Quinton Playschool

Quinton Playschool (Great Wyrley) St Andrews Church, Hilton Lane, Great Wyrley, WALSALL, West Midlands, WS6 6DS

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 27/03/2014 04/02/2009

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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

 Children make good progress in all aspects of their learning and development, supported by well-qualified and knowledgeable staff who extend children's learning through effective teaching and well-planned activities and experiences.  All staff are dedicated to improving the quality of education and care through continuous self-evaluation. They create a bright and stimulating environment and offer an inclusive and welcoming service to all children.  Effective partnerships with parents, local schools and pre-schools have been established to ensure children's individual needs are well supported.  Staff have a clear knowledge of safeguarding issues, taking their responsibilities seriously and being prepared to act in the best interests of children at all times.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 Children have to use adult-sized furniture, which limits opportunities for them to be fully independent as they sometimes have to rely on adults to help them reach the tables.

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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 in two play rooms and the garden.  The inspector held a meeting with the manager of the setting.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at children's assessment records, planning documentation, evidence of suitability of staff working within the setting and a range of other documentation.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector also took account of the views of the parents and carers spoken to on the day.

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Information about the setting

Quinton Playschool (Great Wyrley) was registered in 1992 on the Early Years Register. It operates from two rooms of St Andrews Church in the village of Great Wryley. All children share access to an enclosed outdoor play area. The setting serves children in the local community and surrounding areas. Currently, there are 29 children on roll within the early years age range. The setting provides funded early education for two-, three- and four- year-old children. It is open each weekday during school term times from 9.15am to 12.15pm. Children attend for a variety of sessions. There are seven members of staff who work with the children, four of whom have early years qualifications at level 3 and two staff hold a qualification at level 2. An additional member of staff for housekeeping is also employed. The setting receives support from the local authority.

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

 extend children's independence skills through providing age-appropriate furniture, such as tables and chairs.

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who attend

Staff have a good understanding of how to effectively implement the Early Years Foundation Stage. Their teaching techniques and effective planning of activities ensure children are provided with varied play opportunities to help them make good progress across all areas of learning and development. After each session, all staff meet to evaluate the activities and plan purposeful play in order to meet children's learning needs. This means that, where necessary, timely intervention can be sought and planned to ensure that no child gets left behind. This also helps staff to provide good support in preparing children for the move into the care of other providers. The key persons know their children well and plan for their individual development. This includes the progress check at age two, and parents are fully involved in these processes. Parents contribute to initial assessments of their children's starting points and are kept well informed about their

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who attend

children's achievements and development through regular feedback.

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who attend

All staff interact with the children, engaging them in conversation and promoting their language abilities well. Their good skills in asking open-ended questions enable children to be active learners and pay close attention. For example, during group activities, children show good listening skills and respond enthusiastically to their names for the morning register, while talking about the weather or listening to their favourite rhymes. Staff use their voices very skilfully as they sing songs with repeated phrases, children joining in with enthusiasm. Staff provide a good range of resources for children to build secure foundations for early literacy through good opportunities to make marks, interpret symbols and recognise their own written names. Circle time is used well to help more able children recognise familiar words, such as the days of the week, and link sounds with letters, such as 'th' for 'Thursday'. Staff support children's understanding of number and shape through

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who attend

daily routines and during play, such as matching and sorting shapes and colours, singing relevant rhymes and counting toys and objects. Children learn about differences in size and pattern during a variety of activities and spontaneous play. Staff skilfully use random opportunities to support children's abilities, for example, they ask them how many boys are sitting in a group or how many more pieces of toast we need.

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who attend

To encourage children's talents, staff provide a range of texture experiences, including paint, gloop, stamp pads, natural materials and water and sand. Children use imagination and express their thoughts while making umbrellas, butterflies or a variety of collages to represent the different seasons for the themed projects. Staff provide a wide range of musical instruments and invite a musician, who plays a variety of instruments including a guitar, to visit the playgroup. There is a wide selection of resources and opportunities for children to familiarise themselves with information and communication technology, including a variety of electronic toys. Themed projects to learn about weather, birds and animals enhance children's knowledge of the natural world. This is further promoted by visiting a zoo and theme parks, bug-hunting or discussing where milk comes from. Staff encourage positive, open discussion about people's similarities and differences and

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who attend

children take part in a range of cultural festivals throughout the year. A broad range of materials is available depicting positive images of diversity to help children understand and respect the values of others.

