St Richard's Church of England Primary School

Grade Ruan Under 5s Inspection report for early years provision

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102907 Unique Reference Number 25 January 2008 Inspection date Heather Tanswell Inspector

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Ruan Minor Village Hall, Ruan Minor, Helston, Cornwall, TR12 7JN Setting Address

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E-mail

The Trustees of Grade Ruan Under 5s Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Sessional care Type of care

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E-mail

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

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ABOUT THIS INSPECTION

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

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

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

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The key inspection judgements and what they mean

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

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the care are good. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.

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THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are good.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Grade Ruan Under Fives has been established for around 30 years and operates from the village hall in Ruan Minor, on the Lizard Peninsula, in Cornwall. A maximum of 20 children may attend the pre-school at any one time. The group is open four days a week during school term times. Sessions are from 09.00 to 11.30 on Mondays and Wednesdays and from 09.00 to 12.00 on Tuesdays and Fridays.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

There are currently 30 children from 15 months to four years on roll. Children aged under two attend with their parents and/or carers. Of these, 13 children receive funding for nursery education. Children come from the local area and surrounding villages. The setting currently supports a number of children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

The pre-school employs three staff. Over half the staff have early year’s qualifications to NVQ Level 2 or 3, and two staff are currently working towards a qualification. The setting receives support from an advisory teacher from the Local Authority Family Services and the local Children's Centre. It is a member of the Pre-school Learning Alliance (PLA).

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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 thrive on the healthy snacks of fresh foods such as oranges, apples, banana, cucumber, and cheese cubes served to them café style to ensure they can eat as much as they need and in their own time. Children and staff eat family style sitting together around a table, which encourages children to eat well and learn good manners. Children have ready access to fresh drinking water throughout the session to ensure they stay well hydrated. Milk and the less healthy option of diluted, bottled squash are offered at snack time.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are well cared for on clean and tidy premises. Staff arrive early each day to set up and carry out health and hygiene checks, therefore making sure the promises promote children's well-being. Children's health is safeguarded because staff follow very good hygiene procedures. Tissues are at hand to wipe noses. Older children take themselves to the toilet, wash their hands using soap and water, and carefully dry their hands properly. As a result, children stay safe from the spread of infection and learn how to take good care of themselves.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children enjoy taking part in a wide range of activities that contribute to their good health and physical development. They benefit from daily exercise in the spacious hall. Over a week, children run, climb, ride, throw balls and take part in exercise to music sessions where they develop their physical strength, and enjoyment of being active. They also go on regular walks, sometimes into the countryside and local school grounds to develop their stamina.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. Children play safely and securely because staff are vigilant and well organised. Staff monitor access to the premises, carefully recording their parents', children's and visitors' times of arrival and departure. Children can play independently and safely with considerate levels of supervision appropriate for their age due to the high ratios of adults to children. Staff secure the premises and carefully lay out and make ready the welcoming rooms. Regular fire evacuation practises ensure children and parents new to the nursery; know exactly what to do in an emergency to keep themselves safe.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children gain access and make ready use of the good quality equipment that staff carefully sort and store away each day. Appropriately positioned low-level units, tables, chairs and role play equipment, create smaller specialist areas for types of play and provide children with immediately accessible resources to support their independence, play and learning. Space is set aside for rest and relaxation on comfortable cushions in quieter areas. Lines of chairs around the baby toys and soft mats, keeps very young children safe and away from areas used by older children for more boisterous play.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Children are well protected from harm by staff who have a good understanding of child protection policies and procedures. Staff are clear about their personal responsibility and role in promoting children's welfare. Outings are well organised and attended by parents, which makes sure high ratios are maintained at all times for the safety of all children.

