Sunnydays Preschool

Sunny Days Playgroup St Thomas Church Hall, St Thomas Church Gardens, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, HD2 1SL

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 11/07/2013 15/06/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 2 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 2 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 2

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This provision is good

 Staff plan a good variety of stimulating, meaningful play activities, based on children's interests and their abilities to maximise children's learning and development.  Staff implement an effective key person system, so children are happy, settled and keen to learn. This success derives partly from the good relationships children have with staff.  Staff work with other agencies who are involved in the care of children very well, as a result, they protect children and enhance their development well.  The management team encourages staff's professional development and the whole staff team works together very well, which positively impacts on children's development.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 There is scope to improve the contribution that parents make to children's development records to further support children's learning.  There is scope to improve large group activities, such as story time to ensure that group activities meet the needs of all children, including the younger ones.

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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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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities and the quality of teaching in the playroom and outdoor play areas.  The inspector sampled children's assessment records and planning documentation.  The inspector spoke with staff and children throughout the visit.  The inspector took account of the views of parents.

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Information about the setting

Sunny Days Playgroup was registered in 2001 and is on the Early Years Register. It operates from the main hall in St Thomas Church Hall in the Bradley area of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. The playgroup is managed by a voluntary committee. The playgroup serves the local community and is accessible to all children. There is an enclosed area available for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The playgroup employs six members of childcare staff. Of these, five hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 2 and 3. There are three members of staff who are working towards a degree in early years.

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Information about the setting

The playgroup opens Monday to Friday term time only, between 8.45am and 11.45am. There is also a lunch club for the children that operates between 11.45am and 12.45pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions throughout the week. There are currently 40 children attending who are in the early years age group. The playgroup provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year-old children. It supports children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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

 encourage parents to contribute more information to their children's development so that a complete picture is gained about all children's achievements and used to maximise on planning for future activities and development

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

 develop further the organisation of large group activities, such as story time to help all children concentrate better on their learning.

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who attend

The staff team have a good understanding of the learning and development requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. They get to know children's abilities very well through frequent observations of their play. This helps staff develop individual learning plans for their key children, which are clearly focussed on each child's next steps of learning. Staff spend time with parents, when children first start at the playgroup, to find out about the children's needs, abilities and interests. Therefore, staff plan meaningful activities, which build on children's existing skills and interests. The playgroup supports all children well, for example, to narrow the achievement gap in their learning, if identified. Individual educational plans are used to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities to ensure they make appropriate progress. Parents have good access to their children's development records and they regularly

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who attend

attend parents' evenings to discuss children's development with their child's key person. However, they are not fully encouraged to add their own observations of their children's development to maximise planning for future activities and development throughout each term. Staff do encourage parents to extend children's learning at home through newsletters, chats with children's key persons and home worksheets, which ask parents to record details on what their child did through the school holidays. As result, children are very well supported in making good progress in their learning and are developing good skills for their future learning. Staff complete the children's progress check at age two and parents are effectively involved in this process.

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who attend

Children are happy and motivated to learn. Staff provide many opportunities for children to explore and investigate outdoors. For example, children delight in looking for insects in the 'Bug Hotel'. They explore the different insect houses using the magnifying glasses to see what they can find. They observe the woodlouse and talk about its features. Staff then encourage them to identify the name of the insect by matching it to pictures of different insects on the fencing, consequently, testing children's ideas. Staff take good opportunities by using spontaneous activities to extend learning. For example, as staff help children hang their creative work on the fencing outdoors they hear a grasshopper and much excitement occurs as they look in the grass to find where the noise is coming from and how it is made.

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who attend

Staff encourage the children to experiment in the 'mud kitchen'. Here, children gather soil, grass, leaves and water in a variety of containers and enjoy mixing them all together. When asked what they are making a child replies confidently, 'a chip pie'. Staff encourage the children to notice changes in the materials as they become wet and they talk about what is happening, helping the children understand about cause and effect.

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who attend

Staff use good open-ended questions to encourage children to extend their learning. For example, in the mathematics area staff encourage children to talk about the shapes that they see. Children are encouraged to observe how many sides a triangle has and how this compares with a square. Staff model the thinking process, by showing that they do not always know the answer to a problem and when they come across a particular shape they ask the child, 'what shape is this?, I have forgotten, let's see how many sides it has'. The child confidently responds with a smile, 'it's a square'. The member of staff noticing that the child has grasped the concept of shape challenges the child further by asking 'can you find me three squares?'. They count the squares together, and staff then introduce the concept of addition by asking, 'how many more do we need to make three?'. As a result, children are developing a good understanding of number and shape.

