Old Fallings Playgroup

EYL413 V1_20100204 Ofsted National Business Unit St Ann’s Square Manchester M2 7LA Telephone: 0300 123 1231 Fax: 0300 123 3159 Minicom: 0161 618 8524 Email: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk Web: www.ofsted.gov.uk

p.1

Old Fallings Playgroup United Reform Church Old Fallings Lane Low Hill Wolverhampton West Midlands WV10 8BY Our Reference 224931

p.1

Outcome of monitoring visit for provision judged as inadequate

An Ofsted inspector, Barry Parnaby, carried out a monitoring visit of your provision on 01/03/2010. This visit follows on from your inspection where the provision was judged to be inadequate.

p.1

Outcome of the visit

As a result of our inspection on 26/06/2009, we sent you a welfare requirements notice.

p.1

Outcome of the visit

The setting continues to make satisfactory progress in most areas towards the actions set out in the welfare requirements notice. There is consistent progress being made in the way staff are planning activities for the children . Basic profiles have been established for all children which resulted from an exercise undertaken by staff. All children have a personal development file into which staff are entering observations. This is providing a solid picture of the children's next steps in learning. An example of the entries are ‘uses shapes’, ‘shows curiosity in materials and numbers’.

p.1

Outcome of the visit

There are some staff who are completing personal development files better than others and additional training and support is being given to them by the newly appointed manager. This is providing an assessment of individual children's needs and identifies their next steps in learning. From observations made, the key person groups are now better organised and children were engaged in a variety of activities which included making pasta pictures and all children were included in the activities with good interaction between the children and staff.

p.1

Outcome of the visit

The weekly planners are displayed for parents to see and staff are working hard to try and engage parents in their children's learning and development. These were well prepared by the staff team and linked positively into all areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage. A parents meeting has now been held and key workers are beginning to engage parents in all areas of the programme. The theme is ‘Chatter matters’ and there was plenty of positive conversation taking place between children and staff. Good support is still received from the Early Years Partnership who visit the setting at monthly intervals and are assisting staff in developing their skills in observation and recording children's progress.

p.1

Outcome of the visit

The new manager and the committee have worked hard to improve the external resourses available to the children and this has culminated in the provision of a range of play equipment which includes a climbing frame, slides, balancing beams and a water/ sand play area. The children were really enjoying these activities and were fascinated playing with the ice that had formed on the surface of the water play area. Other children were happily playing on their new slide. This new equipment has greatly enhanced the opportunities available to the children. When discussing proposals for change with the manager she informed me that she was in the process of purchasing lots of new educational and play equipment to further promote the range of resourses to promote learning opportunities for the children.

p.2

Outcome of the visit

An examination of the new development files shows that a lot of work has gone into observing and monitoring children's progress, however, some files were not up to date and it was acknowledged by the manager that some staff still needed to develop their skills in this area. The manager acknowledged that these need to be kept up to date in order meet children's individual needs. Additional training is being provided for the staff to develop their skills in observation and recording.

p.2

Outcome of the visit

Overall, the monitoring visit shows that staff are continuing to work hard to meet the actions imposed in the welfare requirement notice. There has been positive improvement in most areas which have been monitored during visits made on the 03 April 2009, 01 May 2009, 29 June 2009, 10 September 2009 and the most recent on the 1 December 2009.

p.2

Outcome of the visit

Further work is still required to consolidate the good work that has already taken place on assessments, observations and children's individual plans to ensure that every child's individual needs are met.

p.2

Outcome of the visit

Having considered all the evidence, the inspector is of the opinion that at this time the setting is making satisfactory improvement overall.

p.2

Overall effectiveness of the improvement and outcomes for children

The setting has made significant progress in all areas and the new assessments are enabling staff to plan programmes more effectively to meet individual children's needs.

p.2

Overall effectiveness of the improvement and outcomes for children

Security in the setting is good which has ensured children are safe at all times. Staff have undertaken planning meetings with parents to involve them in their children's learning and to engage them in the next steps of their learning. These have proved to be very positive and give the key persons the opportunity to meet up with parents and share the progress that their children have made

p.2

Overall effectiveness of the improvement and outcomes for children

Regular meetings are being held with the Early Years Partnership who are assisting staff to further develop the assessments, observations and planning programmes.

p.3

Overall effectiveness of the improvement and outcomes for children

Since the last visit and the appointment of the new manager there is a marked improvement in the organisation of the setting and activities provided for the children were planned positively with the staff working closely as a team.

p.3

Overall effectiveness of the improvement and outcomes for children

The key workers were ensuring that children are included in all activities and individual needs are being more closely monitored. An example of this is providing speech therapy for a child whose is having difficulty in communication. Staff are working closely with the speech therapists and the parents.

p.3

Overall effectiveness of the improvement and outcomes for children

The Early Years Partnership have also assisted staff in obtaining additional financial aid to refurbish and improve the security arrangements in the external play area. This has allowed the children greater opportunities to enjoy external play in improved and safer environment.

p.3

Overall effectiveness of the improvement and outcomes for children

In order to fully promote and develop the outcomes for children in all areas staff need to undertake further work on consolidating the assessment and observation procedures to ensure that these are kept up to date and ensure that all children's needs are met.

p.3

Next steps

Having considered all the evidence the inspector is of the opinion that at this time:

p.3

Next steps

 The setting has made satisfactory progress in addressing the points for improvement. The next visit will be a further monitoring visit. I hope that you have found the visit helpful in promoting improvement in your setting. If you have any further queries please contact us on the number at the top of this letter.

p.3

Next steps

Sheila Brown HMI National Director, Inspection Delivery

p.4