Treasure Children Forever Pre-school

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 17/02/2005 Inspector Name Julie Ann Birkett

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Full Day Care Setting Name Treasure Children Forever Pre-school Setting Address Giffords Cross Road CORRINGHAM Essex SS17 7PZ

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REGISTERED PROVIDER DETAILS

Name The Committee of Thurrock Christian Fellowship 297569

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

Name Thurrock Christian Fellowship Address Giffords Cross Road CORRINGHAM Essex SS17 7PZ

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and 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 of the quality and standard of day care in accordance with the National Standards for Under Eights Day Care and Childminding; and 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

Treasure Children Forever Pre-school opened in 1976 and is governed by Thurrock Christian Fellowship. It operates from two separate rooms, both with adjoining halls, within community premises. It is situated close to the centre of Corringham. A maximum of 45 children may attend the group at any one time. The pre-school room for children aged 3 to 5 years is open each weekday from 09: 00 to 11:30 and from 12:15 to 14:25. The pre-school room for children aged under 3 years is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 09:00 to 11:30. The group opens during school term time only. There are currently 89 children from 1 to 5 years on roll. Of these 40 receive funding for nursery education. Children come from the local and wider catchment areas. The pre-school employs 15 staff. Seven of the staff, including the manager hold early years qualifications. Two members of staff are working towards a qualification.

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How good is the Day Care?

Treasure Children Forever Pre-school provides good daycare. The pre-school operational plan provides clear and positive aims for the group. There is a strong team of staff and good adult ratios enable staff to get to know the children well. Space is used creatively and provides opportunities for children to play and work together in small or large groups. Staff use the wide range of equipment and resources imaginatively to ensure children remain motivated. Organisation of the sessions enables children to learn effectively through play, though the end of session story time does not always meet the needs of all the children. The staff make the environment interesting through displays of artwork, posters, interest tables and the good presentation and rotation of activities. Children are stimulated by what they see around them and are busy and productive. Documentation is in very good order. Well written policies, procedures and recording

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How good is the Day Care?

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 systems are effectively put into practice to ensure that the children are well cared for and are safe. There is an ethos of inclusion for all children. Qualified and experienced staff plan and provide an extensive range of purposeful activities. As yet, staff have little awareness of the new birth to three years framework which provides guidance on planning for this age range. Children are very eager to participate and enjoy their play and learning. Staff are actively involved with the children and support and guide them throughout the sessions. Children build good relationships and treat each other and resources with respect. Confidence and independence is fostered through everyday opportunities and meaningful praise. Children are confident and articulate.

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How good is the Day Care?

Partnership with parents is good. Parents receive quality information about the group and are regularly updated through newsletters and the notice board. Daily communication between staff and parents is open and friendly. Parents are encouraged to be part of the rota.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

Since the last inspection the group have updated staff checks, obtained consent from parents for any seeking of emergency advice or treatment and ensured that parents sign the accident book. These measures contribute to the safety and wellbeing of the children attending and the promotion of working with parents.

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What is being done well?

• Staff have a good understanding of how children develop and learn. They use this knowledge to plan and provide a broad and balanced range of activities to encourage children's progress in all areas of their development. • Staff promote the children's language skills from a very early age through everyday conversations and activities for example singing and sharing books. As a consequence children's language is good and they become confident speakers and learn and use a wide range of vocabulary. • The organisation of the session is mostly given over to free play where children are able to choose their activities and be independent in their play and learning. Staff support children well at these activities but also are aware of when to let children develop their own ideas and games. • Staff have realistic but high expectations of what the children can achieve and provide them with the appropriate opportunities to succeed in their

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What is being done well?

learning. Staff also use meaningful praise and encouragement to develop the children's self esteem. Children are confident and eager to try new experiences and demonstrate a sense of pride in their achievements. • Staff provide a bright, attractive and rich environment where children are interested in the things around them. Children's own work is well displayed. They see that their own art work is valued by adults which promotes self esteem and a sense of belonging to the pre-school community.

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What is being done well?

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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What needs to be improved?

• organisation of end of session whole group time • awareness of the birth to 3 years framework.

