Holy Trinity Playgroup

Holy Trinity Playgroup Inspection report for early years provision

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226211 Unique Reference Number 18 October 2007 Inspection date Dianne Lynn Sadler Inspector

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Holy Trinity Church Hall, Off Kilwardby Street, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, LE65 2FR

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E-mail

The Trustees of Holy Trinity Playgroup (Ashby De La Zouch) 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?

Holy Trinity Playgroup opened in 1966 and is run by a committee. It operates from the main hall and side room of the church hall. It is centrally situated in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire. A maximum of 34 children may attend at any one time. The playgroup is open each week day during term time from 09.15 to 11.45 and 12.45 to 14.45 on Tuesday and Wednesday and 09.15 to 13.00 on Monday, Thursday and Friday. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 57 children aged from two to under five years on roll. Of these, 35 children receive funding for early education. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The playgroup currently supports a number of children with disabilities and/or learning difficulties and also supports a number of children who speak English as an additional language.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The playgroup employs ten members of staff. Of these, seven hold an early years qualification.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

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

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children's good health is promoted well within the setting. Staff follow effective procedures which reflect current environmental health and hygiene guidelines that successfully support children's well-being. For example, they wear disposable gloves when nappy changing and use anti-bacterial spray to clean tables and the nappy changing mat. This helps reduce the risk of infection. Children understand daily routines and are becoming independent in their personal hygiene and receive good support and guidance from adults. For example, children wash their hands before snack times and after toileting. Tissues are also easily accessible so they can wipe their own noses, placing the tissue in a bin. Children are well cared for when they have an accident or become ill. Staff have received appropriate first aid training and permission is sought to obtain emergency medical advice and treatment, which is recorded on the 'Medical

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Helping children to be healthy

authorisation' form. This ensures children receive prompt first aid attention.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are very well nourished. They enjoy snacks that are varied, nutritious and healthy. This promotes children's health and their understanding of healthy eating. For instance, children choose from a large selection of fresh and dried fruit every session, brought in by parents. Fruit includes mango, kiwi, pineapple and sultanas. Children also enjoy drinks which include milk and juice and can access water throughout the session. The dietary needs of children are discussed with parents and recorded well, ensuring that children have their dietary needs met appropriately.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are learning about the importance of a healthy lifestyle through well-planned activities and experiences. They explore healthy eating and are rewarded with a star if they try a new fruit they have not tasted before. Children have regular opportunities to be active and thoroughly enjoy the stimulating outdoor play area which they can choose to access throughout the session. This successfully develops their independence. Children are able to develop their physical skills climbing up the steps of the slide and bouncing on the trampoline. There are also imaginative play toys, such as a play house, and planned activities such as the sand tray, which ensures learning can be extended from the inside to the outside.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. Children are well cared for in a welcoming and safe indoor and outdoor environment, which helps them feel secure and comfortable. They move around with ease from area to area which helps them to settle quickly and feel confident. Children enjoy a stimulating, well-organised environment, in which their craft work is displayed well, successfully developing their self-esteem. A risk assessment is carried out on the premises every morning, ensuring all hazards are identified and minimised. This protects children from the risk of accidental injury. Effective policies and procedures in place maintain children's safety. For instance, visitors are requested to sign in and out.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children use good quality, suitable and safe furniture, equipment and play resources, appropriate to meet their different needs. Their independence is actively promoted because resources are easily accessed, enabling them to make good choices and decisions. Children are learning how to keep themselves safe. They practise the emergency evacuation procedure each half term and benefit from a visit from a police officer who discusses stranger-danger with them. Children

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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 also visit the local fire station and participate in well-planned activities to discuss the dangers on bonfire night.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are well protected from harm because staff have a good understanding of their role in child protection. Staff are aware of what action they are required to take if they have a child protection concern about any of the children.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children thoroughly enjoy their time in the setting and develop positive relationships with both adults and each other. Children are settling well and developing good confidence. Some children arrive keenly and enthusiastically seeking their favourite resources and toys. Those who are unsure and upset are comforted by caring staff who encourage them to join in and play. Children benefit from a stimulating and interesting environment in which most are happy, content and secure. They benefit from seeing their work displayed and all resources are easily accessed. Staff know the children well and explain the different stages that individual children are at and what steps are being taken to help them progress effectively.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are inspired by a wide range of activities and experiences that develop enquiring minds and build on their curiosity. This positively supports their development and learning. They concentrate very well whilst painting vegetables such as carrots and parsnips. They develop their imagination whilst feeding teddy bears their porridge and they develop good language and communication skills when sitting on a mat and selecting a book to read with an adult.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Staff have a strong knowledge of the Foundation Stage and a clear understanding of how young children learn and progress. As a result all children are included and make good progress towards the early learning goals. Staff use a wide range of teaching methods to maintain children's interest. Staff know that the children learn better when they are happy and relaxed and they ensure children are well settled before they concentrate on their learning. Staff sit with children, ask questions and offer support when needed. Staff effectively help raise children's awareness of the community and the wider world and there are a good range of resources to promote this. Children are well motivated and keen to learn. The playgroup session is organised effectively and children benefit from participating in structured activities as well as being able to initiate their own play and develop their own

