St Katherine's Church of England Primary School

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 17/01/2005 Inspector Name Carol Cox

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Full Day Care Setting Name Happy Hours Nursery - Yatton Setting Address Hereward House, North End Road Yatton Bristol Avon BS49 4AW

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REGISTERED PROVIDER 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

Happy Hours Day Nursery opened in 2001.It operates from seven rooms in a detached house in the village of Yatton in North Somerset. The nursery serves the local and surrounding area. There are currently 56 children from three months to five years on roll. This includes 17 funded three-and four-year-olds. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The setting has experience of supporting children with special needs and who speak English as an additional language. The group opens five days a week all year round. Sessions are from 08:00 to 18:00. Seven full time and four part-time staff work with the children. Eight of the staff have early years qualifications to NVQ level 2 or 3. Three staff are currently working towards a recognised early years qualification. The setting receives support from a teacher from the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership.

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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?

Happy Hours Day Nursery provides good quality nursery education and children are making generally good progress in all areas of learning. They are making very good progress in personal, social and emotional development and communication language and literacy. The quality of teaching is generally good, staff have a clear understanding of the foundation stage curriculum. Staff plan a range of activities to encourage learning through play in all areas of learning, however plans do not always identify intended learning outcomes and sometimes more able children are not sufficiently challenged. Key workers keep assessment records for children but although these include regular observations of children's progress they do not always identify next steps in learning for children. The activities offered are interesting and children are beginning to make choices about their own learning. Children have free access to a range of

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How effective is the nursery education?

resources, although there are limited opportunities for children to freely explore and express themselves with different tools and equipment or through music. The special educational needs coordinator has experience of planning for children with special educational needs and working with parents and other agencies. The leadership and management is generally good and staff are well qualified. Regular appraisals take place but there is no clear identification of the training needs of individuals or the nursery. Staff use regular evaluations of learning sessions to monitor the effectiveness of activities, although there is not yet any formal monitoring of the quality of education on offer. The partnership with parents is generally good and staff give regular informal feedback about children's progress. Staff offer information about topics and an annual parents evening is held to formally review the progress of children who are

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How effective is the nursery education?

starting school. Parents are given brief information about the foundation stage curriculum in the welcome pack.

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What is being done well?

• Staff have a clear knowledge of the foundation stage curriculum and planning covers all areas of learning. Children are offered a variety of interesting activities to promote learning through play activities. • Children are confident and learn good self care skills. They are encouraged to make choices about learning and have access to a wide range of resources to support both adult led and child initiated activities. Children are given time to complete activities and learn to concentrate. • Staff manage children's behaviour positively and provide good role models. Children are beginning to learn to consider the needs of others and behave very well.

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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 are effective communicators and staff value and use children's own work as labels and captions on displays in the nursery. Planning for communication, language and literacy ensures children are making very good progress.

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What needs to be improved?

• the use of observations of children's progress towards the early learning goals to identify next steps in learning for individual children • the further use of planning to identify learning objectives in activities and to identify where individual children need support or challenges to make best progress • opportunities for children to freely access and explore a range of tools, equipment and musical instruments to promote physical and creative development.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

Generally good progress has been made since the last inspection. The staff have acted on the key issues to improve the quality of teaching and the provision for physical development. Planning has been developed to include more detail of learning objectives for some activities. Staff evaluate sessions but these are not yet clearly used to inform future planning. The system to record observations of children's progress now clearly links with the stepping stones towards the early learning goals, however these are not yet regularly assessed or used to plan for next steps in learning for individual children. Staff now plan for physical development when using the outdoor area. They are beginning to reorganise resources to improve physical development and are planning to improve the area with safety surfacing to allow for more challenging play equipment.

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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 confident and eager to learn, they settle quickly and build good relationships with each other and adults. They learn good self care skills and are beginning to make decisions about their own learning. Children behave very well and are learning to consider the needs of others. They understand the need for simple rules for example the older children enjoy helping at tidy up time.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Very Good Children are becoming good communicators, they enjoy talking with each other and adults and speak confidently in groups about their ideas, activities and events in their lives. Their writing skills are valued and used as labels and captions, some children can clearly write their own names and simple words. They enjoy story time and most children can recognise their own names, some recognise the names of others. They are beginning to link sounds and letters.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children count routinely in everyday activities, most children can count up to five objects and some children can count much higher. Children use mathematical skills in planned and free play activities but sometimes more able children are not sufficiently challenged. Children recognise and name numbers to five, some higher and more able children are beginning to use simple calculation. They use positional language in play and identify shape and size in a variety of activities.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Generally Good Children have opportunities to explore and investigate objects and features of their own world, but there are limited opportunities for children to freely use tools and equipment. They design and build with a variety of materials and some are competent when using the computer. Older children talk accurately about past, present and future events. Children visit the local community and speakers come to talk to them about their lives and jobs.

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children enjoy physical activities and are learning to move confidently in different ways. They use large and small equipment and are developing a sense of spatial awareness. They learn about the importance of staying healthy and can explain how they can look after their bodies. More able children use small equipment competently but opportunities to freely use tools and equipment are limited.

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

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

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children enjoy expressing themselves through planned, adult led and freely chosen play activities. They join in enthusiastically in planned music and movement sessions but have limited free access to music and instruments. Children use their imagination to enact familiar scenarios and develop their own stories with well organised resources. Children's own drawings and pictures are well displayed and valued by staff.

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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

• use observations and assessments of children's progress to identify next steps in learning for individual children • further develop planning to identify learning objectives in activities and to identify where individual children need support or challenges to make best progress towards the early learning goals.

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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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