Pavilion Pre-School Playgroup

Pavilion Pre-School Playgroup

Inspection report for early years provision

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Pavilion Pre-School Playgroup

Unique Reference Number 311302 Inspection date 27 March 2006 Inspector Ann Law

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Pavilion Pre-School Playgroup

Setting Address Hepworth and Scholes Youth Club, Whitewells Road, Scholes, Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, HD9 1TB Telephone number 07713092471

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E-mail

Registered person Pavillion Pre School Playgroup Type of inspection Integrated Type of care Sessional care, Out of School 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?

Pavilion Pre-school Playgroup is a voluntary organisation, managed by a committee of parents. It opened in 1991 and operates from a youth club in Scholes, near Holmfirth. The pre-school is open each weekday in term time from 09.00 to 11.30 and on a Thursday from 13.45 to 15.15 for sessional care. The playgroup is also open for out of school care Monday to Friday from 07.30 to 09.00 and 15.30 to 18.00. All children share access to a fully enclosed outdoor play area.

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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 There are currently 43 children aged from 2 to under 5 years on roll. Of these, 26 children receive funding for nursery education. The playgroup employs five part time staff of whom three, including the manager, hold appropriate early years qualifications and two staff are relief help. The inspection took place in the playgroup.

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Helping children to be healthy

The provision is satisfactory. Children are cared for in a generally clean and hygienic environment. They are beginning to understand simple good health and hygiene practices, such as washing their hands after using the toilet and sometimes before eating. However, some procedures compromise the good health of children. For example, when children spill sand on the floor, they sweep it up and put it back in the sand tray, thus contaminating the clean sand in the tray. Nourishing snacks are provided for the children. On arrival at the playgroup they enjoy breakfast of toast and are adept in spreading their own margarine and pouring their own drinks. This increases their independence, hand to eye coordination and their fine motor skills. Healthy snacks are offered mid-session. Children have a variety of fruit and choose from water or milk to drink. Tables and chairs are provided for the children, but they are not always encouraged to sit down whilst eating their

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Helping children to be healthy

snack and this does not effectively promote their social skills, good table manners or their health and safety. Children enjoy a wide range of activities which contribute to their good health and physical development. A free-flow system allows children to access outdoor physical play when they want to, promoting a positive attitude to exercise. Children develop increasing control of their bodies as they competently balance on upturned milk crates and jump off. They successfully negotiate space whilst pedalling wheeled toys around the outdoor area, demonstrating good coordination skills to manoeuvre the bikes and they are able to stop before knocking someone over.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is satisfactory. Staff pay attention to ensuring that the environment is generally safe for children. Informal risk assessments are implemented to identify and reduce some potential hazards. For example, the youth club is shared with other users and at the start of every session the staff complete a sweeping check of the premises to ensure that no hazards are present. However, spilt sand causes a slipping hazard and the procedures for clearing this are not sufficiently rigorous to effectively minimise the risk. Children are learning how to keep themselves safe and avoid accidental injury in some instances. For example, staff give children sensitive reminders 'not to climb on the furniture please, or you might fall off and hurt yourself'. However, children are not

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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 encouraged to sit at the snack table whilst eating and this increases the risk of choking as they run or roller skate around the room eating toast. Children's welfare is promoted appropriately, because sufficient staff hold a first aid qualification. Accidents are appropriately managed and records are sometimes shared with parents to facilitate children’s safety and continuity of care. A sound understanding is held of their roles and responsibilities within the local Area Child Protection Committee procedures to safeguard children. These measures contribute to keeping children safe on the premises.

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

The provision is satisfactory. Children are happy and settled in the playgroup, because they are cared for by friendly staff who help them to feel at ease in the setting. The committed staff team ensure that the constraints of using a shared building do not have a negative impact on the accessibility and range of resources available for children. They set out the provision in an attractive manner which encourages children to make choices and develop their decision making skills. Children who are upset when their parents leave receive good levels of support from the staff to ease the transition from home to the group. Although staff have a sound knowledge of how most children learn and progress, they have a limited awareness of the different frameworks to support younger children's learning and development. As a result, the planning for, and assessment of, the play and learning for children under 3 is not fully effective in

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

identifying their next steps in development. Children demonstrate confidence in their play. For example, they enjoy playing with real items in the home corner, such as telephones and cooking utensils. This provides them with a link with home and supports their imitative and imaginative play. Nursery education The quality of teaching and children's learning is satisfactory. Children make steady progress towards the early learning goals, because staff have a sound knowledge of the Foundation Stage and the activities and experiences provided for the children sufficiently cover all of the areas of learning. Although written plans which identify the learning intentions are in place, there is no system to ensure that all stepping stones will be covered sufficiently over time. Consequently, the planning is general and the activities provided are not effectively differentiated to give all children appropriate

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

challenge. The plans are regularly evaluated to monitor how well the activity went and assessments of children's learning are undertaken. However, there are inconsistencies in the monitoring. As a result, children's next steps are identified but are not effectively used to plan for their future learning. Interesting topic work skilfully links most areas of the curriculum to the topic, currently colour, to re-enforce and consolidate children's learning. Children enter the setting confidently and quickly settle into the familiar routine. Staff encourage children to complete some developmentally appropriate self-care tasks, such as putting their own coats on to play outside. Children have a strong sense of self and community and talk about their family life. They eagerly participate in

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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 favourite stories, for instance, 'Colours for Katie' and they display good levels of attention and increasing recall. Although children are learning phonics, they have difficulty in distinguishing one sound from another when the activity takes place next to the computer which is audible. Children enjoy imitative play and ascribe meanings to marks in their play, for example, writing train tickets. However, they experience frustration by the blunt pencil crayons when they try to draw and write with them. They are competent counters and staff have made useful game cards to encourage children to use one number name for each dot they cover with a button. Children are also learning to recognise the correct numerals on the cards in this enjoyable game. They regularly use positional and size language in their play, for example, when

