Vicarage Lodge Preschool Community Playgroup

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 01/02/2005 Inspector Name Lynda, Margaret Ronan

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Sessional Day Care Setting Name Vicarage Lodge Pre-School Community Playgroup Setting Address 1a Highlands Road Runcorn Cheshire WA7 4PS

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REGISTERED PROVIDER 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

Vicarage Lodge Pre-school opened in 1990 and operates from one room in a building leased from St. Michael's Church in Higher Runcorn, a residential area of Halton. Children have access to a secure outside play area. The group is managed by a parental committee. A maximum of 26 children may attend the pre-school at any one time. The pre-school is open each weekday from 09:00 to 11:30 and 12:15 until 14:45 term time only. There are currently 61 children aged from two years and nine months to under five years on roll. Of these 49 children receive funding for nursery education. The group are able to meet the needs of children with special educational needs and for whom English is an additional language. The pre-school employs six staff all of whom hold appropriate early years qualifications. The group have Pre-school Learning Alliance Accreditation.

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How good is the Day Care?

Vicarage Lodge Pre-school provides a good standard of care for children. Staff and management are highly motivated and are committed to further improving the quality of care they provide through attendance at training, personal development and the acquisition of accreditation. Management ensures high staff ratios at all times, consequently children benefit from high levels of support and encouragement. The staff work hard to create an accessible, well resourced and visually stimulating environment. Attention to documentation is excellent. Staff conduct and regularly review risk assessments of the environment and activities, including those off site, and are conscientious in taking steps to minimise risk. Staff promote children's awareness of healthy eating through planned activities such as a visit from the dental hygienist. Appropriate information is sought to enable staff, all of whom are qualified first aiders, to meet the needs of children. Staff

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How good is the Day Care?

understand the procedures to follow if they suspect a child may be being abused; however some related tracking systems are cumbersome.

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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 Staff give excellent emphasis to building secure relationships with children, who as a result enjoy their time at pre-school are happy and well behaved. Staff use their secure knowledge of child development and the children in their care to plan the environment and activities to provide challenge and meet children's needs including those with special needs. Children are energetic, active, confident, independent learners and are making good progress. Partnership with parents is very good. Parents are encouraged to share what they know about their child at admission. Routine discussions about individual children's progress, parents evenings and access to children's files provide parents with good opportunities to continue to share what they know. Parents are informed weekly

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How good is the Day Care?

about activities and themes and are supported to be involved in their child's learning.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

At the previous inspection the group were asked to provide written procedures should a child become lost or ill whilst in pre-school care and to extend the child protection policy to include procedures should an allegation be made against a member of staff. These policies were promptly and appropriately put into place, resulting in a safer environment for children.

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What is being done well?

• Staff are interested in what the children do and say, they encourage children to share their own experiences and participate enthusiastically in the children's activities. For example joining in with children constructing a train track and discussing the shape of the track thus increasing children's awareness of pattern. • The staff's dedication to closely observing and recording children's activities and attainments and to using these observations to fully inform weekly plans to ensure children are appropriately supported to progress in their learning. • The staff effectively organise the room to be stimulating and to enable children to make genuine choices and become independent, self motivated learners. Children freely adapt and modify their environment to meet their needs. They collect material from the craft trolley and take it to the role play area where the home made shakers combine with microphones to enable the

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What is being done well?

children to experiment with sound. • Staff support children with special needs very well. Parents are involved at every stage and their views valued and respected. The person with lead responsibility works closely with other agencies and ensures individual education plans are regularly reviewed.

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An aspect of outstanding practice:

The staff have a proactive approach to inclusive practice. They have built a close relationship with a local special needs school, who regularly visit and integrate with the group. Faced with a new challenge of a child with no English they identified and accessed a course entitled " A Foreign Language in Pre-school" so that they could

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An aspect of outstanding practice:

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 meet those specific needs. The recognition of the pivotal role parents play as the prime educator results in the pre-school collaborating effectively with parents to gain an holistic view of their child's attainment and progress and in good information being given to parents to enable them to be involved in their child's learning. The provision of meaningful experiences for children such as eating with chop sticks helps children to appreciate the diverse nature of society. The evident partnership with parents and commitment to meeting individual needs combine to enable children to reach their individual potential and to appreciate diversity.

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What needs to be improved?

• the method of recording accidents to children.

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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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by the time of the next inspection

Std Recommendation 7 Consider re-organising the recording of accidents to further facilitate the tracking of any possible child protection issues and to improve confidentiality.

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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?

Vicarage Lodge offers high quality nursery education which enables children to make very good progress towards the early learning goals. Children's progress in all six area's of learning is very good. Children are motivated and eager to try new experiences. The quality of teaching is very good, the staff have a sound knowledge of how children learn. They provide a broad range of activities and direct experiences which stimulate children's curiosity and encourage them to explore new concepts. Staff have a secure knowledge of the stepping stones which lead to the early learning goals. Staff constantly support children's learning through questioning. They carefully create an interesting and accessible learning environment which underpins, through continuous provision, the children progress in each area of learning. Outside provision is not as richly planned as the playroom. Effective communication and joint

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How effective is the nursery education?

planning ensures staff have clear learning intentions for the children. Staff are aware of children's abilities and skilfully adapt planned activities to meet individual needs. Assessments are meticulously completed to monitor children's progress in all six areas of learning. Leadership and management is very good. The manager provides a good role model and is involved in planning the curriculum and monitoring its effectiveness. Management's commitment to high quality care is reflected in the time allocated to planning. Staff are supported in attending relevant courses. The manager and her staff team are committed to improving the care and education for all children through self evaluation. Partnership with parents is very good. Parents are encouraged to share what they know about their child. They receive good quality information about the foundation stage and planned themes and activities so they can support their child's learning at

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How effective is the nursery education?

home. Parents' skills are well utilized to extend children's experiences by giving talks about their profession or culture.

