Meadow Hill Education and Arts Nursery

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 15/04/2003 Inspector Name Maria Keane

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SETTING DETAILS

Setting Name Meadow Hill Education and Arts Nursery Setting Address 707 Chorley New Road Bolton BL6 4AQ

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REGISTERED PROVIDER DETAILS

Name Meadow Hill Education and Arts Nursery

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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

Meadow Hill Education and Arts Nursery is a private day nursery which opened in 1990. It is situated in the Lostock area of Bolton, on the main link from Bolton centre to the motorway. The nursery is open from Monday to Friday from 7.45 am to 6.00 pm for 50 weeks per year closing for Christmas and bank holidays only. The nursery is registered to provide care and education for a maximum of 49 children catering for children from nought to five years. Currently there are 13 three year-olds and 13 four year-olds in attendance who receive funding for nursery education. None of these children speaks English as an additional language or has been identified as having special educational needs.The children attend from the local community and a wider geographical area, and are from families of a variety of backgrounds. The nursery is owned and operated by Mrs S. Biggs who leads a team of 14 staff. The qualified

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Information about the setting

teacher has overall responsibility for the educational provision in the lower pre-school room and pre-school room. Four play rooms are situated on the ground floor,these include the baby room,first steps room, and the lower pre-school and pre-school rooms.The toddler room is on the first floor.In addition there are good kitchen,toilet and changing facilities.The children benefit from a large,natural garden with grassed and safety surface play areas.

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How effective is the nursery education?

Meadow Hill Education and Arts Nursery offers an educational provision which will allow children to make very good progress towards the early learning goals. Children's progress in personal, social and emotional development, communication, language and literacy, mathematics, knowledge and understanding of the world, physical development and creative development is very good. The quality of teaching is very good. The staff have a sound knowledge of the early learning goals and have clear planning and assessment systems for older children. The staff have a positive relationship with children and have high expectations of their abilities. They foster confidence and self esteem through praise, encouragement and by celebrating achievements. Staff have a good awareness of children's abilities and interest and use good questioning skills to challenge children's thinking and extend their learning. The teacher is currently reviewing planning systems for younger 3

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How effective is the nursery education?

year old children to ensure that there are clear links to the stepping stones. Consideration is also being given to increasing the accessibilty of resources for younger children. Leadership and management is very good. There are very good systems in place for monitoring and evaluating the educational provision. The staff are clear on their roles and work well as a team. Effective leadership and teamwork provides support and positive role models for the staff. The managers are committed to providing a quality provision and access training from Bolton's Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership. Partnership with parents and carers is very good. There is clear written information for parents to find out about the educational provision, policies and nursery ethos. Parents are given clear information on children's progress and are invited to contribute to their learning.

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What is being done well?

- Teaching of the older children shows some outstanding aspects, skilled questioning and the provision of activities provides very good challenges in all six areas of learning. - Effective leadership and team work provides support and positive role models for staff. - The provision for physical development is excellent. Children have good control of their bodies and move with skill and precision.

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What needs to be improved?

POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION: - Continued development for planning for younger 3 year old children to ensure there are clear links to the stepping stones. - Accessibility of resources and activities for younger 3 year old children to allow for more choice and independence.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

Very good progress has been made in response to the key issues identified at the last inspection. Daily planning has been extended to improve the grouping of children and the deployment of staff within the planned activities. The staff are now more involved in planning meetings, and are encouraged to make use of training opportunities, share and contribute ideas for future planning.

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PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children are making very good progress in this area. Children are enthusiastic,interested and highly motivated to learn.They are confident and work well alone and in small groups.Older children have a great deal of personal independence in self care and the selection of resources to initiate and extend their learning.Children manage their behaviour well through expressing their feelings and negotiation. They form good friendships and are able to organise,lead and direct their own play.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Very Good Children are making very good progress in this area. Children are very confident speakers and use talk well to describe events and connect ideas. Children are good listeners,they use books for enjoyment and treat them with care and respect. Children are interested in writing and use many good opportunities to practice letter recognition and writing skills during purposeful play.Older children write complicated words for fun and are skilled at forming letters and words.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children are making very good progress in this area. Children use numbers with confidence.They have many opportunities during the day to count and solve number problems.Children recognise simple and more complex shapes,they enjoy making shapes in a variety of ways,for example making a triangle with their feet. Children have a good understanding of mathematical language and concepts. They are familiar with opposites, prepositions and are beginning to do simple subtraction.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Very Good Children are making very good progress in this area. Children are interested in their environment and other countries.They confidently share experiences through discussion and make clear records of their knowledge and understanding in form of drawings and writing.Children use opportunities to explore materials, ask questions and re-enact their experiences,for example children became archaeologists when playing in the sand. They use the computer confidently to design and build.

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children are making very good progress in this area. Children use many excellent opportunities to develop physically,they move their bodies with great skill and control.They balance and use good techniques to get into difficult positions. Children are interested in movement and use a variety of apparatus to develop climbing and balancing skills.Children have very good hand and eye co-ordination and can skilfully fasten buttons and buckles on shoes.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children are making very good progress in this area. Children freely express themselves through imaginative and creative play.They use their senses to explore texture,colour and space. Children particularly enjoy music,dance and movement.Children use their knowledge and experiences to lead their own play in an imaginative and creative way.They sing a range of songs and some older children can make up simple songs and recite familiar poetry.

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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 high quality. Children are making very 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

POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION: - continue to develop planning systems for younger 3 year old children to ensure there are clear links to the stepping stones. - review the organisationof resources and activities for younger 3 year old children to enable more choice and independence.

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