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CONDITIONS OF REGISTRATION

All registered persons must comply with all conditions of registration included on his/her certificate of registration. As a result of this inspection conditions of registration have been imposed / varied / removed and a new certificate of registration will be issued.

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by the time of the next inspection

Std Recommendation 2 Review the organisation of the end of session whole group time to ensure that the needs of all the children are met more effectively. 3 Further improve the already high standards of planning and implementation of activities and experiences for the under three's by developing staff's awareness of the birth to three matters framework. This framework provides support and guidance for staff working with children from birth to three years.

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by the time of the next inspection

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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How effective is the nursery education?

The provision for pre-school education at Treasure Children Forever Pre-school is of high quality. Children are making very good progress towards the early learning goals. The quality of teaching is very good. Staff have a secure understanding of the Foundation Stage and the stepping stones of learning. They provide a nurturing environment where children benefit from a breadth of planned and spontaneous activities. Staff make regular observations of the children and record their progress. They have a thorough understanding of what the children enjoy and what they already know. They use this information to inform the planning for children's development. Staff organise sessions to enable children to have a high level of choice and the time to become engrossed in their play and learning. Staff work alongside the children offering and sharing ideas and conversation. Children are provided with a wealth of

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How effective is the nursery education?

1st hand practical experiences where they learn in a meaningful way. Children are absorbed in their play and learning because they are interested and challenged. Staff and children have a good rapport and all work together in good humour. Children are polite and helpful and their behaviour is good. Leadership and management is very good. Management and staff are a cohesive team and work effectively together complementing each other's strengths. The team have a positive attitude towards ongoing training to maintain good practice within the setting. They meet regularly to discuss pre-school issues and to plan for the children's next steps. The partnership with parents is good. Parents have access to quality information about the setting and its policies and procedures. The prospectus and displays inform parents about the Foundation Stage. Future half term topics, which include the next planned learning intentions, are available to parents so that they can

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How effective is the nursery education?

support children at home. Parents send in things from home and they feel welcomed into the group.

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What is being done well?

• The systems for observing and recording children's progress effectively informs the subsequent planning of the curriculum. This ensures that individual children's next steps are clear and appropriate and that all children continue to make progress along the stepping stones of learning. • Staff interact meaningfully with the children and have good questioning skills. They encourage children to listen, think, suggest and predict. As a consequence the children are confident and eager to contribute to discussions and ask their own questions about what, how, when and why.

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What is being done well?

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 • Children are provided with a range of resources and the time to develop their own imaginative play. Children confidently and effectively use available materials to make their pretend play very detailed, for example, rearranging furniture to make an aeroplane and then using writing materials to make tickets. • Staff provide a wide range of resources and opportunities to promote the development of fine motor skills and hand eye coordination for example, threading, small construction toys, scooping rice and sand, puzzles and painting. Children are able to develop and consolidate these skills resulting in them using their fingers, pencils, crayons and chalks to make marks. They move on to forming letters with some writing their names.

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What is being done well?

• There is an excellent range of opportunities for children to develop their exploratory and investigative skills on a daily basis. Children explore a wide range of materials and resources which encourages their curiosity about what things are and how they work.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

