St Peter's Church of England Primary School (Market Bosworth)

INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 22/06/2004 Inspector Name Elaine Claire Caffary

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Full Day Care Setting Name Once upon a Time (2-5) Setting Address 1st Uxbridge Scouts Hut Rockingham Road Uxbridge UB8 2UW

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REGISTERED PROVIDER 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

Once Upon a Time nursery has been registered since 1989. The nursery operates from within a scout hut in Uxbridge, close to the town centre. The provision has sole use of the premises during the day. The nursery hours are 08:00 to 18:00 and it is open all year round, with the exception of bank holidays and Christmas eve. In addition to full time places they also offer morning and afternoon sessions. There are two rooms operating from a main hall, which is divided by a large partition. Off the entrance hall the provision has a kitchen, where onsite meals are provided, children's toilets, a nappy changing area, staff facilities and an office. The children have access to outdoor play in two fully enclosed gardens.

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Information about the setting

The back room caters for 16 children aged 3 to 5 years and is staffed by 2 members of the team. The room leader holds a level 3, National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) in childcare and the nursery assistant holds a relevant NVQ level 2 qualification and is working towards her level 3. The front room caters for 26 children aged 2 to 3 years and is currently staffed by 6 members of the team, who hold various relevant qualifications. Three of the team hold qualifications equivalent to a level 3 and the other 3 members of the team are working towards a level 3 qualification. In addition to the room based staff the nursery also operates with an area manager, a supernumery on site manager and a deputy and who has some key working responsibilities. The provision is registered to take funded three and four year old children. They currently have nine funded three years olds and five funded four years olds. The

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Information about the setting

provision supports children with special educational needs and those with English as a second language.

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Information about the setting

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 setting operates a High Scope method of teaching and has input from the Early Years Partnership in Hillingdon.

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How good is the Day Care?

Once Upon a Time Nursery provides a satisfactory standard of care for children. The nursery has an established staff team providing continuity of care for the children. The range of toys and equipment is attractively presented and of an acceptable standard, providing the potential for good variety in the children's play. There is a good range of detailed policies and procedures in place, however these were not all observed in practise. The staff team showed minimal regard for each other when engaged in activities with the children. Story and singing times were often disrupted by other staff's activities and interruptions. The leadership and management of the provision shows poor evidence of progressing the identified areas for improvement. A comprehensive analysis sheet on accidents, is completed monthly and any action required identified. No evidence of the action identified was observed in practise.

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How good is the Day Care?

Staff demonstrate a generally satisfactory awareness of hazards throughout the nursery. There are functional and comprehensive systems in place whicha are carried out daily to check all areas of the setting. The overall standard of hygiene in the premises is good. Mealtimes are well organised. Children serve themselves promoting their independence and self help skills. Children's individual dietary needs are met well. Staff's engagement with the children tends to be on a practical level. They discussed putting names on their pictures, but failed to expand the activity further by talking to the children about their piece of work. The staff are aware of the children's individual requirements and are enthusiastic in planning to meet these needs. Records kept on the children are of a generally good standard. The behaviour management policy was not seen working in practise. Staff build good relationships with parents promoting two way communication.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

At the last inspection, the provision agreed to carry out risk assessments on the premises and make staff more aware of health and safety requirements. These have been carried out and are monitored by the staff. Most are now effective in ensuring hazards to the children are minimised. In addition senior staff have attended a health and safety course and have disseminated this knowledge to the team. They also agreed to ensure that parents were kept updated on any changes to the provision. Parents are now kept well informed about nursery events ensuring they have many opportunities to obtain and be given appropriate information.

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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 setting has a good range of appropriate toys and equipment, accessible to the children at their level. They operate the "high scope" method of learning. The room is presented in an appealing manner. The labelling assists the children's understanding of which activities take place in which designated area. For example, in the named "construction area" children have access to picture labelled boxes with a good range of construction toys. • Children's dietary needs are respected and understood by staff. They have undertaken additional training to enhance their skills and ability to deal with any emergency situations should they arise. They have detailed records on individual children's needs in this area, demonstrating established lines of

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What is being done well?

communication between themselves, parents and appropriate healthcare professionals. • Parents are kept well informed about nursery events, themes and their child through many channels. They have a clearly presented newsletter with relevant information, planned meetings with their child's key worker where developmental progress is shared, and an informative notice board. Feedback on the nursery is actively sought to enable them to review the work they do and improve on quality. • The staff demonstrate a good awareness of appropriate ages and stages of development through the children's progress records. The newly introduced system, for recording the children's individual developmental progress, is informative and includes examples of activities the children are involved in. The presentation ensures it is easy to read and understand.

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What needs to be improved?

• the staff's overall awareness and consideration of colleagues and activities taking place in the play rooms. • the staff's level of engagement in activities with children to expand and develop their learning • the leadership and management to implement and measure improvements in areas assessed as needing enhancement • the practical implementation of the positive behaviour management policy

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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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CONDITIONS OF REGISTRATION

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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by the time of the next inspection

Std Recommendation 2 Devise an effective system for the management team to monitor progress, in the accident anaylisis procedures and interactions between the staff in the play rooms. 3 Ensure that staff spend time engaging with the children to expand their learning potential. 11 Develop staff’s awareness and understanding of effective ways to manage children’s behaviour, taking into account their age and stage of development.

