Edgbarrow School

Tavistock Pre-School Inspection report for early years provision

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110049 Unique Reference Number 06 November 2007 Inspection date Carol Patricia Willett Inspector

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Tavistock Infants School, Broadacres, Fleet, Hampshire, GU51 4EB Setting Address

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07761644206 or evenings 01252 672170 Telephone number

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E-mail

The Trustees of Tavistock Pre-School 1050163 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?

Tavistock Preschool opened in 1992. It is a committee run provision, which operates from a pre-fabricated building within the grounds of Tavistock Infants School in Fleet, Hampshire. The building contains a main room with a kitchen area, staff room and toilet facilities. There is an enclosed outdoor area with an all weather surface. The preschool serves the local area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 53 children from two to five years on roll. This includes 39 funded three and four-year-olds. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The setting supports children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and who speak English as an additional language.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The group opens five days a week during school term times. Sessions run every day from 09:00 until 12:00. The preschool operates every afternoon except Friday from 12:30 until 15:00, with three afternoon sessions on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, for older children who will be starting school in September.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Seven full and part-time staff work with the children. Over half the staff have early years qualifications to NVQ level 2 or 3. The preschool is committed to ongoing professional development and training for all staff. The preschool has Preschool 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 Accreditation and receives support from a teacher/mentor from the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children stay healthy as they have access to suitably clean, spacious premises. Staff follow good hygiene routines, such as, using antibacterial spray to wipe tables before and after use and vacuuming spilt play materials. There are suitable policies and procedures in place though the food and diet policy does not reflect current practices for parents to supply the children's snacks. Children are protected from the risk of infection as they learn the importance of good hygiene practices. Children develop independence in their personal care skills as staff and the organisation of the premises, encourage them to wash their hands and wipe their noses, with tissues readily accessible. Children discuss germs and healthy eating. They enjoy healthy snacks supplied by their parents which are mostly fruit. Documentation adequately details children's dietary requirements which staff follow when providing food for cooking activities, for example,

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Helping children to be healthy

decorating small cakes as hedgehogs for bonfire night.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children have good opportunities to learn about healthy living and enjoy a range of physical play. They play outside daily, enjoying the fresh air. They enthusiastically develop physical skills as they kick and throw balls and pedal wheeled toys, manoeuvring with skill to avoid other children and obstacles. They sometimes have music and movement sessions in the outside play area to further develop their skills. They use a range of appropriate resources including paint brushes, pens and crayons, and manipulate jigsaw pieces and construction toys to develop their fine motor skills.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children's welfare is safeguarded as all staff have appropriate first aid training. They complete suitable records for medication and when children have accidents, which parents sign to keep them informed. Some accident records do not always contain sufficient detail.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Children are cared for by staff who are vetted and have relevant experience, knowledge and skills. However, records do not show evidence for all staff's vetting disclosures details. Children are not safeguarded as the systems in place for vetting the registered person, who are the newly elected committee members, are not robust and timely to fully protect them from unsuitable persons. All staff have a sound understanding of child protection procedures as they complete training to ensure children are safeguarded There is a suitable policy in place which is accessible to the parents so they are aware of the preschool's responsibility.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Staff organise the premises effectively so that children play and learn in a welcoming, safe, environment, which supports their development. Displays of children's work, group collages and educational posters make the room child friendly and welcoming. Children stay safe in the preschool as staff supervise children closely at all times. They have a good understanding of the policies and procedures in place to protect children including child protection and if a child is uncollected or lost. The door is kept locked and parents and visitors have access using a bell. Staff ensure children complete regular fire drills to develop their confidence and awareness in an emergency. Children are secure and safe as staff complete an annual risk assessment and

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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 check the premises daily both inside and out. They take positive measures to ensure all hazards are removed and resources are safe for use.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children access a broad range of good quality toys and play materials that are in good condition and age appropriate. The furniture, equipment and toys provided by the staff are appropriate for their purpose. The staff, committee and parents work closely together to fundraise to provide new resources and replace old and broken items to maintain children's safety and continuing interest in the resources. This ensures children have fun, play well and make good progress as staff organise the resources to create an accessible and stimulating environment.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children are confident and happy as staff provide an interesting and fun environment. The children giggle happily as they paint their hands and show staff. They experience a broad range of activities and resources both indoors and outside, which support their learning. Staff are caring and interested so children are eager to learn and confident to try new experiences, such as playing with the farm animals in tealeaves and rice. They enjoy making hedgehog cakes and excitedly show their parents and carers as they are collected. Staff support activities effectively, talking and asking questions, for example, about hedgehogs, to encourage the children to think. This helps to develop the children’s learning. Children progress well as staff have a good understanding of the curriculum guidance for the Foundation Stage. They organise the session with a balanced range of adult led and child initiated play.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are beginning to form relationships with the other children and staff. They work co-operatively along side one another and often invite others to join in with their play as they take the babies for a picnic, for example. Staff offer appropriate support and intervention to develop and support their play. Children develop and increase their independence skills as they confidently self select their chosen activities and are independent in their personal care skills. Some children are beginning to be aware of the needs of others and are very sensitive to other children during play, spontaneously handing back tractors to prevent tantrums.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Staff have a good knowledge of the stepping stones and children’s individual learning levels. Activities and resources are appropriate for the ages and stages of development of the children and are generally well planned and fun. Key workers use the children's achievement records to further plan for their development. However, they do not always plan and prepare activities effectively to be sufficiently challenging for more able children. Staff organise the session to give children different and varied opportunities, although some children become unfocused during large group story time due to the lack of space, limiting the learning opportunities. Staff do not plan outside play effectively to cover all areas of learning so children's learning is limited to mostly physical development. The daily organisation by staff generally ensures children are interested, keen to participate and have

