Long Crendon Pre-School and Out of School Club

Long Crendon Pre-School & Out of School Club Inspection report for early years provision

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509746 Unique Reference Number 10 March 2008 Inspection date Ruth George Inspector

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C/o Long Crendon School, Chilton Road, Long Crendon, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, HP18 9BZ

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Setting Address

01844 202 221 Telephone number janehindmarsh@tiscali.co.uk E-mail The Trustees of Long Crendon Pre School Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day care, Out of School care Type of care

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Setting Address

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?

Long Crendon pre-school and out of school club is run by a parent committee. The pre-school first opened in 1968 and in 2006 the out of school club was opened. They operate from a self-contained classroom within Long Crendon School, close to Thame. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area. A maximum of 26 children may attend the setting at any one time. The setting opens at 08.00 until 18.00 during school term times. Children attend a variety of sessions.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 52 children aged from two to under five years on the pre-school roll. Of these, 32 children receive funding for early education. There are currently 92 children aged from four to under eight years on the out of school roll. Children come from the local area. The setting currently supports a number of children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities 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 setting employs nine members of staff. Of these, seven hold appropriate early years or play work qualifications.

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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 are learning good hygiene practice with activities and routines to support their understanding. They remind each other to wash their hands, to wash away the germs so they do not make you poorly. Practitioners manage accidents, incidents and medicines appropriately and good records are maintained. There is permission from parents in place to give first aid in pre-school and permission to seek emergency treatment in the out of school club but the permissions do not fully meet guidance for the National Standards. The sickness policy is managed very well and spillages are cleaned quickly to prevent the spread of infection. Children are made comfortable when tired or unwell and curl up on the settee to rest.

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Helping children to be healthy

Parents provide healthy snacks and lunch for their pre-school children. A varied menu with healthy choices is provided by the out of school club. Water is freely available at all times from a water dispenser and children access this regularly throughout the day. In addition, children are offered milk at snack time and they bring fruit juices in their packed lunch boxes. Pre-school snack and lunch times are a social time, children sit and chat to each other and are learning about the benefits of healthy eating. For example, a child tells other children that if you eat up all your salad you will have strong muscles. The out of school children enjoy a wide choice for breakfast, which include cereal, croissants, toast and yogurt. Children prepare their own light meals in the evening. For example, they enjoy making tortilla wraps with chicken, ham, or cheese with vegetable sticks.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children enjoy time outside everyday. Children play bat and ball games and are supported by practitioners to develop skills, such as striking a ball with the bat. Children kick balls, walk on stilts, run together and shake pom poms in the wind. They chalk on the outside chalkboard and play imaginary games in the house. They enjoy parachute games and have good opportunities to climb, balance, develop muscles and learn to control their bodies, stop and start and run around things to avoid collision. After lunch, the children go out wrapped up against the elements and come back excited and giggling that it was really windy. They are helped to recognise changes to their bodies, for example their hair getting darker when they are caught in the rain. Indoors, children hop and jump, they make up many games and practitioners join in to extend the play. Music and movement sessions are enjoyed by all.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. The children and their parents access a very welcoming environment, which is safe and secure. Practitioners greet children and parents warmly and the children quickly settle to activities. They benefit from a very wide range of resources, which help to promote their learning and development. The indoor area is well laid out allowing space for free movement around the activities. The resources are well maintained and suitable for the ages of the children attending. Children’s work is on display, posters are displayed at eye level for children and resources are stored in low-level labelled boxes. Children have a drawer for their work, which they proudly store for parents to show them their achievements at the end of sessions. The out of school children have their own storage cupboard to enable work to be saved until it is completed.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are learning to keep themselves safe. They are supported to use scissors and knives safely, are aware that the serrated edge on the adhesive tape dispenser is sharp, and learn to

