St Mary's School Ascot

Hollytree Community Pre-School

Inspection report for early years provision

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Hollytree Community Pre-School

Unique Reference Number 110120 Inspection date 19 January 2006 Inspector Amanda Shedden / Debbie Davies

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Hollytree Community Pre-School

Setting Address The Community Centre, Fleming Avenue, North Baddesley, Southampton, Hampshire, SO52 9EJ Telephone number 023 80741410

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E-mail

Registered person Hollytree Community Pre-School Type of inspection Integrated Type of care Sessional 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 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 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 AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are satisfactory.

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WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?

Hollytree Community Pre-School opened in 1976. It is managed by a voluntary committee of parents. The pre-school runs from the main hall of a community centre in the village of North Baddesley near Southampton and serves the local area. There are currently 23 children from 2 to under 5 years of age on roll. This includes 12 funded 3-year-olds and 5 funded 4-year-olds. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The setting currently supports a small number of children with special

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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 needs or for whom English is an additional language. The group opens five days a week during school term times. Sessions are available from 9:15 to 12:00 from Monday to Friday and 12:30 to 15:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. There is one full-time and eight part-time staff who work with the children. Of these, four staff have early years qualifications to NVQ level 2 or 3. The setting receives support from a teacher from the Local Authority.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is good. Children are cared for in a welcoming and happy setting where they benefit from a clean, airy and hygienic environment. Appropriate procedures are in place to ensure that areas accessed by the children are cleaned daily and disinfected when necessary. Children show an understanding about the importance of good hygiene. They wash their hands during daily routines with increasing independence. Children enjoy a good range of healthy snacks and drinks which contribute to their good health. Although children are not able to select and pour their own drinks at snack time, they do enjoy choosing from the broad range of fresh fruit, crackers and spreads offered daily. They are able to access drinking water independently to prevent dehydration and knowledge about what their bodies need to stay healthy is emphasised through planned activities. Each day activities are planned for children to develop and practise their physical

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Helping children to be healthy

skills. Children enjoy skipping, rolling hoops and kicking a football to one another. They have the opportunity to play with bats and small hard or soft balls. They co-operate with one another and use the available space well. Music and movement sessions allow children to enjoy getting their bodies into interesting shapes, for instance when turning themselves into different animals.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Staff greet children warmly. The majority of children are happy to leave their parents while extra support is given to those who find it more difficult. This promotes children’s emotional well-being. Children are able to access all areas safely. Staff ensure that the provision and resources are safe before children enter the building. Children are able to freely choose from the activities staff put out each day. However, they are not able to self select their own resources which limits their choice of free play. The same activities are provided every day for a week at a time. As a result, children who attend frequently quickly loose interest in the activity.

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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 The environment lacks vibrancy as there are few posters or children's work on display. Children are protected due to the staff's ability to easily view visitors arriving. However, children and staff do not practice the emergency evacuation procedure on a regular basis. They are not familiar with the procedure so are unable to learn how to leave the premises quickly and safely. Staff are aware of what procedures to follow if there was a fire. However, there are no notices displayed alerting parents or visitors of what to do. The recording of fire drills is not adequate. Children show an awareness of safety. For example, they listen to instructions before going on a bear hunt. They hold hands when walking to the park area and are aware not to run off. Staff have a sound understanding of the procedures to be followed if they had a

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

concern over a child. This ensures that the children's welfare is promoted.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is satisfactory. Children settle well as they sit with staff on the mat. Staff have good levels of interaction with the children which makes them feel welcome. Children relate well to one another and confidently approach staff for support. This ensures that good trusting relationships are built. Some children enjoy and learn from activities that allows them to explore and investigate. For example, a child found a twig with some Pussy Willows hanging from it and was encouraged to bring this back to the group so they could draw it. Their pictures showed that they used their imaginations. This helps to develop and encourage their creative skills. Nursery Education The quality of teaching and children's learning is satisfactory. Children show interest and enthusiastically undertake activities. They show good levels of concentration as they take part in the planned activities. However, for children attending regularly their

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

freedom of expression is limited due to the repetition of the resources and activities each day. Children behave well in response to the calm atmosphere and praise and encouragement from staff. They enjoy positive relationships with staff and other children. Children enjoy listening to stories and acting them out using musical instruments. They are confident to sing songs and speak out in group situations. Children use the writing table each day. However, the resources do not fully promote their understanding of early writing skills and there are few opportunities for them to practise their mark making skills in everyday play. Children develop an interest in counting and using mathematical language through planned activities. However, the opportunities for gaining an understanding of shape and measure is limited due to the resources available. Children are gaining an understanding of the world around them through themes, such as winter and looking

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

closely at different animals. Some children show good levels of attention to complete and achieve a task, for example when undertaking complex construction activities.

