Brookside Pre-School

Brookside Pre-School Inspection report for early years provision

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256747 Unique Reference Number 04 October 2007 Inspection date Lesley Barrett Inspector

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Brookside Methodist Church, Gunthorpe Road, Gunthorpe, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE4 7TP

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E-mail

Brookside Pre-School 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 satisfactory. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are good.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Brookside Pre-School has been open for over for 25 years. It runs from two rooms situated in Brookside Methodist Church, Peterborough. There is an enclosed outdoor play area attached to the building.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The pre-school opens five days a week during school term times. Sessions are from 09:00 hours to 12:00 hours each weekday morning. There are currently 36 children on roll. This includes 32 funded three-year-olds and four funded two-year-olds. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The setting currently supports children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. The setting does not currently support children who speak English as an additional language.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The provision employs nine members of staff who work with the children. Over half the staff have early years qualifications to NVQ Level 2 or 3. The setting receives support from a pedagogical teacher and childcare adviser from the Peterborough Sure Start Strategic Partnership.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

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

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is satisfactory. Children are cared for in a clean and well-maintained environment. Staff have a clear understanding of the need to prevent cross-contamination, through sound policies and effective practice. They use antibacterial spray to clean tables before children sit down to eat and ensure that their own hands are clean prior to serving snack. Children are developing a thorough understanding of the importance of personal hygiene as they attend to their own personal needs. For example, they are aware that they need to wash their hands after going to the toilet to get rid of the germs. Staff encourage them to develop these skills further as they are reminded to flush the toilet after use and dispose of tissues correctly after wiping their noses. In addition to this, pictorial reminders to wash their hands and well planned activities remind children about good hygiene practices. Children benefit from the effective record keeping in relation to

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Helping children to be healthy

recording of accidents and the administration of medication, however they are not always protected by sufficient staff having a first aid qualification. This means that at times there is not be a member of staff on the premises who has a current first aid qualification, therefore children's well-being may be compromised.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are well nourished whilst at the setting. They benefit from a varied range of healthy snacks, such as fruit, crackers, crumpets and biscuits. They are provided with a choice of drinks at snack time and water is made available during the session to enable them to meet their bodies needs for drinks to ensure they remain hydrated. Children are encouraged to collect drinks for their table and clear away their plates after eating. This develops their independence skills. Children begin to learn about healthy living during themed activities and well planned resources. For example, during a café role play activity, children have access to 'healthy eating' booklets and menus, and staff reinforce this learning through children's play.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children enjoy a wide range of physical activities that help to develop their confidence and skills both when using large and small apparatus, tools and equipment. They are developing a positive attitude towards physical exercise and a growing awareness of how it can help them to stay healthy. Staff make very good use of a well planned outdoor area and children have free-flow play between indoor and outdoor physical activities for part of the session. This promotes their good health as they are benefiting from opportunities to access fresh air on a daily basis. They benefit from a spacious and exceptionally well resourced outdoor play area. Children can climb and balance on logs, dig in the sandpit and create structures from large wooden bricks and hollow tubes. Children are effectively supported in their play outside by staff who become involved in the games, enhancing children's experience of outdoor play. They

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Helping children to be healthy

have opportunities to practise their fine motor skills in a variety of ways. For example, they are provided with a good range of tools when using the play dough, they are able to access scissors independently and are well supported by staff during a threading activity.

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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 well-maintained and child-focused environment. Bright display boards feature a mixture of adult and children's own work, which makes the environment attractive and helps children to develop a sense of belonging. Staff prepare the room with a wide range of appropriate resources before children arrive each day to create a stimulating environment. There are some opportunities for children to self-select their own resources.

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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 Equipment is appropriately sized, enabling children to gain independence as they sit themselves at a table and are easily able to get off chairs. Children are learning about the importance of keeping themselves safe, as they are gently reminded that if you walk up the slide you may get hurt by someone sliding down.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children's safety is very well protected as the premises are kept secure to prevent unauthorised entry or a child leaving unsupervised. Robust systems are in place for the arrival and departure of children as a member of staff remains at the entrance door to prevent children leaving unsupervised. Good procedures and continuous monitoring of safety within the setting ensures that resources remain clean and safe for use, and the continued safety of the inside and outside play space. Effective deployment of staff, particularly during outdoor play, enables children to take controlled risks in a secure environment. Children's safety in case of fire is promoted. Regular fire drills help children to learn about how they could evacuate the premises safely to protect themselves.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children's welfare is effectively safeguarded as parents complete paperwork which would allow staff to act quickly if a child became ill or there is a medical emergency. Children are never released into the care of an adult unless staff have had prior notification from parents. Staff are familiar with the settings child protection policy and are aware of the procedures to be followed should they have any concerns about a child in their care.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children are happy and confident. They show a good bond with staff who are consistently warm and kind in their approach. They recognise the needs of younger children who are settling and provide a range of stimulating and interesting activities to meet their needs. The sessions are planned effectively, staff are aware that younger children have a shorter attention span and therefore do not expect them to sit for sustained periods, such as during group circle time. This helps to maintain children's attention and prevents disruptive behaviour. Staff strive to make the atmosphere fun for the children and provide good role models for them as they join in with action songs and sit with children at snack time, listening to their thoughts and ideas. This results in a warm and friendly atmosphere which increases the children's sense of belonging and security. Staff are aware of the 'Birth to three matters' framework and currently use it to

