Shernhall Pre-School

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 25/05/2004 Inspector Name Shawleene Campbell

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Sessional Day Care Setting Name Shernhall Pre-School Setting Address 136 Shernhall Street Walthamstow London E17 9HU

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REGISTERED PROVIDER DETAILS

Name The Committee of Shernall Pre-School

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

Name Shernall Pre-School Address 136 Shernhall Street Walthamstow London E17 9HU

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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

The Shernhall Pre-school was registered in 1992 and is managed by a committee of parents. It is situated on a main road in Walthamstow and is surrounded by residential housing. It is within easy reach of two primary schools, the children mainly come from the local area. The pre-school operates in a large church hall with folding doors, that divide the space in half. One half is used for large physical play and the toilets are accessed from this half of the hall. The other half accommodates the rest of the activities. The setting does not have an outside play area, but has access to a garden close by, and this is used regularly by the group. The hours of operation are 09:15 - 11:45 Monday to Friday and 12:30 - 15:00 Tuesday to Friday in term time only. No overnight care is provided. At present there are 56 children aged 2 to 5 years on roll. Nursery education funding is received for 32 of the 3 year olds and 7 of the 4 year olds. Many children are

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Information about the setting

learning English as an additional language. The setting includes children with special educational needs. There are 11 members of staff including the manager, who is supernumary. There are six staff with appropriate early years qualifications and the pre-school has a regular volunteer who has a teaching qualification. The local authority early years advisory teacher advises the pre-school. It is a member of the Pre-school Learning Alliance and is working towards Quality Accreditation.

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How good is the Day Care?

Shernhall Pre-school provides satisfactory care and a warm, welcoming, safe environment for children. All the appropriate policies and most records are in place. However, checks are not carried out promptly on new staff, Ofsted is not kept informed of staff changes and there is a lack of clarity about who is responsible for these.

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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 There are effective systems in place to ensure children's safety and health. Snack time is used very effectively to promote healthy eating. The child protection policy does not fully comply with local guidance and some staff are not clear about possible signs of abuse. However, procedures for acting on concerns are very good.

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How good is the Day Care?

The range and quality of activities is satisfactory but the presentation of these and the opportunities children have to choose from a range of resources in each area is limited - the drawing table has a few chalks, felt tips and crayons. Resoures to reflect the diversity of children are good. Staff deployment and the key person system is not always effective in ensuring enough staff are available to play with and extend children's learning or to assist children lacking confidence. Good support is offered to children with special needs. Staff support children learning English as an additional language. They use the languages they speak and call on interpretation services to discuss children's needs more fully with parents. Children's behaviour is good, staff praise children and children enjoy receiving give little stickers for good behaviour. There is a good partnership between staff and parents. New parents are able to visit

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How good is the Day Care?

several times in the previous term and comprehensive information is given to parents about the pre-school and is obtained from parents about their child. However, parents are given little information about their children's progress. Parents are involved at every level of the pre-school. They serve on the management committee, help in the pre-school and run fund raising schemes.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

At the last inspection the management of the pre-school agreed to devise an outings policy, obtain the signatures of parents on records of medicines administered, comply with environmental health requirements when providing food for children and record any complaints. All have these have been done. There is an effective outings policy in place to ensure children's safety when going out with staff, all medication administration forms are signed by parents so parents know when medicines have been given and complaints are being recorded and dealt with effectively. Good practice is in place in line environmental health requirements with regarding the preparation of food.

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What is being done well?

• Children are provided with very healthy snacks and are able to access fresh drinking water throughout the session. Children enjoy fresh fruit, raw vegetables and brown bread and so children are learning good dietary habits. • Good procedures are in place to keep children safe and secure. Staff make children's safety a high priority. • The partnership with parents is good. Parents are made welcome and their wishes are respected. They are very involved in the pre-school, running a toy and video library, helping on a rota and through the management committee.

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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

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What needs to be improved?

• keeping Ofsted informed of staff changes. • the effectiveness of management committee in regard to ensuring staff suitability is checked. • the care and play opportunities provided. • child protection policy and how staff are made aware of such issues. • obtaining permission from parents regarding emergency medical treatment.

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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 The registered person shall notify the Chief Inspector of any of the events set out in Schedule 2 to these regulations....... Regulation 6 (2) states that the notification must be made where it is reasonably practicable to do so, in advance of the event occurring, and in all other cases as soon as reasonably practicable, but not later than 14 days, after the event has occurred. 30/07/2004

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by the time of the next inspection

Std Recommendation 3 Improve the care, learning and play provided by deploying staff more effectively. 1 Ensure the management committee are fully informed about their responsibilities and that they carry out checks on staff within a reasonable time frame.

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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 7 Obtain parent’s permission for children to receive emergency medical treatment. 13 Amend policies so that they are clear about issues of confidentiality and fully in line with local guidance, and ensure all staff are made aware of issues regarding child protection.

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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?

