Hedworthfield Community Association

Hedworthfield Community Association Inspection report for early years provision

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312570 Unique Reference Number 27 November 2007 Inspection date Cilla Burdis Inspector

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Cornhill, Fellgate, Jarrow, Tyne and Wear, NE32 4QD Setting Address

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E-mail

Hedworthfield Community Association Registered person Childcare Type of inspection Sessional care, Out of School 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

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE

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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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Hedworthfield Community Association provides both out of school care known as Oscars and sessional care known as Teddy Tots. Teddy Tots operates from the Staff Room and Oscars operates from the Social Unit within the community building. Both groups serve the local area. Oscars provides out of school care for children aged four to under eight years. Teddy Tots playgroup provides care for children aged two and a half years to under five years. Both groups have been registered for a number of years.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The out of school care offers a breakfast club, after school club and holiday playscheme. There are currently 95 children from four to 14 years on roll. The holiday club opens five days a week during the school holidays operating from 08.00 to 18.00. The breakfast and after school club operate five days a week during school term times from 08.00 until 09.00 and 15.00 until 18.00. There are currently 12 children on roll in the playgroup. The playgroup operates during school term times on a Monday, Tuesday and Friday. Sessions are from 12.45 until 14.45.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The settings support children with learning difficulties or disabilities.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 There are five part-time staff who work with the children in both provisions. Of these, three hold early years qualifications. The settings receive support from the local authority. Oscars is part of South Tyneside's Out of School Network.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is satisfactory. Children are cared for in a clean environment where their personal hygiene is encouraged sufficiently. For example, staff ensure children clean their hands before eating. The sickness policies are shared with parents so they can work with the provision in reducing the risk of spreading infection. Accident and medication recording is satisfactory and ensures that parents are informed about the care of their children. The recording of accidents within the playgroup setting, however, does not ensure confidentiality of the information recorded.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children in the playgroup have regular opportunities to play actively as physical activities are included in every session. The out of school club occasionally has access to the hall where the children enjoy football, cricket and other forms of physical activity. Opportunities for children to be outdoors to enjoy fresh air are limited and the quadrangle is not in use at present. During the school holidays, however, the out of school club makes regular visits during which, children have a range of opportunities for fresh air and exercise. Children in the playgroup can rest or relax on floor cushions in the book area. An appealing and comfortable area is lacking in the out of school club. This means children are unable to relax or play quietly during the session.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children attending the out of school club benefit from a variety of healthy foods and snacks that they enjoy. At tea time the food is set out on the table for the children to make choices and serve themselves. Choices include a green salad, carrot sticks, tomatoes, a selection of dips, crab sticks, bread rolls, bread sticks and meat and fish paste. Playgroup children have a mid-session snack consisting of a drink of sugar-free diluted cordial and a biscuit. The children are served the drink by staff and one child hands round the biscuit box so that children can help themselves. Both groups enjoy the social occasion of snack and meal times.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Children are cared for in a sufficiently safe environment. Access to the activity rooms is restricted by keeping the doors locked. Staff make a visual safety assessment of the premises to make sure areas are safe before the children arrive. Vigilance throughout the session ensures children's safety is monitored. The toilet and washing facilities are not adjacent to either of the activity rooms. To ensure children's safety, a member of staff accompanies playgroup children to the toilet. In the out of school club, children know they must inform a member of staff that they are going to the toilet so their safety can be monitored. Children learn about fire safety through practising the evacuation procedure. Documentation to confirm this, however, is not accessible. Safety procedures are followed when taking the out of school club children on outings. The children wear caps and staff wear blue tops so that they are easily identifiable. This also helps

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

staff when they take regular head counts of the children. Risk assessments are completed by the centre manager before the visit is undertaken, which gives staff clear guidance with regard to measures needed to ensure children's safety. Although the manager of the out of school club knows the procedure to follow in the event of a child being lost, all staff working in the