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

plan activities for children under three years. These children have access to the same planned activities as the older children, which are effectively adapted to meet their needs by staff who have a good knowledge and understanding of younger children.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Children are making good progress towards the early learning goals. Staff have a clear understanding of the Foundation Stage, the early learning goals and the stepping stones children take in order to achieve them. They understand how children learn and present a range of interesting and stimulating activities to promote a rich learning environment for children. They are flexible, which ensures that children are interested, willing and eager to participate. For example, a spontaneous finger puppet activity was effectively presented to children. This maintained children's interest and encouraged them to develop their confidence and self-esteem, as they used the puppets whilst the staff member sang the songs. All staff interact well with the children and know when to let children develop their play on their own and when to offer support. They recognise opportunities to extend

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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's learning and ask questions to provide challenge, successfully enabling children to think and predict for themselves during activities and general conversation.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Staff are able to identify children's starting points and build effective plans for the children based on their next steps for learning. Children's progress in all areas is well balanced as staff use good methods for assessing them, clearly using information gained to highlight areas to be covered and determine future activities. Planning clearly shows that all six areas of learning are covered and displays learning intentions. Key activity planners are used to plan and deliver adult-directed activities which stimulate children. However, on occasions there is not always sufficient detail regarding the extension of activities for more able children and opportunities to develop their learning can be missed.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children relate well to each other and adults, confidently expressing their ideas. They arrive eagerly and go off to play. They are gaining independence as they are encouraged to, with support from staff, manage their own personal hygiene needs when using the toilet and putting on their own coats. Play is child-initiated with staff proving support as and when necessary, they effectively recognise when children have lost interest in an activity and encourage them to chose something else. Most children display high levels of concentration, they persist at an activity, such as free painting, as staff allow them time to make their own creations and show interest in their work. They are beginning to develop a sense of their own needs and those of others as they take turns playing games and are learning to be kind to each other. Children talk confidently about their families and things they do. For example, they eagerly talk about

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

a trip to the fair and staff respond appropriately.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are beginning to recognise their own names as they identify their names at snack time and some children are also able to recognise the names of other children. Effective labelling on children's work, giving instructions, such as 'We store out toys here' and labelling of toys enables children to begin to identify familiar words in their environment. There are numerous opportunities for children to experience purposeful mark-making through a range of planned and spontaneous activities. For example, during role play, they can take orders in the café or in the hairdressers they can make appointments in the diary. Outside, children are able to participate in mark-making activities with water and paintbrushes or clipboard and pencils. This enables children to recognise that print has meaning. Children are encouraged to link the sounds and letters of their first name and staff effectively support children by asking, 'Whose name

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

begins with…'. Children use books carefully, independently turning the pages. They show sustained interest in stories and use the book area well for both organised and spontaneous story times.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Counting and number recognition activities are practical and fun for children. Through everyday activities, such as how many children are at the snack table, children are encouraged to think about how many plates they will need and how many children will be drinking milk. Well planned and organised activities introduce further concepts of maths, such as simple addition and subtraction. Everyday songs, such as 'Five little speckled frogs', reinforces this learning. Displays of numbers are rich in the inside and outside areas which further promotes children's number recognition. For example, numbered parking slots in outdoor play stimulates children's mathematical interests as they play. Children are learning about weighing and measuring through regular cooking activities.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are beginning to make sense of the world around them by investigating and exploring through first hand experiences in an interesting environment. For example, they learn about the life cycle of a frog and take part in floating and sinking experiments. They go on nature

