Leominster Play Scheme

Leominster Play Scheme Westfield School, Westfield Walk, LEOMINSTER, Herefordshire, HR6 8HD

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 10/02/2014 04/12/2010

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 Previous inspection: 3 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 requires improvement

 Children enjoy their time in this relaxed and welcoming play scheme and show an interest in the activities and experiences provided for them.  Children are safeguarded because staff demonstrate appropriate knowledge and understanding of their roles and responsibilities for child protection.  Children benefit from developing friendly relationships with adults and their peers, which helps them to settle and feel safe and secure.

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It is not yet good because

 The key person system is not used effectively, this results in some children's care not always being tailored to meet their individual needs.  Partnerships with other providers and schools are not yet established, therefore, staff are not always able to continue children's learning or to offer a complimentary approach to their learning.  Ways to monitor the quality of practice and to enhance staff training within the play scheme are in the early stages of development, therefore, there are inconsistencies in the quality of teaching.  Children are not provided with enough open-ended resources, so that they are able to fully explore and investigate their own play.

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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 inspector observed activities and play during the day. In addition, the inspector conducted a joint observation of children's play and learning activities with the play leader.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at the planning documentation and discussed the arrangements for monitoring children's progress.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector checked evidence of suitability and qualifications of all staff working with children and discussed their improvement plan.

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Information about the setting

Leominster Play Scheme was registered in 2007 on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is a registered charity run by a management committee and operates from the main hall, two classrooms and associated facilities at Westfield School in Leominster. It organises care for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and their siblings. The play scheme serves the local and wider communities in Herefordshire and Shropshire. There is an enclosed area for outdoor play.

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Information about the setting

The play scheme opens on Monday and Tuesday during the school summer holidays and on one Saturday per month (dates vary), during the school term. Sessions last from 10.30am until 3pm. The play scheme employs nine members of childcare staff. Of these, four hold Qualified Teacher Status. There are currently 10 children who are in the early age group.

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must:

 develop ways for key persons to be deployed to ensure that children's care is tailored to meet their individual needs

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must:

 develop an effective supervision and self-evaluation procedure to foster a culture of mutual support, teamwork and continuous improvement, so as to improve the quality of teaching.

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

 strengthen the partnerships with other providers and schools, to secure continuity and a complimentary approach to the children's learning

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

 extend the range of resources available to the children, which are accessible and open-ended, so they can be used, moved and combined in a variety of ways.

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who attend

All children are welcomed and valued. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are fully included and staff recognise children's individual learning needs and support them to join in activities at their own pace. Staff provide a suitable range of activities and games that help children to develop their skills and abilities across most areas of learning. Most staff are experienced at working with children and have a generally secure understanding of how to help children relax and initiate their own play, however, teaching is variable. Some staff take on more of a supervisory role of children's play and activities rather than teaching and facilitating play. However, children are occupied and interested in the activities and experiences provided for them. For example, children use their senses as they happily investigate a number of trays filled with a variety of edible resources, such as spaghetti, paints and oats. Staff sit alongside the children

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who attend

encouraging them to taste, touch and feel the items in the trays. They observe what children like to play with, so that they make sure these items are readily available for them the next time they come. For example, the trains and track are out ready for use, along with the big dinosaurs. Children express their creativity and practise their threading skills as they carefully make necklaces from dry pasta. They enjoy making noise using a selection of musical instruments and make marks with a variety of media and materials. Children engage in role play, pretending to be a hairdresser carefully brushing and tying up the dolls hair. However, there is room to provide more resources, which are open- ended, so that the children have opportunities to explore and investigate their own play.

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who attend

On induction, parents are invited to share information about their child's development, medical and care needs as well as routines. Consequently, staff are aware of the children's individual needs as well as where they are in their learning. This information, along with the staffs' observations and evaluations of the play day, allows them to monitor how children are progressing. However, staff do not engage with parents, other providers or school teachers on a regular basis to discuss and agree what support the play scheme intends to offer, in order to compliment children's learning. Parents are welcomed into the play scheme and benefit from discussing with staff the activities their children have enjoyed and participated in at the session. This helps to build relationships and supports parents to get involved in their children's learning.

