good sense of space and move confidently during physical activities. They have access to a secure outdoor area with a rubberised surface ensuring that if they were to fall they would be safe. Outdoors children can climb steps, run along the number line or climb on the apparatus. They practise their ball throwing skills. They jump off the box counting, some children count backwards before they jump. They draw on the large blackboard and enjoy the feel of the sand between their toes. The large sand pit allows children to dig, make sandcastles and use their imagination in a number of ways depending on the resources each day. Children practise walking on stilts showing pride when the manage to walk a few steps. Each day the children have an indoor physical activity to enhance their skills. They enjoy the challenge of the obstacle course, crawling

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Helping children to be healthy

through the tunnel, balancing on the low beam, jumping on the different shape mats, climbing the steps and sliding down the slide.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. The pre-school is bright and vibrant. The main hall is divided into different areas each decorated with relevant displays supporting children's learning. For instance, in the maths area there are posters and signs with shape and number, in the craft area a display showing what happens when you mix certain colours together and in the book area a range of books for the children to self select.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children and parents are greeted warmly by the staff. Children settle quickly into the friendly atmosphere, and feel secure and confident enabling them to make their own choices about

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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 play, freely accessing the good range of resources and activities. The resources are rotated to ensure that during the term children are offered a wide range of interesting and stage appropriate activities.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

There is effective supervision of children and the high staff to child ratios ensure that children are safe and secure. Staff undertake daily checks to ensure that the environment inside and outside is safe and ready for the arrival of children. The procedures for collecting children are effective in ensuring that children only go home with their designated person. Children and staff practise the fire evacuation regularly, however, by always using the same exit they are not fully knowledgeable about all the possible exits available.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children's welfare is protected as all staff have received training and have a clear understanding of their role and procedures to follow if they had a concern about a child.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children are comfortable and confident in the child focused environment. Children play well together and individually, for instance, in the role play corner and constructing the train set. Staff move around the room as necessary, supporting and playing with the children extending their knowledge and skills as they, for instance, show them how to use the computer.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

All children are encouraged to join in the activities, in addition they have times when the activity is focused on their ability level. They have different story times allowing the younger children to have shorter stories at times; props are used to make the story come alive. They also have the opportunity each day to use the large physical resources in these ability groups giving them the freedom to undertake the activity at their own pace.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Staff have a good understanding of the Birth to three framework and activity plans are linked to ensure that the young children are offered opportunities across all areas to enhance their development. Observations are made on the children and used to ensure that individual children make progress.

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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. Children are provided with a wide range of stimulating and interesting activities. The majority of the session is child initiated allowing children to become independent as they choose which activity to become involved in. Staff are skilled at motivating children and encouraging them in their choices building on their own knowledge across all the activities. Each child has a key worker who is responsible for record keeping, but staff meet regularly and take observations on all of the children to ensure their needs are being met. They use the observation taken on the children to ensure that children's learning is at an individual level, for instance, when counting and matching teddies the children are each working a level appropriate to their understanding.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The well laid out room allows children to freely access the different activity areas. Resources in each area are used to enhance the children's learning experiences. Staff move around the room to help children enhance their play, for instance, in the construction area children were supported in making a track and encouraged to play together, the member of staff talking to them and showing children to cooperate, talking and extending their vocabulary.

