Longleaze Pre-School and Nursery

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 04/06/2003 Inspector Name Nikki Whinton

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Sessional Day Care Setting Name Longleaze Pre-School and Nursery Setting Address Byron Avenue Wootton Bassett Swindon Wiltshire SN4 8BA

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REGISTERED PROVIDER DETAILS

Name The Committee of Longleaze Pre-school and Nursery

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

Name Longleaze Pre-school and Nursery Address Byron Avenue Wootton Bassett Swindon Wiltshire SN4 8BA

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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

Longleaze Pre-School moved to its present site, within the grounds of Longleaze Primary School in 1993. It operates from a mobile classroom with access to toilets, a kitchen, an office and a fully enclosed outside play area. The pre-school serves the local community. There are currently 54 children on roll. This includes six funded three year olds and 32 funded four year olds. At present there are two children attending with identified special educational needs. There are no children attending with English as an additional language. The group is open during school term times. It opens for a variety of morning and afternoon sessions between 0900- 1500. Six part time staff work with the children. Three have Early Years qualifications. Five staff are currently on training programmes. The setting receives teacher support from the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership (EYDCP.

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How good is the Day Care?

Longleaze pre-School and Nursery provides satisfactory care for children. Staff are experienced, with good skills and ability. The playleader is currently undertaking appropriate supervisory qualifications. Staff provide a good range of equipment, furniture and resources, which are easily accessible to the children for self selection. Staff ensure records are carefully maintained, easily accessible and securely stored. Most required documentation is kept. Staff have a good understanding of health and safety requirements. However, not all identified risks within the provision are actioned. Staff are well deployed within the premises and on outings to promote the safety of the children. They have a good understanding of child protection issues and provide very good support for children with special needs.

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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 provide a good range of stimulating activities which help children make progress in all areas of learning. Staff listen carefully to children. They ask good indirect questions to make children think. Staff use effective strategies to promote positive behaviour.

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How good is the Day Care?

Staff have good procedures in place to keep parents informed about the provision and their child's development.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

Following the last inspection the group was asked to carry out the actions listed below: . obtain written permission from parents before administering mediation to children; . devise and implement a system to record any incident of physical restraint; . make a written complaints procedure available to parents. All the requested actions have been completed.

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What is being done well?

• Staff listen carefully to children. They ask good indirect questions to make children think. They provide a good range of stimulating activities, which help children make progress in all areas of learning. • Staff provide a good range of equipment, furniture and resources, which are easily accessible to children for self-selection. • Staff provide very good support for children with special needs. • Staff use effective strategies to promote positive behaviour. Children are well behaved. • Staff have good procedures for keeping parents informed about the provision and their child's progress. • Staff have a good understanding of child protection issues.

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What needs to be improved?

• qualifications of the person in charge, develop an action plan showing how this will be achieved; •• policies, develop a procedure in the event of a child being lost; • children's safety with respect to the fire exit ramp; • procedure for obtaining written parental permission for the seeking of emergency medical advice or treatment.

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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

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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 1 develop an action plan that sets out how the person in charge will achieve a level 3 qualification. 10/10/2003

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

2 ensure there is a procedure in the event of a child being lost. 10/10/2003

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by the time of the next inspection

Std Recommendation 4 ensure the fire exit ramp does not pose a risk to children. 7 request written permission from parents for seeking emergency medical advice or treatment.

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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 children make generally good and at times, very good progress towards the early learning goals. Teaching is generally good. The staff have a clear understanding of the foundation stage and plan a range of interesting activities. Children are happy and confident and as a result of staff's high expectations and consistent approach, most children are very well behaved. Most activities are well managed, although staff can be too prescriptive in art and design, which does not encourage children to explore and develop their creativity. Children speak fluently and are beginning to link letters to sounds. They count accurately but do not develop their understanding of numbers through routine every day activities. An effective assessment system is used to monitor children's progress but this is not always used to help plan activities that will sufficiently challenge children in all areas. Children with special educational needs

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How effective is the nursery education?

are very well supported. The use of the outdoor area and children's development of large movements is not included in the planning. Children have limited opportunities to learn about everyday technology. Leadership and management is generally good. Staff are clearly led by the supervisor and they work well as a team. They are committed to the professional development of the staff and training is given a high priority. They actively seek feedback and advice from parents and other professionals and receive support from the Early Years Partnership. The pre-school has developed good links with the adjacent primary school. The partnership with parents and carers is very good and helps children's progress towards the early learning goals. Parents receive good quality information about the setting and the planned activities. Parents are encouraged to share what they know about their child with the staff and regularly discuss their progress.

