Warren Wood Primary School

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 17/10/2002 Inspector Name Angela Peake

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SETTING DETAILS

Setting Name Chuckles Day Nursery Setting Address Chickerell Road Weymouth Dorset DT4 9SY

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ABOUT THE INSPECTION

The purpose of this inspection is to assure government, parents and the public 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

Chuckles Day Nursery is privately owned and managed by Budmouth Technology College. The nursery primarily provides care for children whose parents are students or staff at the college, but children not connected to the college are offered places also. The nursery is situated on the north-west outskirts of the town of Weymouth and children in attendance come from the surrounding rural area as well as from the town itself. The accommodation is spacious and consists of a large preschool room, toddler room and baby room, as well as a separate room used as a soft play area and separate toilet, laundry and storage facilities. The nursery has its own allocated play area attached to the building, but is also able to use some of the facilities of the school, including the gym and playing fields. The nursery opened about 12 years ago and is registered to accommodate 52 children from the age of nought to five

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Information about the setting

years of age. It opens each week day from 8am until 5.30 pm and operates throughout the year, closing only for Bank Holidays and for a short time at Christmas. There are currently 92 children, in total, on the register. Some children have been identified as having special educational needs, but none have English as an additional language. There are 22 funded children in attendance, 16 are four year olds and 6 are three year olds. There are currently 15 members of staff working at the nursery , and a manager who oversees the day to day running of the setting. Most of the staff work fulltime and are appropriately qualified. Four members of staff work directly with the funded children, all of whom have relevant childcare qualifications. Since the last inspection no new staff have been appointed. The nursery receives additional support from the Dorset Early Years Partnership, which includes attending training sessions and receiving visits from an early years advisory

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How effective is the nursery education?

Chuckles Day Nursery provides good nursery education. Overall teaching is generally good and the children are making good progress towards the Early Learning Goals. Teaching is generally good and staff relationships with children are excellent. Staff are good role models and have reasonable and realistic expectations of children's behaviour. Staff promote self confidence and a positive attitude in all children. However, planning and assessment is insufficiently detailed to support the different stages of individual children's development and staff miss opportunities during the everyday routine to extend the children's learning through effective questioning. Overall staff provide a good range of activities to cover all the areas of learning. However, children have few opportunities to select materials and resources to extend activities for themselves and initiate their own ideas. Leadership and mangement is generally good with a sound induction system. Staff appraisals are

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How effective is the nursery education?

being developed and training needs are identified well. However, although staff generally work well together, they have used the same routines for a long time and they do not use their evaluations effectively to introduce new strategies to improve the provision. Partnership with parents is generally good and has improved since the last inspection. Parents are provided with information about the setting and the activities experienced by the children, but there is no system in place to ensure that all parents are given opportunities to share information with staff about their children's progress in learning and to be involved with their children's learning.

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What is being done well?

Children's personal, social, emotional and development is good. They are confident, independent and their behaviour is good. Children develop excellent relationships with staff and other children. Good support is given to children in developing their listening skills and children enjoy listening and joining in with stories and rhymes. Interesting topics are introduced that enable children to learn with enthusiasm. Good use is made of the space and accommodation available to the setting to enable children to gain confidence, spatial awareness and be familiar with their surroundings.

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What needs to be improved?

Use of planning, recording and assessment to support the different stages of children's development Organisation of resources to enable children to extend the activities on offer for themselves. Methods of teaching in everyday situations to extend children's knowledge and vocabulary. Methods of sharing information with parents about the children's progress.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

Planned activities for communication, language and literacy. Information given to parents about the provision.

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PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Progress in personal, social, emotional development is generally good. Children show good levels of personal independence, but have few opportunities to select resources for themselves and work independently. They work well in groups and contribute to the smooth running of the nursery by competently tidying up and putting things away. Children are confident and are developing good self esteem. The children's behaviour is good.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Generally Good Progress in communication, language and literacy is generally good. Children enjoy books and stories and understand that print carries meaning. Activities are planned for children to help them recognise letters of the alphabet by shape and sound and to become familiar with simple words. They are encouraged to write their own names and captions. However there are insufficient opportunities for children to use writing tools and materials freely and in role play situations.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children are making generally good progress in mathematical development. They are given opportunities to recognise numbers and be familiar with counting rhymes. However, opportunities are missed by staff to promote mathematical language, counting and number recognition in the daily routine.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Generally Good Children are making good progress in knowledge and understanding of the world. They have good opportunities to investigate and observe changes through interesting activities. However, there are few opportunities for children to extend exploration for themselves. Children are skilled in using the nursery computer.

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Progress in physical development is very good and children are given opportunities to handle a range of tools and equipment to develop fine manipulative skills. They have many opportunities to use large and small equipment to develop large motor movements, develop skills, coordination and control.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children generally are making good progress in creative development. They have opportunities to explore new experiences and materials as a group. Overall a good range of experiences are provided, but there are limited opportunities for children to extend their creative activities for themselves and select their own materials and tools.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

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

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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

Develop planning, recording and assessment linked to the stepping stones, to ensure that each child is provided with opportunities to support their progress in learning and to ensure that staff are aware of exactly what the children are expected to learn from the planned activities. Enhance teaching methods to ensure that staff extend the children's learning in everyday situations. Improve upon the organisation of resources so that children are able to extend the activities on offer for themselves and select their own materials and tools. Provide opportunities for parents to be more involved in their children's learning and to share the progress in their children's development with staff.

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