Newsome Pre-School Playgroup

Newsome Pre-School Playgroup Inspection report for early years provision

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311300 Unique Reference Number 25 February 2008 Inspection date Jill Lee Inspector

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St. John's Church Hall, Newsome Road South, Newsome, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, HD4 6JJ

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E-mail

The Trustees of Newsome Pre-School 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?

Newsome Pre-School Playgroup was registered in 1968. It is located in St John's church hall in Newsome, near Huddersfield. The playgroup is managed by a management committee consisting mainly of parents.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Children are cared for in one main playroom. Children have access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area. The playgroup operates during term time only from 08.45 to 11.15 on each weekday morning, except Wednesday when it operates in the afternoon from 12.15 to 14.45.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The playgroup may care for a maximum of 26 children at any one time. They are currently caring for 33 children, of whom six receive funding for nursery education. The playgroup supports children with learning difficulties and disabilities and those for whom English is an additional language.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are four staff who work directly with the children, all of whom have an appropriate early years qualification. The playgroup receives support from the local authority.

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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 enjoy daily activities outdoors in all weathers. They are able to choose to spend much of their time in the fresh air. They clamber up and down the climbing frame with agility and confidence. They balance carefully on the stilts and practise their balls skills. They enjoy an energetic game of hopscotch. Children skilfully use the large blocks to make their own balancing beams, build a pathway and make a house. Older children show younger ones how to walk sideways on the narrow plank. Staff give children confidence to try out new challenges. Physical play is well planned to help children develop coordination and move in imaginative ways.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are cared for in a welcoming environment. Staff have a clear understanding of health and hygiene guidelines and arrangements for first aid and administering medication effectively protect children. They 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, children wash their hands after 'messy' activities and use wipes to make sure their hands are clean before they have their snack. They help staff clean the tables and learn to get tissues independently to blow their own nose. Everyday conversations and well planned focused activities raise their awareness of health issues, like how to care for their teeth.

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Helping children to be healthy

Parents' wishes are fully considered so that children's individual dietary needs are known. Staff work closely with parents to ensure snacks provided are balanced and healthy. Children are introduced to different foods at snack time, encouraging them to try out new tastes and textures. They are asked to suggest their own ideas for snack time menus and sometimes help to prepare their own food. For example, they chop healthy vegetables as toppings for their pizza. Snack time is used well to promote children's social development. It is an enjoyable and relaxed part of the session, where staff and children sit together, sociably sharing conversation. There is little stimulus in the snack area to prompt everyday conversations about healthy eating.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. Children are cared for in a safe environment. Their understanding of safety is promoted well, as staff discuss and explain limits and boundaries within everyday activities. They routinely reinforce safe practice, like not running indoors. They ensure children learn appropriate skills, for example, how to manage the large climbing frame safely and the need to remain sitting when using sharp knives to cut fruit. 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.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children learn to use the well planned space purposefully. 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 them without help. Appropriate risk assessments are conducted, for example, the daily checklist to be followed before children play outdoors. Staff routinely identify hazards, for example, unsafe mats and an uneven outdoor surface, and take appropriate action. Registers are kept correctly, evacuation procedures are practised routinely and the details of visitors are recorded.

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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 Children are cared for by staff who give high priority to protecting children and keeping them safe. They enable children to feel confident to share their feelings and make their needs known. They establish supportive relationships with parents. Staff clearly understand recording requirements if concerns are identified, helping to ensure that children's welfare is effectively safeguarded. Some of the staff have not yet been able to gain access to appropriate safeguarding training, to help them become fully familiar with their responsibilities within the procedures of the Local Safeguarding Children Board.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children enjoy coming to the playgroup, 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. Staff show interest in everything they do and listen closely to their ideas. Activities are child-led, so that children's play is relaxed, unhurried and minimally uninterrupted by routines. Children are able to be engrossed in their play, to play happily with others or absorbed in their own world. Children under three years settle very 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.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children enjoy a wide range of activities within the well planned environment. They make independent choices and are able to develop their own play ideas. They freely explore and experiment with lots of different media like sand, water, paint and dough. They fill and empty the water containers and enjoy painting the walls outdoors. They shape and model the play dough and make wonderfully colourful pictures. They enjoy squirting different coloured paints to make 'spinner pictures' and designing their own collage mother's day cards. They are fascinated by the fine coloured sand, spending a long time scooping and pouring, filling and emptying. Children make good friendships and plan imaginary games together. They make up stories using the small world people, dress up and enjoy café role play in the home corner and build houses outdoors with large blocks. They love making dens under the climbing frame and

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

hiding under the covers in the book corner.

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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. Detailed planning ensures that children enjoy a broad range of well planned activities and experiences within the continuous provision, which motivate them and sustain their interest. Planning for learning opportunities using the outdoor environment is less comprehensive. Children are well motivated. They learn to concentrate and persevere 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. Staff actively reinforce 'good listening'. Children love reading books and listen with pleasure to stories. They have many opportunities for mark making in different ways. They learn to recognise their name. They become interested in letter sounds and enjoy rhyming activities. Children count and become familiar with number concepts and shapes within their everyday play, for example as they count the eggs in the egg box and play number dominoes. They investigate mathematical ideas as they roll and shape dough, fill and empty containers in the water. They have opportunities for practical problem solving in everyday play, as they build using the large construction resources. However, resources for free 'design and make'

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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 are not routinely accessible to them. Children have well planned opportunities to find out about the natural world. They talk about the seasons and the weather. They search for creatures outdoors and grow cress. They go pond-dipping and observe growth and change with great wonder, as they watch the tadpoles emerge.