Very good progress has been made in addressing the one key issue from the last education inspection. Staff now use an updated system for recording the children's progress which are more clearly linked to the stepping stones of learning. Records are regularly updated with staff's observations. These records are part of the system for observing the children's attainment so that the next steps can be planned. The cycle of observation and planning is one of the strengths of the group in that it enables a purposeful curriculum where children are making very good progress in all areas.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and 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 settled. They are eager to join activities and remain interested and motivated. They concentrate well and take pride in finishing a task. They share and take turns and are polite and helpful. They show good independence skills for example when making bread. Children form good relationships with their peers and work and play amicably together. They learn to care for living things. Children learn about their local community and the wider world through many activities.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Very Good Children are confident speakers and express their ideas enthusiastically as they play. They use language to reason and to describe feelings and thoughts. They learn new words and experiment with a widening vocabulary. They listen to and share books and stories. They learn letter sounds and rhyme through everyday opportunities. They develop their emergent writing skills when making tickets or prescriptions in the role play. They recognise their own names and learn to form letters correctly.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children count with confidence. They learn to recognise and name numerals as they play games. They begin to represent number by using their fingers, making marks and making graphs and charts. They match, sort, compare size and can order and sequence with a variety of equipment. They discuss weight and volume in the sand. They learn about shape both in 2 and 3D. Children begin to understand simple addition and subtraction when they sing rhymes or work out how many chairs are needed.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Very Good Children investigate a wide range of natural and man made objects. They ask questions about how things work and why things happen. They comment on change when making bread and exploring gloop. They develop a sense of past, present and future when talking about the weather and seasons. They design and build constructions and use tools well. They use technology equipment such as tape machines, stethoscopes, torches and computer. They benefit from visits out into the local community.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children use large equipment skilfully. They have a good sense of space and awareness of others when marching around in the hall or choosing somewhere to sit at group time. They learn about the effects of exercise on their bodies through topics and every day experiences. They develop an understanding of healthy eating at snack time or when playing the shopping game. They show good hand eye coordination when using a wide range of tools and equipment such as puzzles, hole punches and pencils.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children show good imaginative skills as they dress up as doctors. They use props and work together in the home corner when spring cleaning. The children explore the wide range of materials available to paint, draw and make models and collages. They join in with singing and remember a range of songs and actions rhymes. They make note of the differences and volume of sounds when they march around with instruments. They use all their senses as they take part in, for example, cooking activities.

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Children's spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development is fostered

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and 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: • There are no key issues to report, but consideration should be given to improving the following: • Continue to improve the already very good programme for communication, language and literacy by using further opportunities to show children that writing can be used for a purpose and that words have meaning.

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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 Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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STANDARD 1 - SUITABLE PERSON

Adults providing day care, looking after children or having unsupervised access to them are suitable to do so.

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STANDARD 2 - ORGANISATION

The registered person meets required adult: child ratios, ensures that training and qualifications requirements are met and organises space and resources to meet the children's needs effectively.

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STANDARD 3 - CARE, LEARNING AND PLAY

The registered person meets children's individual needs and promotes their welfare. They plan and provide activities and play opportunities to develop children's emotional, physical, social and intellectual capabilities.

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STANDARD 4 - PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

The premises are safe, secure and suitable for their purpose. They provide adequate space in an appropriate location, are welcoming to children and offer access to the necessary facilities for a range of activities which promote their development.

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STANDARD 5 - EQUIPMENT

Furniture, equipment and toys are provided which are appropriate for their purpose and help to create an accessible and stimulating environment. They are of suitable design and condition, well maintained and conform to safety standards.

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STANDARD 6 - SAFETY

The registered person takes positive steps to promote safety within the setting and on outings and ensures proper precautions are taken to prevent accidents.

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STANDARD 7 - HEALTH

The registered person promotes the good health of children and takes positive steps to prevent the spread of infection and appropriate measures when they are ill.

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STANDARD 8 - FOOD AND DRINK

Children are provided with regular drinks and food in adequate quantities for their needs. Food and drink is properly prepared, nutritious and complies with dietary and religious requirements.

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STANDARD 9 - EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

The registered person and staff actively promote equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice for all children.

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NEEDS AND DISABILITIES)

The registered person is aware that some children may have special needs and is

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NEEDS AND DISABILITIES)

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 proactive in ensuring that appropriate action can be taken when such a child is identified or admitted to the provision. Steps are taken to promote the welfare and development of the child within the setting in partnership with the parents and other relevant parties.

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STANDARD 11 - BEHAVIOUR

Adults caring for children in the provision are able to manage a wide range of children's behaviour in a way which promotes their welfare and development.

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STANDARD 12 - WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH PARENTS AND CARERS

The registered person and staff work in partnership with parents and to meet the needs of the children, both individually and as a group. Information is shared.

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STANDARD 13 - CHILD PROTECTION

The registered person complies with local child protection procedures approved by the Area Child Protection Committee and ensures that all adults working and looking after children in the provision are able to put the procedures into practice.

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STANDARD 14 - DOCUMENTATION

Records, policies and procedures which are required for the efficient and safe management of the provision, or to promote the welfare, care and learning of children are maintained. Records about individual children are shared with the child's parent.

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STANDARD 14 - DOCUMENTATION

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000; and Section 122 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998

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