YMCA After School Club @ King Athelstan Primary School

Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated. YMCA King Athelstan Inspection report for early years provision

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Unique reference number EY389934 Inspection date 19/08/2009 Inspector Amanda Jane Tyson

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Setting address King Athelstan Primary School, Villiers Road, KINGSTON UPON THAMES, Surrey, KT1 3AR Telephone number 0208 5468210 Email kgp@rbksch.org Type of setting Childcare on non-domestic premises This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under Sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of the registered early years provision. ‘Early years provision’ refers to provision regulated by Ofsted for children from birth to 31 August following their fifth birthday (the early years age group). The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and welfare, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Introduction

The provider must provide a copy of this report to all parents with children at the setting where reasonably practicable. The provider must provide a copy of the report to any other person who asks for one, but may charge a fee for this service (The Childcare (Inspection) Regulations 2008 regulations 9 and 10).

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Introduction

Children only attend this setting before and/or after the school day and/or during the school holidays. The judgements in this report reflect the quality of early years provision offered to children during those periods.

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Introduction

The setting also makes provision for children older than the early years age group which is registered on the voluntary and/or compulsory part(s) of the Childcare Register. This report does not include an evaluation of that provision, but a comment about compliance with the requirements of the Childcare Register is included in Annex B. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Description of the setting

YMCA King Athelstan has been registered since 2009 and is one of several out of school clubs run by Kingston and Wimbledon YMCA. They are registered on the Early Years Register and both the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register for a maximum of 22 children. Children attend aged from four to under eight years; as well as children aged between eight and 11 years.

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Description of the setting

The club operates from a separate building in the school grounds which is within walking distance of Kingston town centre. Children have access to a main room and a quiet room and both rooms are easily accessible. The school playground is available for outside play.

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Description of the setting

The premises provides an after school club and a holiday playscheme. The after school club operates between 15.00 and 18.00 during school term time; children attend from the onsite school. The holiday playscheme operates between 08.00 to 18.00 and all children within the borough are welcomed. There are currently 36 children on roll in the after school club, of whom three are within the early years age range. There are 32 children on roll in the holiday playscheme, of whom six are within the early years age range. Both provisions welcome and support children with physical and/or learning disabilities. Managers of both provisions hold a level 3 early years qualification; the organisation ensures that a minimum of 50% of all staff are qualified to at least a level 2. Staff to child ratios are maintained above statutory requirements and depend on the needs of the children booked to attend at any one time and on the type of activities planned for each day.

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Overall effectiveness of the early years provision

Overall, the quality of the provision is good, with outstanding features. The premises is well organised and resourced to enable the inclusion of all children, who are well safeguarded by effective operational procedures and caring and supportive staff. Effective partnerships with parents and other agencies are established to enable consistency and continuity of care and are well on the way to becoming as effective in supporting children's learning needs. Activity planning begins with the children's ideas, current interests and fascinations and is very well extended, and/or adapted, by enthusiastic and experienced staff. The capacity for achieving excellence in all areas is high, but currently hindered by the absence of a clear system for self-evaluation. Nonetheless, children have tremendous fun and the quality of the activities are highly worthwhile and effective in providing opportunities for children to progress in all areas of development.

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further?

To further improve the early years provision the registered person should:

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further?

 implement systems for evaluating the overall effectiveness of the provision to provide a focus for future developments This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006  further develop systems for gathering information about children’s next steps for learning; use the information to plan activities and ensure that staff promote children’s learning consistently

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provision

Children are cared for in a safe environment. Play resources and equipment are well maintained and in sufficient supply to enable good group play value. All records, documentation, policies and procedures required for the safe and efficient management of the setting are in place, well understood by staff and shared with parents. For example, good premises security, rigorous risk assessment procedures and good levels of adult to child ratios minimise the possibility of children being able to leave the premises unsupervised, from intruders gaining access, and from serious accidents occurring. Sufficient precautions are taken to minimise a lost child situation on outings, for instance children wear a badge detailing the telephone number of the mobile carried by staff. Venues and environments, such as Battersea Park Zoo, are risk assessed in advance, although this is not extensively evaluated to consider every possible eventuality. Rigorous recruitment

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provision

and induction procedures help to ensure that children are cared for by suitably qualified and/or experienced staff who all submit to the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) vetting procedures. All staff complete a two day safeguarding course and are introduced to the operational procedures of the setting prior to caring for the children. Staff are secure in their knowledge and understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities; from play-workers through to senior management. Volunteer young people are well supervised and staff are not left alone with children until all vetting checks are completed. The organisation provides good professional development opportunities; there is a rolling training programme and an effective staff appraisal system in place. At least two staff with a valid first aid qualification are onsite at any one time and children within the early years age range are matched to a key-worker with the necessary knowledge and experience

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provision

The effectiveness of the setting's well established partnership with parents and continuously developing relationship with school teaching staff and other agencies is epitomised by the enjoyment and achievement of children with specific and diverse needs, for example, those with physical and/or learning disabilities. Staff know the children well because they spend time observing them and engaging in play with them. The setting keep up to date on the school curriculum topics and use this information to influence their planning so that it compliments and builds on their school learning. However, they are not as well informed of children's individual learning targets, or about the curriculum topics covered by children from other local schools, who attend the holiday playscheme. This makes it difficult to make a secure assessment on the level of their EYFS achievements, although activities provide for all children's interests and levels of ability and they

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provision

compliment the type of activities that children routinely engage in at school. This, along with the observation entries, albeit this is a new system, heavily indicates that children are making at least good progress in their learning and development. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 Parents are well informed about children's daily dispositions and activities. During term time staff collect children from their classrooms and this provides for an exchange of information between teachers and playworkers which is then passed on to parents. Play resources are accessibly stored to enable children to help themselves, which they do, and although staff do plan a programme of activities, this is extremely flexible to allow for children to initiate and lead their own play as well as engage in adult initiated and supported activities.

