Ivy Bank Primary School

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 10/02/2004 Inspector Name Audrey Temple

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Full Day Care Setting Name Bletchley Pre-School Including Cuddles Nursery Setting Address Activities Centre Porchester Close,Bletchley Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire MK3 7DF

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

Name Bletchley Pre-school Address C/O Justin Pike 56 Forfar Drive, Bletchley Milton Keynes Buckinghamshire MK3 7LS

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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ABOUT THE INSPECTION

The purpose of this inspection is to assure government, parents and the public of the quality and standard of day care in accordance with the National Standards for Under Eights Day Care and Childminding; and that the nursery education for funded three and four year old children is of an acceptable quality. Inspection of nursery education also identifies strengths and weaknesses so that providers can improve the quality of educational provision and help children to achieve the early learning goals (elgs) by the end of the Foundation Stage. This inspection report must be made available to all parents. If the setting has been inspected previously, an action plan will have been drawn up to tackle issues identified. This inspection, therefore, must also assess what progress has been made in the implementation of this plan.

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Information about the setting

Bletchley Pre-School Including Cuddles Nursery has been registered since 1968, with the nursery provision opening in 2001. They are registered to care for 24 children under three years, with no more than 12 children under two-years; and 48 children aged three to five years. The provision is situated in west Bletchley, and offers childcare to children from the local community, and outlying areas. They provide sessional care Monday to Friday, 09.10-11.40 and 12.40 to 13.10, and all day care from 08.30 to 15.10. term-time only. Fifteen full and part-time staff work with the children. Three hold early years qualifications. Two staff are on training programmes. There are 124 children on the role, including 50 funded three-year-olds and 5 funded four-year-olds.

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How good is the Day Care?

Bletchley Pre-school including Cuddles nursery provides satisfactory care for children. The premises offer the opportunity for children to play both indoors and outside. Staff ensure that resources are available for children and babies to take part in a variety of activities, that extend their learning. Staff know the children well, and interact well with them. The setting is staffed by experience childcare workers, but the manager does not have a level 3 qualification and insufficient qualified staff are deployed in the setting. Staff are not knowledgeable about the setting's procedures and polices, they do not use them consistently or effectively in the setting. Some safety measures are in place but the risk assessment does not effectively identify and reduce hazards in the setting. Staff follow good hygiene practice in some areas but the provision for staff to meet the personal hygiene needs for the

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How good is the Day Care?

younger children is basic. Staff awareness of child protection issues is basic.

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How good is the Day 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; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 Children bring their own lunches, and staff provide mid-morning snacks and drinks. Drinks are available at all times. Children respond well to the staff's enthusiasm, praise and encouragement, and feel secure in the boundaries that are set. Activities are planned to provide a range of experiences for children to extend their knowledge and development. Staff encourage a greater understanding of the world by providing many opportunities to celebrate cultural festivals and for children to learn about disability. Parents are informed of the service provided and their child's day by verbal feedback and some written communication, however, this could be improved. Some policies and procedures are in place, but staff are not familiar with them and some records

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How good is the Day Care?

lack sufficient detail. Records are stored securely, and confidentiality is maintained.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

Security of premises, action has been taken to ensure that visitors and children cannot enter or leave without staff knowledge; children are secure in the setting.

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What is being done well?

• Security of premises, action has been taken to ensure that visitors and children cannot enter or leave without staff knowledge; children are secure in the setting. • The provider provides children with a varied range of play material that is suitable for the age and stage of development of children attending. Children have easy access to equipment, and can choose an activity independently. • Staff know the children well, they talk to them and ask questions to increase their learning. Staff talk with babies, and give them cuddles. Children respond positively to staff, and are comfortable and relaxed here. • Staff encourage children's positive behaviour, they praise children and provide good role models by being polite. Children respond by being helpful and co-operative with each other and staff members.

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What needs to be improved?

• organisation and qualification, develop and implement an action plan that sets out how the manager will achieve a level 3 qualification and how the setting will be organised to ensure that all areas are supervised by a qualified member of staff until the required ratio of qualified staff is achieved • safety, ensure that the procedures for risk assessments effectively identifies and reduce hazards in all areas of the premises • child protection; ensure that the designated person with responsibility for child protection is clear about their role in the setting and develop all staff's knowledge and understanding of the Area Child Protection Committee procedures

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What needs to be improved?

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 • effective use of policies and procedures; provide opportunities for all staff to develop their knowledge and understanding of the setting's policies and procedures to enable staff to use them effectively in the setting • documentation, make sure that the record of children's attendance is detailed to include the hours that children attend the setting.

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CONDITIONS OF REGISTRATION

All registered persons must comply with all conditions of registration included on his/her certificate of registration. As a result of this inspection conditions of registration have been imposed / varied / removed and a new certificate of registration will be issued.