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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 have many opportunities to make their mark; there is a writing area indoors with a range of resources for the children to develop their writing skills. In addition there are clipboards and paper in other areas to encourage children to use their mark making skills. Children enjoy the large black board in the garden to draw and write on. However, they are not consistently encouraged to make their mark on their own work.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Each day there is a focused activity with a planned learning intent, for the different ability levels of the children. Children were shown a range of bears which they talked about the shapes and sizes noticing the differences and similarities. The more able children were encouraged to draw their own bear and younger children were able to colour in a picture of a bear if they wished. The member of staff encouraged children to observe and talk about the different features of the range of bears, supporting them as they drew their bears; children showed their completed pictures proudly to staff and children.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children learn about numbers through planned and incidental activities. Staff encourage children to count as they clap the number of years when celebrating a child's birthday. They encourage them to count before they jump off the box and they count and weigh ingredients whilst cooking. Many of the computer games involve numbers and the maths area has several posters and games to enhance their understanding.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children thoroughly enjoy and become fully engaged in using the interactive white board. Children take turns to use the pointer to create pictures, "paint", change the colours and play games. Staff encourage children to find answers for themselves, sounding out letters that are involved in the programme encouraging counting and shape recognition. Children learn pencil control as they move the objects to make a picture, a farm scene with different animals, all with different sounds from the animals to farm vehicles. They use large movements to control the picture, taking delight when they or their friends achieve the desired goal.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children are valued and respected as individuals; their needs are met due to the staff's understanding of their needs. Appropriate challenges are set for children according to their individual stage. They enjoy their time at the pre-school gaining confidence and self esteem because staff praise and encourage their efforts and achievements. Children demonstrate a good sense of belonging as they respond to familiar adults and settle well into the daily routine.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children's behaviour is very good. They benefit from the positive role models provided by the staff and they respond well to adult intervention. Children are constantly praised which values them as individuals and encourages positive behaviour. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnership with parents and carers is good. Children benefit from the strong relationships between the parents and staff. Parents state they are very happy with the pre-school; they are kept informed of their child's experiences and progress. Parents have clear information about the Foundation Stage and Birth to three framework through regular newsletters and notices in the entrance hall. Each term they are shown their child's record book which has a report from the child's key worker and they are invited to contribute to it. The pre-school gives parents ideas on how to support their child's further learning at home, these are linked to the stepping stones and the terms plans. Parents are given comprehensive information about the pre-school ensuring that they are fully aware of the provision.

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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

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Organisation

The organisation is good. Children's care is enhanced by the effective organisation and leadership of the pre-school. Children quickly become at ease within the environment and with staff enabling them to feel confident, which is conducive to their play and learning. There is good deployment of staff, space and resources for working with children and communicating with parents. The stable staff team are suitably qualified and experienced to work with children and work well as a team. Staff work to a comprehensive set of policies and procedures to ensure the children's welfare and education is of a high standard. The setting meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides.

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Organisation

The quality of leadership and management is good. The staff and parent committee work well together. They are committed to continually develop, reflect upon and improve children's care and education, through careful monitoring, regular training and working with the local childcare partnership. Through monitoring and regular appraisals training needs are identified ensuring that staff continue to develop their knowledge and skills. Staff plan the curriculum together and meet regularly to ensure that the needs of the children are effectively met. They work hard at keeping parents informed of everything that is happening in the pre-school and fundraising is encouraged to ensure that the children's resources are of good quality and enhance the children's experiences and learning opportunities.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection the pre-school was asked to increase staff's knowledge of child protection procedures and to record the times visitors arrived and departed. All staff have now attended training related to child protection thus ensuring that they would be fully aware of what procedure to follow if they had a concern about a child. There is now a visitors' book in the entrance hall where visitors record their details including the times of arrival and departure.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection they were asked to evaluate and improve the organisation and availability of activities, resources and tools to ensure children can explore, become fully independent and develop their creativity. The pre-school encourages child initiated play during the sessions. They have purchased resources to allow the children to become independent by self selecting, and allowing them to explore and develop their creativity.

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Improvements since the last inspection

They were also asked to improve the system for planning to ensure children's assessments are used to provide sufficient challenges for three and four-year-olds consistently across all sessions. All staff plan together and meet regularly to discuss the needs of the children. This allows staff to ensure that children are set appropriate challenges whilst undertaking all of the activities.

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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. 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 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): • ensure that children and adults are aware of the different escape routes from the building • ensure that parents are aware of the pre-school's sick child policy

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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): • increase children's understanding of mark making by encouraging them to mark their own work.

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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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