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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. Observations of children's progress are used by staff to vary everyday provision based on their interests. However, staff do not always fully utilise this information to focus teaching and differentiate learning opportunities within the everyday environment. This limits challenge for children, especially those who are older or more able.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children are cared for by familiar and well know staff. They are warmly welcomed into the inviting and child-friendly environment, where they develop a strong sense of belonging. They develop secure and trusting relationships, promoting their confidence and self-esteem. Support for children's individual needs, and especially those with learning difficulties or disabilities, is a real strength of the playgroup. Staff have developed an enabling and inclusive approach, to ensure each child's individuality is nurtured. Children are encouraged to suggest their own ideas for activities and snacks, helping staff to plan around their interests. They hang their suggestions on the 'wish tree'.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children learn to be kind and caring towards each other, as staff sensitively encourage and support good behaviour. They consistently reinforce rules and boundaries, so that children clearly understand expectations. For example, staff alert children that it is nearly 'tidy up time' by using the shaker. Children help to tidy toys away and clean the tables before snack time. They enjoy being monitors, as they give out the wipes to clean their hands, hand out the cups and help to pour the drinks. Children are good at sharing and taking turns. Staff have attended the 'Butterfly Programme' and have introduced strategies to help them actively promote positive behaviour. They clearly explain why certain behaviour is unacceptable, so that children feel supported and know 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, in activities like role play and dressing up, which reflect their local community and wider world. The library is used well to introduce books to raise children's awareness of other people and places. Children read dual language books, they see signs in other languages around the playgroup and posters show images of other cultures and abilities. Outings are planned regularly, for example, children go to the library on the bus, and visitors to playgroup help to raise children's awareness of their local community. Staff successfully create a participative environment in which children make independent decisions and actively contribute to their own experiences. This positive approach fosters 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 promote children's sense of security. Staff work very hard to help parents feel welcome and able to be actively involved in playgroup if they wish. Parents receive information about the 'Birth to three matters' framework and the

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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 Foundation Stage curriculum. Policies and procedures are displayed, along with the Ofsted poster for parents. Parents are confident to raise any concerns. 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 communicate informally about their child's progress on a daily basis and can ask to see their child's development record, although these are not readily accessible to them. Staff are developing a questionnaire, in addition to 'All about me', to help them improve upon the information shared by parents about children's starting points. Photographs are used very creatively to record and share children's experiences in their development records. Staff are trying to develop ways to enhance opportunities for parents to contribute to the records and become more actively involved in their child's learning, through activities to enjoy together. For example, parents are able borrow books to read at home with their child.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. The playgroup environment is very well organised to promote children's welfare and safety. Staff work very hard to successfully create a stimulating and welcoming daily environment, despite the many challenges of shared, multi-use premises. Daily routines are clearly planned to support children's varying needs. Staff are very effectively deployed to ensure appropriate levels of care and supervision. They respond flexibly and sensitively to support children's interests and enhance their play. Staff monitor routines, like group time and snack time, to evaluate children's involvement and the impact on their free play.

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Organisation

The leadership and management is good. Space and resources are organised well to promote children's independent participation. The professional staff team is strong, cohesive and committed. They are developing an effective approach to shared reflective practice. Systematic self-evaluation procedures are being introduced, to help staff evaluate how they promote the outcomes for children. Well planned and effective 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.

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Organisation

The comprehensive policies and procedures are effectively implemented, so that children's welfare is safeguarded. Recruitment systems are robust, ensuring that both staff and committee members are suitable to work with children. Documentation is systematic, accessible and stored confidentially. Well planned induction procedures, together with ongoing staff monitoring and 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 provision 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 playgroup was asked to improve facilities for changing nappies and to develop staff knowledge and understanding of child protection issues. With regard to nursery education they were asked to improve staff knowledge of the foundation stage curriculum, to improve planning to develop children's mathematical skills, to improve the system for recording

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Improvements 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 children's development and enhance information given to parents about the early learning goals and their child's progress through the stepping stones.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The church hall in which the playgroup is based has refurbished toilet facilities, so that there is now a disabled toilet available with appropriate nappy changing facilities. Staff have a good understanding of their responsibilities regarding child protection issues, helping them to ensure children's welfare is safeguarded. All staff have not however accessed appropriate training to update their knowledge of local procedures, so are not fully familiar with the requirements of the Local Safeguarding Children Board.

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Improvements since the last inspection

All staff have undertaken appropriate early years training to meet qualification requirements and consistently access appropriate training and development opportunities. They have a very good awareness of the Foundation Stage curriculum, have implemented systematic and effective observation and recording systems and have established clear systems to plan for children's progression through the stepping stones. These measures mean that children are making good progress towards the early learning goals. Parents are well informed about the Foundation Stage curriculum and communicate regularly with staff about their child's progress. Staff have identified that there is need to enhance the ways in which parents are able to become involved in their child's 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

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): • ensure all staff are fully familiar with the requirements of the Local Safeguarding Children Board.

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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):

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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 • use observations to clarify the focus of teaching and enhance planning for differentiation in the everyday environment, specifically to increase challenge for older and more able children • further develop planning to maximise opportunities in all areas of learning using the outdoor environment • develop increased opportunities to share progress records with parents, and promote ways for them to share activities at home to encourage their more active involvement in their child's 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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