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The Registered Person must take the following actions by the date shown

Std Action Date 2 Develop and implement an action plan that sets out how the manager will achieve a level 3 qualification and the setting will be organised to ensure that all areas are supervised by a qualified member of until the required ratio of qualified staff is met. 31/05/2004

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by the time of the next inspection

Std Recommendation 6 Ensure that procedures for risk assessment effectively identifies risks and reduce hazards in all areas of the premises. 13 Make sure that the designated member of staff with responsibility for child protection has a clear understanding of thier role in the setting and develop all staff's knowledge and understanding of the Area Child Protection Committee procedures. 14 Provide opportunities for all staff to develop their knowledge and understanding of the setting's policies and procedure to enable staff to use them consistently and effectively in all areas of the setting.

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by the time of the next 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; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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How effective is the nursery education?

The provision for nursery education at Bletchley Pre-School is of good quality overall. Children are making generally good progress towards the early learning goals. Children are making very good progress towards mathematical and physical development. The children are gaining a good understanding of number work, and have daily opportunities to use a wide range of physical equipment. Opportunities are not made to discover the local area and natural world and the garden is not being used to it's full potential. The children's behaviour is generally good and they enjoy their times in the pre-school. The quality of teaching is generally good. Plans are made for each day, these do not include all six areas of learning and are not fully evaluated. Resources are used well and imaginatively, children are able to select and make independent choices. The staff extend the children's learning by asking questions and encourage them to think

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How effective is the nursery education?

through problems and talk about them. Group activities are presented in a lively and enthusiastic manner. New profiles for the children's progress to be recorded have been introduced but are not effectively used yet to ensure that the children make progress through the stepping stones towards the early learning goals. Leadership and management is generally good. The staff work well as a team and are dedicated to helping the children to have fun and to make progress. The committee take a back seat in everyday management issues, but oversee all decisions. Meetings are held regularly for the staff when plans are created. The staff are offered in house training and whenever possible training by other bodies. Partnership with parents and carers has significant weaknesses. Parents are able to spend time informally with members of staff talking about their child's progress; no time is made specifically to exchange information. Information about the group is

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How effective is the nursery education?

limited to prospectus and information displayed on the front window.

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What is being done well?

• The staff work co-operatively as a team, they are dedicated to helping the children make progress whilst having fun. The staff are lively and enthusiastic, the children join in activities eagerly, especially story times, singing and games. The bear hunt story and balancing elephant game are enjoyed by all, they all have fun and practise several skills. • The children's physical skills are being promoted effectively through a wide range of activities and the opportunity to use the outside area on a daily basis the children ride bikes, balance on stilts and join in playground games. • The key worker system enables children to work with a regular member of staff, close relationships are formed and creates a feeling of belonging for the

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What is being done well?

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 children. Activities are devised specifically for each group and aimed at the children's needs. • Children's mathematical development is very good and is encouraged through interesting activities. They practise their skills and take pride in their achievements, such as recognising the numerals in the game of Bingo. Children have a good understanding of number work.

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What needs to be improved?

• parental involvement, to make them aware of activities taking place in the group and have the opportunity to become more involved in the assessments made of their child • plans, to ensure that they cover all areas of the early learning goals and that differentiation is made for children's individual needs • children's knowledge of the local area and natural world • evaluations of activities should be more effective.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

The progress made by the pre-school in addressing the points raised in the last report (December 6th 1999) is generally good. Children's concentration and listening skills needed to be developed and noise levels cut down. There was a need to improve the quality of teaching in the areas of language, literacy and communication and in naming numerals. Activities should be regularly evaluated. Increase the staff awareness of the DFEE 1994 Code of Practice, promote the role of the designated member of staff and review the special needs policy. The groups of children have been changed, with the oldest group having their own room for some activities, this along with suitable supervision of the children, means that noise levels are low, the children are able to listen and concentrate. The staff have liaised with the local schools and now follow their guidance on teaching phonetics and language. The children are now beginning to become familiar with

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What has improved since the last inspection?

letters and the sounds they make. Numbers and numerals are used throughout the sessions in everyday situations; children make very good progress in mathematical development. Evaluations are made of some of the activities but are not always effective. There are now two trained SENCO’S and the special needs policy has been reviewed.