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

Children receive a warm welcome as they arrive at the play scheme. Some children particularly benefit from accessing an environment that is familiar to them as the play scheme operates from the school, which a number of children or their siblings attend. Children have relaxed and easy relationships with staff and enjoy time to play with their friends as well as staff. Children who are new to the play scheme are helped to settle by all the staff team. This helps them to form secure relationships with all adults. The play leader allocates each child a designated key person, who takes responsibility for ensuring that their needs are met and they are happy and settled. However, due to staff deployment, key persons do not always attend the same sessions as the children allocated to them. As a consequence, children's emotional well-being is not fully supported. In addition, there are missed opportunities for the key person to build relationships with both

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

the child and parent and on occasions some children's care and learning is not fully tailored to meet their individual needs. The play leader is aware of each child's extra needs and deploys staff accordingly, for example, some children have two members of staff dependent on their needs. Lunch time is a social event and all children and staff sit together. Parents provide their children with a packed lunch, which is stored appropriately in the school kitchen. Children have hearty appetites and thoroughly enjoy the contents of their lunch boxes. Staff model good manners and healthy eating as they discuss what they have in their lunch boxes. They foster the children's independence encouraging them to have a go at opening their packets or lid from their drink. As a result, children learn that they can do it for themselves. Children have the opportunity for fresh air and exercise as they play outdoors in the school playground and enjoy a number of resources, which helps them to be

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

physically active. For example, all children enjoy running around together and playing interactive games, such as ball games. During the summer play scheme, children often go on organised trips to include bowling and train rides, as well as visiting the shops to buy ingredients for their cooking.

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

Children are supported by staff to confidently manage their own basic hygiene needs, such as hand washing after the toilet and are gently reminded by staff to wear appropriate clothing, such as coats when playing outdoors. Staff manage children's behaviour well because they are aware of the different types of behaviour displayed by the children and use strategies shared from home to deal with them. Therefore, children's behaviour management is consistent both at home and at the play scheme.

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provision

The manager and staff understand and fulfil their responsibilities in meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. All staff demonstrate an appropriate knowledge and understanding of child protection procedures, which includes the action to take if they are concerned about a child's welfare. Safeguarding policies and procedures are updated in accordance with the requirements. The management follow safe recruitment and vetting procedures, to ensure that the suitability of all staff working with children are checked, monitored and records are kept. This includes obtaining information about employment history, qualifications and completing Disclosure and Barring Service checks. Children are well supervised and a member of staff who has a current paediatric first aid certificate is always onsite.

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provision

Self-evaluation is not yet strong enough to establish a culture of mutual support, teamwork and continuous improvement and there is insufficient knowledge of issues raised at previous inspection. This means that while some priorities have been set to improve the monitoring of the educational programmes, not enough has been done to establish effective relationships with other providers and schools to ensure that children's learning is complimented by the play scheme staff. In addition, the role of the key person is not fully effective in ensuring the care provided meets the individual needs of all children attending. Staff have attended some training events, such as first aid and behaviour management to maintain their basic skills. However, the manager has not yet established a secure training and appraisal plan to monitor staffs' professional development and needs, with particular regard to the areas of learning and the Early

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provision

Years Foundation Stage. Consequently, staff take on more of a supervisory role of children's play and activities rather than teaching and facilitating play. Nevertheless, play leaders demonstrate sufficient understanding of how to observe, assess and monitor children's progress, which helps them to plan and deliver the educational programmes, reasonably well. This satisfactorily supports children's involvement in enjoyable activities.

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provision

Staff establish a friendly and open partnership with parents and are approachable to share discussion at the beginning and end of day if needed. Children benefit from kind and approachable staff, who pay particular attention to their care. Partnership with other providers, including schools, has not yet been established. Consequently, arrangements to develop and enhance children's individual needs and learning are not yet fully in place.

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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 Requires improvement The provision is not giving children a good standard of early years education and/or there are minor breaches of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected within twelve months of the date of this inspection. 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

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Grade Judgement Description

the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected again within six months of the date of this inspection. 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 EY356529 Local authority Herefordshire Inspection number 878376

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Type of provision

Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 30 Number of children on roll 25 Name of provider Marches Family Network Date of previous inspection 04/12/2010 Telephone number 01568 614 908

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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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