Happy Kids

Happy Kids Inspection report for early years provision

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EY260456 Unique Reference Number 27 February 2008 Inspection date Susan June Stone Inspector

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Hillfield, Cheddar, Somerset, BS27 3HN Setting Address

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E-mail

Jeannette Ann Cattell Registered person Childcare Type of inspection 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

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE

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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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Happy Kids out of school club opened in 2003. It operates from Cheddar First School, where it has use of most school facilities. Main care takes place in the school hall, with occasional use of additional classrooms when the hall is not available. The club serves children from Cheddar First school and other local schools from the surrounding area.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 60 children from four to eight years on roll. Children attend for a variety of days. The setting supports children with language and learning difficulties/disabilities but there are no children attending with such needs at present.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The group opens five afternoons a week during school term times. Sessions are from 15:30 until 18:00.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Two full-time staff work with the children, who are both suitably qualified. There are two additional staff who work part time at the club who are also suitably qualified for their roles and responsibilities. There are plans to employ new staff shortly. The setting receives support from the local authority advisors.

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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 enjoy a range of fun activities that help contribute to their healthy growth and development. The daily routine allows the children to experience regular outdoor play where they benefit from the fresh air. They enjoy using the school playground for games like football, basketball or for playing with the skipping machine. They also enjoy playing large group games in the school hall when the weather is bad, where the children all play together. These activities contribute to the further development of children’s physical skills and coordination.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children take responsibility for their personal care and hygiene. They independently take themselves to the toilet and wash their hands after, which helps to prevent the spread of infection. Staff set positive examples in their own behaviour and follow suitable hygiene procedures, such as ensuring tables are clean before eating snack. Children’s individual dietary needs are known to staff and managed effectively. The children are provided with a small snack after their school day, which usually consists of biscuits, fruit is also sometimes offered to the children. Drinks of fruit squash or water are provided for the children to have with their snack, and there is an ample supply for them to help themselves to throughout the session if they are thirsty.

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Helping children to be healthy

A written sickness policy is in place and shared with parents. This explains that children will not be accepted into the provision if they are ill or infectious. Appropriate records on accidents and medication are in place and shared with parents in order to build consistency. A qualified first aid trained staff member is present in sessions and a first aid kit is available. However, the contents of the first aid box have not been suitably checked to ensure they are suitable to use, some have reached their expiry date.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. A welcoming environment is provided for children and parents. There is sufficient furniture and equipment available to meet the care needs of all children attending. Children enjoy using the toys available to them, which are clean, safe and suitable to use. They play within an organised setting with space to move about and enjoy the activities safely. There is a suitable range of toys and resources available to help the children have fun and to relax and unwind after the school day.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Staff carry out general safety checks each day of the areas used by the children, which helps to ensure that the children can play in generally safe surroundings. A risk assessment has been completed on the main hall area used for the after school club. However, a suitable risk assessment has not been completed for all the additional classrooms which are often used for providing care, when the hall is being used by the school. As a result, some hazards have not been identified and addressed. Such as, exposed power sockets, and the first aid box not being easily accessible to use in the event of an emergency, when the different classrooms are being used. The staff are well deployed within the setting and appropriate adult to child ratios are always maintained. This ensures that the children are supervised closely at all times, and their safety and well-being are protected.

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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 protected by the staff, who have a suitable understanding of their role of protecting children. They have a clear understanding of ensuring the children's welfare is always a priority. Staff are aware of the setting's child protection policies and procedures and their role in the implementing of it.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children build warm relationships with all staff and are confident and happy to attend the club. Children are relaxed and comfortable with staff, that are interested in what they say and do, who respond to their interests and join in with their play. Children’s opinions and wishes are respected by the staff, who encourage the children to make decisions for themselves, like activities they wish to participate in. This helps to build the children’s confidence and personal independence. Staff listen and value what children say. They talk with them about what they are doing and about events that have happened during the day. They provide a welcoming environment which allows the children to relax and unwind after the school day. The organisation of the room and resources allows the children to independently select activities and take responsibility for their personal care. Staff ensure a variety of resources are available to the