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What has improved 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; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children's confidence and self-esteem are built up by the staff who are sensitive to their needs. The key worker system works particularly well. The children are able to select activities and have access to several resources. The children are able to take part in large groups activities with growing confidence and enjoyment. They are learning personal independence. The children behave well and are learning the rules of the group and the reasons for them. The children behave well.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Generally Good Children enjoy books. They listen to stories and are enthusiastic to share books with staff and their parents. Reference books are not readily available. Children record their favourite story with pictures. Children are keen to communicate with staff and their peers. They are beginning to enjoy phonetics and are able to practice in several different ways. Most children are able to recognise their own names, and the older children are able to write them clearly.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children are able to count to 10 confidently, this is reinforced through taking part in routine tasks, and counting in familiar songs and rhymes. The oldest children recognise numerals and use them confidently in games such as bingo. The staff help the children to think through problems and to make calculations, working out how many biscuits will be needed by their group. All children are learning the concepts of position and size and are able to name several shapes.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Generally Good Children talk confidently about personal events in their lives and are gaining a sense of time and place. There are several opportunities to use everyday technology and they are able to use these to gain support for their learning. Opportunities are made for children to investigate materials and to use their senses, such as feeling the different types of sponges. More opportunities could be made to discover the local area and natural world and to use own large garden with more effect.

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good The children move confidently and safely with good spatial awareness both inside and outside. They have the opportunity to use large climbing equipment daily, and use the outside area to practice their skills of peddling and balancing. Children are developing fine motor skills and hand eye co-ordination through a variety of interesting activities, like squeezing, mixing, and manipulating. They use a wide range of tools and pieces of equipment.

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children participate in singing sessions enthusiastically, using their imagination to be balancing elephants. They are able to clap a rhythm. The home corner is well resourced although the quality of play would benefit from further adult support. Good use is made of the dressing up clothes. The children are able to experience a wide range of materials and to express themselves freely, displays of their work are not evident, sense of achievement is therefore limited.

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Children's spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development is fostered

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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OUTCOME OF THE INSPECTION

The provision is acceptable and is of good quality overall. Children are making generally good progress towards the early learning goals. The next inspection will take place in three to four years time.

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WHAT THE SETTING NEEDS TO DO NEXT: THE KEY ISSUES

• increase opportunities for parents to be more involved in the assessments made of their child's development, and be given more information about the groups activities • ensure planning covers all areas of learning, that plans and activities are evaluated and include how children can progress to the next stage of development • ensure evaluations of activities are effective. The provider must draw up an action plan within 40 working days of receipt of this report showing how the key issues detailed above will be addressed. The action plan must be made available to all parents and to the Local Authority if required. An evaluation of the action taken will form part of the next inspection of funded nursery education.

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WHAT THE SETTING NEEDS TO DO NEXT: THE KEY ISSUES

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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STANDARD 1 - SUITABLE PERSON

Adults providing day care, looking after children or having unsupervised access to them are suitable to do so.

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STANDARD 2 - ORGANISATION

The registered person meets required adult: child ratios, ensures that training and qualifications requirements are met and organises space and resources to meet the children's needs effectively.

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STANDARD 3 - CARE, LEARNING AND PLAY

The registered person meets children's individual needs and promotes their welfare. They plan and provide activities and play opportunities to develop children's emotional, physical, social and intellectual capabilities.

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STANDARD 4 - PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

The premises are safe, secure and suitable for their purpose. They provide adequate space in an appropriate location, are welcoming to children and offer access to the necessary facilities for a range of activities which promote their development.

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STANDARD 5 - EQUIPMENT

Furniture, equipment and toys are provided which are appropriate for their purpose and help to create an accessible and stimulating environment. They are of suitable design and condition, well maintained and conform to safety standards.

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STANDARD 6 - SAFETY

The registered person takes positive steps to promote safety within the setting and on outings and ensures proper precautions are taken to prevent accidents.

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STANDARD 7 - HEALTH

The registered person promotes the good health of children and takes positive steps to prevent the spread of infection and appropriate measures when they are ill.

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STANDARD 8 - FOOD AND DRINK

Children are provided with regular drinks and food in adequate quantities for their needs. Food and drink is properly prepared, nutritious and complies with dietary and religious requirements.

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STANDARD 9 - EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

The registered person and staff actively promote equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice for all children.

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NEEDS AND DISABILITIES)

The registered person is aware that some children may have special needs and is

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NEEDS AND DISABILITIES)

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 proactive in ensuring that appropriate action can be taken when such a child is identified or admitted to the provision. Steps are taken to promote the welfare and development of the child within the setting in partnership with the parents and other relevant parties.

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STANDARD 11 - BEHAVIOUR

Adults caring for children in the provision are able to manage a wide range of children's behaviour in a way which promotes their welfare and development.

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STANDARD 12 - WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS AND CARERS

The registered person and staff work in partnership with parents and to meet the needs of the children, both individually and as a group. Information is shared.

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STANDARD 13 - CHILD PROTECTION

The registered person complies with local child protection procedures approved by the Area Child Protection Committee and ensures that all adults working and looking after children in the provision are able to put the procedures into practice.

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STANDARD 14 - DOCUMENTATION

Records, policies and procedures which are required for the efficient and safe management of the provision, or to promote the welfare, care and learning of children are maintained. Records about individual children are shared with the child's parent.

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STANDARD 14 - DOCUMENTATION

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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