Upton Methodist Church Pre-School

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 18/01/2005 Inspector Name Carol Johnstone

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Sessional Day Care Setting Name Upton Methodist Pre-School Setting Address Dorchester Road Upton Poole Dorset BH16 5NN

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REGISTERED PROVIDER DETAILS

Name The Committee of Upton Methodist Pre-School

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

Name Upton Methodist Pre-School Address Dorchester Road Upton Poole Dorset BH16 5NN

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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

Upton Methodist Pre-School opens in term time from 09:00-11:45 each day, with an afternoon session on Monday and Friday from 12:45-15:30. In addition, a lunch club operates on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 11:45-12:45. The Pre- School operates from the Methodist Church Hall at Upton and is managed by a Church run Committee. It has use of a hall, classroom, kitchen and toilet facilities. There is also an enclosed outdoor area. The pre-school is registered accommodate 26 children between the ages of 2 and 5 years of age and offers funded nursery education. Currently there are 33 children on roll who receive funding. The Pre-School currently supports children who have special educational needs, and those who speak English as an additional language. Six members of staff work directly with the children on a part-time basis. Four of the staff hold appropriate early years qualifications.

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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?

Upton Methodist Pre- School provides good quality nursery education overall which enables children to make generally good progress towards the early learning goals. The quality of teaching is generally good. Staff are generally well deployed and prepare a range of resources that cover the areas of learning. They use some effective teaching methods, such as demonstration, explanation and active listening and children are given adequate time to finish an activity or attempt things on their own before help is offered. Staff knowledge and understanding of the Foundation Stage is variable and not all staff understand how activities relate to the areas of learning and children's learning outcomes. The use of challenge is inconsistent and not all staff use it in ways to ensure that children are effectively building on existing knowledge. Staff management of children's more challenging behaviour is erratic

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How effective is the nursery education?

and this sometimes has the effect of disrupting the ability of other children to learn effectively. Leadership and Management is generally good. There is a commitment to continuous improvement and the pre school are pro active in trying to achieve this by working on the recommendations received from visiting professionals. Some aspects of leadership lack consistency and effectiveness, these include the limited appraisal of staff performance and staff management. There are limited opportunities to effectively evaluate the teaching strategies and monitor the children's progress. Partnerships with parents is generally good. All parents are given information about the Foundation Stage and the staff try to encourage parents to be involved with their child's learning, however this is not always successful. Parents are kept informed with regular photos and diaries and details of planned activities are always on

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How effective is the nursery education?

display. Parents feel that staff are approachable and they can go to them at any time with any concerns about their child's development.

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What is being done well?

• Children are encouraged to be creative and to express their own ideas when doing art and crafts. They are developing good hand-eye coordination and are confidently using scissors, glue sticks and paint brushes. • Children are encouraged to use their imagination during role play and are clearly enjoying doing so. They are able to pretend they are in a variety of situations and are using one object to represent another to assist their play. • Staff are using time and resources creatively and they devise activities that will engage and interest children. Consequently the children are experiencing some exciting opportunities to explore and investigate aspects of the world around them.

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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

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What needs to be improved?

• the monitoring and evaluation of the provision • the consistency of how staff approach and manage children's behaviour • staff knowledge and understanding of the Foundation Stage and the areas of learning.

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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 showing curiosity and interest in the activities provided and are confident to explore new activities. They are learning to have a sense of self and are making links between home, the group and their community.However children are not being encouraged to show concern for others and they show little regard for the needs of their peers. They are not being supported to learn how to manage their behaviour.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Generally Good Children are developing language skills to express their needs and are communicating effectively with staff, asking for resources and assistance. Children are beginning to give meaning to marks and are making 'shopping lists ' and 'menu cards'. during their role play. However they have limited opportunities to practice recognising sounds and letters and are not given many opportunities to recognise familiar words.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children are using counting skills in a variety of ways and most can count up to six when singing songs. They are beginning to use early calculating skills and are finding objects to represent numbers to solve simple number problems. Children are not being encouraged to recognise shapes, space and measure in the environment and there are missed opportunities for shape recognition during play. They are not often encouraged to use size or positional language during activities.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Generally Good Children are showing interest in exploring and investigating objects and are enjoying many new experiences, such as smelling and tasting new foods and spices. Children enjoy using new and imaginative materials to construct models to build and balance. Children demonstrate a limited awareness of time, and activities do not encourage development in this area. They have insufficient opportunities to explore a wide range of technology.

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children are using a range of movements with imagination, such as tip toeing, jumping and moving to music. Children are able to use small equipment confidently and are increasing hand eye co-ordination. They confidently use a variety of tools and materials. Children show very limited awareness of personal space and have little respect for the space of their peers. They often collide and jostle with each other. Children show little evidence of health and body awareness.

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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 are readily expressing their own ideas through art and crafts and are using imagination freely when painting and drawing. They are using their inventiveness to use one object to represent another. For example they use familiar resources to pretend they are objects needed in role play. Children have insufficient opportunities to explore how a variety of musical instruments sound and how sounds can be changed in different ways.

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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

• ensure that effective procedures are in place to monitor and evaluate the provision in order to give leadership and direction to staff and to assess the quality of provision provided • ensure that staff manage children's behaviour effectively and consistently • improve staff's knowledge of the Foundation Stage and utilise this to plan and implement activities that promote all areas of learning.

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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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