Dawes Community Childcare Centre

Dawes Community Childcare Centre The Dawes Community Centre, Forstal, Hernhill, Faversham, Kent, ME13 9JG

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 02/05/2013 02/03/2011

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 Previous inspection: 2 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 3 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 3

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This provision is satisfactory

 Children are confident individuals because of the secure relationships established with nursery practitioners.  Practitioners promote children's personal, social and emotional needs well, supporting children's independence skills.  Children behave well, and reflect a good understanding of the nursery rules.  Children have exciting opportunities to fully develop their understanding of the world through the practical activities staff provide.

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It is not yet good because

 When outside, staff generally supervise children and do not support their learning and development well, which restricts learning for those children who learn better when outside.  The environment has too many displays, labels, pictures and posters, resulting in children overlooking any signs or symbols that are meaningful to them.  Some areas within the nursery require more attention to provide more effective provision to invite children to play, such as the book and role play areas.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections of registered early years provision are:  scheduled at least once in every inspection cycle – the current cycle ends on 31 July

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Information about this inspection

 scheduled more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged inadequate  brought forward in the inspection cycle where Ofsted has received information that suggests the provision may not be meeting the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage or where assessment of the provision identifies a need for early inspection  prioritised where we have received information that the provision is not meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and which suggests children may not be safe  scheduled at the completion of an investigation into failure to comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Information about this inspection

The provision is also registered on the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. This report includes a judgment about compliance with the requirements of that register.

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Inspection activities

 The majority of the inspection was spent observing the interaction between the children and the practitioners.

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Inspection activities

 Several joint observations were carried out with the manager to identify strengths and weaknesses within the provision.

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Inspection activities

 Safeguarding procedures were reviewed alongside other documentation and procedures.  Parental views were obtained through discussion.

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Information about the setting

Dawes Community Childcare Centre opened in 1992 and registered with Ofsted in 2001. It is run by the Dawes Community Association and operates from a community centre. It is situated in the village of Hernhill, in Faversham. Kent. The centre provides a breakfast club, a pre-school and an out of school club . It is open each weekday from 8am to 5.30pm on Monday to Thursday and 8am to 5.00pm on Fridays, for 39 weeks of the year. All children share access to an enclosed outdoor play area.

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Information about the setting

There are currently 35 children aged from two to under five years on roll in the centre. The centre provides funded early education for children aged two, three and four years. This provision is registered on the Early Years Register and on both the voluntary and compulsory parts of the Childcare Register. Children come from a local catchment area. The centre currently supports a number of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and also supports a number of children who learn English as an additional language. The centre employs 11 staff, of whom five, including the manager, hold appropriate early years qualifications.

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must:

 Improve the quality of staff interaction in the outdoor area, so as to provide all children with positive support here in their learning and development across all areas, in order to make sure that those children who learn better in outdoor environments are helped to do so.

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To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 help children to concentrate better by making spaces visually calm and orderly and reducing clutter

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To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 improve the presentation of the book and role play areas to make these more enticing to children, so they use these areas freely and effectively in their play.

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who attend

Children make suitable progress in their learning and development because of the practitioners' understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Practitioners provide a good range of activities to support children's interests and individual needs in the indoor area, which reflect the children's interests. For example, children ask to do additional cooking activities and practitioners put this on the planning for the following week. Indoors too, practitioners interact well with the children, extending their play. Some indoor areas are less well presented and consequently, are less inviting to children. When outdoors,, practitioners tend to supervise children instead of involving themselves in the activities available to support and extend children's learning. This weakness means that those children who learn better in outdoor situations do not receive necessary support and encouragement.

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who attend

Children's progress is assessed through regular observations and planning of their next stages in learning. This information is then summarised at least three times a year to share with parents. The 'learning journey' records, are well-made and provide a resource for children to share with their parents when they choose, following their learning and activities. Practitioners have a good understanding of the progress check for two-year-olds and ensure the three prime areas are reported on alongside parental comments.