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The quality and standards of the early years provision

Children's strong sense of belonging and high levels of confidence is very well demonstrated by the way in which they initiate and organise their own play; by helping themselves to resources to build on their current fascinations and ideas. Staff are skilled at stepping in and out of children's play, to inspire, support and extend their learning whilst ensuring that children have the time to think critically and imaginatively for themselves. This, coupled with staff's secure knowledge of children's school term topics, enables them to consolidate their learning in a most complimentary way, which was superbly demonstrated during an extended period of dramatic 'pirate' play which challenged children's critical thinking skills, encouraged them to write, work out solutions to practical problems, link their school learning to their play, join and assemble using different materials and equipment, be creative and use both small and large physical skills. In essence,

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The quality and standards of the early years provision

children had a fantastic time accessing the early learning goals. Staff, being well informed of children's summer term curriculum 'pirate' theme, had already supplemented resources to facilitate an extension to children's learning. It started with the creation of a detailed 'treasure map'. This led to the idea that a 'ship' was needed and so, with astute staff interaction, a table was upturned and transformed, with varied drapes to provide the frame and the 'blue sea'. A flag was found and a cross bow drawn and stuck on. According to the children a pirate ship needed an anchor, and the game needed princesses, dogs and treasure. And so, with adult encouragement to think about what an anchor looked like and how it could be made, a cereal box was cut out into a triangle and transformed, with the assistance of a hole puncher and string, and attached to the mast (the flag). Soft toy dogs were tied to the boat and play money and a tiara became the treasure.

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The quality and standards of the early years provision

Children transformed themselves into princesses, and a very willing staff member into a pirate; fully adorned with a beard, hat, eye patch and sword, not to mention the realistic vocabulary. 'Capture us, tie us up and then eat us', they screeched in excitement, which raised the interest of the other children. A cardboard house, made by the children a few days previous, became the hide-out where they were 'captured' and tied up by 'the pirate'; stifled giggles could be heard as they pretended to show fear. The map came back into the play frame with the children yelling instructions for others to rescue them, in accordance with their 'well planned strategy'. In this way they invited the inclusion of all the other children. Finally, just before lunch, they were 'rescued' and taken to a desert island, the sand pit outside, physical activity now took hold as they chased each other around the outdoor play area; superbly equipped with a climbing wall, rope bridges, trim

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The quality and standards of the early years provision

trails and hide-outs amongst other highly challenging wooden apparatus.

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The quality and standards of the early years provision

Staff know the children well and children access all areas of learning because staff This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 provide activities that link to their unique requirements, for example if their current fascination is with water, or 'going up and down', then a range of diverse activities is connected to this. Children with specific learning needs enjoy the activities and routines because staff adapt them to enable their inclusion. Children learn safety rules, such as for using public transport, or for not touching hot cups, through animated adult actions. They are helped to understand the importance of adopting and maintaining good hygiene habits, so to prevent the spread of infection, such as Swine Flu and keep physically active through outdoor play. Children behave exceptionally well and this is undoubtedly helped by the fact they are well occupied

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The quality and standards of the early years provision

and respect the staff who guide their moral understanding sensitively. Older children are kind and considerate towards younger children and include them in their games, such as 'Monopoly' which helps to encourage their numeracy skills. Children enjoy books and particularly benefit from lovely intimate one to one opportunities for browsing and reading stories with staff on a one to one level.

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The quality and standards of the early years provision

Children enjoy weekly trips out during the school holidays, for example on boat trips, to the farm and the zoo. The after school club children benefit greatly from the direct access to the outdoor play area after a busy day inside school; the outdoor play equipment is particularly beneficial in providing challenge to physically proficient children. This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Annex A: record of inspection judgements

The key inspection judgements and what they mean

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Annex A: record of inspection judgements

Grade 1 is Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Grade 2 is Good: this aspect of the provision is strong Grade 3 is Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound Grade 4 is Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough

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of children in the Early Years Foundation Stage?

How well does the provision promote inclusive practice? 1 The capacity of the provision to maintain continuous improvement.

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Foundation Stage led and managed?

How effective is the setting’s self-evaluation, including the steps taken to promote improvement? How well does the setting work in partnership with parents and others? How well are children safeguarded? 2

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Years Foundation Stage promoted?

How well are children helped to stay safe? 2 How well are children helped to be healthy? 2 How well are children helped to enjoy and achieve? 2 How well are children helped to make a positive contribution? How well are children helped develop skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being?

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Years Foundation Stage promoted?

procedures set out in the guidance available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk This inspection was carried out under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

The provider confirms that the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are: Met

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Annex B: the Childcare Register

The provider confirms that the requirements of the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are: Met

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