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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 Some staff are skilled at extending their learning experiences by asking open ended questions. Children's imagination is promoted as they engage in a variety of role-play situations. However, creative development is limited due to the lack of diversity and resources being repetitive. The quality of teaching is satisfactory. Plans which are made limit the amount and type of resources on display. As a result, children are being offered the same experiences every day for a week. For instance, resources such as puzzles, small world play and different types of construction toys, are only available when they are in the weeks plans. This limits the children's learning experiences, for example children do not have regular access to ICT resources. Some staff have started to contribute to the planning and have an understanding of

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

the early learning goals. However, assessments undertaken on the children and evaluations of the activities are not used to inform this planning. The planning of the activities and resources do not reflect the early learning goals, nor do they reflect the individual needs of the children. This results in children not being sufficiently challenged and supported in their progression towards the early learning goals. Staff do not highlight the objective of the activity and effective evaluations are not made. Some staff are skilled at asking open ended questions to extend children. However, this is not consistent and the lack of understanding of the purpose of the activity leads to many missed learning opportunities.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is satisfactory. Children are valued and respected as staff have a good understanding of their individual needs. Children's behaviour is very good and their understanding of right and wrong is increased as they respond to gentle reminders from the staff to care for each other. Children with special needs are supported within the group. Staff work well with the children, their parents and other agencies to ensure children are getting the care they need. Their positive approach fosters children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Partnership with parents is satisfactory. The positive relationships with parents ensure that they value the pre-school. Staff work together and share information about the children on a daily basis. Parents of children who are in receipt of funded nursery education do not have enough information about the early learning goals to enable them to support their child’s learning further. Informal sharing of information

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Helping children make a positive contribution

about the children’s achievements takes place but parents are not fully informed of their child's educational progress.

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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 satisfactory. Children's care is supported by the organisation and the pre-school's daily routines. Staff know the children well and the high staff to child ratios ensure that they are well cared for.

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Organisation

Most policies and procedures are in place. However, there is not yet in place a complaints log or a procedure to protect staff in relation to child protection. The operational plan is being reviewed as required at the last inspection. Recruitment procedures need to be more robust to ensure that people appointed are suitable to work in the group. Overall, the setting meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides. Leadership and management is satisfactory. Management provide adequate support to the staff through informal discussions. Staff work well as a team and regularly update their knowledge and skills by attending appropriate courses. Clear roles and responsibilities are defined so staff know what is expected of them. This enables them to carry out their roles adequately. Some staff have started to help with planning. However, assessments undertaken on the children and evaluations of the

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Organisation

activities are not used to inform this planning. This results in children not being sufficiently challenged or supported in their progression towards the early learning goals.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last education inspection, the group were required to improve the deployment of staff and to interact more with the children. Staff are now deployed appropriately and show good levels of interaction with the children. A system needed to be developed to make observations on children’s achievements. This is now in place, although it is not yet being used to inform the planning of activities. Information given to parents needed to be further developed. This has been partly achieved as parents are now aware of the experiences their children are having but are not fully informed of their educational progress. At the last inspection, staff were required to record accidents in a confidential manner. All records are now recorded appropriately. It was requested that they review their policies and procedures in line with current legislation. This task is currently being undertaken. A system needed to be developed for the recruitment

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Improvements since the last inspection

and training of new staff. All new staff now have a named member of staff as a mentor. Recruitment procedures have improved, although some areas still need to be addressed.

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Complaints since the last inspection

There are no complaints to report. The provider is required to keep a record of complaints made by parents, which they can see on request. The complaints record

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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 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 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 AND NURSERY EDUCATION

The quality and standards of the nursery education are satisfactory.

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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): • ensure that the correct fire evacuation procedures are displayed and fire drills are properly recorded. • provide a wider selection of resources so that the children are offered a variety of free play activities each day that they can self select. • ensure that there are robust systems in place for the vetting of all new staff • devise and implement a complaints procedures according to the revised guidance

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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): • develop plans that reflect the early learning goals, and use the assessments made on children to ensure that individual children are able to progress. When undertaking a focused activity ensure the outcome is clear. • ensure that children have opportunities to develop their mark making skills in every day situations and they have frequent access to resources that promote their understanding of shape and measure • ensure that children have access to ICT equipment regularly. • further develop systems so that parents are fully aware of, and can contribute to their child's learning.

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The quality and standards of the nursery education

procedures set out in the leaflet Building better childcare: Compliments and concerns about inspectors' judgements which is available from Ofsted's website:

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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 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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