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who attend

Children are confident and make choices about what they would like to play with, whether inside or outside. They play well together, learning to share the toys and take turns when balancing on tyres or sliding down the small slide. Children show enjoyment as they listen to the music outside and join in with actions or move their bodies to the rhythm. They demonstrate good awareness of space as they use the sit and ride toys and scooters and take their friends for a ride on the back of their tricycles. However, staff do not provide activities outside that inspire children to be creative and use equipment in more challenging and exciting ways.

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who attend

Children speak well and confidently to the practitioners. They happily ask questions about what adults are doing or tell others about the super hero they are playing. The practitioners encourage children's communication skills and actively encourage them to join in story time, repeating the rhyming phrase at the end of the verse. Children show familiarity with books and ask for their favourite ones to be read. Some children show good recognition of their names and are developing control with their pencil skills. Consequently, children develop their communication and some literacy skills. However, the book area is not well presented and children do not freely use this area on a regular basis to support a developing love of browsing through books in readiness for their move to school.

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who attend

The practitioners promote the area of learning 'understanding the world' exceptionally well. Children's culture and individualism is promoted through some good resources, such as the file 'around the world' which provides details of the country where children are from. They play with resources that reflect different cultures and disabilities and experience activities to celebrate different festivals. Some print around the room is written in some of the children's languages, enabling children to see the different print other countries use to read and write. Children plant flowers, observe caterpillars and their progress to the butterfly stage and learn about the life cycle of tadpoles to frog. Practitioners know their key children particularly. They plan activities for their children to reflect their interests and to take account of any additional needs. Those children needing more specialised support have their needs recorded in individual educational plans that are

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who attend

monitored and reviewed by the key person, Special Educational Needs Coordinator and parent. This positive aspect of the partnership with parents enables the outside agencies to forward their reviews and assessments for the practitioners to implement into the setting. Consequently, children's needs are met. Parents feel confident with the care their children are receiving and feel able to contribute to their child's learning and development. They receive the policies and procedures to look at when their child starts and can borrow any policy on request. Written consents for aspects of care further support children's well- being.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

The key person system is well promoted throughout the setting. Practitioners build good relationships with all the children, especially their key children, providing a secure, familiar face to promote children's security. As a result, children feel comfortable, confident and behave well. They are familiar with the rules of the setting and show a caring approach to others.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children have good opportunities to learn about living a healthy lifestyle. They have a good range of healthy snacks, such as fresh fruit, vegetables and raisins. Children confidently make choices from the selection of snacks and cut their banana to a size they require. They show good hand and eye co-ordination as they pour their milk and water and enjoy the social group with the adult and other children. Children show good personal care as they understand why they must wash their hands before eating and after playing in the garden. Practitioners provide good role models to support hygiene routines during food preparation and nappy changing, helping prevent cross infection.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children learn about keeping themselves safe through support and guidance from the practitioners. They are reminded why they must not run indoors in case they fall over. Outdoors, children learn about using two hands to climb and to manoeuvre around others to avoid hurting them. Children use tools with care, such as scissors for arts and crafts and knives for snack time. Children also actively move toys out of the way to avoid tripping over. Outings are risk assessed by practitioners who complete the outings books recording full information, but enabling spontaneous outings to occur around the field. Consequently, children are provided with interesting opportunities to observe the changes of the seasons, such as the blossom on the trees in spring time. Practitioners promote children's safety well and carry out regular emergency evacuation drills to keep children safe in the event of a fire. Drills are recorded and monitored to provide secure records.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children play in a well-resourced setting, accessing toys and equipment to address the seven areas of learning. The setting is divided up into areas, enabling children to make informed choices about where to find the varied resources. Practitioners rotate toys on a regular basis, taking into account children's interests, themes and children's individual needs. Resources are not always well presented, however, which affects how children use them. However, the abundance of posters, displays, signs and notices around the room make the environment cluttered and overwhelming. As a result, children's concentration and ability to identify significant words, signs or symbols is affected. Additionally, staff do not make sure that the book and role play areas are presented well, so as to attract children to them to use books for themselves and to use their imaginations in pretend play.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Practitioners show a responsible approach to supporting children through periods of change. For example, careful settling in procedures are implemented to ensure children and parents feel comfortable, in addition to home visits. This provides a good starting point for children to build meaningful relationships with their key person. This process of supporting children through change is implemented when children are prepared for their move to school. Parents work alongside the key person to support the children and enable them to develop their personal independence. For example, by putting on coats and jumpers, or changing their shoes. Teachers from the local schools are invited in to meet the children and children invited into the school for various assemblies and sports day. Consequently, children are prepared for school.