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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 good. Children are very happy and settled at the pre-school. They enjoy themselves so much because staff take great care to plan a wide range of interesting and worthwhile activities and experiences, skilfully using the stepping stones towards the early learning goals, and the Birth to three matters framework, to meet a wide range of ages and stages of children's development. A particularly strong feature of the setting is the positive way staff, parents and the committee all work directly with the children to make sure their time at the setting is socially valuable and lots of fun. The setting works effectively with key personnel in the local school to ensure children become familiar with their next place of learning, its people and facilities, making sure everyone feels confident to make the transition between pre-school and school.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Staff make very good use of activities to extend learning across the whole curriculum, linked in very well to the local culture and amenities. Outings to places such as fishing coves, nearby fields, the Eden Project and village church, become opportunities for children to explore using their senses. They look at wildlife in rock pools, the beauty of stained glass windows, displays of numbers on hymn boards, and the life cycle of animals such as sheep. They also enjoy the opportunity to be physical and explore in wide-open spaces. At Christmas, a visit to a camel farm enabled children to see first-hand the animals depicted in the nativity story linked to the Three Wise Men. As a result, children are very well occupied, learning about the natural world, and making firm friends with each other and people in their wider community.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Staff make good use of their knowledge of the individual children's interests, stages of development to plan a worthwhile range of experiences suited to their needs. They set up the room into areas for different types of play supported by a range of resources chosen to link in with the current topic or theme. The good planning, using their knowledge and understanding of how young children learn, the detailed information gathered from home and their observations and assessments of learning, ensures children are actively engaged and make good progress in all areas of learning.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children use tools such as stencils and pens showing adept hand to eye co-ordination. The effective placement of a mobile unit with paper and other mark making resources enables children to find what they need to make pictures and other creations, such as animal masks and other colourful pictures. They learn about size and shape as they hunt for the right size of paper to fit under stencils, and compete complex jigsaws by placing and turning the pieces around to the right fit. Children begin to learn that writing and other symbols have meaning as they watch staff scribe their version of a story about a teddy bear and some label their own pieces of work, correctly forming the letters in their names. They learn to sequence numbers from one to ten by playing hopscotch.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Adult led, large group activities are used well to reinforce learning, children's creativity and their imagination. Children listen with interest to stories, act out scenarios, and exercise to music. However, the outside play area is not used routinely to enhance learning. Although the setting has a laptop computer and other everyday technological toys such as torches, measures and magnets, these are not readily accessible for the children to use as part of their self-initiated play. Children's knowledge of the natural world, care and concern is promoted through well-planned activities. For example, the role-play area is set up as a vet's surgery where 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 treat their sick pets and in another activity, they make a bird food cake to take home and feed the birds during a cold spell.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children are creative, experiment and compare the sounds musical instruments make. They recognise simple patterns and rhythm in music and sing along with familiar action songs and rhymes such as 'Old MacDonald Had A Farm'. Staff introduce children to letter sounds and symbols using these traditional songs, rhymes and daily routines effectively to promote their early literacy and language development. During snack time, children practise name recognition, use prediction, counting, and calculation as they work out how many pieces of food they have, use symbols to show what food they would like or have eaten in the 'café', and serve themselves by pouring their own drinks. As a result, children grow in independence, confidence and understanding of early mathematics and reading skills.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children learn about their local environment, their own culture and the culture of others through well-planned activities such as visits to the local church, fishing cove, and fields to watch lambing. An outing to a camel farm, just before Christmas, made the story of the Three Kings arriving on camels more meaningful to children. They play with small world toys that reflect the world they live in and promote positive images of gender and disability. Children look at books and handle small world characters and jigsaws that provide positive images. Children are respected as individuals. They benefit from the care taken by staff to plan interesting experiences that meet a wide range of needs and individual learning styles. However, staff do not always make use of the information they have about the culture of all children who attend to influence their planning of seasonal festivals.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children and families with disabilities are welcome into the setting. Staff work effectively with parents and other professionals by attending joint training and reviews to ensure the needs of individual children are met. Children of all ages play very well together supported by staff and their parents who also attend with younger siblings. Children know the daily routines well and older ones helpfully tidy away. Staff act as good role models through what they say and do. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnership with parents and carers is outstanding and contributes significantly to children's well-being, learning and development. Right from the start, parents' views are actively sought and they are encouraged to be part of their child's ongoing care and learning. They complete an initial profile about what they know their child can do, what they like doing and any ideas for improvement at the setting. Children's development records are shared with parents to keep them up-to-date with children’s achievements. Children benefit greatly from the shared responsibility and involvement of their parents in play and large group activities including outings, which contribute to their safety, enjoyment, development and learning.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. Children are cared for in a well-organised environment by suitably qualified and highly experienced practitioners who attend training such as 'Language and Loving It' and paediatric first aid to stay up to date with best early years practices. All the legally required documentation, which contributes to children’s health, safety and well-being, is in place and regularly reviewed. How well the staff, and committee made up of parents work together to create, a welcoming

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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 and nurturing environment is a strong feature of this village community pre-school. The setting meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides.

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Organisation

Leadership and management are good. Practitioners and parents are involved in planning a curriculum that helps children develop well in all aspects of learning. Key workers who monitor and share children’s achievements update assessment records. Practitioners work closely with parents setting realistic and challenging targets for the development of individual children and improvements in the setting with the full support of the management committee.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last inspection, the setting agreed to provide children with more opportunities to choose freely from a wide range of resources and initiate activities. They also agreed to extend the policy regarding uncollected children to include procedures to be followed in the event of a child being lost and ensure that children have access to hot and cold water for hand washing.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The setting now has some mobile resource units that children can access to support their independent play and learning. Other resources are brought out on rota basis to provide variety and support the theme or current topic. The setting now has a policy to make sure staff know what to do if a child is lost. The toilet facilities now have hot and cold water installed to the hand basins, to make sure children can wash their hands hygienically, and minimise the risk of cross infection.

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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 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): • make sure all drinks on offer to children are good for their health • plan activities and celebrations that acknowledge the culture of the children who attend the setting.

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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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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): • make more use of the outdoor play area and everyday technology to inspire and further learning and development in all areas of the curriculum.

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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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