Poperinghe Pre-School

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 30/11/2004 Inspector Name Carol Patricia Willett

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Sessional Day Care, Full Day Care Setting Name Poperinghe Pre-School Setting Address Community Complex Princes Marina Drive, Arborfield Reading Berkshire RG2 9NN

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REGISTERED PROVIDER DETAILS

Name The Committee of Poperinghe Pre-School 1061413

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

Name Poperinghe Pre-School Address Princess Marina Drive Arborfield Reading Berkshire RG2 9NN

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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

Poperinghe Pre-school opened in 1964, the pre-school moved to its new premises within the Arborfield Garrison Community Centre in March 2002. It is managed by a parents committee. The pre-school has sole use of the premises, which includes four large rooms for the children. The children also have access to a large hall on site and outside play areas. The pre-school caters for children of service personnel and children from the local community. There are currently 67 children from two to five years on roll. This includes funded three-year old children and four-year olds. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The setting has systems in place to support children with special needs and currently supports three children who speak English as an additional language. The pre-school opens five days a week during school term times. Sessions are from 09.00 until 12.00 with an optional lunch time session until 13.15. The pre-school

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Information about the setting

offers two sessions a week for children age two to under three years on Tuesday and Thursday from 12:45 to 14:45. Sixteen staff work with the children. Over half the staff have early years qualifications to NVQ level II or III. Seven members of staff are currently working towards relevant qualifications. The pre-school receives support from a teacher from the Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership (EYDCP).

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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?

Provision at Poperinghe Preschool is acceptable and of good quality. Children are making generally good progress to the Early Learning Goals. The program for personal, social and emotional development is very good. Teaching is generally good. Staff plan and provide an interesting range of activities to promote children's development. However no provision is made to extend or adapt activities. Staff are kind, caring and respectful. They use positive language, praise and encouragement which makes sure children are well behaved and motivated. Staff and resources are used effectively. Good record systems are in place to show children's progress and achievements linked to the stepping stones, which are regularly updated. Leadership and management is generally good. The chair and manager have clearly defined roles and responsibilities. They meet regularly to discuss and improve all aspects of the provision and clearly have a good working relationship. The new

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How effective is the nursery education?

manager is working hard to improve preschool practices and develop documentation at a sensitive pace. However there is no overall development plan in place which sets out priorities and some actions from the last inspection are still to be implemented. There are good strategies in place to develop team work. Staff feel valued and supported. Partnership with parents is generally good and good relationships are developed. They have good regard for the staff and are happy with the progress their children are making. They share information regarding their children freely. Parents have good opportunities to share children's progress at termly meetings and through the open door policy. They can comment on what they think needs to improve. However parents are not sufficiently encouraged to share and continue learning at home. The preschool provide parents with a good range of useful information regarding the

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How effective is the nursery education?

provision including regular newsletters, notice boards and prospectus and policies.

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What is being done well?

• Staff are kind, caring and respectful. They use positive language and praise and encouragement which makes sure children are well behaved and motivated. The children respond well and are very co-operative. Staff and resources are used effectively. • Children's personal, social and emotional development is good. They are confident, relaxed and happy. They are well motivated and happily occupy themselves playing and learning co-operatively with others. • Children are confident in their communication and language skills. They approach adults for help and to express ideas. They sit and listen and respond well to stories. They are confident to share what they know and talk

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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 about their families and their lives. • Leaderships and management is good with a good commitment to improve all aspects of the provision.

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What needs to be improved?

• planning the use of time in hall to show how children's physical skills can be developed • opportunities and encouragement for children to look at the good selection books and opportunities for children to access books to locate information • opportunities for children to freely develop creativity and design and making skills using suitable materials including joining materials and tools • details in short term planning to show how activities can be extended for children learning at different rates, the use of resources, how children will be grouped and the intended learning outcomes • parents involvement with their child's learning and encouragement to continue learning at home • the development plan for all aspects of the provision including staff, resources, premises planning and how the pre-school can continue to improve and develop.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

There is a significant weakness in the improvement since the last inspection. No action plan is available for the new manger to work to. At the last inspection the group were required to extend short term planning to include information about what the children are intended to learn from the activity and ensure the early learning goals are clearly reflected. Planning was required to show how activities can be adapted for children learning at different rates and details of resources to be used. There has been little progress in this area. This is still to be improved as current planning does not show the required detail and is carried forward for improvement. Planning does show clear links to the Early Learning Goals. The pre-school were also required to encourage children's use of books by maintaining careful monitoring of resources to ensure outdated and damaged books are repaired or removed. There has been very good progress in this area. There is a

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What has improved since the last inspection?

good range of books which are in good condition and are readily accessible to the children.

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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 are very happy and confident in the setting. They willing try new activities. They form good relationships with staff and each other and confidently approach adults to share ideas and ask for help. Children's independence skills are well developed as they freely select toys from shelves, take themselves to the toilet and put on their coats and shoes. Children are well behaved. They can share and take turns. They co-operate when lining up for physical play and when packing away toys.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Generally Good Children have very good communication skills. They confidently engage adults and other children in conversation. They have good opportunities to observe a range of different print in the environment and recognise their names on their coat pegs and at snack time. Children have limited opportunities to practice emergent writing in the role play area or put names on work. They do not freely access books including factual books.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children are given good opportunities to count throughout the session for example when lining up for outside play and finding plates for the babies at role play. Children recognise shapes through a variety of activities including tap-a-shape and craft and confidently recognise basic shapes in the environment. They learn concepts of addition and subtraction through singing number songs such as five speckled frogs. Children have insufficient opportunities to develop practical calculation skills.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Generally Good Children enjoy experimenting. They make coloured ice, salt dough craft, pizzas and marble printed wrapping paper. However their design and making skills are limited. Visitors such as police, music teacher and lollipop lady invited in to the group develop children's interest and awareness of roles in the community. Children enjoy learning about their own and other culture through planned activities such as Easter egg hunts, dragon dancing and making Christmas cakes.

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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 are confident and skilful in manoeuvring bikes and pushchairs, climbing and throwing balls at targets and when jumping on the trampoline. They have good manipulative skills using a variety of tools including scissors and paintbrushes and when using malleable materials such as play dough with rolling pins and cutters. They manipulate jigsaw pieces with confidence. The use of time in the hall is not planned sufficiently to show how children's physical skills can be developed.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children have good opportunities to explore colour and materials through a range of adult led craft activities and free paintings using a variety of techniques such as hand painting and marbling. Their free expression of creativity is sometimes limited by the provision of resources. They enjoy singing joining in with enthusiasm matching words with actions to Christmas and number songs. They spontaneously start singing when involved in play. They use imagination well in role play.

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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

• develop short term planning details to show how activities can be extended for children learning at different rates, the use of resources, how children will be grouped and the intended learning outcomes • make more effective use of time in the hall by planning a range of activities to show how children's physical skills can be developed • provide opportunities and encouragement for children to look at the good selection books and for children to access books to locate information • provide more opportunities for children to freely develop creativity and design and making skills using a range of suitable materials including joining materials and tools • produce a development plan to show how the provision will continue to grow and develop in all areas.

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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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