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who attend

Staff promote children's communication and language skills well. They provide lots of activities, which help children distinguish between different sounds, word patterns and rhythms, such as stories, songs and rhymes. Staff use story sacks well to engage children in books during large group activities, however, owing to the various ages and abilities of children within the group some children lose concentration and this can disrupt the session for the other children. Staff talk with the children throughout the activities and give them time to think and respond in their own words. They show children how to pronounce and use words correctly by responding and repeating in the correct way.

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

Children develop strong bonds and warm relationships with the friendly, caring staff. The key person system that is in place is strong and staff understand their key children's specific needs exceptionally well. Each child receives consistently high levels of support, which helps them feel safe and secure. As a result, children settle easily and quickly and gain the confidence they need to explore independently. This effectively promotes their learning through their play. Staff support children effectively during the move from their home into the nursery and other settings. Transition forms are completed so that other early years providers are fully aware of children's stages of development. Teachers also visit the playgroup to observe children in a familiar environment to help them get to know their needs. Playgroup staff also take children into nursery and school and help them take photographs of their new environment. The staff then make a booklet from these

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

photographs for the children. The children take these booklets home with them to enable them to become familiar with their new environment within the security of their own home. This contributes to their personal, social and emotional development very well.

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

Staff promote positive attitudes and manage children's behaviour successfully. They implement a behaviour management system through which children learn about the consequences of their actions and the feelings of others. Staff are good role models who provide consistent messages appropriate to children's developmental stage. As a result, children behave well and are learning to keep safe.

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

Staff promote children's healthy lifestyles effectively. Children benefit from lots of free access to outdoor play where they enjoy the fresh air and sunshine. Staff consistently remind children to wear their sun hats or play in the shade of the trees so that the sun does not burn their skin. Children enjoy healthy and nutritious snacks at their cafe style snack time. They help themselves throughout the session to fresh fruit, crackers and fresh drinks of water and milk. Children pour their own drinks from the child-sized jugs, further developing their independence skills. Parents provide packed lunches for those children who stay over the lunchtime period. Good hygiene practices are followed by the children. Staff praise the children for putting their hands over their mouths when they cough so as not to spread their germs and children happily wash their hands after playing outside, before eating snack and after visiting the toilet. Staff provide opportunities for children to

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

develop good risk-taking skills as they play on the large apparatus developing their climbing and balancing skills.

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provision

Management and staff all have a secure knowledge and understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. They have a good knowledge of the correct procedures to follow if they have a concern about the welfare of a child. In addition, up-to-date policies and procedures, risk assessments, checklists and well-organised records, including recording of accidents, help to maintain good standards of health and safety. They understand their responsibility to ensure that Ofsted are informed of any significant events. The safety of the children within the setting is fully considered. All outside doors are locked and alarmed and all outside gates are locked. Management follow robust vetting procedures to help ensure staff are suitable to work with children. Effective staff supervision, appraisals and peer observations successfully monitors the impact of the staff team's practice on

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provision

Management and staff demonstrate a commitment and drive to maintain continuous improvement in the quality of care and learning for children. This includes continuous evaluation of each child's progress, evaluation of planned activities and discussion at staff meetings. In addition, management obtain the views of parents and children to complete their evaluation of the provision. As a consequence of children's ideas new resources have been purchased that interest the children. The playgroup have made a number of improvements since the previous inspection. A new outdoor area has been created making the area rich and stimulating for the children. Snack time has also been rearranged to ensure that children have lots of time for uninterrupted play. The recommendation identified at the previous inspection has been addressed, which has improved the monitoring and evaluation systems. As a result, children directly benefit from continuous

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provision

improvements to their care and development.

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provision

Partnerships with parents are good. Parents are provided with clear information, including how staff implement the Early Years Foundation Stage to promote their child's learning. Staff keep parents informed well through displays, daily feedback and newsletters. Parents state that they are very happy with the care that their children receive and they have noticed great benefits in their children's development. Staff work together successfully with the other early years providers that some children also attend to help ensure continuity of care and education. The 'transition books' that are used ensure that information is exchanged regularly to support individual children's needs. The manager oversees the educational programme and each child's development and focuses on any gaps in learning, which are then put into the planning for that particular child. This ensures the gaps are closing well. Staff have also established successful links with the

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provision

external professionals involved in children's care. For example, the health visitor attends the playgroup to complete the healthy child part of the progress check at age two and staff also work with child psychologists, nurses, speech and language therapists, social services and the local authority development workers. Consequently, the children are supported very well.

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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 512758 Local authority Kirklees Inspection number 915515

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 30 Number of children on roll 40 Name of provider Sunny Days Playgroup Committee Date of previous inspection 15/06/2009 Telephone number 01484 543637

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Type of provision

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

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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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