St Mary Magdalen's Catholic Primary School

Grampound Road Pre School Inspection report for early years provision

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102909 Unique Reference Number 22 February 2008 Inspection date Sara Jane Frost Inspector

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Sir Robert Harvey Memorial Hall, Grampound Road, Truro, Cornwall, TR2 4EE

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E-mail

The Trustees of Grampound Road 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 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?

Grampound Road Pre-School opened in 1970. It operates from the village hall in the village of Grampound Road, near St Austell, Cornwall. A maximum of 20 children may attend the pre-school at any one time. The provision is open from Monday to Friday from 09.15 to 11.45 school term times only.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 24 children, aged from two to five years, on roll. Of these, 17 children receive funding for early education. Children come from the local area and outlying villages.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The pre-school employs three full-time members of staff who work with the children. Two of whom have an early years qualification with the third member of staff currently working towards a level 3 qualification.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The setting receives support from a teacher from the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership and is a member of the Pre-School Learning Alliance.

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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 benefit from the staff's good hygiene practices. For example, following any holiday break staff wipe down each resource as it is taken out of storage before the children have access to. Staff ensure children's hygiene practices are well promoted, as they learn good hygiene practices through daily routines such as washing hands after using the toilet and before eating their snack.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children's health is promoted as all staff are suitably qualified in paediatric first aid and systems are in place to record administration of medication and accidents. Parents are kept fully informed of any injuries that occur as they are asked to acknowledge entries made with a signature. Good systems are in place if a child becomes poorly whilst at pre-school. Parents are asked not to bring their children until they are free from an infectious illness, which therefore reduces the risk of cross infection.

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Helping children to be healthy

The pre-school provides a well organised cafeteria style snack time. This helps promote children's independence and provides them with a choice of when they want to access snack at a suitable time during their play. Children's independence is further promoted as they are encouraged to make choices and pour their own drinks. Children's fluid levels are maintained as staff ensure children have access to fresh drinking water. Parents provide a varying range of fresh fruit and vegetables, although the pre-school, regularly provides sweet biscuits.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children benefit from regular exercise, by the range of equipment provided. They confidently manoeuvre around the hall, developing their balancing skills during music and movement and clearly enjoy playing with the parachute. When the weather is good children are able to use the outdoor facilities. In addition, during the spring term the children are able to use the local school hall.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. Staff arrive early to ensure the room is warm, welcoming and ready before the children arrive. Children are made to feel valued as their work is displayed around the setting. They are able to move freely between the activities within the pre-school. This provides them with opportunities to make choices in their play. The children are provided with further opportunities to develop their independent skills as they are able to choose from a good range of safe and suitable resources which are easily accessible.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The entrance doors are kept secure throughout the session and visitors gain entrance by ringing the bell. A visitor's book is used to maintain a record of persons visiting the pre-school. Good systems are in place to ensure children are not released to unauthorised adults. Risk assessments are conducted as well as daily visual checks and any safety issues within the pre-school are addressed by staff appropriately. For example, any spilt water is mopped up immediately. Children show an understanding of dangers, for example, they clearly know you should not put pen lids in your mouth as you could choke. Children learn how to keep themselves safe as regular fire drills are conducted.

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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 further protected from harm by the staff's sound knowledge of child protection issues. All staff are aware of their own responsibilities and processes to follow in line with the current guidelines.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Staff have developed a good relationship with the children as they show a genuine interest in them. Most children enter the building with ease and eagerly seek out their friends. Children know the pre-school routines well and respond accordingly, such as, at tidy up time when they help each other put away the resources. Staff are attentive to children's needs as they provide opportunities for children to feel safe and give them time to settle into the pre-school routine.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Staff show a very good understanding of the Foundation Stage. Each member of staff has a specific area to concentrate on, as part of the planned programme. Such as, helping children to listen or developing their awareness of pattern making. Planning shows that all six areas of learning are incorporated in the everyday activities provided. There is a good balance of adult led and child initiated activities. Staff are skilful as they extend children's thinking through use of questions and discussion. Children's assessments and observation records are completed by the allocated key worker. However, these are not fully completed as they do not, record identified targets to help children move onto the next stage of their learning.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are confident and clearly enjoy coming to pre-school. They show an eagerness to speak out at circle time and engage in conversation with staff about 'me and my family', the current topic at pre-school. Children are learning to be independent for example, as they put on and take off their aprons during messy play activities. Children are encouraged to access a range of books as they are attractively displayed and easily accessible in the book area. They clearly know how to hold a book and enjoy reading stories to their friends. The provision of various writing tools such as highlighters and post it notes allows children to develop mark making skills. They are able to recognise their own names and some more able children recognise their friend's names. Opportunities are provided for children to count throughout the session; for example, a child at the craft activity began counting the number line and recognised the