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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 negotiate the steps safely in the outside area. The children regularly practise fire evacuation and lock down procedures and understand the importance of getting out of the building quickly or sitting calmly if there is a lock down due to an intruder.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The practitioners are aware of their duty to keep children safe. They are familiar with the Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) procedures and follow them when it is necessary. They keep clear records and ensure that children’s safety is paramount. The child protection policy includes details of the regulator but does not include the telephone numbers, which are held in the LSCB procedures.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. The pre-school children arrive happily and quickly settle to activities on arrival. Parents help children to find their names to self-register. Key workers are at hand for those children who need a little more reassurance with a ready lap to snuggle in before settling on a chair next to their key worker to join in activities. Most children are confident and independently choose to join their friends and become quickly involved in the activities or their own games, for example, hide and seek. Some planned activities for the youngest and/or less able children are above their level of understanding; in large groups, these children become restless and uninterested. Activities are set out to enable children to do things for themselves and practitioners give positive encouragement to children celebrating their successes and achievements. The children's self-esteem is developing very well through this good support. Children are forming good

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

relationships with their peers, playing alongside one another in the role-play area, sharing books or simply chatting together.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The out of school club children enjoy the time they spend at the setting. They are given a say in the running of the club and plan the activities themselves each week over their evening meals. Music plays quietly in the background giving an ambience to the setting, making it feel welcoming and a relaxing place to be. Children enter the club happily and chat about their day at school with the practitioners. They enjoy a range of activities and quickly choose what to take part in, for example, computer games, playing a balancing game with a tower of blocks and making Easter eggs cards. Children continue to work on a complicated design, a complex mini golf course made from just paper and adhesive tape. There is intricate detail involved in the making of the course that has taken much patience and imagination. Children enjoy drawing patterns with large crayons, music and movement, drama and putting on a production, water

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

play, limbo on Hawaiian day, pool and board games.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children's attitudes and behaviours are very good and they show a keen interest in what they do. They play alongside one another chatting away, giving each other instructions and try to work things out together before asking for help. For example, they discuss how to open a computer program, what they should click on, with one child pointing at the Union Jack and saying English. Children take responsibility to clear up the toys before snack with guidance from practitioners, showing a growing respect for the resources putting them away carefully into the right boxes. They cooperate with each other in complex imaginative play, taking on roles. For example, at the hairdressers there is a receptionist, two hairdressers and a number of customers. Children’s personal, social and emotional development is excellent they are settled and happy in the environment and becoming confident learners.

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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 The quality of teaching and learning is good. There is a well planned curriculum, the practitioners know the children well and support and extend children’s learning. They are learning in different ways to build on what they already know and there are very good opportunities to develop mathematical understanding. Children are developing a keen interest in numbers, measuring and shape. They count on and off all day as they play, they count each other, bricks and sing rhymes. They encounter numerals in their play and displayed around the setting. For example, 10 in a bed and the little one says rollover, children count the teddies left in bed. Children feed a dog in a game, which helps them distinguish between long and short bones. Practitioners introduce simple calculation and problem solving. Children use number blocks, a block with

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

nine stars is covered with another with three stars; the practitioner asks the children to work out how many more stars are needed to cover the remaining stars. The children successfully count the six remaining stars and place a block with six stars on top.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are learning to investigate how things work using a range of tools. They encounter the natural environment, observing and growing plants. They experiment to establish how things work, drawing up water with water pumps and pipettes. Children have very good design and making skills, they enjoy building with blocks, make complex train tracks and electric circuits.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children have opportunities to speak and listen and they are immersed in an environment rich in print. They enjoy books and listening to stories. They are learning to handle books, to hold books up the right way and turn the pages carefully. During stories, practitioners extend children’s language. They ask children to name objects in the pictures, supporting with an explanation that is a life jacket and will keep you safe in the water. They are beginning to recognise and say initial sounds in words and some children recognise familiar words. Children have many opportunities for mark making; they write in the role play area, at the writing table and mark their own work. Some children are learning to write recognisable letters and their names.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children have opportunities to move to music, and have a good repertoire of songs, which they love to sing. They chalk inside and outside on black boards and enjoy rubbing away their marks. Children paint at the easel, exploring colour and textures. They watch as the paint drips and mixes with other colours placing their hands to try to stop it. Support is at hand to help the children to think what they might need to do, for example adding less water to the paint to make it thicker. Some of the planned creative activities are too adult led preventing children from expressing their own ideas and representations.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Practitioners keep records of children’s progress through the stepping stones with samples of work and photographs. What children have learnt at home is not recorded in their entry profiles as a record of their starting points and the records are not consistently dated to show a record of children’s progress. However, all practitioners know the children well to support individual children to make good progress towards the early learning goals.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. The children are learning to be respectful and receive excellent support to help them learn to value each other and others in the wider community. They are beginning to have an understanding of others cultures and religious beliefs and festivals. For example, they have raised money for charity, talked about Oxford's city sites, made bread for Harvest Festival and explored the music of Pakistan. There is a wide range of resources to support children’s learning

