Quarry Bank Primary School

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 24/06/2004 Inspector Name Ann Revell

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Sessional Day Care Setting Name Parkwood Christian Fellowship Pre School Setting Address Parkwood Green Gillingham Kent ME8 9PN

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

Name Parkwood Christian Fellowship Address Parkwood Christian Fellowship Parkwood Green Gillingham Kent ME8 9PN

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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

Parkwood Christian Fellowship Pre-School opened in 1967 and is privately run with a strong Christian affiliation. It occupies an extensive church building situated in a large housing estate in Parkwood, on the outskirts of Gillingham. The pre-school uses several rooms including a large hall. The children are grouped by age into four of the rooms. The pre-school serves the local urban area and surrounding villages. It has close links with the neighbouring infant school and regularly uses some of it's facilities. The pre-school is open from each weekday from 9.15 to 12.15 during school term times. The group is registered to take 67 children at each session from two and a half to five years. There are currently 87 children on roll. This includes 30 funded three years olds and 35 funded four years olds. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The group are supporting children who have special needs but there are no children

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Information about the setting

attending who speak English as an additional language. Seventeen part time and full time staff work with the children. Eleven have an early years qualification. Three staff are currently on training programmes. The setting receives support from advisory teachers.

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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?

Parkwood Christian Fellowship Pre-School provides high quality nursery education which enables children to make very good progress towards the early learning goals. The quality of teaching is very good. Staff interact effectively with the children, encouraging them to make choices and to think for themselves. They plan interesting activities appropriate to the children's level of development in each room, and present them in a lively way ensuring that children will want to participate and to learn. The activities are planned to provide all the children with very good challenges except in an aspect of literacy where the four year old's learning is not extended. Staff manage the children well and have very good relationships with them. They give individual children very good support and those with special educational needs are enabled to participate fully in all the activities. Staff assess children's learning against the stepping stones and the early learning

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How effective is the nursery education?

goals and use this information very effectively to plan for what children should do next. They keep careful records which provide a clear picture of children's progress to share with parents. The leadership and management of the pre-school are very good. The supervisor oversees the provision and ensures through good communication that all aspects are effectively organised and that the high quality of the provision is maintained. The room leaders have high standards for the quality of the planning, teaching and assessment in their rooms but have yet to implement the system they have devised for a more formal monitoring of the quality of teaching. The partnership with parents and carers is very good. They are very well informed about the curriculum and how it will be implemented. Parents spend time talking with staff about their children's progress and are helped to understand how they can support and extend their children's learning at home.

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What is being done well?

• The grouping of the children into rooms by their age and the effective planning for each age group ensures that all the activities are appropriate to children's level of development and are moving children on to the next stage in their learning. • The key worker system works very well. Staff work with the children in their group, assess their progress and plan to ensure that each child is appropriately challenged. • 'Show and tell' is used very effectively to encourage children's confidence, to develop their language skills and to reinforce learning in many areas. • Good provision is made for children with special educational needs. Effective

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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 strategies are in place for identification, intervention and for monitoring children's progress. • Children's personal, social and emotional development is very good throughout the pre-school. Children are confident in their learning, show excellent concentration and cooperate well with adults and each other.

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What needs to be improved?

• the emphasis given to the teaching of letter sounds to the oldest children. • the system for monitoring the quality of teaching in order to identify training needs.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

Improvement since the last inspection has been very good. Staff were required to provide more opportunities for children to make up their own stories. Children now enjoy many interesting role-play scenarios, a puppet theatre and story boards where they fully develop their imagination. Staff are clear about the learning intentions of the activities they provide and support children's play sensitively and effectively ensuring that children are progressing well in this aspect.

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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 happy and secure in the pre-school. They enjoy all the interesting activities and are very motivated to learn. They have trusting relationships with staff and are friendly and kind to each other. They are confident when expressing their views and are able to show their feelings appropriately. Children are learning to be aware of their own culture and that of others. Children concentrate well at their self chosen activities and are developing high levels of personal independence.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Very Good Children have very good listening skills as the follow a movement tape. They speak confidently to their group about the objects they bring to 'show and tell' time and contribute their ideas in response to stories. Children enjoy re-enacting their favourites, such as, 'The Three little Pigs'. All the children learn the sounds that letters make although this is not sufficiently extended for the oldest children. Children are confident writers in their role-play and learn to form letters correctly.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good The younger children count accurately and are beginning to recognise numbers to ten. The older children confidently order the number cards, identify numbers missing in the number line and add groups of objects together. They are familiar with big numbers and record number activities in their books. The youngest children sort shapes on the computer program and cut their sandwiches in half. The older children competently order the boxes by their size and compare the length of their teddy bears.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Very Good Children enjoy observing the giant snails, comparing the similarities and differences in a variety of fish and handling objects on the interest table. The youngest children are learning to use the computer mouse and the older ones competently use a variety of programs to support their learning. Children enjoy talking about their families and making a simple family tree. Children visit the park, the school and the shops and are finding out what they like and dislike about their locality.

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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 are given good challenges to develop physical skills. The youngest children climb the slide confidently and are shown how to come down safely. The older three year old's are developing good control using the parachute. The four year olds move with good agility to the music, manoeuvre their bikes round obstacles and are helped to develop new skills with hoops and balls. Children have good manipulative skills. They fit lids on boxes, cut sandwiches and have very good pencil control.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children make models with the dough, draw freely and apply paint in different ways. They sing enthusiastically and make their own instruments. They use the wide variety of instruments, including those from other cultures, to learn about rhythm. Children have excellent opportunities to develop their imagination in the role-play scenarios where staff give very good support to develop their ideas. Children make up stories with the puppets, re-enact favourite stories and go on a 'magic carpet ride'.

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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 high quality. Children are making very 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

There are no significant weaknesses to report, but considerations should be given to improving the following: • Points for consideration: • provide more opportunities for the oldest children to systematically learn the sounds that letters make; • implement the planned development for monitoring the quality of teaching and use the information gained to plan for staff's professional development.

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WHAT THE SETTING NEEDS TO DO NEXT

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

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

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