St.Andrew's Out Of School Clubs

St.Andrew's Out Of School Clubs Inspection report for early years provision

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EY360866 Unique Reference Number 08 July 2008 Inspection date Cynthia Walker Inspector

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St. Andrews C of E Primary School, Springfield Street, Oswaldtwistle, ACCRINGTON, Lancashire, BB5 3LG

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Setting Address

01254 231 279 Telephone number head@st-andrews34.lancsngfl.ac.uk E-mail St.Andrew's Out Of School Clubs Registered person Integrated Type of inspection Full day 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?

St Andrew's Breakfast and After School Club and Pre-school was previously registered in 2005 and re-registered as a limited company in 2007. The school is situated within the centre of Oswaldtwistle. The out of school setting is to open from 07.45 until 09.00 and from 15.15 until 18.00 during term time and from 08.00 until 18.00 in the school holidays. The pre-school is open school hours including lunch time if required. The provision operates from the hall and foundation unit within the main school with access to the computer suite and enclosed outdoor play areas.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

A maximum of 24 children from three years to under eight years may attend the setting and currently 60 children attend the out of school club and 38 children attend the pre-school provision throughout the week. The out of school club also offers care to children over eight years. All of the children attending the pre-school group receive funding for nursery education. Children come from within the local school catchment areas. The setting supports children with learning difficulties and disabilities. The day-to-day operations are delegated to the supervisor and staff of both facilities. There are nine staff employed for both groups and eight staff hold appropriate early years qualifications. The setting receives the support of the local authority.

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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 enjoy a good range of healthy snacks which includes a variety of fruit. Discussions at snack time encourage children to understand the importance of certain foods as they share what they have had for breakfast. Children are actively involved in snack as they distribute bowls and serve the milk and water to other children. At lunch time children either bring a packed lunch or eat a healthy school dinner, and parents are encouraged at induction evenings to include healthy options within the lunch boxes. Children are able to access fresh drinking water throughout the day. Dietary needs are discussed with parents and efficiently recorded to ensure the children's individual needs are met.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children are developing an understanding of personal hygiene as they wash their hands before eating and after going to the toilet. They explain that they are washing their hands to get rid of the germs 'so that their tummies don’t get poorly', and they reinforce that you need soap to help this happen. Staff demonstrate that children are cared for appropriately if they have an accident or need medication because they follow appropriate procedures. However, injuries children arrive with at the setting from home are not clearly recorded. There are clear procedures in place to support children if they become ill.

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Helping children to be healthy

Children enjoy physical activity as they regularly access the school's outdoor areas. The out of school children enthusiastically participate in a variety of activities using small equipment, such as hoops, skipping ropes and balls, and return to the building refreshed and invigorated. The pre-school children confidently manoeuvre a selection of wheeled toys around the playground and develop their balancing skills as they walk across the stepping blocks. Children enjoy the freedom of running and chasing each other around the large area, skilfully negotiating their own space. They enjoy joining in circle games as they match movements and actions to the words of the song.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. Children are cared for in a warm, safe and secure environment. Clear risk assessments promote the children's safety within the setting, enabling them to move safely around all areas of play. Children are learning about keeping safe as they respond to clear explanations from staff on how to use the outdoor area. Regular fire evacuation practises reinforce the children's understanding of fire safety.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The pre-school room is welcoming to children with colourful displays on the walls which include children's artwork. The room is creatively arranged to encourage children to participate in all the activities and staff make effective use of the outdoor area to support learning activities, such as mark making as children write their names in chalk on the concrete. Children in the out of school club are based in the school hall which is constructively arrange into different activity areas with opportunity to safely access the computer suite. There is a good range of toys and resources for children to access, which is appropriate to their age and stage of development and actively supports their play and learning. Resources are well arranged to enable children to make spontaneous decisions about the toys and resources they are going to use. Comfortable bean bags are used by children in the out of school club when they are feeling tired and need

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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 effectively safeguarded by staff who have a sound understanding of child protection procedures which are in line with the Local Safeguarding Children Board.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is good. Children in the out of school club are interested and involved in an interesting range of activities. During discussion they readily voice their appreciation of the club and explain their favourite activities are using the computer suite and baking, including making fruit cocktail sticks with melted chocolate. Children proudly share that they had been awarded the 'star of the week certificate' the previous week for being good all week. They explain that they also enjoy coming to the holiday club because they can go swimming and bike riding. Staff explain that they involve the children in planning the activities and this system is going to be improved. There is a two week rota highlighting specific resources and equipment on a daily basis and staff respond to individual children's requests. The weekly outdoor rota which is flexible includes hockey, rounders and construction.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children spend time concentrating on making a variety of models and shapes from salt dough, including a very detailed angel with flowing hair and hands held together. They enthusiastically play table football with staff and play a friendly game of pool with each other. The staff are very well motivated and interact well with the children, effectively supporting and assisting them in activities.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The quality of teaching and learning is good. Staff have a sound understanding of the early learning goals and plan a range of activities which motivates children to learn and make progress. Regular observations are being completed on the children and evidence from these is transferred to individual tracker books. Examples of children's work and creativity are kept in the children's individual 'I Can' folders. Although the key workers have a good understanding of their individual children's learning needs their next steps for learning are not clearly identified in their observational records. Regular staff discussions link the children's next steps for learning to the planning of future activities, however, this is not clearly identified within the written plans. Staff have established positive relationships with the children and their effective questioning challenges and enables children to achieve. Staff provide an interesting environment with

