Berrynarbor Church of England Primary School

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 26/02/2004 Inspector Name Joanne Aram

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Sessional Day Care Setting Name Barns Green Playgroup Setting Address Village Hall Muntham Drive Barns Green West Sussex RH13 7PT

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REGISTERED PROVIDER DETAILS

Name The Committee of Barns Green Playgroup Management Committee 11033658

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

Name Barns Green Playgroup Management Committee Address Barns Green Village Hall Muntham Drive, Barns Green Horsham West Sussex RH13 0PT

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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

Barns Green Playgroup first opened in 1978 and was re registered in 1992 by West Sussex County Council under the Children Act 1989. The group is situated in the village hall of Barns Green, a small village, near Horsham, West Sussex and serves the local community. It is open during term time from 9.30 to 12.15 Monday - Friday. It is currently registered for 26 children between the ages of 21/2 and 5 years. There are 3 three year old and 14 four year old children in receipt of nursery education funding. A total of seven staff are employed. The group is committee run, who take part in the day to day running of the group. Four members of staff hold current childcare qualifications. All staff had completed a first aid course.

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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?

The provision for nursery education at Barns Green Playgroup is generally good. Children are making good progress in all six areas of learning and should achieve the early learning goals by the end of the Foundation Stage. The quality of teaching is generally good and impacts positively on children's learning. Children learn from a wide range of learning activities both indoors and outdoors. Children are encouraged to think further and extend their learning by appropriate questions and suggestions from staff. Children use not only planned activities but less formal occasions like snack time to practice number and name recognition, counting and other mathematical processes. Children are observed to assess their learning and records kept, these identify the next steps which the child should take in learning but it is not clear in plans how these are to be addressed. There are no children with special educational needs or

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How effective is the nursery education?

who use English as an additional language but should there be they would need to be individually planned for. Leadership and management of the setting is generally good. Since the two joint supervisors took over last year they have worked hard to improve the provision for children's learning. They work hard as a team, meeting at least twice per week. The staff are kept informed by them informally and through meetings. The staff and committee work well together to improve the quality of the provision. There is no assessment of staff but plans have been made for the immediate future. The partnership with parents is very good and effective in progressing children's learning. Parents are well informed about the setting and activities both initially and ongoing. They receive regular information as to their children's progress and can contribute to the children's records. Many useful strategies are used to involve them

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How effective is the nursery education?

in their children's learning. The setting is run by a committee of parents.

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What is being done well?

• The children are happy, well behaved, confident, self assured and keen to participate, persevere and learn. They interact well with peers and adults. They listen and contribute verbally in all groupings. • Children regularly recognise numbers, count and use addition and subtraction in many practical situations. • Children are deeply engrossed in investigation, exploration and learning encouraged by interesting projects and activities, visits and visitors. • Children show very good control of their hands to use adeptly a wide variety of tools for modelling and making.

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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 use their imaginations sensitively in the choice of colours, materials and techniques for art work which often incorporates a variety of them. They are also imaginative in their response to music. • Staff work as a team and are consistent in their approach. They support children effectively in their activity and learning during sessions. • Parents are closely involved and to good effect in their children's learning through a broad range of strategies such as the interest table, book borrowing and giving a home to a Teddy for a week. After which the child concerned reports on the activities in which Teddy has participated with the family.

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What needs to be improved?

• plans to be extended to give information as to what children are expected to learn giving due consideration to their stage of development; • planning to identify how children's individual needs for challenge or support will be met; • assessment of staff with adult/adult observations and appraisals to identify training needs;

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What has improved since the last inspection?

Improvement since the last inspection has been generally good. The setting was required at the last inspection to improve the provision for Mathematical Development and for Knowledge and Understanding of the World. The improvement has been such that children's progress in both areas is now very good. Mathematical ability is now being developed not only through interesting activities but also through the use of many informal opportunities during the session. Knowledge and Understanding of the World is now a strength of the setting with many interesting projects and good use of the environment and surroundings to provide informative visitors and interesting educational visits. Requirements were made for improvements in assessment, record keeping, planning and keeping parents informed. Many improving changes have taken place. The West Sussex child profile pack is now used. Children's achievements are recorded and their appropriate next steps for learning are identified. Information is

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What has improved since the last inspection?

shared regularly with parents at Parent Meetings, when they also contribute from their observations of children at home. However these next steps for learning have not yet been incorporated into planning the programme which means that children are not always challenged appropriately. It was further required that curriculum planning should cover all six areas of learning and that what children were expected to learn from the activities should be stated in the plans. Plans now effectively cover all six areas of learning so that children are making very good progress in all areas. However plans still do not state what

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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 children are expected to learn.

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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's behaviour is very good. They are confident and well motivated to learn. They concentrate and persevere to complete dinosaur figures and matching games. They respect themselves and their peers, taking turns in shopping list game and sharing craft resources. They are independent and work well at both activities which they initiate themselves like dinosaurs in mud and under adult direction. They also show independence in personal care. They have good relationships with adults.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Very Good Children listen well to instructions and stories and contribute appropriately to discussions in many situations. They enjoy books for a variety of purposes both fact and fiction. They are surrounded by text much of which the children are beginning to recognise including letters, their sounds and with assistance whole words. They write their names on their work legibly and trace other words.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children count well and recognise numbers and can use them in addition and subtraction in practical ways. Children are able to use the correct language to talk about mathematical concepts of size, shape, position and comparative quantity. They can sort items by type and colour and follow patterns. They do so with objects of varying colour, size and type which they sort into coloured dishes.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Very Good Children are deeply involved in exploration and investigation especially with interesting projects, like dinosaurs. Children design and build competently using a wide range of materials and tools for cutting and joining. Children are developing a keen sense of time through visits and visitors providing information about times gone by. Visits and visitors are also instrumental in the children's growing sense of community. Children are learning about their own and others cultures.

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children demonstrate confident, co-ordinated movement which is often also imaginative. They show an awareness of space moving around safely in a large group indoors and outside on the patio. They are becoming aware of their body's reaction to exercise recognising that on a cold days they stay warmer if they keep running around. Children are adept at using large and small equipment including a wide range of materials and tools.

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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: Very Good Children effectively use a wide range of colours, textures and techniques, sometimes separately and sometimes most effectively combined in individual art work. Children respond well to music, joining in songs with enjoyment and moving with inspiration. They use a wide range of role play, like a cave in the Stone Age and small world scenarios, especially dinosaurs imaginatively. Children respond sensitively to what they hear, see smell and feel, often with laughter.

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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 staff assessment and identification of individual staff's training needs through appraisal system, already planned; • extend plans to make clear what children are expected to learn from activities; • planning to show how activities will support the learning for the less able child and be extended for the more able child.

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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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