Petts Wood East Pre School

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 24/02/2003 Inspector Name Liz Margaret Caluori

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SETTING DETAILS

Setting Name Petts Wood East Pre School Setting Address Memorial Hall Petts Wood Kent BR5 1LA

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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

Pettswood East Pre-school is privately run and serves families from the local residential area. It operates from community hall in Pettswood. The group has use of a large hall with kitchen and toilet facilities. An alternative room, in the same premises, is used once a week when the main hall is unavailable. There is an outdoor play area adjacent to the building which is used by children attending the pre-school for outdoor physical play and nature trails. The nursery is sustained by the fees paid and funded places are available for three and four year old children. The nursery is registered to provide 32 places for children aged between two and a half and under five years. However, on days when the large hall is unavailable, the maximum number of children who may attend is 22. The pre-school opens from 9:00am until 12.00pm Monday-Friday, term time only.

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How effective is the nursery education?

Pettswood East Preschool offers high quality nursery education where children enjoy learning through a wide variety of interesting and stimulating activities. Effective teaching helps children make very good progress towards the early learning goals in all six areas of learning. The teaching is very good and the staff demonstrate clear knowledge of how children learn and the early learning goals. They use their knowledge to plan and provide a broad-based curriculum that includes a very good range of challenging and interesting practical activities and experiences. The integration and inclusion of children with special needs is very good and is built around working closely with parents and outside agencies. Although there are no children currently attending with English as an additional language, there is an effective system in place to provide very good support. Staff show positive and skilful management of children's behaviour and have high expectations of behaviour. They

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How effective is the nursery education?

use a wide variety of strategies to encourage good behaviour including plenty of praise, encouragement and acting as good role models of positive behaviour. The preschool has a very good range of equipment which are attractively laid out for the children and well spaced. The assessment of children's learning and is very good and staff use their observations to complete each child's Bromley Early Years Profile. Leadership and management are very good. Much of the success of the setting is due to clear leadership and a well-structured management system. There is a strong commitment to ongoing staff development and improving the nursery education. The partnership with parents and carers is very good. They are provided with very good quality information about the setting and its provision. Keyworkers regularly meet with parents to discuss children's achievements and progress and plan future activities and goals for the children.

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What is being done well?

Children's personal, social and emotional development is excellent. They are confident, independent and interested to learn. The children's behaviour is of a high standard. Staff's clear understanding of the early learning goals helps them develop interesting and well-planned and challenging activities for the children. The partnership with parents is excellent and staff work very hard to inform parents and carers and their children's achievement and progress and involve them in supporting the children's learning. The leadership and management are strong and help support very good teamwork and a commitment to continuous improvement of the service.

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What needs to be improved?

There are no significant weaknesses to this report, but consideration should be given to improving the following: extending the links between activities that explore basic addition and subtraction.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

This is the first nursery education inspection for funded 3 and 4 year olds for this setting. The setting was registered on 21/08/2001.

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PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children make very good progress in personal, social and emotional development. They confidently express their needs and ideas and relate well to each other and adults. They are independent and confident to try new activities which helps to promote their learning.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Very Good Children are making very good progress in communication language and literacy. They confident and speakers and engage easily in conversations with each other and adults. They develop their reading skills well due to extensive exposure books and familiar words around the room. Children show confidence in writing and practise writing through a range of practical activities.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children's progress in mathematical development is very good. Their counting skills are developing well and many can count reliably to 10 and a significant number recognise numerals 1-9. The children learn to use numbers in practical activities and show an understanding of shape number and size.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Very Good Children's progress in knowledge and understanding of the world is very good. They have a range of opportunities to explore and learn about technology, cultures, the natural world and features of their environment. The children are taken on outings to the setting grounds, library, pet shop and staff bringing in living things into the preschool. They learn about time through a variety of means including discussion about events in their lives and about the lives of others.

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children's progress in physical development is very good. They move confidently and show competent balance, spatial awareness and coordination that is promoted though access to a diverse range of activities and equipment. They show confident and increasing control and skilful use of hand tool, objects, construction equipment and malleable materials.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children's progress in creative development is very good. They show free imaginative expression through a diverse range of planned activities such as: art and crafts, musical instruments, singing, role-play, playdough, stories, puppets, dance and so on.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

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

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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 this report, but consideration should be given to improving the following: extending the links between activities that explore basic addition and subtraction.

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