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What is being done well?

• Children's personal, social and emotional development is a strength of the group. The children are happy, confident and eager to learn from a range of well planned and stimulating activities which are well supported by the staff. • Staff are enthusiastic, warm, caring and interested in the children, who they know well. The quality of teaching is generally good and at times very good. Children are questioned effectively to help develop their thinking and extend their learning. • Staff have high expectations for behaviour. They consistently manage behaviour well, praising and encouraging children and valuing their efforts. They explain clearly the consequences of inappropriate behaviour and as a result children have high self esteem and behave very well.

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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 are developing very good communication skills. They speak fluently and confidently even within a large group. They are making good progress in linking letters to sounds and enjoy sharing a range of books. • Children can count confidently and accurately and frequently use numbers within their play. Staff take every opportunity to count with the children. • The partnership with parents and carers is very good. Parents are well informed about the pre-schools activities and their child's progress.

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What needs to be improved?

• the use of children's developmental records when planning activities, to ensure that all children are appropriately challenged; • opportunities for children to learn about and use everyday technology and information and communication technology; • opportunities for children to develop their understanding of number, for example through using simple addition and subtraction in everyday activities and practical play; • planning for the development of gross motor skills; • opportunities for children to work imaginatively when designing and making.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

There has been generally good progress made towards the action plan from the last inspection. The staff are now using an effective system for recording and monitoring children's progress towards the early learning goals, which is continually updated. However this information is not being consistently used to inform planning and make sure all children are appropriately challenged. They have developed a very good partnership with parents, who are able to see their child's records at any time. They discuss their children informally with the staff but also have planned opportunities to discuss their progress each term. Policies and procedures have been reviewed and agreed by the staff but there is no induction procedure to ensure that new staff are well informed.

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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 make very good progress in this area. They are excited, interested and motivated to learn, through a range of interesting activities. The children are encouraged to become independent in their learning and personal care, which they manage well. Staff offer lots of praise and encouragement and value children's efforts. They clearly explain why behaviour is unwanted and are consistent in their approach. As a result children are generally very well behaved and show concern for others.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Very Good Children make very good progress in communication, language and literacy. They speak fluently and with good vocabulary, clearly expressing their thoughts and ideas. They make good progress in linking letters with sounds, with very good use made of name cards and words displayed in the nursery. Children are not given sufficient encouragement to write for a purpose e.g. by giving better support in the role play and writing tables and encouraging children to label their work.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children are making generally good progress in this area. Staff take every opportunity to count with the children, who count and recognise numerals confidently and accurately to 10 and beyond and use numbers spontaneously in play. Children are able to describe and compare shape, size and position, using words such as highest, tallest, smaller. Opportunities are missed to develop children's understanding of simple addition and subtraction and solving of problems through everyday activities.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Generally Good Children are making generally good progress in this area. They have many opportunities to explore and investigate how things work and why things happen, such as floating and sinking boats that they have made. They develop a good understanding of time as they talk about past events and are reminded with a bell that they only have five minutes left to play. They learn about their own and other cultures. They have limited opportunities to learn about and use everyday technology and I.C.T.

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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: Generally Good Children are making generally good progress in physical development. Children move confidently around the playroom, carefully negotiating obstacles and each other. They show an awareness of others as they run round catching bubbles and stop, start and change direction on their tricycles. Children have good hand eye coordination. They use scissors, brushes and glue sticks with increasing skill . Although children play outdoors on most days, the development of large movement is not planned.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children are making generally good progress in this area. They explore colour, texture and shape through a variety of craft and construction. They are not always encouraged to use their imagination in art and design, when activities can sometimes be too adult directed. They join in enthusiastically with familiar songs, experimenting with their voices to make different sounds. Staff encourage children to use their senses as they respond to different tastes, smells and other experiences.

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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

• Ensure that information from children's assessments is used to inform the planning of activities. • Provide opportunities for children to learn about and use everyday technology and information and communication technology and with more opportunities to use their imagination in art and design. • Include in the planning, the use of the outdoor area and in particular the development of gross motor skills.

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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 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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