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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 walks into the local community and learn about other cultures as they celebrate different festivals, such as Diwali. There are regular opportunities for children to use technology, which underpins learning in other areas and staff provide them with good support. Children have opportunities to create and design as they make models from a range of different sized boxes and tubes using various types of joining materials to develop their creation.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are able to be creative, expressing their own ideas and thoughts through craft, music and imaginative pay. They use their senses and imagination to create their own work and to communicate their feelings. For example, children engage in well resourced role play based on their own first hand experiences, such as asking a member of staff what they would like to order in the café. Children participate in a painting activity to create their own pictures and confidently describe these to staff who listen attentively. They have opportunities to use their senses to explore materials, such as rice, play dough, sand and water. Children's interest in music is stimulated through a range of natural instruments which children use independently and with the support of staff.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. All children are warmly welcomed into the setting. Their individual personalities and needs are well known and respected by staff, who seek a range of information from parents and carers to enable them to meet children's individual needs and provide appropriate care. This also ensures that all children are valued and included in the life of the setting. Children's play is supported by a good range of resources, such as books, jigsaws, posters and dolls, which are aimed at promoting positive images of people from a wide range of cultures. For example, there are multi-lingual welcoming posters. Children celebrate a wide range of festivals throughout the year, such as Diwali, where they taste different foods and make garlands. This helps children to further understand and appreciate the diverse society in which we live. Children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are recognised and well supported by experienced and caring

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Helping children make a positive contribution

staff. Records are kept of children's progress and effective systems for working with outside agencies are in place, which ensures that children's individual needs are recognised and continue to be met.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children's behaviour is good. They are learning to use good manners and be kind to each other. Staff are consistent in their approach, which helps children to learn about acceptable behaviours. Clear explanations are given when asking a child not to do something, helping them to understand the consequences of their actions. Pictures depicting simple rules are displayed, helping to reinforce this learning. A tidy up song helps children to prepare for a change in routine, they are given responsibility for tidying away a particular activity. This enables them to develop a sense of purpose and helps to prevent disruptive behaviour. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The partnership with parents and carers is good. All children benefit from the staffs ability to create positive relationships with parents. Parents speak highly of the setting and feel involved in their care and learning. Parents are provided with good quality information about the pre-school and the Foundation Stage curriculum. Staff ask parents to provide them with information about what their child can do before they start at the setting and information provided throughout the year ensures that parents are kept informed about their child's progress. They have access to information on notice boards and in regular news letters. Information on the current themes are displayed outside each room, however this does not provide sufficient

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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 information on how parents can be involved in their child's learning. This does enable parents to be fully involved in their child's learning and support their progress.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. Overall children's needs are met. Although the care and learning for children is generally good, effective contingency arrangements are not in place to ensure that there is a member of staff with a current first aid qualification on the premises at all times. This was a recommendation from the last inspection. Therefore, the setting have not been proactive in addressing training requirements in respect of this, consequently children's well-being is compromised. This is reflected in the overall judgement on the quality of care provided.

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Organisation

The effective organisation of the setting promotes positive outcomes for children. They are cared for by experienced staff, who continue to update their knowledge in childcare issues. All relevant checks have been made to ensure their suitability. Staff work well as a team and are clear about their roles and responsibilities, resulting in children's development and learning needs being met. Policies and procedures are used effectively and most required documentation is in place. However, the exact times of arrival for staff and children are not recorded to ensure that the welfare of children is fully safeguarded.

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Organisation

The setting is suitably organised. Staff deployment through the session is highly effective, they move flexibly between indoors and outdoor environment to ensure that ratios are maintained and children are well supervised at all times. The session is organised effectively to ensure that children are kept stimulated and have good opportunities to use and develop a wide range of skills. For example, there is time built into the daily routines for free play, physical exercise, arts and crafts and quiet times. As a result, children behave well and make good progress in their learning and general development.

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Organisation

The leadership and management of nursery education is good. All staff are involved in understanding the aims of the activities that they provide for children. For example, staff understand their roles at key activities, such as free painting or role play and what children are expected to learn from them. This ensures that there is a high commitment to providing good quality education. Effective systems monitor the quality of teaching. For example, staff have annual appraisals and staff take part in other schemes which monitor their effectiveness.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Following the last inspection the setting were asked to ensure that there was at least one member of staff who had an up to date first aid certificate at all times. They were also asked to provide opportunities for children to talk about number and learn about simple calculation in routine activities.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The setting have made good progress towards improving opportunities for children to be involved in practical activities and learn about mathematical concepts through daily routines. This has a positive impact on children's learning and development.

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Improvements since the last inspection

With regard to ensuring there was at least one member of staff on the premises with a first aid certificate, the setting had made good progress, however they had not been proactive in ensuring that these qualifications were maintained. Therefore, at the point of inspection they were unable to ensure that there was one person on the premises with a current first aid

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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 qualification. This compromises children's well-being and has been addressed again as a result of 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 AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

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

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are good.

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The quality and standards of the care

To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • ensure there is at least one member of staff with a current first aid training certificate on the premises or on outings at any one time • ensure there is a system for registering children and staff attendance on a sessional basis, showing hours of attendance.

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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): • develop the information provided for parents on current themes or activities. Show how they can be involved to help enhance children'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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