Al - Noor Nursery

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 26/02/2003 Inspector Name Helen Shotton

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SETTING DETAILS

Setting Name Al - Noor Playgroup Setting Address Batley Carr Playgroup Batley West Yorkshire WF17 7JT

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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

Al-Noor Playgroup opened in May 2000 and is privately owned. It operates from rooms within a Local Authority Community Centre in the Batley Carr area of Dewsbury. The children are accommodated in one large playroom, with adjacent toilet and kitchen facilities. The children have access to a public park and sports court to the rear of the building. The playgroup serves families in the local and wider community. The playgroup is registered for 26 children aged two years to five years and there are currently 26 children on roll. This includes 18 funded three year olds and seven funded four year olds. There are no children with special educational needs and 26 children with English as an additional language that attend the setting. The playgroup is open Monday to Friday, between 9.30am and 12 noon, term-time only. There are five members of staff of whom four have appropriate childcare qualifications. One member has responsibility for the teaching of Islamic studies,

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Information about the setting

which is an element of the playgroup curriculum. The playgroup receive support from an advisory teacher from the Early Years Development and Childcare partnership and the Pre-School Learning Alliance.

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How effective is the nursery education?

Al-Noor playgroup provides a welcoming atmosphere, where children are happy, very confident and settled. Children take part in a wide range of interesting activities and overall they make generally good progress towards the early learning goals and in some areas very good progress is made. Teaching is generally good with some very good aspects. Staff work directly with and interact very well with the children. Staff are very supportive of children with English as an additional language. They work very well as a team and are enthusiastic in their work. They have a good understanding of the foundation stage, which enables them to plan a varied range of activities. Staff handle children's behaviour very well, providing a positive role model. Staff work well with individual children and within groups extending their learning, however, some missed opportunities arose in mathematics, physical development

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How effective is the nursery education?

and knowledge and understanding of the world. Staff regularly complete assessments and observations for all children, however, the next stage of development does not inform the planning. Leadership and management is generally good. All staff are well aware of their role and responsibilities and this results in the day to day running of the group working well. Staff use information from training courses well to evaluate the effectiveness of the provision and to improve the care and education of the children. However, management only informally assess and identify strengths and weaknesses of staff and the setting. Partnership with parents is very good and they spoke positively about the setting. They are provided with very good information about the setting and curriculum. Parents are encouraged to support their child's learning at home and are provided with some very good ideas. Staff and parents regularly exchange and share

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How effective is the nursery education?

information, resulting in everyone being well informed of the child's progress.

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What is being done well?

Children's communication, language and literacy development is very good. Children interact very well with each other and adults, both in their home language and English, very good relationships have been established. Staff are enthusiastic and work well as a team, providing very good and effective support for children with English as an additional language. Children's personal, social and emotional development is very good. They are happy, very confident, independent and they behave very well. Children access and select from a varied range of activities, are interested and become involved in their play. Children use their imagination to express themselves well through role play, art and design well.

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What needs to be improved?

the opportunities for children to develop their large physical skills, both indoors and outdoors; the use of children's assessments to inform the planning, of the next stage of development and to identify the challenges for more able children, especially in mathematics; the ability to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the setting and the staff.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

Not applicable. This is the first inspection.

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PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good Children's progress in personal, social and emotional development is very good. Children are happy, very confident and familiar with the routines of the group. The children work very well independently, selecting from a varied range of resources. Children's behaviour is very good and they understand the expectations of staff. The children relate very well to each other and to adults. Children are very interested in the activities and become involved in their play.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Very Good Children make very good progress in communication, language and literacy. Children speak confidently in their home language and English. They engage easily in conversation with adults and other children. They are interested in and enjoy looking at books. Their concentration is very good and they listen with enthusiasm to stories. Some children recognise and sound letters of the alphabet, both English and Arabic. Many of the children can write their name, others make marks.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children's progress is generally good. Most children count confidently up to ten and some children are beginning to recognise numerals. Some children beginning to use mathematical language to describe shape and size, for example " I am building a big model and his is little". Children use resources and activities to create and make simple patterns. More able children have limited opportunities to solve simple problems or compare groups of objects through everyday, fun, practical activities.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Generally Good Children make generally good progress in knowledge and understanding of the world. They have a very good understanding of their own culture and are beginning to show an awareness of others. Children investigate and explore a good range of materials to design and construct models. Children are beginning to show an awareness of past and present events in their life and those of other family members. Children's access to programmable toys and everyday technology to support learning is limited.

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PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children's progress in physical development is generally good. Children handle small equipment with confidence, increasing skill and good control. Opportunities for children to develop their skills in large physical movement, both indoors or outdoors is limited. Children show a good understanding of personal hygiene, for example washing hands. The children use and explore a range of malleable materials well by cutting, kneading and rolling for example.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children make generally good progress. Children play imaginatively and express themselves well through role play and art and design, for example, a four year old independently made a rain maker. Children access a variety of activities to explore colour, texture and shape both in two and three dimensional form. They explore musical instruments, listening to and comparing sounds. Frequency for children to move to music and sounds, whilst respecting cultural boundaries is limited.

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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 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

extend the opportunities for children to develop their large physical skills, both indoors and outdoors; identify the children's next stage of development, including challenges for more able children, especially in mathematics and use this to inform the planning; assess the strengths and weaknesses of the setting and staff.

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