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Planning indicates that all areas of learning are covered over a period of time and repeated to enable children to practise what they have learned. This ensures children make good progress. Staff have a clear idea of the learning intentions for children and plan their next steps in learning, which is recorded well. The assessment procedure is sufficient. Staff record observations they make on children's development and transfer this information to children's profiles. However, the assessment records do not clearly show the progress made from when children enter the Foundation Stage. Therefore the next steps planned for children may not be appropriate.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

All children are well motivated and engaged in their play as they select and carry out the wide range of well-planned activities. Younger children are developing their confidence by trying new activities and all children concentrate very well. Children assume responsibility for their

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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 personal care and their independence is being successfully developed. For instance, they choose whether to wear a coat outside and most dress themselves. All children are learning to understand between right and wrong and are developing good self-control. For example, all children know to stand still and raise their hand when they hear the tambourine shaken. Children are learning about different cultures and are developing a good sense of community as they participate in different celebration days. For instance, they explore the different ingredients needed to make a pancake for Pancake day. They also enjoy posting a birthday card to the queen made by themselves and proudly display the letter of reply. All children communicate well with staff making their needs known through expressive language or by gestures. Most

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

children can speak clearly and confidently, sharing their experiences and use language for thinking very well. For instance, a child sitting at a table with some teddy bears used language to explore real and imagined experiences very well. He explained confidently that he was giving the teddy some porridge for breakfast, but teddy would have to wait for the porridge to cool down as it was too hot. Children benefit from seeing print in the environment and show a good interest in books. They concentrate well sitting on the mat selecting a story to read with an adult. Children recognise their names on name cards as they sit down for registration in their key-worker groups. They attempt to write their names to label their work and older children clearly write recognisable letters of their name, correctly formed.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children benefit from seeing some numbers displayed in the environment and confidently use numbers for counting in their play. For example, they select a domino card at registration time with a number on it. When the adult points to the same number on a poster most children identify the number on their domino card. Some children also know that when they see a number one and four together it is the number 14. Children are also developing an understanding of more than and less than. They count out five sausages and know that when one sausage is taken away from a group of five, four are left. Children explore shape, space and measure in various ways. They enthusiastically measure dried oats using weighing scales, exploring heavy and light. All children explore and investigate living things and events they observe, using their senses and developing their imagination. They plant runner beans, lettuce and onions. They

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

also look at the life cycle of a butterfly in the spring and discuss the weather, making cold colour pictures using blue and white paint. They consider differences, patterns and change as they visit local allotments each season, watching the vegetables grow. The good use of a time-line collage showing the activities and events planned each month effectively develops children's sense of time and place, identifying past and present events.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Effective use of the indoor and outdoor space helps children develop their physical skills. All children move confidently when negotiating their way around the playgroup from activity to activity and accessing the outdoor play area. They successfully develop their physical skills whilst climbing up the steps of the slide and riding wheeled toys. Children are learning to travel under, over and around when using a parachute and use small and large equipment well. They competently use one-handed tools such as cutters, rolling pins and plastic knives when playing with the play-dough. They also enjoy constructing sand castles using damp sand outside in a tray. All children are able to express themselves freely through creative activities, using different materials and media. For instance, they enjoy making rockets out of cardboard rolls. They successfully use glue and parcel tape to assemble them and decorate using shiny paper. Children

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

also use their imagination when drawing a picture of a blue tractor for their mommy and pretending to feed the teddy bears some porridge. They also express and communicate their ideas well, responding to what they smell, taste and touch. For instance, three-year-olds explore fruits and vegetables in the role play area. They tell me they like squeezing the juice from an orange and are using a lemon squeezer. They also curiously smell freshly cut leeks placed in a bowl.