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

number 17 was turned around. Children are able to recognise and follow simple patterns when threading beads as well as creating patterns of their own. Children talk about shapes as they freely draw circles, squares and swirls in the shaving foam. They are confident in using simple computer programmes and develop good control when using the mouse. Children learn about the natural world as they discuss different tree barks and changes in the weather. They are provided with opportunities to use paint, sand and water play. During the session children take part in the set craft activity, although this is undertaken as a group activity, children are encouraged to develop their own ideas by staff, providing a range of materials. For example, a child wanted their peg dolly to have very long legs, another chose small pieces of shiny fabric to make colourful clothes. Children had great fun looking into the mirrors and describing what

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

they could see to help create their own self portrait. Children are provided with a range of tools that help develop good control of small equipment such as glue spreaders and scissors.

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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. Staff show a good awareness and sensitivity to children's individual needs. They work closely with parents to help children feel safe, secure and settled. Children learn to respect each other through playing together, taking turns and showing concern for each other. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered. Children learn about the wider world through planned activities such as tasting different breads from other countries and celebrate various festivals and celebrations, such as St Piran's day.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The setting offers an inclusive environment where all children are welcome. The member of staff with overall responsibility for special educational needs has a clear understanding of the code of practice and ensures all staff are familiar with processes. Children's behaviour is good as staff provide a consistent approach. The children are polite, saying please and thank you at appropriate times. They are regularly heard praised by staff, which develops their self esteem and respect for each other.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnership with parents and careers is good; they receive regular information verbally, through use of notice board and newsletters. Information shared with parents looks at the day to day running of the session and provides them with information around the six areas of learning. All parents and carers are warmly welcomed and family needs are well respected. Staff are easily approachable and good two way communication processes allow for children to be cared for in accordance with their parent’s wishes; good links have been fostered through the use of key workers. Library books go home to foster links between home and pre-school. Parents are invited to take an active role within the pre-school by helping out with the parent rota, this also provides them with opportunities to see first hand what the pre-school offers their child. Children's records of achievement provide parents with information on their children's progress.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

A written complaints policy and procedure is in place however details of regulatory authority are not fully available.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. The provider meets the needs of the range of children for whom they provide. Most of the required documentation is in place. Staff are experienced and work very well together as a team. The induction processes ensure new staff have a clear understanding of the settings policies, procedures and the day to day running of the pre-school. For example, no unvetted persons can be left alone with the children. All are confident in their roles and responsibilities and this underpins the smooth running of the setting. Over half of the staff hold a Level 3 childcare qualification. All relevant checks are completed on all staff at the pre-school; however, at present there is no formal way for checking their on going suitability.

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Organisation

Leadership and management of the nursery education are good. Regular staff meetings are conducted to evaluate, discuss future planning and discuss the children's progress. Appraisals are conducted on a yearly basis and are used, for example, to identify any additional training needs. The pre-school staff meet regularly and are able to identify the settings own strengths and weaknesses. For example, staff have recently introduced 'fun fit exercise' as they identified weaknesses in the educational programme for physical development.

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Organisation

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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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection the provider was asked to provide suitable hygienic hand washing facilities, ensure premises are maintained in a suitable decorative order, conduct risk assessments of the provision and outdoor area, and also consider the grouping of children particularly during the second part of the session. Since then the group has improved children's health and welfare, by ensuring additional hand washing facilities are accessible to children, and by working with the village hall committee the pre-school are continuing to develop ways to ensure the hall is warm and welcoming. The introduction of regular risk assessments both inside and outdoors as well as daily checks of the premises being conducted before children enter the hall ensures children's safety is maintained. Staff regularly review how children are grouped and organise depending on the needs at any given time.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last education inspection the setting was asked to provide more opportunities for children to self select resources and work independently particularly when choosing craft materials. This has now been met as staff, organise and provide a good varied selection of materials for the children to use to develop their own individuality to any creative activity, be it on an individual basis or as a main group craft activity.

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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): • devise and implement a system to ensure staff remain suitable to care for children • provide parents with appropriate information as detailed in the settings policy should they wish to make a complaint

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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 • ensure observation and assessment targets are identified to ensure children are able to progress onto the next steps of learning at their pace

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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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