Waltham Forest School

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 05/04/2004 Inspector Name Annie Williams

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Sessional Day Care Setting Name Bridge Village Playgroup Setting Address Bridge Village Hall High Street, Bridge Canterbury Kent CT4 5JY

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REGISTERED PROVIDER DETAILS

Name The Committee of Bridge Village Playgroup

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

Name Bridge Village Playgroup Address Bridge Village Hall, High Street Bridge Canterbury Kent CT4 5JY

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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

Bridge Pre-school opened in 1982. It operates from the village hall in Bridge, near Canterbury. The Pre-school has access to two rooms, toilets and a kitchen. The group serves the local area and surrounding towns. There are currently twenty-eight children on roll. This includes twelve funded four-year-olds and three funded three- year-olds. Children attend a variety of sessions each week. The staff have experience of working with children who have special needs and those who speak English as an additional language. The Pre-school opens five days a week term time only. Sessions last from 09.00 to 12.00 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and from 09.00 to 11.30 on Mondays. There are three staff working with the children. All have an early years qualification. The Pre-school receives support from a Pre-school Learning Alliance fieldworker; a special needs advisor and a teacher from the Early Years 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?

Bridge Village Playgroup provides a caring and welcoming environment. Children are making generally good progress towards the early learning goals. Teaching is generally good. Staff are relaxed, friendly and encouraging in their interactions with children and have created a happy, secure environment. They work well as a team and deploy themselves effectively to provide small group activities and support to individual children. The system of planning and assessment is new. Plans generally cover all six areas of learning and staff are beginning to use observations to inform the planning of activities. The organisation of space and resources on the 'rising fours' session limits opportunities for children to use their imagination in art, music, dance and role-play. Staff are insecure about mathematical development and this is reflected in the planning. Leadership and management is generally good. The supervisor and staff have

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How effective is the nursery education?

worked hard to develop a strong team and are committed to providing opportunities for staff development. They receive support from an Early Years advisory teacher to help evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the playgroup practice. A system is not yet in place to evaluate the success of activities. A special needs advisor helps the group in the support that they provide to children with identified special needs and there are appropriate monitoring systems in place. The playgroup has systems in place to support children who speak English as an additional language. The partnership with parents is generally good. Staff provide useful information about the setting and its provision and greet parents warmly. They receive an attractive prospectus, but this does not include information about the six areas of learning. Parents receive regular newsletters and are welcomed into the group as 'helpers'. Opportunities for parents to share and learn about their children's

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What is being done well?

• Children learn to share, take turns and work co-operatively. The children's behaviour is good; they are eager and enthusiastic and they are caring towards each other. • Children speak clearly and confidently as they engage both friends and adults in conversation. They benefit from the ready availability of staff to read to them when they wish. Children have access to a good range of books and demonstrate a growing awareness that print has meaning. • Children explore and investigate the world around them using a range of resources and skilfully construct models, creating their own designs. Children discuss and find out about events in their own lives and develop a sense of community with help from visitors, such as the dentist and librarian.

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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 receive regular opportunities to count throughout the session.

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What needs to be improved?

• the programme for creative development in the 'rising fours' session • mathematical development • systems to evaluate the success of activities • information given to parents • the continued use of observations

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What has improved since the last inspection?

Since the last inspection the setting has: a) reviewed planning to ensure that the areas of learning are promoted in an activity are clear and that all the areas of learning receive sufficient and regular attention, with the exception of mathematics; b) evaluations of the success of planned activities remain outstanding; c) monitoring of the sessions to ensure that children who do not attend the 'fours morning' have equal access to experiences that promote all aspects of their learning remains outstanding. Staff plan and use practical activities and available resources to address the gaps in language and literacy and mathematics. Staff promote the recognition of familiar words more fully. The encouragement of children to use their writing skills to communicate their ideas is not always fully included in their play. Challenging activities that increase children's ability to recognise and recreate mathematical

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What has improved since the last inspection?

patterns and opportunities for children to use their knowledge to solve mathematical problems are not fully developed. Staff provide opportunities in the programme for knowledge and understanding of the world for all children to explore and investigate similarities, patterns, differences and change. Opportunities for children to use a wider range of technological equipment to support their learning include calculators, tape recorders and simple programmable toys. Staff are continuing to develop assessment to ensure that all areas of learning are covered and that progress toward these is monitored regularly. Systematic opportunities for parents to share in the assessment process are not yet developed. Staff have increased the range of activities that enable children to gain an increasing sensitivity toward people of other cultures and beliefs.

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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 Good relationships are established as children learn to share, take turns and work co-operatively. The children's behaviour is good; they are eager and enthusiastic about the different play activities and they are caring towards each other. Children join in with a range of activities, showing concentration and perseverance, for example spending time making various constructions. Children take turns in being 'the helper' by pouring each child's drink but this takes time and can be too long.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Generally Good Children speak clearly and confidently as they engage both friends and adults in conversation. They benefit from the availability of staff to read to them when they wish and demonstrate a growing awareness that print has meaning; for example, some children 'read' aloud as they look at books. Children engage in activities requiring hand-eye co-ordination and use one-handed tools such as scissors. Opportunities to learn to write for a purpose during role-play and name recognition are inconsistent.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Significant Weaknesses Counting is a regular feature in the session. Staff encourage children to use mathematical language as they identify that there are 'more' boys than girls in the group. Children explore shape and size for example as they fill containers, construct and complete puzzles. Staff provide opportunities for children to be aware of simple ideas of addition and subtraction through games. Opportunities to promote mathematical development throughout the session are missed.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Generally Good Children explore and investigate the world around them using a range of resources and skilfully construct models, creating their own designs. Children discuss and find out about events in their own lives and develop a sense of community with help from visitors, such as the dentist and librarian. Staff provide good opportunities for children to develop a sense of time through growing projects. There are resources that reflect other cultures and past planning includes different festivals.

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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: Generally Good Children move with confidence, co-ordination and good spatial awareness. They handle a range of large and small equipment, tools and materials with increasing control and skill. Children display good skills when cutting, drawing and constructing. Opportunities to use large equipment ensure that children move around freely and safely displaying a good awareness of themselves and others. Planned projects such as health, help children learn about healthy eating and personal hygiene.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children clearly enjoy the opportunities provided in role-play, as they express and communicate their ideas with good support from staff for example as they construct ice-cream desserts with play food. Planning indicates that a visitor provides a musical instrument session, but planned opportunities in 'free-play' are infrequent. Displays and past planning indicate that children explore painting techniques such as footprints. The 'rising fours' session provides less opportunities in this area.

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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

• provide more opportunities for creative development in the 'rising fours' session • improve the programme for mathematics • develop systems to evaluate the success of activities • provide information to parents about the curriculum and their children's progress towards the early learning goals • continue to develop the use of observations to inform planning. 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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