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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

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Effective relationships with parents ensure the staff meet the individual needs of all children very well. Good procedures ensure both parties are well informed. Detailed information is gathered at registration and recorded appropriately using forms such as the 'enrolment form'. Parents share information about children's routines, care needs, favourite toys and activities, and their religious and cultural needs. This ensures children receive good care consistent with home and settle more easily. Parents also receive comprehensive information. They receive a settling-in document which shows how the children are progressing and is updated every six weeks. They also benefit from informative notice boards; activities and themes are displayed on a board in the foyer and regular newsletters. At times, a daily diary is exchanged with parents using photographs to show how their children are settling, which they find particularly beneficial.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Parents' views are sought through questionnaires that are periodically given out, the results of which are shared and by having a suggestions box available in the foyer.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Clear, concise policies work effectively in practice to promote equal opportunities for all children. They enjoy positive relationships with the staff and with each other. Children feel a sense of belonging as they are greeted warmly by staff when they arrive. This is further enhanced by the implementation of a key-worker system. Children benefit from knowing who their key worker is and which group they belong to, such as the 'busy-bees'. Younger children who are upset and new to the setting benefit from a very good procedure which encourages parents to stay and participate in their children's settling-in. All children are fully included because staff acknowledge and value children's differences. There are very good procedures in place, reflective of the Code of Practice, to ensure children with disabilities and/or additional needs are supported appropriately. Staff often work closely with parents and outside agencies to

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Helping children make a positive contribution

ensure their well-being is effectively fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children are being made aware of the wider society. Staff ensure that the resources positively represent the children who attend as well as the wider world and children are made aware of all celebrations and festivals. For instance, children celebrate Chinese New Year and St George's Day.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children's confidence and self-esteem is being developed well by staff with the use of praise and encouragement and the children's work being displayed or proudly taken home. All children are learning to understand responsible behaviour. They respond well when being reminded by staff to walk and they are learning to take turns, share play resources and show respect for others. Children enjoy receiving stars or smiley faces, rewarding their good behaviour or a task completed well. The behaviour policy is well written, understood by staff and effective in practice. Therefore children's behaviour is managed well, promoting their welfare and development.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

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 of children who receive nursery education is good. Parents receive clear, concise information about the educational programme provided and the six areas of learning. The Foundation Stage curriculum is included in the playgroup welcome pack. In addition, parents also receive information about the planned themes and activities, displayed on the notice board and included in regular newsletters. Consequently parents can fully support their children's learning at home. Parents are also actively encouraged to become involved in their child’s learning in meaningful ways. This helps children progress and enables

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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 them to make a positive contribution. For example, parents support planned themes by coming into playgroup to bath their baby with the children. They also work in the setting on a rota basis. Parents are sufficiently well informed about their children's progress and achievements. They benefit from being given the final, end of year assessment and they are able to speak with their children's key worker at any time. However, although they can verbally share information with staff about their child's development observed at home, this information is not actively sought, valued or acted upon. Therefore the next steps planned for children's learning may not be appropriate.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. Children are cared for well by staff who are experienced, well established and committed to their well-being. Staff work well as a team, providing a stimulating and interesting environment conducive to the care, teaching and learning of all children. The ratio of adults to children is good, enabling staff to work closely with children and carry out a successful settling-in procedure. This helps to establish secure relationships. The recruitment procedures are clear and there is an effective induction and annual appraisals to ensure that staff are fully aware of their responsibilities towards children. There is a vetting procedure in place, however it is not sufficient as it does not check the on-going suitability of staff, which potentially compromises children's safety and welfare. The level of qualified staff working with children is good and there is a commitment to ensure staff develop their skills and knowledge by

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Organisation

attending training courses. This has a positive impact upon children's care and experiences. Records and documentation in place are available for inspection and shared with staff and parents.

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Organisation

The leadership and management of the nursery education is good. Staff are well motivated and have developed a supportive team approach, aiming for good quality education for all children. There is clear leadership within the setting. The manager and deputy are good role models and committed to improving the nursery education. They works closely with the staff and children and are therefore able to positively influence practice. The monitoring and evaluation of the nursery education provision and quality of teaching is good. Staff benefit from annual appraisals and all participate in planning meetings and evaluate the activities provided well. There are successful systems in place for the manager to observe and monitor the teaching and children's learning. This significantly improves practice and positively supports children's learning and progress.

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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 agreed to ensure staff are aware of the need to ensure confidentiality with regard to record keeping. Significant improvement has been made, with accidents being recorded on separate sheets, which safeguards children's safety and welfare.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection the playgroup agreed to increase opportunities for children to develop understanding of calculation and linking sounds to letters. Good improvement has been made.

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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 Well-planned activities ensure these areas are covered on a regular basis, developing children's knowledge and understanding. The playgroup also agreed to ensure that assessment records clearly show achievements the children have made and their next steps in learning. Some improvement has been made with records showing on-going progress and the next steps in children's learning being clearly identified and planned for. However, the assessment records can be further improved to give a clear picture of progress children make from when they enter the Foundation Stage.

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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 the 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): • implement a system to check that staff remain suitable to care for children.

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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): • ensure assessment records clearly show the starting point of children's learning • seek, value and act upon information from parents about their children's achievements and targets.

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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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