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

constructively arranged resources in most areas to enable children to progress. However, the presentation of resources in the creative area does not stimulate children's spontaneous involvement in individual use of media and materials.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Children have a positive attitude to learning and they use their initiative and take responsibility to instigate their own play and learning. They have good levels of concentration and maintain sustained interest at activities, such as role play and the maths experiment. Children are actively involved in drawing around each other's bodies with different colours to measure who is the biggest in the group. They are encouraged to estimate if children or adults are bigger or smaller and will fit in the previous shape, which encourages good discussion that we all come in different shapes and sizes. They respond to questions on why children will not fit by explaining that they are too long. This activity is transferred to the outdoor area where children enthusiastically draw around each other, and is extended to using a large ruler to measure the height of individual children. Children are confident communicators and share information from home about falling

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

off their bike and needing two plasters. They use language to explain how they are going to make people better in the role play by feeling the bone inside your finger and listening to your

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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 heart. The introduction of clipboards into the role play encourages children to make marks and some children to writing their own and other children's names.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

Staff explain that a recent school visit to a farm had resulted in individual children being interested in tigers as they were disappointed that tigers did not live on a farm. A display on the board indicates the response to this interest which included the headteacher being dressed up as the tiger who came to tea. The children's enjoyment in the caterpillar story stimulated a project on caterpillars which included caring for cocoons and finally letting the hatched butterflies free. Children have very good imaginations and use these well in the role play area which is turned into a hospital where children are put to bed and adults and children are covered in bandages. They are fascinated with the stethoscopes and listen to other people's hearts and then test their own. Children are becoming competent on the computer as they have access twice a week to the school's computer suite, and this is reflected in the computer drawings of

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is good. Children behave well in response to the calm and consistent responses from staff. They are confident within the routines of the pre-school and respond well to the staff's expectations, particularly at tidy up time. Children have developed positive relationships with each other as they play harmoniously at activities such as role play. They patiently take turns whilst waiting to draw around each other and readily share resources whilst playing with the play dough. Children in the out of school club have been involved in establishing the rules for the club which are displayed clearly in the hall. The 'star of the week' enhances their self-esteem as they show great pride in achieving this award.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Children are developing a positive attitude to others through a good range of resources which includes dolls, books, small world figures, jigsaws and some dressing up clothes. They participate in activities which reflect their own customs and those of other people, reinforcing their understanding of diversity. Discussions with parents as the children begin their care establish the individual children's needs to ensure appropriate care can be given. There are effective systems in place to support children with learning difficulties or disabilities, and staff sensitively support and enable children to participate in all activities. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

Partnership with parents and carers is good. Parents are actively welcomed into the setting and receive effective information about the care and learning through the parents brochure and regular letters. They are invited to attend an induction meeting before their children attend the setting. Parents using the out of school club access information from the club noticeboard, newsletters and a parents information leaflet. The setting takes positive steps to ensure that parents are informed and can have access to all the policies and procedures. A message sheet is used by the out of school club to pass information from parents to school and verbal information is shared with all parents on a daily basis. Parents are informed on their children's achievements through parents evenings twice a year and they are made aware that they can access their children's tracker records at any time. Letters outlining the activities their children

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Helping children make a positive contribution

are involved in give parents opportunities to be involved in their 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

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Organisation

The organisation is good. All the required documentation which contributes to children's health, safety and well-being is in place. Appropriate recruitment and vetting procedures are in place to determine the suitability of staff members to safeguard the children attending the clubs. Documentation is supported by policies and procedures which are reflected in daily practice, for example, behaviour. There is a positive attitude to staff training and the majority of the staff have appropriate early years qualifications. The out of school staff meet monthly and the pre-school staff have recently begun to attend which will enable consistency to be maintained in improving the outcomes for children. Space within the setting is creatively organised to enhance the play and learning opportunities for children.

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Organisation

Leadership and management are good. Clear staffing procedures and a strong management structure with active support from within school encourage the staff team to work effectively together. The effectiveness of the overall provision is monitored through regular questionnaires with positive responses including comments that it is a valuable service. Although there are basic evaluations in place for focused activities there is no formal evaluation in place to monitor the effectiveness of the programme for nursery education. The setting demonstrates a willingness to seek advice to improve the quality of education for the children they are providing. Overall, the provision meets the needs of the range of the children for whom it provides.

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Complaints since the last inspection

Since registration 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): • review the procedures for recording accidents to include injuries that children arrive with from home.

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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): • review the assessment programme to ensure information from children's observations is used to establish the children's next steps for learning and these details are clearly identified and used to inform the future planned programme of activities • improve the presentation of the creative area to stimulate children's individual interest and skills with media and materials • develop a system for monitoring and evaluating the provision for nursery education.

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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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