Powick Preschool

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 02/03/2005 Inspector Name Valerie Fane

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Full Day Care Setting Name Powick Pre-School Setting Address Powick Parish Hall Malvern Road Powick Worcestershire WR2 4RT

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

Name Powick Pre-School Address Powick Parish Hall Malvern Road Powick Worcestershire WR2 4RT

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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

Powick Pre-School provides full day care at the village hall in Powick village in Worcestershire. The group uses the main hall, kitchen and toilets and has occasional use of the small hall. It has access to outdoor play using the adjacent primary school playground or the playing field. A maximum of 24 children may attend at any one time. The group is open from 09:00 to 15:00 in school term times only. There are currently 32 children aged from 2 years, 6 months to 5 years on roll. Of these, 25 children receive funding for nursery education. The pre-school currently supports children with special educational needs. The pre-school employs five staff. Three of the staff, including the manager, hold appropriate early years qualifications. One member of staff is working towards a qualification.

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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?

Powick Pre-School provides generally good nursery education. Children make very good progress in physical development and generally good progress in other areas of learning. Teaching is generally good. Staff know children well and interact effectively with them making good use of spontaneous opportunities for cross curricular learning. Staff are all involved in the planning, which identifies the six areas of learning, but does not clearly show which aspects of each area are covered. The result is that the curriculum is not balanced appropriately. Staff carefully plan a structured activity for each session. The activities have clear learning objectives and are adapted to meet the needs of all children. They evaluate the activity well and use their evaluation to inform assessment and future planning. However, the range of activities available for free play at each session is limited. Staff encourage good behaviour by explaining

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How effective is the nursery education?

rules and boundaries to children. Very good provision is made for children with special educational needs. All staff are made aware of the needs of these children and are consistent in their teaching methods. Leadership and management are generally good. The supervisor places a strong emphasis on teamwork. She ensures all staff have a good knowledge of the Foundation Stage curriculum and have access to regular training. She has clear aims for children's care and education that are understood by staff and enable children to make generally good progress towards the early learning goals. The partnership with parents is generally good. Parents are given a comprehensive brochure when they register their child. They are also asked to provide staff with detailed information about their child and their progress in different areas of development. Staff provide weekly information about topics and activities taking

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How effective is the nursery education?

place in pre-school. They are now developing systems to exchange ongoing information with parents about their child's progress.

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What is being done well?

• Children make very good progress in their physical development. They have regular physical play both indoors and outside on the adjacent school playground. Indoors they use the climbing frame with very good support from the adults, who know their capabilities and encourage them to improve their skills. They use small equipment such as scissors and knives with confidence and enjoy playing with small world toys. • Staff provide frequent structured craft activities related to the weekly theme. They plan these well to develop physical skills and to give children room to use their imagination and creativity. When making a mother's day card staff give children an example, but allow them to develop their own ideas to produce attractive and varied cards. They encourage children to use scissors

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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 and glue sticks and to write or trace their own names. • Leadership is good. The supervisor involves her staff in drawing up the weekly plans and in preparing the structured activities. She monitors their work and they work together very well as a team. She ensures all staff have a good knowledge of the Foundation Stage curriculum, which is demonstrated in their ability to use spontaneous opportunities for learning, particularly in maths. Staff encourage children to count regularly and introduce mathematical language into many activities such as making shapes when jumping on the trampoline.

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What needs to be improved?

• the regular provision of a variety of well-planned opportunities for role play that include equipment to encourage children to practise number skills and to attempt writing for a purpose • the planning to ensure that it is linked to different aspects of the six areas of learning and to ensure that structured activities cover a wide variety of curriculum areas • the opportunities for children to explore materials and living and man-made objects on a regular basis • the range and number of activities available during the free play sessions.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

The setting has made limited progress in addressing the four key issues from the last inspection. The first key issue asked the group to ensure that planning covers all criteria for the six learning outcomes, including activities for the more able children, and that assessment is regular, effective and manageable. Planning now clearly indicates areas of learning, but is not broken down further to show which aspects of the areas are covered. This remains a key issue. Good use is now made of assessment opportunities. Staff keep regular notes about children's progress, which they then use to produce play plans for each child. They evaluate the main activity at each session and use the evaluation to inform future planning. The setting has effectively addressed the second key issue, which was to evaluate teaching regularly, checking that there are no missed opportunities for learning. Staff carry out regular evaluations as outlined above and also now show good

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What has improved since the last inspection?

understanding of opportunities for cross curricular learning. Very few missed opportunities were observed during the inspection. The third key issue was to encourage children to study and handle living and man-made objects on a regular basis. This is covered well in the planning for some themes such as "autumn", but is not planned on a regular basis. Some spontaneous opportunities occur and staff make good use of these for individual children, but this

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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 remains a key issue. The final key issue was to maximise the use of resources to encourage children to write, solve problems, use musical instruments and develop sensitivity towards people of other cultures. Children now use the musical instruments regularly. They celebrate a wide variety of festivals as part of the weekly themes. They write and solve problems, when naming their craft work and when joining in counting songs, but staff could provide many more practical opportunities through role play.

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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: Generally Good Children are developing confidence to join in activities with enthusiasm, self-selecting from those put out each session. They relate well to adults, expressing their needs clearly. They sometimes play well with other children, particularly when sharing construction and small world toys. They develop their self-help skills by managing their own lunch boxes and helping at afternoon snack time. Staff encourage good behaviour by explaining rules clearly.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Generally Good Children interact well with adults, who make very good use of opportunities to extend their vocabulary, for example talking about submarines and lighthouses when playing with boats in the water tray. They learn to handle books carefully and enjoy listening to stories individually or in larger groups. They learn to write their names when labelling their craftwork, but have limited opportunities to practise mark making or writing in role play situations.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children frequently practise counting during the sessions. They count the number of segments of each colour on the parachute and the number of bounces they do on the trampoline. They look at the features of different shapes on the magnetic shape tray and decided whether a bracelet they have made is big enough for somebody's wrist. However, they have limited opportunities to compare numbers in every day situations or to use numbers to solve practical problems.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Generally Good Children build confidently with construction toys such as duplo and play with small world train sets and car tracks. They learn about their own culture, celebrating Christmas, Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, and explore other festivals such as Diwali and Chinese new year. However, planned activities involving exploration and investigation are mainly limited to particular themes and children can generally only use the sand once a week, which limits their progress in this aspect of learning.

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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 regularly enjoy physical play both indoors and outside in the school playground or local playing field. They climb and balance with confidence and younger children are given good support and encouragement. They explore different jumps on the trampoline and different ways of crossing the soft play equipment. They use balls, hoops and beanbags regularly. They use tools competently, spreading cheese on their crackers at snack time and cutting with scissors making Mother's Day cards.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children enjoy a wide variety of structured craft activities, which introduce them to different materials and textures. However, they have limited opportunities to explore freely with paint and other materials. They join in songs and action rhymes with enthusiasm and planning shows that they use musical instruments regularly. They enjoy role-playing in the home corner, but are rarely able to explore a wider variety of role-play situations.

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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

• develop regular and varied role play activities and ensure that children have opportunities within them to practise number skills and to attempt writing for different purposes • ensure that planning is linked to the different aspects of the six areas of learning and that the well-planned structured activities cover a wider variety of curriculum areas • provide children with planned opportunities to explore materials and living and man-made objects on a regular basis.

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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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