Ysgol Reoledig Llanfair D.C.

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 19/10/2004 Inspector Name Elizabeth Patricia Watton

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Sessional Day Care Setting Name Fylingdales Pre-School Playgroup Setting Address St Stephens Church Rooms Fylingthorpe Whitby North Yorkshire YO22 4PN

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REGISTERED PROVIDER DETAILS

Name The Committee of Fylingdales Playgroup 1035459

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

Name Fylingdales Playgroup Address St Stephens Church Rooms Fylingthorpe Whitby North Yorkshire YO22 4PN

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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

Fylingdales Pre-School Playgroup, operating in St. Stephen's Church Rooms in Robin Hoods Bay near Whitby, is run by a voluntary management committee of parents. The group use the ground floor room with toilet off the entrance hall. There is direct access from the back door to the enclosed outdoor area. Most children attending live within the two villages of Robin Hoods Bay and Fylingthorpe, but some attend from the surrounding villages. Children aged from 2 years to under 5 attend from 09:30 to 12:00, Monday to Friday. Younger children are invited to attend with a parent or carer. A parent toddler group runs on the Thursday afternoon. The Playgroup is registered to provide funded nursery education places for those children of eligible age. They have the support of the local authority in respect of this. Of the 8 children currently on roll there are 3 funded 3-year-olds and no funded 4-year-olds. There are no children with special needs or who speak English as an

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Information about the setting

additional language. The group employ two qualified supervisors. Occasional staff are also available to ensure staffing ratios are maintained on busier sessions.

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How good is the Day Care?

Fylingdales Pre-School Playgroup provides good care for children. There is a strong community spirit within the villages and the staff work hard to continue this in the pre-school. This results in a warm welcoming atmosphere for young families and an atmosphere where children feel relaxed and confident. The shared nature of the facilities presents some challenges to the staff, but they work hard to make the environment as child friendly as possible. Although storage is currently a problem for the group, there is a good range of equipment. The staff acknowledge that the range of books and storage could be developed and already have plans for this. Documentation is well organised with record keeping completed appropriately. The register does not show clearly when children and adults occasionally leave the group

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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 early. All reasonable measures are taken to ensure the children's health and safety. Door security is effective; staff lock the door each time it is used and remind parents to close the door carefully. The arrangements for snacks are good. The adults get to know the children very well which enables them to offer a high level of individual support to the children. The children respond very well to the behaviour management techniques. There is a good range of activities freely accessed by all the children. This enables the children to use their imagination and develop their skills to a good level. Access to the interesting garden provides further good quality opportunities which aid the children's development and overall wellbeing. The organisation of daily routines is

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How good is the Day Care?

also beneficial. Relationships with parents are excellent. The group works very flexibly to ensure that all parents are welcomed into the group at times when they are able to attend. Several parents attend with younger children and some stay due to transport problems. This gives them a good insight as to how the group runs and what their children do.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

At the last inspection actions were raised regarding procedural statements for parents. These policies now inform parents about the staff's training and qualifications, their procedures for administering medication and how to contact Ofsted if they need to. This promotes a professional relationship and ensures that parents' wishes can be heeded.

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What is being done well?

• The garden offers the children important opportunities to develop their physical skills and their natural curiosity as learners. They grow their own vegetables and observe the wildlife. The separate hard surface area next to the building enables the children to have access to fresh air and physical play for most of the year. • The staff have a good knowledge about the children's family backgrounds, the children's needs and their dispositions; they enjoy the children's individualities. This enables children to feel settled and valued. • The staff work well with parents and other carers. They see the parents or carers every day and spend time talking to them about how the children have spent their morning and about their large and smaller achievements. Parents mention the friendly nature of the staff and the level of communication as a real strength of the pre-school. • The mid-morning snack promotes a positive approach to healthy eating and

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What is being done well?

develops the children's social skills. The older children help by pouring the drinks and the younger ones mimic the older ones by taking their name card and helping themselves to their cheese and fruit.

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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 • The staff's cheerful disposition and their confident use of praise and encouragement ensure that the children are relaxed, confident and behave very well. • The range of activities enable all the children to take part equally. The younger children enjoy finding out what to do with crayons and the older children talk to the toddlers about what they have drawn. This fosters positive relationships and provides developmental opportunities for all ages.

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What needs to be improved?

• the recording of children's and parents' attendance, specifically those who do not attend for the full morning • the resources and facilities as outlined in the group's own development plan including within this images of positive representation of culture, ethnicity, gender and disability.

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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 Ensure that the records of attendance shows clearly the times of attendance particularly when parents and children have not attended for the full session. 5 Further develop the range of books and arrangements for storage as outlined in the group's own development plan, including within the range of books images of positive representation of culture, ethnicity, gender and disability.

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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?

