Ardley Hill Academy

Little Learners (In The Park) Inspection report for early years provision

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138209 Unique Reference Number 31 October 2007 Inspection date Patricia Ann Edward Inspector

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Durnsford Pavilion, Durnsford Recreation Ground, Wellington Road, Wimbledon, London, SW19 8EY

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E-mail

Mrs Lorraine Greeley-Ward & Angela Taggart Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day care, Out of School care Type of care

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E-mail

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

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ABOUT THIS INSPECTION

The purpose of this inspection is to assure government, parents and the public of the quality of childcare and, if applicable, of nursery education. The inspection was carried out under Part XA Children Act 1989 as introduced by the Care Standards Act 2000 and, where nursery education is provided, under Schedule 26 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. This report details the main strengths and any areas for improvement identified during the inspection. The judgements included in the report are made in relation to the outcomes for children set out in the Children Act 2004; the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding; and, where nursery education is provided, the Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage. The report includes information on any complaints about the childcare provision which Ofsted has received since the last inspection or registration or 1 April 2004 whichever is the later.

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

For more information about early years inspections, please see the booklet Are you ready for your inspection? which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE 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 satisfactory.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Little Learners opened in 2000 and operates from a two room portar cabin within Durnsford Recreation Ground. It is situated in the London Borough of Merton. A maximum of 30 children may attend the nursery at any one time. The nursery is open each weekday from 09.15 to 15.00 for 38 weeks of the year. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area. Children attend for a variety of sessions, and a pick up and drop off service to Wimbledon Park School nursery is available

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

A Breakfast Club is available from 08:00 to 08:50 for children who attend Wimbledon Park Primary School. Children are escorted to school by Little Learners staff in time for registration.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The nursery employs five members of staff, of these, three hold appropriate early years qualifications and one is working towards a 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 satisfactory. Children are beginning to develop an understanding of germs and the importance of hand washing. This is done through discussion and encouragement. Staff generally minimise the risk of cross infection by implementing appropriate hygiene practices. These include cleaning the tables before and after snacks and ensuring children have clean hands before they do cooking. However, the hand washing system organised after messy play and before snacks does not protect the children from cross infection. There are a number of children who access the same bowl of water to wash their hands and the same towel to dry their hands.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children's health is promoted as staff have relevant first aid training and have a clear understanding of procedures to follow should a child become ill in their care. Details of their individual health needs are readily available in the event of an emergency. This contributes to children's health and well-being

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Helping children to be healthy

Children access the garden area on a daily basis and use a range of energetic physical activities that contribute to a healthy lifestyle. They develop confidence in their physical skills and demonstrate how fast they can go on scooters. Children enjoy wholesome, nutritious and balanced pack lunches, which are prepared by their parent's. Meal and snack times are relaxed as social occasions with children are given plenty of time, and attention to enjoy and discuss their food. The nursery daily provides fresh fruit snacks mid morning and afternoon with a drink of water or squash. Children are able to manage their own thirst levels because their individual drinks cups are accessible within the room at all times.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Children's safety is paramount and staff are vigilant to ensure all aspects of their safety. They undertake daily checks, to ensure that the children can play freely and safely. The staff explain to the children why they can not do things, for example, walk around with scissors in their hands, giving the reasons why and the impact. Children's understanding of what to do in the event of a fire is ensured because they take part in regular evacuation drills. These are recorded by staff, however, they do not contain sufficient detail. The staff are deployed appropriately in all areas ensuring the children are protected and safe at all times. They are vigilant at collection times, ensuring that each child is collected by their parent or carer. Visitors are challenged and asked to sign the visitors book. Staff have an appropriate understanding of child protection issues and are aware of procedures to follow should they be concerned about a child in their

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The children are able to access a range of resources within the play room, on arrival. These are set out by staff to make the room inviting to the children. There is also a range of resources and play equipment, which is stored well at the children's level to promote independence. The learning environment is generally stimulating and welcoming to both children and adults. This enhances children’s learning and increases self-esteem, for example, as they notice their creative art work displayed. The area is laid out in defined areas which ensures that the children are familiar with where activities are e.g. home corner, writing and areas.

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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

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is satisfactory. Children are settled, happy and enjoy their time at the setting. Staff interact well with the children and generally support their care, learning, and play needs. The staff team use the resources to plan and provide a range of activities that support children's play and learning. However, there is no planning of activities specifically for children under three, following the ‘Birth to three matters’ framework, although some staff have completed training. Planning cover's the six areas of learning. Activity evaluations clearly indicate that staff record observations what children can do to plan.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory. Staff use their sound knowledge of the Foundation Stage and a reasonable range of teaching methods. They have an adequate understanding of how children learn and progress and provide a sufficient range of first-hand activities and experiences. They organise a good balance of adult and child led activities in small and large group’s situations. The levels of challenge are sufficient to interest most children in the activities and good quality resources support children's learning and enables them to make satisfactory progress given their capabilities. Basic assessments and observations are completed, however, information gained is not used effectively. They do not clearly show how children are making progress in the six areas of learning and information is not used to identify the next steps in children's learning.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are generally interested in their play and make their choices from the activities on offer. Children enter the setting confidently, happily leaving their parents and quickly settle into the familiar routine. They have happy and relaxed relationships with the staff, and are confident in stating their needs. They show curiosity when unfamiliar adults enter the nursery, and are confident to ask who they are and what are you doing. They also question the inspector about her computer and ask several questions about what the buttons on the computer do. Children have positive self-image and happily discuss their life experiences.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children have regular opportunities to count or recognise and match numbers and shapes in planned and unplanned activities. Staff link mathematics to everyday situations. For example, when tidying away the egg sorter, staff ask child, “how many eggs are missing” to encourage simple subtraction. Children are able to count to five and more able children can recognise the numbers one to five when they are placed out of sequence. Daily discussions about the weather and seasons develop children's understanding of time. Children have sufficient opportunities to create objects using construction large and small to build various types of towers. They also access junk modelling resources and create three dimension models. Children concentrate quietly as they move pieces around until they are satisfied that they are in the correct place. They display adequate levels of involvement and persist in activities of their choosing, such as