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

children, which include art and craft activities, table top games and toys, outdoor play weather permitting and a quiet area to do homework. Children are interested in the activities available and are able to choose how to spend their time.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The staff interact well with the children, they encourage the children in their games and activities. They are encouraging and reassuring and offer positive praise and reinforcement. They allow children to organise their activities and oversee to ensure all children are able to access. For example, when playing outside, they allow the children to decide for themselves how to take turns and ensure all children get a chance to use the skipping machine, making suggestions about how this could possibly be accommodated.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are happy and contented at the club. They play happily and occupy themselves from the range of activities which are available each day. They play well individually or together in groups. Some children choose to sit quietly and read books, others decide to make bead designs or play with the play-dough. Two girls play together with the ‘Lego’, saying they are ‘making a caravan without wheels’, they put seats at the front for the driver and furniture in the back. They encourage a younger child to join in, making sure she can reach the box of bricks also.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is satisfactory. Children are confident and settled within the setting and they are valued and respected as individuals. They receive good support and care from staff, who liaise with parents and carers to ensure needs are identified and addressed. They have access to a range of resources which help to promote positive attitudes to diversity. Topics and themes are also used to help the children to develop a respect for the cultures and beliefs of others.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Staff use a variety of positive strategies to manage behaviour and offer lots of verbal praise and encouragement to reward acceptable behaviour and achievement. They are consistent in their behaviour management and have a calm approach. The children are generally well behaved. Staff know the children well, they treat them with equal concern and encourage all to take part in the activities on offer. Staff are good at including all children, and are sensitive to individual

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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 differences. The children are encouraged to share and take turns, which they do so willingly, such as with the skipping machine. The older, more able children allow the younger children to take their turn at a slower pace. Staff gently remind the children of the levels of expected behaviour, for example asking some of the older boys to calm down when getting over excited and boisterous. Children are praised and encouraged which further promotes good behaviour.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnerships with parents are good and parents feel happy with the care provided. Staff make themselves available to talk with parents each day, which enables information to be shared and consistency of care to be maintained. Information is available to parents in the form of policies and procedures. All appropriate documentation is shared with parents to ensure consistency in care. Staff are aware of the correct procedures to follow in the event of a complaint and an appropriate complaints procedure is in place. However, the correct contact details for Ofsted are not included.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. The children benefit from a well organised environment and are well cared for by experienced staff. Good levels of child to staff ratios ensures children are comfortable, well supported and receive good attention from staff. The areas used are sufficiently organised to provide children with different areas to relax or take part in a variety of activities. Staff are suitably qualified and experienced. They work well together to carry out their responsibilities, which contributes to the children benefiting from smoothly run sessions.

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Organisation

Most required documentation relating to the children's care, health and safety is in place, which helps to ensure that the children are cared for appropriately and the outcomes for children are promoted. However, the daily attendance register does not accurately record children’s and adults' hours of attendance, and there is no written consent for children attending different schools to be collected and transported to the after school club in a vehicle. Documentation kept is stored appropriately to ensure confidentiality.

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Organisation

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 were three recommendations from the last inspection which were to; conduct a risk assessment on the premises identifying action to be taken to minimize identified risks, to maintain a record of volunteers and visitors, and to update child protection policy to include allegations made against a member of staff or volunteer. A risk assessment has been completed for the man hall that is mostly used to provide after school care. However, suitable risk assessments have not been completed on some of the other classrooms used to provide after school care. A further recommendation relating to risk assessment has been made as a result of this inspection. A record is now maintained of all visitors and volunteers to the provision, which details their arrival and departure times. With regards to the child protection policy, this has been suitably reviewed and updated and now includes all required information.

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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

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 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

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE

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

To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • review the contents of the first aid box to ensure they meet current recommended guidelines and are suitable to use • make sure suitable risk assessments are conducted on all areas used to provide after school care • ensure the correct information is available to parents on how they may voice any concerns or complaints about the provision • ensure the daily attendance register accurately records children's and adults attendance • obtain written permission from parents to allow children to be transported to the after school club in a vehicle

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The quality and standards of the care

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 care

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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