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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 children at Once upon a Time Day Nursery are making generally good progress towards the early learning goals. Children are generally interested in the activities offered and are happy and confident in their environment. There are some significant weaknesses in the quality of teaching. Whilst staff plan and provide potentially interesting activities for children, they lack challenge and there are missed opportunities for them to experiment and extend within the activities offered. The setting has good resources to support the areas of learning but they are not used effectively by staff. The staff do not always communicate as a team and as a result children are given conflicting information. This causes confusion and frustration which means that children are sometimes not engaged in activities to their full potential and their experiences are limited. Staff have good processes in place to record children's progress and achievements,

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How effective is the nursery education?

the information gathered is used to influence the planning to good effect and shared with parents. Staff in the main interact positively with the children they encourage their independence and help them to share and negotiate. The leadership and management of the setting has some significant weaknesses. Staff are kept informed and are encouraged to extend their existing skills. The manager monitors the effectiveness of the nursery and has identified areas for improvement in staff's development but has not formed or implemented a plan to address them.

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How effective is the nursery education?

Partnership with parents is very good. Parents are kept well informed of their children's progress both verbally and in writing. There are good systems in place to ensure parents know about activities taking place within the nursery. Parents gave very positive comments through questionnaires and when interviewed.

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What is being done well?

• Staff have good strategies in place to encourage children's independence. Children plan their daily activities and review the work they have produced. Staff encourage the children to share and give them skills to negotiate when needed. • Staff record children's progress and achievements. This information is shared with parents and used to influence the planning programme which in turn is evaluated and monitored, in an attempt to ensure that the children receive a

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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 broad based interesting curriculum. • Parents are kept well informed of their children's progress on a regular basis both formally and informally. There are notice boards in place and regular newsletters are published that provide them with relevant current information about the setting and the topics that their children will be following. • Staff have opportunities to further their existing skills through attendance at training programmes provided by the Early Years Development Childcare Partnership and through in house courses.

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What needs to be improved?

• the presentation of the activities and the opportunities provided for children to extend and experiment • the opportunities for children to practice their writing skills • the use of resources to increase children's experience of technology • the opportunities to make and listen to music • the implementation of a plan to address the weaknesses in staffs development as identified by the manager.

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What has improved since the last inspection?

The nursery has made generally good progress since the last inspection, they have devised and implemented a new planning scheme. Staff now incorporate their observations and children's records of achievement within the planning so that they are building on what the children already know. Planning includes differentiation for all levels of abilities. This means that the planned activities should meet the needs of all children. The nursery has also changed the way that they record children's development to include their progress as well as their achievements. Some records are not yet dated. Records of progress and achievements are shared regularly with parents and are used to good effect in the planning process. The staff have ensured that they provide space for movement sessions. Staff encourage children and participate in movement activities with them. They set examples so that all the children are now actively involved if they wish. This ensures

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What has improved since the last inspection?

that children benefit from physical exercise both outside and when indoors. The programme for communication, language and literacy has been developed to ensure that children are able to form letters correctly when they write. However, there are missed opportunities provided for children to practice their writing skills.

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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: Generally Good Children are interested in the activities provided and are learning to work well both in groups and independently. They are building firm relationships with their peers and the staff. Children are encouraged to choose activities and take care of their personal needs, their independence is fostered at meal times when they serve themselves to food and are taught to be aware of the needs of others. Their behaviour is sometimes affected by the lack of challenges presented in the activities.

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COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Generally Good Children have good communication skills, they talk one to one and in groups. They are able to listen and enjoy stories and rhymes. The opportunities to participate in stories are limited. There are good examples of the written word, children enjoy matching sounds to letters and are able to recognise and write their names. There is a good supply of resources. Opportunities are provided for children to write are limited. Children use both fiction and reference books appropriately.

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MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children have opportunities to count and recognise numbers, there is plenty of evidence of written numbers displayed, this is not exploited by staff. Children use mathematical language to discuss shape, size, estimate add, subtract and are interested in time. Although there is a wide range of resources to support this area, the activities lack challenge for the children. Staff did not always further children's leads when they initiated conversations about shapes and quantity.

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KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Generally Good Children have opportunities to plant seeds and observe the changes as they grow. They monitor the weather on a daily basis and have discussed the life cycles of frogs and insects through the well planned interest table. Through planned projects children have had visits from a nurse and the local fire officers to learn about roles in society. Children have limited opportunities to experience technology and cause and effect equipment. They learn about other cultures through various celebrations.

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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: Generally Good Children move confidently and safely, they negotiate round the furniture and one another well. They have access to a variety of pedal toys and are competent when steering round obstacles. Children have opportunities to throw and are learning to catch. They are competent when climbing and balancing. Children are developing their dexterity by using small equipment with the play dough and malleable materials. They handle scissors, paint brushes, pencils and cutlery with increasing control.

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CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good Children have opportunities to explore colour, shape and texture through a variety of art activities which are attractively displayed throughout the setting. They use their imagination in construction play and through some role play but there are missed opportunities to foster children's creative development through the lack of challenges presented in the activities. Children enjoy singing and experience rhythm changes through clapping, they have limited opportunities to make or listen to music.

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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

• Ensure that the activities presented to the children provide challenges which extends their learning. • Ensure children have opportunities to practice writing skills. • Provide and use resources that widen children's experiences of technology. • Increase children's opportunities to make and listen to music. • Devise and implement a plan to address the weaknesses in the staff's development as identified by the manager.

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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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