Parsons Down Junior School

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 10/12/2004 Inspector Name Carol Patricia Willett

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Sessional Day Care, Out of School Day Care, Full Day Care Setting Name St Josephs Pre-School GP Setting Address St. Josephs Primary School Bridge Road Aldershot Hampshire GU11 3DD

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

Name St Josephs Pre-School GP Address St. Josephs Primary School Bridge Road Aldershot Hampshire GU11 3DD

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of 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 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

St. Joseph's Pre-school is situated in the grounds of St. Joseph's School in Aldershot and opened in 1987. It serves the local community as well as offering some out of catchments places. The preschool have sole use of two rooms and has access to an enclosed outdoor play area. They also use the school facilities including the hall, library and grounds. The group is registered to provide sessional care for thirty children aged two to five years old. Children are normally aged two years and nine months before being offered a place. The pre-school is open five days a week term time only. Sessions are from 09:00 to 11:30 and 12:30 to 15:00 hours. There are currently 48 children on roll all of whom receive nursery funding. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The pre-school currently supports eight children with special educational needs. No children currently attend who speak English as an additional language.

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Information about the setting

The pre-school employs nine staff. Six have early years qualifications. The setting receives support through the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership and the primary school staff. St. Joseph's is also registered for full day care for thirty children under five years old. The full day nursery is open from 08:00 to 17:00 five days a week term time only and offers full time or sessional places. St. Joseph's also provides out of school care for fifty-six children. The breakfast and teatime club is situated in a different part of the school building. They operate from 08:00 to 08:30 and 15:15 to 17:30 term time only.

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Information about the setting

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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How effective is the nursery education?

Provision at St Josephs Preschool is acceptable and of good quality. Children are making very good progress to the Early Learning Goals in most areas and generally good progress in creative development. Teaching is generally good. Staff are friendly and caring. They form good relationships with the children giving them lots of praise and encouragement enabling them to be confident and secure. Staff plan and provide a varied program of activities that the children enjoy to enable them to make good progress. Planning does not show how activities can be adapted. Good questioning techniques are used to extend the children's thinking and learning. Time, space and resources are used effectively. Some staff do not have sufficient knowledge of the foundation stage and so do not always provide challenging opportunities for all the children. Leadership and management is very good. There are clearly defined roles and

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How effective is the nursery education?

responsibilities between the registered person and the supervisor with close co-operation to make sure the preschool is effectively managed and is continually improving. Pre-school staff have very good support from the early years teacher and head of the school. Staff are well deployed and work well as team, each is aware of roles and responsibilities. They are encouraged and committed to updating skills and knowledge. There are regular meetings to discuss all aspects of the pre-school. Partnership with parents is generally good. Parents have a positive regard for the staff and the provision. Parents feel well informed about their children's progress though they need more formal opportunities to contribute to children's assessment records. They share information informally on a daily basis to ensure children's needs are met and with weekly reports to celebrate children's achievements. Parents receive useful information about the preschool via newsletters, prospectus

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What is being done well?

• Staff are friendly and caring. They form good relationships with the children giving them lots of praise and encouragement enabling them to be confident and secure. Children respond well to the positive language, they are well behaved and co-operative. Staff plan and provide a varied program of activities that the children enjoy to enable them to make good progress to the Early Learning Goals. • Children are confident to talk and share their knowledge and experience with adults and each other. They form good relationships and show affection to the staff and their friends. Children share toys and take turns. They are very interested and motivated to learn and show good perseverance at some self chosen activities.

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What is being done well?

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 • Children love to sing and match actions to words clapping and dancing in good time to the rhythm of the music. • The preschool receives very good support from the primary school in which they have premises including sharing expertise and aspects of the curriculum with the early years staff and support for children with special educational needs.

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What needs to be improved?

• knowledge of the foundation stage early learning goals and stepping stones for all staff to make sure focus and core activities provide sufficient and challenging opportunities for all children • planning to show how activities can be extended or adapted for children learning at different rates • adult led craft activities to enable children to select their own materials, resources and tools to develop their own imagination and creativity • opportunities for parents to formally contribute to their child's achievement records and future learning targets.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

Generally good progress has been made in tackling the key issues from the previous inspection report though one aspect is still to be developed. These required the staff to provide more opportunities for children to solve mathematical problems in play and daily routines. Effective routines are in place which enable children to develop practical skills such as counting each other at registration and comparing drinks with children at snack time. The program for mathematics covers aspects of problem solving. Staff were required to develop competency in computer skills. Suitable progress has been made. They have attended basic training and the computers in place provide the children with good opportunities to develop basic computer skills including mouse control and use suitable programs to support learning in other areas of the curriculum. This is an ongoing area for development identified by staff appraisals.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

The group were required to formalise systems for sharing children's progress and achievements and include some ways for parents and carers comments and observations of children's learning at home. Good progress has been made in sharing children's achievement records. Staff use the local council profile records with observational notes included. They discuss these with parents at the end of each year. Weekly records and certificates to celebrate children's achievements are sent home. However whilst some parents contribute in an informal way and share information on a daily basis parents still do not formally contribute to the records. This is carried forward.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children are very confident and happy. They are well motivated and join in with all the activities offered with enthusiasm and interest. They form good relationships with staff and each other. Children are well behaved as a result of the positive language and encouragement used by the staff. Children's independence skill are well developed as they select resources, use the toilet and put on aprons for wet play. They show good perseverance at self chosen activities.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Very Good Children are confident to talk to each other and in a group and express ideas and needs. They approach all adults with confidence to talk about self and family. They develop new vocabulary in role play and topic work and use good communication skills listening and responding to questions about what they want to buy at the shop and what happens next in the story. Staff miss opportunities to develop children's knowledge of book titles and authors at story time.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children count to ten with confidence. Staff reinforce counting in a variety of activities such as with the animal tray and using songs such as five little ducks in activity sheets. This is used well to develop concepts and skills of addition and subtraction when the duck friends go away and come back. Children recognise basic shapes in the room and at craft activities. They enjoy sorting and comparing in the wild animal tray. Children enjoy creating patterns using resources such as eggheads.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Very Good Children use the computers to develop skills and support learning with a good range of software. They enjoy learning about their own and other cultures as they prepare for Christmas and find out about Diwali. They find out about roles of people in the community through visitors such as police and fire officers. Topics and other activities such as entering council competitions for gardens encourage children's knowledge of growth and change, the natural world and the local community.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children move confidently and safely around the room showing good spatial awareness when finding space for sleeping lions and dancing to the Christmas songs. Children manoeuvre ride-on toys and pushchairs with skill and confidence. They handle and manipulate construction toys, jigsaws and small tools such as scissors rolling pins and paint brushes with increasing skill and safety. They have good opportunities to develop throwing and catching skills.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children enjoy exploring colour and mixing paints. They enjoy using a variety of materials to make collages and individual craft such as snowmen. Some activities are very adult directed therefore the children miss opportunities to select their own materials to develop independent creativity. Children really enjoy singing. They join in with enthusiasm shaking bells, clapping and dancing to the Christmas songs matching their movements well to the rhythm of the music.

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

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of 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 knowledge of the foundation stage, early learning goals and stepping stones for all staff to make sure activities provide sufficient and challenging opportunities for all children • develop planning to show how activities can be extended or adapted for children learning at different rates • provide opportunities for children to select their own materials, resources and tools to develop their own imagination and creativity in adult led craft • provide opportunities for parents to formally contribute to their child's achievement records and future learning targets.

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WHAT THE SETTING NEEDS TO DO NEXT: THE KEY ISSUES

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 Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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