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

playing with pebbles in the outdoor area. Children show great interest in simple information and communication technology and are adept in using a mouse to complete basic computer programs. They are interested in exploring and investigating how things work and show good levels of perseverance when squeezing play dough through a garlic press to make 'lots of worms'. Children talk about what is seen and what is happening when they work a water-play lock system and pump water up into the lock to send the boats down. They are able to negotiate who will take responsibility for each of the tasks necessary to work the system. Children are enthusiastic at song time and sing simple songs, such as 'Five little peas in a pea pod pressed', competently imitating the arm movements. They eagerly explore a good range of media and materials, including sand, water, paint and play dough. Children respond excitedly when they make paint

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Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do

bubble prints, indicating their personal satisfaction and they describe a paint mixing activity as 'squelchy' when they use their hands to mix, feel and make marks in the paint on a table top.

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Helping children make a positive contribution

The provision is satisfactory. Children experience a sense of belonging in the playgroup. Displays of their named artwork allow children to experience high levels of self-esteem through pride in seeing their artwork valued. They have individual drawers in which they can keep their own things, providing them with their own place in the group. An appropriate range of toys, resources and posters promote a positive view of the wider world and contribute to increasing children's awareness of diversity. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered. Relationships between the children are good and they are starting to learn respect for each other. Staff give adult support where necessary to encourage children to share toys. Positive strategies are used to manage children's behaviour and staff set clear boundaries, which they consistently apply and this helps children to learn right from

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Helping children make a positive contribution

wrong. For example, behaviour such as hurting each other is swiftly stopped and clear explanations are given as to why this is unacceptable. As a result, children are learning agreed codes of behaviour. The partnership with parents is satisfactory. Parents are provided with a variety of information regarding the setting and regular newsletters keep them up-to-date with

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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 the topic of learning. Although a parental involvement policy informs parents that they can stay for the sessions, they are not provided with good quality information regarding how to extend children's learning at home, nor are they encouraged to be involved in their child's learning in meaningful ways. Children have individual records of achievement which include photographs, examples of work and observational comments, giving parents a good insight into their child's time in the playgroup. The evidence for the achievements of the Foundation Stage children is cross referenced to their learning journey records which, when up-to-date, will give parents a clear picture of the progress towards the early learning goals.

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Organisation

The organisation is satisfactory. The effective organisation of the playgroup environment, in clearly defined areas for play, allows children to initiate their own play and learning and increases their independence. Staff-to-child ratios are good and staff are well deployed to ensure that children receive good levels of attention, both indoors and outdoors, promoting their sense of security and their emotional well-being. All of the required documentation is in place. However, not all of it is up-to-date and there are weaknesses in the recording of accidents to children, emergency evacuation practices and the systems for recording the names of the staff who care for children on a daily basis. The recruitment and vetting procedures are not sufficiently robust to include induction and appraisal systems to ensure that future staff will be cleared appropriately and suitable to work with children and to monitor

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Organisation

the continuing effectiveness of the current staff. The leadership and management of the playgroup are satisfactory. Although all staff attend regular planning meetings, which ensures they are included in the planning process, the written plans are not easily visible to remind staff of what the learning intentions for the focused activities are. An appropriate commitment to training is maintained; the majority of staff have accessed training in the Foundation Stage and support is sought from the local authority. However, there are still weaknesses in the planning for, and assessing of, children's learning. Overall, the provision meets the needs of the children who attend.

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Improvements since the last inspection

At the last care inspection the pre-school was asked to: develop displays to cover a wider range of positive images; review the hygiene procedures in the kitchen; review the safety of the radiators; and develop more effective recruitment and induction procedures for staff. The pre-school have a variety of displays for the children to visually experience non-stereotypical roles, racial and cultural diversity and differing abilities. These are helping children to learn about the diversity of our society. The kitchen area has had new units fitted and the manager of the pre-school has recently attended a training course in food hygiene. These measures have improved hygiene on the premises. The radiators have been fitted with thermostatic valves which ensure that they are not too hot to touch and have reduced the risk to children's

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Improvements 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 safety. The induction procedures have not been improved and this remains a recommendation from this inspection. At the last nursery education inspection the pre-school was asked to: improve staff knowledge of the early learning goals and methods of assessment; extend opportunities for children to learn about why things happen and how things work; increase opportunities for children to develop gross motor and climbing skills and develop children's understanding of mathematical concepts. The majority of the staff have attended a six week training course on the early learning goals and some of the staff have attended observation, assessment and record keeping training. This has increased the overall staff knowledge of delivering the Foundation Stage curriculum and as a result, there are no significant weaknesses in any of the areas of learning.

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Complaints since the last inspection

There have been no complaints made to Ofsted since April 2004. 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 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): • review the procedures for disposing of spilt sand to ensure the health and safety of the children • review the procedures for snack time and assess and minimise risks to children's safety • implement the Birth to three matters framework to ensure that younger children have their play and learning effectively planned for • improve the records kept for emergency evacuation practises, accidents to children and staff registers to ensure that these are all up-to-date, parents acknowledgements are always gained where necessary and the names of the

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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 staff caring for the children are recorded on a daily basis • expand the recruitment, selection and vetting procedures to include induction and appraisal systems to ensure that all staff are suitable to work with children and to monitor their continuing effectiveness.

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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 the planning systems to ensure that all stepping stones will be covered sufficiently over time and offer children a broad and balanced curriculum • utilise the children's next steps information to effectively inform the planning for individual children's future learning • encourage parents to become involved in their child's learning in meaningful ways.

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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: 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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