Sparkies Nursery School

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 14/03/2005 Inspector Name Sarah Street

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Sessional Day Care Setting Name Sparkies Nursery School Setting Address The St. Lukes Church Hall, Ramsden Road London SW12 8QX

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

Name Sparkies Nursery School Address St Lukes Hall 194 Ramsden Road London SW12 8AX

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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

Sparkies Nursery School is run by a sole proprietor. It opened in 2002 and operates from a church hall in Balham, London. The group is open each weekday, during school term time from 09:45 to 12:30. All children share access to a secure enclosed outdoor play area. There are currently 28 children from 2 to 5 years on roll. Seven of these children receive funding for nursery education. Children come from the local area and attend for a variety of sessions. The group employs five staff, of these three staff, including the manager hold appropriate early years qualifications. Two staff are working towards an appropriate early years qualification. The group receives support from Wandsworth's 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?

Sparkies Nursery School provides good quality nursery education overall. Children are making generally good progress towards the early learning goals. They make very good progress in physical and creative development. Teaching is generally good. The staff are very committed. They work effectively as a team, providing the children with stimulating and well-presented activities, which promotes their learning through play. Staff are actively involved in the children’s activities. They allow children to extend activities and they develop children’s learning by talking to them, participating in the activities and ensuring additional resources are available. The planning for the children’s learning demonstrates staffs’ generally good understanding of the foundation stage, although opportunities for children to develop writing, recognise numerals, use ICT equipment and gain awareness of cultures and beliefs are not sufficiently planned. Activities are honestly

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How effective is the nursery education?

evaluated and observations recorded and used to plan for children's next stage of learning. Leadership and management are generally good. The manager is extremely dedicated. She works calmly with the children and is a positive example to staff. She enables staff to attend training and ensures that staff have regular input in planning. Staff feel valued, respected and supported. There is not yet a sufficiently effective system to ensure all areas of the curriculum is well provided. Partnership with parents is generally good. Parents receive weekly newsletters, which gives them information about the topics and ideas for them to support their child at home and helps them to be involved in their child's learning. Verbal feedback keeps parents informed of their child’s progress. Parents receive an annual written report but are not aware of the written observations staff used to write the report. Parents state that the nursery is supportive and that children are learning in a

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What is being done well?

• Several books have been made by the children, which relate to nursery life and cover topics including nursery rhymes, maths and the garden. Photographs taken by the children are included as well as the children’s art work and some emergent writing. These books are an ongoing project and can be added to. The children are very proud of their work. • Staff are very committed to the children. They are supportive and join in with their activities, whilst being aware of the need to encourage and allow independence. When children show an interest in a activity or item staff are able to adapt or extend the planned activities. For example when it snowed and was too cold to stay out for long staff brought snow into the room and the

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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 made a snowman, which was then put outside. Staff made effective use of the experience to help the children observe what happens to ice and snow when the temperature changes. • Lots of opportunities are provided where children can explore colour and texture during messy activities. Children regularly experience using play dough, wet corn flour, cooked pasta, sand, paint and glue. They happily use their imagination to design models and pictures with paint, glue and re-cyclable items. When playing with play dough, pasta and corn flour children enthusiastically use their sense of touch and feel to explore the items. • The manager is very committed to the setting. She regularly attends courses and implements some of the ideas she has gained. This enables the setting to keep up to date with current practice. She leads by example and has a

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What is being done well?

very calm approach. She is aware of the staff's strength's and ensures that all staff feel able to contribute.

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What needs to be improved?

• the planning of the curriculum to ensure that children have regular opportunities to understand that writing takes place for a variety of purposes, to develop awareness of the beliefs and cultures of others and for older or more able children to recognise numerals and to perform simple functions on ICT apparatus • the system for ensuring that all areas of the curriculum is well provided for • opportunities for parents to be aware of the developmental observations which relate to the reports on their child's progress

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What has improved since the last inspection?

This is the first inspection since registration.

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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 Happy children settle well to activities and are able to sustain concentrating at tasks. Children and staff have very good relationships. The children play very co-operatively together and engage in detailed play. Children are polite and well behaved, with staff managing behaviour calmly and positively. Children's independence is good. They can select resources, lay the table and manage their coats. There are insufficient opportunities for children to gain awareness of cultures and beliefs.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Generally Good Confident children hold detailed conversations. Staff listen to the children and extend conversations by asking relevant questions. Children use language to negotiate and give ideas during play and to discuss past and present experiences. Children enjoy listening to stories and looking at books. They handle books correctly and with care. Whilst having opportunities to practice writing at the tables there are not enough occasions where children can use writing for a variety of purposes.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Items are regularly counted accurately and children are helped to think about simple addition. Children can count to 10 and beyond but there are not enough opportunities for older and more able children to recognise numerals. Children are able to confidently use their maths skills to problem solve. When working with shapes children correctly name familiar shapes. They are able to sort and match. Water and sand play helps children develop a concept of volume and capacity.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Generally Good Children eagerly design and construct using a range of art materials and construction toys. The use of clocks on the photo timetable helps children develop their sense of time. Children are confident to use everyday technology including tape recorders and cameras. However, there are too few opportunities for children to perform simple functions on ICT apparatus. During garden play children explore the natural environment during planting and growing activities and observing mini beasts and trees.

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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 Regular access to a variety of scissors, pens, rolling pins, puzzles and threading items ensures that children use these items with confidence and good control. Children have confident gross motor skills. They are able to run, dance, jump and balance without regularly bumping into objects or one another. In the garden they happily roll hoops and use bats and balls. Staff purposefully help the children develop their awareness of healthy practises in relation to eating and hygiene.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Malleable items including play dough, paint, slime and cooked pasta are explored enthusiastically by children who do not mind getting messy. Children happily join in with action rhymes. They move confidently to music and use instruments to explore sounds. They regularly work with colours. During paint mixing activities children explore the changes which occur when colours are mixed. Detailed imaginative games take place in the garden, home area and with construction and small world items.

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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

• improve the planning of the curriculum to ensure that children have regular opportunities to understand that writing takes place for a variety of purposes, to develop awareness of the beliefs and cultures of others and for older or more able children to recognise of numerals and to perform simple functions on ICT apparatus • improve the system for monitoring and evaluating the nursery education provision to ensure that all areas of the curriculum is well provided for • ensure that parents are aware of written developmental observations which • relate to their child progress. 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

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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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