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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 which reflect positive images to help children learn about the diverse world they live in. Children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

There is excellent support for children with disabilities who enjoy the inclusive environment. They take part in all the activities both in pre-school and out of school club. Practitioners work closely with parents and other agencies to support children’s development. There are currently no children attending with special educational needs but practitioners have systems in place to identify and support children if required. Health plans are kept for children with any particular health needs to ensure appropriate support is provided.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children's behaviour at most times is exemplary although younger children’s behaviour deteriorates occasionally when activities are above their level of understanding. Children have good relationships; they share resources, are polite and kind to one another, and work out minor squabbles together. The practitioners are very good role models and give clear and consistent messages. The out of school children have developed their own club rules, which they observe.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Parents are provided with regular newsletters from the committee to keep them up to date with current news. All parents are invited to become members of the committee and have a say in how the pre-school and out of school club are run. Information about the planned activities are on display in the hall alongside the setting's policies and complaints procedure. There are regular verbal exchanges with parents to ensure appropriate care is given to children. The partnership with parents and carers is good. Practitioners seek views from parents and collect some information on entry, for example, whether their child can go to the toilet on their own. Parents can access their children’s records on request and are invited to parents’ evenings twice a year. The development records show children’s progress under the six areas of learning but do not allow for parents' contribution to share what their children can do at home to support

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Helping children make a positive contribution

the planning of their children's next steps.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. Children receive good levels of care as the committee and management team have a strong sense of purpose, keeping children safe, providing a good range of interesting activities and experiences, and maintaining a very welcoming and settled atmosphere. Practitioners hold appropriate childcare qualifications. The committee have a positive attitude to ongoing training and an annual appraisal system ensures that any training needs are identified.

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Organisation

Appropriate vetting procedures ensure that all adults working with children are suitable to do so. The committee recruits new practitioners appropriately following a formalised procedure to ensure equality of opportunity. All documentation is easily accessible to practitioners and for inspection purposes. All regulatory policies are in place and work well in practice; however, some require minor amendments.

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Organisation

The leadership and management of the nursery education are good. The committee and manager work well as a team ensuring that children are very well supported in their play and learning. Close links with the local school enhance children’s transition to school. The overall manager uses the self-evaluation form as a tool to identify their strengths and areas in which to improve. In addition, the committee observe sessions to evaluate the effectiveness of the provision. Children have good learning opportunities and experiences but entry records do not give a clear picture of children’s starting points and achievement records do not consistently show

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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 tracking of children's individual development. Overall, the setting meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides.

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Improvements since the last inspection

There has been improvement since the last inspection and overall children's behaviour is exemplary. There still remains on occasion some deterioration during some planned activities which are above the youngest and/or less able children's level of understanding. Children have many opportunities to develop their physical skills both inside and outside including opportunities to climb.

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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): • update policies and procedures to include permissions to gain parental permission to seek emergency advice or treatment and telephone contact details to report safeguarding children concerns in the Child Protection policy.

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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 creative activities to enable children to freely express their own ideas and representations • further improve records of achievements, find out from parents what children can do at home on entry and at regular intervals to enable their contribution to support planning, update the records consistently for all children and evaluate them to plan for individual children's next steps.

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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 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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