Shernhall Pre-School provides an acceptable quality of nursery education with some significant weaknesses, especially in the areas of children's communication, language and literacy, mathematical and creative development. Provision for children's knowledge and understanding of the world, personal social and emotional development and their physical development is generally good. The quality of teaching has significant weaknesses. Staff plan a variety of activities for children, but their understanding of the early learning goals and how to use the activities to help children progress towards these is limited. There are weaknesses in the presentation of activities and the role staff play especially in number and early reading and writing activities. Sometimes staff ask questions that encourage children's thinking but on other occasions questions are closed or children do not have enough time to answer.

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How effective is the nursery education?

There is good balance of free play and adult led group times. However, activity areas are not set out in stimulating ways, for example the construction mat has one type of construction set out and no cars or animals to stimulate children's creativity. Good support is offered to children with special educational needs, routines are adapted to enable all children to take part. Children learning English as an additional language are supported and encouraged. The leadership and management has significant weaknesses. A committed staff team has been developed in spite of funding difficulties. However, the modelling of good practice and monitoring and evaluation is not sufficiently effective to address the weaknesses in the teaching. As a result children miss potential opportunities for learning. The partnership with parents is generally good. Parents are well informed about the setting but not about how their children are progressing. Parents are actively

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How effective is the nursery education?

involved, they help in the pre-school, run a library and are on the management committee.

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What is being done well?

• Children with special educational needs are included in all activities and good adaptations are made to the programme to enable this to happen. • Children's large physical skills are promoted effectively through a stimulating range of indoor and outdoor activities.

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What needs to be improved?

• staff's understanding of the stepping stone approach to the early learning

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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 goals and how to plan activities with clear learning intentions that will enable children to move towards these. • the teaching to help children's mathematical and early reading and writing skills develop. • the presentation of resources and activities to promote children's interest and creativity. • the monitoring and evaluation of systems in place, both of the quality of teaching and to assess children's progress.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

Limited progress has been made since the last inspection in addressing the key issues raised. Staff have sought the advice of the an early years advisory teacher to help them identify more clearly what they want children to gain from activities, but this has not been put into practice yet. This results in children not gaining all they could from the activities planned. The teaching of early reading and writing skills is not presented in a meaningful context so children's awareness of letters and the sounds they make, rhyme and rhythm is not encouraged effectively. The planning and provision of physical activities has improved. Children participate daily in the wide range of activities offered both in the large hall and the presbytery garden, Children are learning to move confidently in many different ways.

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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: Generally Good Children are independent, able to select resources and manage their own needs very competently for example, when dressing up and at snack time. Many children have developed strong friendships and older children help younger ones. Children's ability to concentrate is sometimes poor because of the lack of challenge offered by some activities, especially at key group times when the focus is on numeracy and early reading skills. Children generally behave well, they can take turns and share.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Significant Weaknesses Children are confident and enthusiastic about communicating with staff and each other. However, they do not often participate in prolonged discussions. Children respond with interest at story times but are less interested in looking at books independently. Children's progress in developing early reading and writing skills is limited. Children of mixed ability are taught letter sounds and names together and not in the context of real reasons for reading and writing as part of activities.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Significant Weaknesses Children are gaining an understanding of size, capacity and shape through activities such as comparing the size and weight of fruits. Their knowledge of number is limited by the few opportunities to count and use numbers as part of daily routines and activities. Children are not regularly engaging in practical activities to help them do simple calculations. Numeracy is planned into some activities - paper money is in a till but is labelled as '20p' so this is not meaningful to the children.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Generally Good Children explore the natural world, they visit the local park to see insects in their natural habitats and make a wormery. Children use technology such as tape recorders and a computer. They find out about and discuss the passage of time and how they have changed from babyhood. Children's interest and ability in designing and making things is limited by the presentation of resources and the availability of adult support. Children are helped to value their own and other's cultures effectively.

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Outdoors and indoors children are set challenges to develop their large physical skills. They climb, balance, and exercise to music. Good co-ordination is encouraged by parachute and ball games. Children's skills in using tools and construction materials is limited by the range and lack of adult support. They are keen to build bridges and incorporate tunnels into the lay out of the train set but adults are not at hand to teach them how. Snack time is used well to teach about healthy eating.

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

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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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Significant Weaknesses Children participate enthusiastically in imaginative play. The well resourced dressing up area is very well used. Participation in music sessions is less enthusiastic, and learning about sounds, rythmn and musical instruments is limited by staff not having clear learning objectives. Children paint and draw with enthusiasm but their creativity and skills are not being developing by the pre cut adult templates and the limited range of tools and materials available.

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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 but has some significant areas for improvement. Children's progress towards the early learning goals is limited by some significant weaknesses. The next inspection will take place in one to two years time.

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WHAT THE SETTING NEEDS TO DO NEXT: THE KEY ISSUES

• improve staff's understanding of the stepping stones towards the early learning goals and how to plan activities with clear learning intentions that will enable children at different stages of development to move towards these • make greater use of real contexts such as daily routines and planned activities to develop children's numeracy and early reading and writing skills and in ways appropriate for each child's level of understanding • make the activity areas more stimulating through the range of tools and materials available, and the role the adults play in order to sustain children's interest and develop their skills and creativity more effectively • introduce effective systems to monitor and evaluate the quality of teaching and to assess and record children's progress, so staff and parents are well informed

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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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