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

water play, which they thoroughly enjoy.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children have opportunities to become familiar with information technology equipment. They access the computer using simple education software with staff support and supervision. Children have opportunities to explore a variety of media, such as sand, water and paint , which are easily accessible and available on a daily basis. A range of tools requiring hand–eye co-ordination allows children to develop skill and control, such as using scissors to cut paper. They can judge their body space accurately as they ride bikes around in the garden. Children

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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 enjoy twice weekly music sessions and singing songs from memory and enthusiastically use musical instruments in time with the music.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is satisfactory. Children have good levels of confidence and value themselves and one another. Children are learning about diversity through a sufficient amount of positive play materials that are provided. They show respect for their peers, for example, by saying please when sharing play materials. Children with learning difficulties and or disabilities are welcomed into the inclusive setting. There are special educational needs co-ordinator's in place who have completed a full range of training. Staff members have experience of working closely with their parents and the local inclusion officer. Children behave well as staff are positive role models and use consistent methods of explanations and distraction to manage children's behaviour. Children are learning to negotiate, take turns and share play materials, which is encouraged by staff. This positive approach fosters children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The partnership with parents and carers regarding nursery education is satisfactory. There are currently no systems in place to find out children's starting points, especially for those children who enter the setting in the pre-school year. Parents also do not receive information about their next steps for development, which affects opportunities for them to fully contribute to their child’s learning. Information pertaining to the setting is shared with parents in a variety of ways, such as verbally on a daily basis, and through yearly written reports . They also have access to information, such as the policy and procedure file, activity plans, newsletters and the notice boards. These keep them informed of activities which children are involved in. They are also asked to contribute fresh fruit for the fruit bowl on a weekly basis.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The individual needs of all children who attend are met, as staff exchange information with parents of children's activities and care, through daily discussions. Relationships with parents are friendly and they are welcomed into the group on the parent/carer rota, through the committee, and invited to come on outings. Policies for the group are available to parents in a file and they are discussed during the settling in period. This contributes to consistencies in the children's care. On the day of inspection, parents expressed how happy they are with the service provided. The partnership with parents of children who receive nursery education is satisfactory. Children's progress is monitored by staff, however, parents are not involved in their children's assessments or receive information about their next steps for development, which affects opportunities for them to fully contribute to their child’s learning.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. The leadership and management of the nursery education within the setting is satisfactory. Children are cared for by a staff team who have a sound understanding of their roles and responsibilities in helping children enjoy and achieve. However, systems in place to monitor and evaluate the delivery of the nursery education are not effective to ensure continuous improvement.

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Organisation

The daily routines and deployment of staff are satisfactorily organised to provide children with a range of activities both inside and outside, and ensure their safety, for example, key worker systems are in place. The staff work well as a team to promote children's health, care, emotional well-being and ability to enjoy and achieve, for example, there are satisfactory systems in place

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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 to support staff, such as through the induction procedures. Additional training is accessed through short courses or those of longer duration, such as National Vocational Qualifications. This ensures their continued professional development and knowledge and understanding of quality childcare practice.

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Organisation

Records detail the individual requirements of each child and include relevant consents and contacts. All the legally required documentation and policies and procedures are in place which promote the safety and well-being of the children present. However, the register containing times of children's arrival and departure is not consistently completed to detail correct times of children's arrival.

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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 setting agreed to develop their documentation regarding children's health. They have now revised children's heath records to include written parental consent to seek emergency medical treatment or advice. This ensues children's safety and welfare.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection the setting agreed to consider ways of providing more encouragement for children to choose resources independently, especially tools and materials to design and make things and develop the system for making assessments of children's progress, so that observations and assessments are used to identify next steps for children's learning, which in turn can be used to help plan activities that build on what children already know and can do. They have reorganised creative and construction materials, to ensure that are easily accessible to children to use independently. However, the remaining recommendation is still an area that requires further developed.

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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 satisfactory.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND 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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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): • improve hand washing procedures to protect children from the risk of cross infection • ensure fire drill records contain the correct details • ensure younger children are well supported within the group by, for example, extending knowledge and understanding of the Birth to three matters framework and linking components to the curriculum and observation's. • revise registration system to ensure times of children's arrival are accurately recorded.

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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 a system to ensure children's assessments inform planning and the evaluation of activities identify the next steps for individual learning and to ensure that parents can be fully involved in all aspects of their child's care and learning • ensure initial assessment of children aged three years starting the setting include starting point of 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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