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

choices. For example, they chose if, and when, they want to have their snack and explore the resources and activities freely. Children demonstrate developing concentration skills and participate at activities for extended periods.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are polite to each other and are beginning to form strong relationships with their peers and staff. Most confidently leave their main carer and settle well to tasks and activities and staff sensitively support children where appropriate. Staff frequently give praise and

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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 encouragement which builds children’s self-esteem. Children confidently ask and answer questions because staff are interested and responsive. Children enjoy stories as staff have good skills and children learn how to handle books with care. Staff ensure children's language and literacy skills are developing. Opportunities to mark make for purposes relevant to play are available throughout the setting. For example, children draw lines in the tealeaves mixture, draw and paint with confidence and write letters in the role-play post office. Children recognise their names as they select their cards labels for self registration and at snack time.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children begin to develop mathematical language and concepts as staff use number in everyday activities. For example, they add and subtract in songs and rhymes and count the tractors and animals and order them by size. Many of the children can count to five and some children to 10 and beyond. Many children recognise and name simple shapes and colours and staff introduce positional language into their play. Staff provide opportunities for children to develop an understanding of the natural world as they bring things in for the nature table and observe the season changes through outside play. Staff provide learning opportunities covering all areas of development. For example, children have opportunities to use a variety of construction resources to help develop their design and making skills. Their physical development skills benefit from using equipment such as the wheeled toys, rockers and joining in action rhymes.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

They manipulate tools including scissors, paint brushes, hammer and pegs and the computer mouse with increasing skill. Visitors to the group develop children's awareness of the wider world and other cultures.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children generally behave well as staff promote positive behaviour. They provide plenty of activities and show interest in the children. Staff are confident in behaviour management and watch children carefully, leaving them to resolve their own disputes over the dolls, for example, only intervening as necessary. They use distraction well and give children clear explanations and lots of praise to encourage positive behaviour and to learn right from wrong with simple rules, such as not running inside. Children share and take turns and negotiate over the use of resources when playing with the farm, sharing out the tractors and animals and when using the wheeled toys outside. Staff act as good role models using 'please' and 'thank-you' when talking to the children and when they help to tidy up.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children develop good self esteem and confidence as staff welcome them into the preschool. Staff are kind and caring and show good interest in the children, encouraging their efforts. Children's needs are effectively met as parents share useful information prior to their child starting at preschool. Staff respond positively and sensitively to children’s special needs, ensuring their well-being and that all are included and helped to make progress. They work closely with parents and professionals to support the child.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered. Children form friendships and learn to share, respect others, and become aware of cultural events. Resources reflect positive images of society and all children irrespective of gender can use the toys and equipment. Children learn about the wider world through planned topics. Staff provide an interesting display about Diwali and visitors are invited into the group, such as a nurse and a fire-fighter, who share their roles with the children.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnerships with parents are good as staff develop a good rapport with them. Parents speak very positively about the preschool and staff. Parents support children's learning as they have

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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 access to the policies and planning for nursery education which are displayed on the notice board. Parents can help in the preschool to develop an insight to their child's care and learning through the voluntary rota. They form a parents' committee to support the staff to provide a positive learning environment for the children. The children's records are freely available for parents to view and staff make themselves available for discussion at the end of the session. Parents comment on their children's achievements. There is an open evening to welcome new parents and say goodbye to the children who are leaving annually where parents can discuss their child's progress and share achievement records prior to starting school.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. Children settle well and are happy in the preschool as they relate well to caring, interested staff. Staff generally organise the room and resources well to allow the children space to play and explore in comfort. Children know the routine and adapt easily to the changes during the session. The systems in place for notifying Ofsted of significant events such as the committee changes are not robust and put children at risk if unsuitable persons are not sufficiently vetted. Suitable policies and procedures are in place to promote the care, welfare and education of the children and manage all aspects of the provision. However, some do not fully reflect the practice, for example, the food and diet policy. Some details need updating in the complaints policy and sickness policy to take account of revisions to the National Standards. The registered person, who are the committee members, do not have sufficient knowledge and understanding of the

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Organisation

National Standards so they can effectively monitor the organisation of the preschool. The chair of the committee and the preschool supervisor work well together respecting each others role and responsibilities.

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Organisation

The leadership and management of nursery education is good. Staff work effectively as a team and they are well deployed to ensure ratios are met at all times. They are aware of their roles and responsibilities. They organise the space and resources well to ensure all children's developmental needs are met and they make good progress to the early learning goals. There are good systems in place to ensure staff are suitable to care for the children. They are committed to updating their knowledge and skills with several of the staff completing childcare qualifications. The supervisor checks the children's records to ensure they are completed and to ensure children make good progress. Staff are committed to attending further childcare training and development courses. This helps them to reflect, monitor and improve the quality of the care and education they offer to all children. All legally required documentation, which

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Organisation

contributes to children’s health, safety and wellbeing is in place and confidentially maintained, although some lack detail. The preschool meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection the preschool were required to improve some documentation. There has been satisfactory progress and relevant details are completed for accident and medication records. Polices and procedures have been updated to contain relevant details for sickness, behaviour management and child protection. These measures ensure children stay safe and healthy. The education inspection did not identify any significant weaknesses.

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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

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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. 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 that there are effective procedures in place for checking that staff and the committee are suitable and to ensure staff's continuing suitability • improve systems to notify Ofsted of significant events especially the changes to the committee as the registered person • ensure the committee have a good knowledge and understanding of the National Standards and guidance for sessional care • review and update all policies and procedures to reflect any changes and to ensure they take account of revisions to the National Standards

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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): • review story time and the space available to ensure children are comfortable and actively engaged throughout the time • review and improve planning and preparation of activities to ensure they are sufficiently challenging for all children • review the use of the outside play area in order to provide an all round learning environment.

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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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