Jellie Tots Pre-school

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 02/03/2005 Inspector Name Christine Stimson

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Sessional Day Care Setting Name Jellie Tots Pre-school Setting Address Rivermeads Hall Staines Road Twickenham Middlesex TW2 5JA

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REGISTERED PROVIDER DETAILS

Name The Committee of Jellie Tots Pre-School 1028964

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

Name Jellie Tots Pre-School Address c/o The Secretary Rivermeads Hall Staines Road Twickenham TW2 5JA

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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

Jellie Tots Pre School has been operating pre the Children Act 1989. It operates from a large community hall and provides sessional care for twenty children between the ages 2 to 5 years. The hall is situated in a quiet area of Twickenham, children who attend the pre-school are from the local area. The pre-school has access to a secure outdoor play area. There are currently forty three children from 2 to 5 years on roll. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The group opens Monday - Friday 9:15 -12:15 term time only. There are 3 full-time staff and 2 part-time staff who work with the children. The pre-school receive support from the Pre-School Learning Alliance and the 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?

Jellie Tots pre-school provides acceptable quality nursery education, but has some significant areas for improvement. The quality of teaching is significantly weak. Staff manage children well and develop good relationships with them. They act as good role models to the children with their kind and caring manner, and parents are made aware of who their child's key worker is. Profiles on children are not undertaken by the group. The staff organise the hall with many activities each day, but children spend very little time on each activity and do not play for a purpose. Activities are not extended to provide sufficient challenge to the older and more able children. The long term planning indicates the topics the group will cover for the year, but the short term planning is a list of activities and does not indicate any learning intentions, evaluations, resources to be used or targets for older and more able children.

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How effective is the nursery education?

Staff have only undertaken observations on children's progress in the last two months. None of the staff have done any foundation stage training and the group has a temporary manager who does not hold a childcare qualification. The leadership and management of the group is significantly weak. The previous manager was in place for a year before deciding to relinquish her role and become a play assistant; the temporary manager had only been in place a week before the inspection. The group is run by a parent committee and regular staff and committee meetings are held. The managers have not involved the staff in the planning of activities and have failed to recognise the gaps in the curriculum planning. Partnership with parents is generally good. Parents are kept informed of forthcoming events with regular newsletters, and they speak highly of the kind and caring staff team. A parent's rota encourages them to be involved with their child's learning, but

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How effective is the nursery education?

parents do not receive information about their child's achievements and progress.

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What is being done well?

• Staff develop good relationships with children and their kind and caring manner sets a very good example to children. • Children are confident to part from their carers when entering the setting and independence is encouraged by staff • Children's knowledge ad understanding of the world is promoted effectively through a range of activities that encourages children to explore, construct and look for differences in living things. • Children have regular use of a range of tools, objects and malleable materials which promote their physical skills.

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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 of the planning • sharing children's progress and achievements with parents • staff's knowledge of the foundation stage of learning • the programme for communication, language and literacy in relation to older and more able children. • the attention given to increasing children's awareness of using mathematical ideas to solve practical problems in relation to number, shape, space and measurement.

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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 enter the setting with confidence and speak up during circle time in response to teachers questions. They help staff clear away toys before snack time, where they show independence by pouring out their own drinks. Many children can sit quietly and concentrate when asked to, and can negotiate roles and take turns. They have a good rapport with staff and each other, but do not have many opportunities to learn about the cultures and beliefs of others.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Significant Weaknesses Children listen and respond to stories and join in gestured songs with enthusiasm. They use the dressing up clothes and role play area to explore their imaginations, and have many opportunities to link sounds to letters and identify their own names on cards. Older and more able children are not encouraged to write simple words, explore the meaning of words, locate information for themselves from books or to retell narratives of familiar stories.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Significant Weaknesses Children count reliably to 10 and many recognise numerals up to 9. They use numbers in everyday situations and are beginning to understand subtraction by singing simple songs. Many children know their basic shapes and can recreate patterns using a chart. There are too few opportunities for older children to begin to use mathematical language to compare two groups of objects or develop mathematical ideas and methods to solve practical problems in relation to number, shape, space and measurement.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Generally Good Children explore living things such as seeds looking for similarities, differences and change as they grow. They build and construct using re-cycled materials and plastic construction kits, and talk about past and present events whilst looking at baby photos of themselves, discussing the changes that have happened to them. Children do not have use of programmable toys or everyday technology to support their 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: Generally Good Children confidently climb on frames and ride bicycles during physical play. They wait their turn to come down the slide, showing awareness of space for themselves and others. Children use a range of small and large equipment during their play, and handle tools such as scissors, plastic cutters, paintbrushes and pens. They create using malleable materials which include pastry, textured play dough and jelly. Children are not give opportunities to learn about health and bodily awareness.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children create textured pictures from a variety of materials and regularly recognise and talk about colours. They use the dressing up clothes as part of their role play, with some children staying in their costumes for the whole session. Children explore their senses using food items for taste smell and touch and have a repertoire of gestured songs which they sing at circle time. There are too few opportunities for children to explore sounds patterns and changes, or to use musical instruments.

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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 but has some significant areas for improvement. Children's progress towards the early learning goals is limited by some significant weaknesses. The next inspection will take place in one to two years time.

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WHAT THE SETTING NEEDS TO DO NEXT: THE KEY ISSUES

• review the system of planning so that the six areas of learning are identified against activities. Ensure staff are aware of the learning intentions and resources needed for activities, and that challenges are set for the older and more able children. Evaluate planned activities so that all staff are clear what children have learnt • continue to develop the system for assessing children's abilities and ensure their progress records are shared with parents • involve all staff in the planning of the curriculum and ensure they increase their knowledge of the foundation stage of learning • develop the programme for communication language and literacy for the older and more able children so that they can begin to write simple words, explore meaning of words and are encouraged to re-tell narratives, using story language • increase children awareness of how to begin to use mathematical ideas and methods to solve practical problems in relation to number, shape, space and

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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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