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provision

The manager, supported by the committee, shows a committed, enthusiastic approach to meeting the learning and development requirements. The manager fully promotes training courses for all practitioners, alongside supporting practitioners to gain further qualifications. This provides a motivated team of practitioners, who generally show enthusiasm and a caring approach to the children. However, when outside, staff interaction with children does not mirror the good practice observed indoors. Practitioners are observed to act in a supervisory role rather than actively seeking to support and advance children's learning across all required areas. Practitioners are concerned that children are kept safe. They make sure children behave in safe ways by using equipment properly but, whilst this is commendable, they take little part in actively engaging with children during outdoor activities. This weakness has not been identified through

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provision

Regular practitioner meetings and committee meetings promote the ongoing development and continuous improvement of the setting. Action plans are in place, alongside development notes from the setting improvement partner, to ensure the setting makes positive changes to improve the provision for the children. Children's progress is monitored through summary sheets and an overall summary, to identify any areas that are not being given sufficient attention, although the quality of teaching in the outdoor area has been missed.

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provision

Safeguarding procedures are well developed. All practitioners attend training, both in- house and external training, to support their understanding. All practitioners are aware of the procedures to follow should they have any concerns about children in their care. The committee implement rigorous recruitment procedures to ensure any appointed person is suitable to work with children. In addition, systems to maintain this on-going suitability are effectively implemented by the manager through regular supervision sessions and annual appraisals. Children's safety is further supported through focussed risk assessments to minimise any identified hazards.

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provision

The manager is constantly developing and adapting the self-evaluation taking into account the views from parents, children and practitioners. Practitioner meetings are used as a forum for sharing information and encouraging each practitioner to actively contribute their ideas and suggestions. Some parents are members of the committee and offer alternative suggestions or ideas for further improvements. As a result, the self-evaluation provides identification of the strengths of the setting and some areas to further develop.

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provision

The setting works well with other providers, sharing information, using a set format to enable the key person and parent to provide continuity of care for the children. The setting welcomes in other providers to share information, including local schools, advisory teachers, and the special educational needs co-ordinator. Alongside these professionals, parents with particular skills are also invited in to talk to the children and share their particular talents, enabling children to meet their community. For example, one parent comes in with a musical instrument, another to sing and another to read books she has written.

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are Met The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are Met

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 Satisfactory Satisfactory provision is performing less well than expectations in one or more of the key areas. It requires improvement in order to be good. Grade 4 Inadequate Provision that is inadequate requires significant improvement and/or enforcement action. The provision is failing to give children an acceptable standard of early years education and/or is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be inspected again within 12 months of the date of this inspection.

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Grade Judgement Description

Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider does not meet the requirements for registration.

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Inspection

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 160294 Local authority Kent Inspection number 913185 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 8 Total number of places 33 Number of children on roll 64 Name of provider The Dawes Community Association Date of previous inspection 02/03/2011 Telephone number 01227 751 195

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Setting details

set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk.

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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

Full-time provision is that which operates for more than three hours. These are usually known as nurseries, nursery schools and pre-schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the higher fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Sessional provision operates for more than two hours but does not exceed three hours in any one day. These are usually known as pre-schools, kindergartens or nursery schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the lower fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Childminders care for one or more children where individual children attend for a period of more than two hours in any one day. They operate from domestic premises, which are usually the childminder’s own home. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Type of provision

Out of school provision may be sessional or full-time provision and is delivered before or after school and/or in the summer holidays. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Where children receive their Early Years Foundation Stage in school these providers do not have to deliver the learning and development requirements in full but should complement the experiences children receive in school. achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children,

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Type of provision

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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Type of provision

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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