Fylingdales Pre-school Playgroup provides a warm friendly environment where the three-year-old children make generally good progress towards the early learning goals. The children make very good progress in communication, language and literacy, in personal, social and emotional development, in physical, creative and mathematical development. They make generally good progress in knowledge and understanding of the world. Teaching is generally good. The staff provide a good range of free choice activities and meaningful routines encompassing all areas of learning, indoors and out. The very low numbers of funded children means that the staff have an excellent knowledge of the children's individual abilities and preferences. This enables them to scaffold the children's learning by effective questioning. The medium term plans demonstrate the staff's clear understanding of the stepping-stones and how they are

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How effective is the nursery education?

achieved through play-based activities. This is less clear in the plans for the focus activity. The staff's knowledge of what the children can do is also not reflected in the focus activity. The strong emphasis on personal, social and emotional development ensures that the children are confident, motivated and behave very well. This has a positive impact on all other areas of learning. The leadership and management of the group is very good. The two qualified adults work well as a team and support each other in various ways. There is no formal self-assessment but they continue to evaluate the provision as a whole and make positive amendments where possible. Partnership with parents is generally good. Basic information about the curriculum is available for parents if they ask and a booklet in being introduced to aid the sharing of information. There is limited information about how children learn through play or

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How effective is the nursery education?

how parents can contribute to this. Ongoing information about the children's progress is informal but very detailed and on a daily basis.

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What is being done well?

• The children benefit greatly from the firm emphasis on personal, social and emotional development. They learn to share, take turns and show a great deal of consideration for the younger children. • Clear guidance about expected behaviour and sensitive support ensure that behaviour is very good. This has an impact on all other areas of learning as the children are motivated to access all the activities confidently, yet are able to sit and listen when necessary. • Regular routines such as completing the daily calendar and weather chart and the arrangements for snack enable children to make progress in several areas of learning. The routines are well known and confidently followed by

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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 the children. • The outdoor area is used effectively to benefit the children's development in most areas of learning. The children develop their creative and physical skills freely and explore their surroundings. • The range of resources available covers most areas of the curriculum and the staff endeavour to address any gaps in the most effective way. • They staff look at how they perform. They acknowledge that caring for a wide age range of children presents advantages and disadvantages; they work effectively with the local authority and pre-school learning alliance to find effective ways of meeting all the children's developmental needs.

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What needs to be improved?

• the planning system, so that assessment and knowledge of the individual children's abilities and level of attainment can be used effectively to fully inform planning for individual learning • information for parents about the six areas of learning, how these are promoted within the pre-school and how parents could help whilst in the group or at home.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

Improvements since the last inspection have been generally good. The group have worked well with the local authority to develop the current assessment system. This shows clearly the children's level of attainment and is being further developed. It is not clear how this is used to inform planning for individual learning. In answer to a further key issue, the group have provided resources which offer opportunities for the children to investigate how things work and to become interested in everyday technology. There are still limited opportunities for children to use information technology to support their learning. Information about the curriculum for parents is still mainly verbal, but the newsletters each term now give information about forthcoming topics and themes. The very low numbers of children currently attending makes verbal communication very easy to manage.

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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 The children arrive cheerfully and are soon motivated to take part in their favourite activities. They are clearly very settled within the pre-school environment. They display high levels of involvement in all the activities, particularly at the play dough. Some children persevere with quite difficult jigsaws and are very proud when they complete them. Sensitive guidance ensures children behave well and show a great deal of concern for others; they help the very young children in several ways.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Very Good The children speak increasing clearly. They easily communicate their immediate needs and staff skilfully encourage them to use language to think about what they are doing. Resources and daily routines draw children's attention towards the written word and its purpose. The children enjoy books; they quickly find their favourite stories and handle the books very well. They practice their pre-writing skills to a good level and use correctly formed letters to label their own work.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good The three year old children develop their counting skills and already begin to recognise some numerals; they compare the numbers carefully when completing mathematical jigsaws. The children increase their understanding of more and less in their favourite number rhymes, the more able ones correctly predicting how many leaves remain. They enjoy working with shape in their printing, sorting and construction work and can use the appropriate vocabulary to talk about what they are doing.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Generally Good The children explore in the garden, observing the plants as they grow and the staff help them to think about how ingredients change in their cooking activities and why. Planned activities and routines enable the children to develop a good understanding of time and space. The children begin to try out tools at the play dough and use these skills when making models. There are difficulties in offering a wider range of tools for children and for opportunities for them to use information technology.

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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 They children move with increasing control and strength as they pedal and push toys across the various surfaces outdoors; they discover how easy movement becomes on the concrete after having been on the grass or gravel. They develop their fine motor skills to a good level by manipulating play dough and the associated tools and by using construction toys. There are good contingency plans for physical play when the weather is bad but they do not always work well in practice.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good The children explore colour, shape and form in their art work; they experiment with colour mixing and use the results with purpose. The provision for role play is very good; the children confidently act out familiar experiences in the shop and use their imagination in the space ship. They enjoy the sense of being hidden away in the play house at the bottom of the garden. The children sing a range of songs from memory and join in with their favourite songs as they hear them on the tape.

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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 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

• continue to develop the planning system, so that assessment and knowledge of the individual children's abilities can be used effectively to inform planning for individual learning • provide information for parents about the six areas of learning, how these are promoted within the pre-school and how parents could help whilst in the group or at home.

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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 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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