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

They have lots of fun and thoroughly enjoy themselves as they explore and investigate. Good organisation of toys enables children to use their initiative and follow their natural curiosity as learners. However, opportunities are not fully extended for children to advance their independence skills as the playgroup does not have age-appropriate furniture, such as tables and chairs. As a result, younger children need to sit on staff laps to reach the activity tables and at snack times all children have to rely on adults to pour their drinks due to the height of the tables. Nevertheless, due to the group being small and having a good adult to child ratios, children interact well with staff, who spend time talking to and playing with them to promote their well-being. The successful partnerships with parents and the key person system mean that children establish warm, trusting and relaxed relationships with staff and peers. Therefore all children, including new arrivals, settle in

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

well and feel secure in approaching staff about their needs. Staff provide good support to prepare children for the move to older groups, both within the playgroup and into other settings. They provide reassurance to children through talking, providing relevant play opportunities and teaching them skills of self-reliance. Staff liaise with local schools for a smooth transition and provide opportunities for two-year-olds to mingle with the pre- school children within the setting.

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

The staff use consistently applied strategies and provide clear guidance. As a result, children are well behaved and have a good awareness of right and wrong, responding positively to direction from staff. They are encouraged and praised and their efforts are acknowledged appropriately. Children show pride in selecting their favourite songs or completing their jigsaws successfully. Staff provide clear routines throughout the session and explain these to children very well. This helps children to feel safe and look forward to joining in singing and story sessions as well as walking in line to wash hands, use the toilet or play outside. Celebrating their birthdays and displaying their artwork boost children's self-esteem. Children select and choose their own activities and enjoy the responsibility of carrying out small tasks such as tidying up toys or getting more toast for their group from the kitchen counter. They show care towards their peers and help them

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

up when they fall. Children learn how to keep themselves safe through staff guidance and relevant activities, which include the themes of road safety, 'people who help us' and visits from a police officer.

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

Children's physical development is supported well, as staff emphasise the value of outdoor play and indoor physical activities. Daily access to the outdoor play area and use of physical play equipment promote children's manipulation and movement skills. Younger children show increasing control in holding objects and equipment and in using mark- making tools. They develop self-care skills, for instance putting on their own jackets before going out in the garden, attending to toileting needs and making healthy choices at snack times. Staff support children well so they understand the importance of basic personal hygiene. They all wash their hands before they eat and after using the toilet. Nourishing options, such as wholemeal bread, fresh fruits and vegetables are offered at snack times. Drinks are readily accessible for all children throughout the session. Menus for snacks are planned with great attention to nutrition and acknowledging individual

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

children's specific dietary needs and preferences.

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provision

Staff have a very clear understanding of safeguarding children in relation to child protection issues. They receive regular training on safeguarding and are aware of their responsibility to report any concerns to the Local Safeguarding Children Board. Comprehensive policies and procedures are shared with parents to ensure they understand the duty of adults to protect children. Recruitment and vetting procedures are rigorously implemented, ensuring that all adults working in the setting are closely monitored and assessed for suitability. The successful induction of new staff ensures that they are familiar with the setting's policies and procedures to keep children safe. To eliminate hazards, a detailed risk assessment and daily safety checks are carried out in all areas. Robust steps are taken to ensure intruders are prevented from entering the premises and there are good arrangements in place for monitoring visitors to the

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provision

The manager is motivated to enhance practice through collating the views of staff, children and parents in order to identify areas for further improvement. Staff receive ongoing support from the local authority to review the educational programme to ensure a broad range of experiences are provided to help children make good progress towards the early learning goals. Daily staff meetings and regular appraisals ensure practice is monitored and under-performance is tackled effectively to enable staff to build on their practice. There is a clear improvement plan to improve the quality and standard of education and aspects of care. Good progress has been made since the last inspection and all the recommendations raised have been fully addressed. Policies and procedures are under continual review and the required documentation is effectively maintained.

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provision

The partnerships with parents and external agencies are well established and make a strong contribution to meeting children's needs. The setting's association with the local authority, as well as other professionals, allows them to seek advice to ensure children get the support they need. Staff invite local school staff to discuss individual children in order fully to promote continuity and progression. They encourage parents to take an active part in their children's learning through daily feedback, questionnaires and sharing children's learning journals on a regular basis. They also encourage parents to participate in themed projects and share their children's achievements at home. This encourages parents to be actively involved in extending their children's learning at home through play. Parents speak highly of the service and regard the playgroup as 'brilliant and outstanding' and the staff as 'very friendly and supportive'. They further report they are very happy with the

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provision

care their children receive, as they make good progress through a wide range of age- appropriate activities and opportunities.

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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 218209 Local authority Staffordshire Inspection number 865724

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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 29 Name of provider Quinton Playgroup Committee Date of previous inspection 04/02/2009 Telephone number 07990868774

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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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