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What is being done well?

• Children are becoming increasingly independent, they are highly motivated and confidently explore the learning environment. They routinely make choices about the activities they engage in and the resources they use. • Staff enthusiastically present activities and new experiences to the children and encourage children to learn through direct experiences. They skilfully work alongside children, adapt and extend activities to help individual children make progress and make learning fun. Staff are adept at asking questions to encourage children to think. • Children are good listeners, they are beginning to distinguish between

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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 sounds and to enjoy playing with words and sounds through alliteration and rhyme. • Children are dexterous, supported by a wealth of practical activities encouraging them to use their hands and bodies skilfully; be it cutting clay with scissors, catching various sizes of ball, jumping from hoop to hoop or using a hole punch to create a pattern in paper. • Staff effectively plan to meet individual needs an established key worker system, useful observations of children's attainment, weekly meetings and consistently applied monitoring ensure children build the skills to progress to the next stage of learning with confidence. • Inclusion of parents in the daily operation of the setting, as committee members and parental helpers. Parents are supported to be fully involved

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What is being done well?

through excellent information about the curriculum given in presentations on the "Welcome Day" and in newsletters, the provision of weekly updates on intended learning and suggestions for activities at home as well as formal parents evenings. Opportunities for parents to record their assessment of their child ensure parents views are valued. Parents are well equipped by pre-school to be involved in their child's learning.

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What needs to be improved?

• the opportunities to explore scientific concepts, such as how and why everyday objects work. • the outside environment to ensure it fully mimics the richness of opportunity available to children indoors.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

Very good progress has been made since the last inspection. The new planning system has been substantially revised and now very effectively links the thorough observation and assessment of children during their use of continuous provision and participation in focussed activities with weekly plans. The weekly plans are evaluated and subsequent plans show where the desired learning outcomes for children are not achieved, those skills are revisited and reinforced. The system affords each child appropriate opportunities and challenge to progress. Staff have extended the resources available to children to encourage early writing skills, including opportunities outside such as the use of large chalks. They plan opportunities for children to gain the dexterity required to write and provide them with opportunities to write for a purpose, writing their names on Valentine Day Cards and making a list of the shopping they require. Children have good opportunity to gain

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What has improved since the last inspection?

early writing skills older and more able children can write their own names. Staff's emphasis on listening skills and observational skills builds a good foundation for reading. Older children's attention is drawn during their play and in the pre-school routine to letters in the environment; can they stand on the letter that starts their

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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 name on the letter ladder? Whose name starts with the same letter as Ben's? Many four year olds and some three year olds recognise letters meaningful to them and all enjoy books.

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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: Very Good Children are confident, self-assured and express their ideas and feelings freely. They play well together, waiting patiently for their turn to play in the water and sharing fairly. Behaviour is very good, children understand and observe rules such as only two playing on the computer. Children are keen to learn and persist at new experiences. Children are independent and manage their needs, dressing to go outside, accessing the bathroom and using the water cooler when they require drinks.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Very Good Children listen very well to adults and each other. They love looking at books and listening to stories. They are confident in supplying rhyming words and observe diligently during a game of picture lotto as a result they are building good early reading skills. They are confident speakers and use language for a variety of purposes, to recount and recall events and clarify and express thoughts. They gain writing skills in meaningful ways, making a register in role play and labelling displays.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children are learning to be confident mathematicians by succeeding at practical activities. They pour water into different sized containers learning about capacity, observe geometric patterns whilst making music shakers, calculate how many more pieces of toast are required, recognise number parking their vehicles in numbered bays and count confidently during daily routines and whilst singing. Children know basic shapes and use positional language whilst describing their weaving on the gate.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Very Good Children are able to name lots of animals and talk about them; they are less likely to show curiosity as to how everyday objects work. Children build tall towers choosing and adapting materials. Children's sense of time is extended by comparing family photos and discussing special events such as birthdays and weddings. They have a sense of place supported by visits, such as to the post office and numerous visitors from the community including a nurse, the ranger and the community police officer.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

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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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children make very good independent use of space. They are well coordinated in their movements so that they run, jump and climb very well. They show good balance on the climbing frame. Children understand aspects of body health and hygiene such as eating good foods, cleaning teeth and washing hands. They show excellent control when handling small tools and objects such as scissors, picking up individual lentils to put in a container or manipulating nets to catch fish in the water.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children have excellent opportunities to explore new experiences through richly resourced role play. The children confidently act out real and imagined situations such as washing the pots using their "marigolds" and washing up brush whilst discussing why the baby keeps on crying. Children independently access a wide range of art and craft materials, they express themselves freely through painting, collage and model making. They confidently sing, clap rhythms, use instruments and mimic actions.

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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 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

There are no significant weaknesses to report, but considerations should be given to improving the following: • There are no significant weaknesses to report but consideration should be given to the following: • develop staff's confidence in presenting scientific concepts to children • further develop resources and the focussed activities offered outside to ensure the needs of those children who learn more effectively outside are met in all areas of the curriculum.

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WHAT THE SETTING NEEDS TO DO NEXT

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

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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