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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 provision do not have access to a written statement to ensure they have a clear understanding of what they must do. This compromises children's safety.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Playgroup sessions are planned in advance and staff set out a range of resources for the children to easily access. Other resources are kept in boxes, which are stored on low-level storage units. The playgroup is well resourced to provide a varied range of activities for the children. Resources in the out of school club are stored in large cupboards. Activities are not planned in advance for the after school care so each child makes a request for the games or resources they would like a member of staff to get out for them. For safety reasons, children are asked not to help themselves to resources from the cupboards.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Staff have a satisfactory knowledge of child protection issues including the signs and symptoms of abuse. It is the responsibility of the centre manager to deal with any concerns raised by staff and the manager holds the contact details and procedures in the office.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is satisfactory. Children settle well and develop satisfactory relationships with staff. Children are relaxed and happy in both settings. They approach staff confidently to ask for help and support with their care and activities.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The playgroup sessions are planned to include a varied range of opportunities for the children. The sessions begin with table top activities, such as play dough, mark making and construction to develop children's hand and eye coordination and fine motor skills. The sessions also include opportunities for stories, songs and physical play. Staff encourage children to play imaginatively. Staff and children thoroughly enjoyed role play as they made a bus, using chairs and a toy steering wheel, so they could make an imaginary journey to see Santa Claus. The children were fully involved and developed their own ideas during the play. For example, one child called for a member of staff to move a cow off the road. Although staff keep records of children's developmental achievements they are not using a system that ensures all aspects of children's development are monitored and promoted effectively.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children in the out of school club make choices about their play when attending the club after school. They enjoy board games, creative activities and like to chat with each other. A wider variety of activities is provided during the school holidays when children are taken on a variety of interesting outings. Photographs show the children visiting museums, farms and places of historical interest. The children explain how much they enjoy swimming and outings to the parks to play ball games. Visitors to the setting broaden children's experiences also. The children have learned circus skills, they have participated in a drum workshop and have learned about Chinese creative activities and African dance.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is satisfactory. All children are welcomed into the setting and their individuality is valued. Staff receive clear guidance from parents to ensure the individual needs of each child are met appropriately. Suitable arrangements are in place to support children with learning difficulties and disabilities.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children gain a satisfactory awareness of the wider world through the availability of some resources that are reflective of diversity. Resources reflecting positive images of disability,

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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 however, are limited. The variety of outings and visitors to the out of school club broaden children's awareness of the local and wider community.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Staff use age appropriate strategies to help children to learn right from wrong. They have a satisfactory understanding of the policies and procedures to ensure incidents are handled in a consistent manner. From a young age children learn to share, take turns and listen to one another. Staff help children to learn about self-discipline and to respect others. Staff are good role models and deal with behaviour in a calm and clear way.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Parents receive an information leaflet that gives an outline of each provision. Information about children's care and activities is shared verbally at the beginning or end of the sessions. Parents are made welcome and are encouraged to exchange information about their child. Some information relating to the provision is on display, however, the playgroup registration certificate is not made accessible for parents' perusal.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. Children are cared for by staff who show a satisfactory understanding of their roles and responsibilities. Staff complete relevant training in certain areas, such as child protection and first aid. This ensures that children are cared for by adults who have satisfactory skills to do their job. The provider understands their responsibility in ensuring the appropriate staff-to-child ratios are maintained and ratios were met at inspection.

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Organisation

Children are cared for in an environment where they feel relaxed and happy. Adequate arrangements are in place to enable children to make choices about their play. Staff working with the playgroup children are fully involved in the children's play. Children in the out of school club organise their own activities under the supervision and guidance of the staff.

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Organisation

Most documentation required for the efficient and safe management of the provision is in place. However, all staff do not have access to the procedure to follow in the event of a child being lost. Daily registers are maintained by both groups. The registration system used in the playgroup, however, does not always accurately record the times of arrival and departure of staff and children. An accurate record of visitors to the registered provision is not maintained. This compromises children's safety. Parents are informed of the complaints procedure but the provider is not clear about the requirements of the recording system.

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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 previous inspection three recommendations were raised. The provider was asked to ensure staff are aware of and regularly practise the fire evacuation procedure, to ensure all records are consistently applied in relation to the day care activities operating within the same registration and to ensure the registration system shows when visitors are present.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The community centre undergoes a full evacuation procedure at least twice a year. Staff working with the children plan their own fire evacuation practises so that all children can be involved at some point. There is no written evidence accessible, however, to confirm how regularly these practises take place. Records, policies and procedures are not consistently applied to the day care provisions operating within the same registration. The provider believes the current system

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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 works in practice and no changes have been made. Although there is a procedure for keeping a register of visitors, this is not consistently applied or accurately maintained. A recommendation has been raised at this inspection.

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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

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE

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

To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • review the recording of accidents to ensure that confidentiality is maintained • make sure all staff are informed of the procedure to be followed in the event of a child being lost • display the registration certificate in a prominent position so that parents of both groups can examine it easily • make sure the system for recording the attendance of staff, children and visitors is accurate at all times • ensure the recording of complaints meets current guidance.

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The quality and standards of the care

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 care

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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