Helping Hands

Helping Hands @ St Margarets St Margarets C of E Primary School, Birmingham Road, Great Barr, Birmingham, B43 7AP

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 07/04/2014 Not Applicable

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early years provision

This inspection: 3 Previous inspection: Not Applicable 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

 Positive relationships with staff and children result in children who are confident in talking about their feelings and sharing their ideas and suggestions about how they think the club could improve.  All children benefit from a substantial snack, which is varied and nutritious and enjoyed by the children.  There are appropriate systems in place to keep parents and carers informed about their child's time at the club, including forthcoming events and changes.

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It is not yet good because

 Appropriate action is not consistently taken to minimise identified risk in relation to the gate at the bottom of the drive leading to the car park on the premises.  The use and range of available resources and space does not consistently provide all children with a choice of activities which maintain their interest.  The leadership team do not effectively enough monitor the consistency of practice throughout the club and self-evaluation does not identify all areas for improvement.

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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 in the playroom and the outdoor play area.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector held a meeting with the registered individuals and manager of the club.

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Inspection activities

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

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Inspection activities

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

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Information about the setting

Helping Hands @ St Margarets was established in 2011 and re-registered and opened in November 2013. It is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. It is privately owned and is one of four settings owned by the same partnership. It operates from a dinner hall situated in St Margaret's Church of England Primary School in Great Barr, Birmingham. The club is open to pupils of the school. There is an enclosed outdoor play area.

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Information about the setting

The club employs four members of staff. Of these, two hold a qualification at level 3, one holds a qualification at level 2 and one member of staff is unqualified. The club opens Monday to Friday during the school term only. Sessions are from 7.30am to 8.55am and 3.25pm to 5.45pm. Children are able to attend for a variety of sessions. The club serves children aged from four to 11 years and currently there are 45 children on roll. Of these seven are in the early years age group, 20 are aged from five to eight years and the other are over eight years. The club receives support from the local authority.

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must:

 take appropriate action to minimise identified risk in relation to the gate at the bottom of the drive leading to the car park on the premises, to ensure risk is kept to a minimum

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

 monitor and review the activities provided to ensure there is a broad range of resources which ignite children's interest

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

 use robust self-evaluation to help monitor staff's practice and identify fully all areas for improvement to help improve the quality of the service provided.

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who attend

Children are warmly welcomed on arrival and confidently and quickly settle down at the tables in their friendship groups. They busily chat to their friends about their school day and their interests, whilst others settle into the activities made available. The room is prepared each day with a range of activities for children to choose from and children are mostly sufficiently interested and engaged in their play. However, there is not always a broad enough range of toys, resources and activities on offer throughout the session. Therefore, this limits choice, enjoyment and challenge. For example, children report that on occasions they get bored with what is on offer and would like a wider range to choose from.

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who attend

Children thoroughly enjoy being outdoors. They are active and enjoy playing chasing games, using the play equipment and the wheeled toys. However, staff acknowledge that children would benefit from a wider range of smaller physical play to encourage team games, such as cricket, rounders and football. Staff engage well with the children as they play and talk to them about what they are doing and join in their imaginary games and play board games with them. Staff engage children well in discussion and introduce new ideas and concepts to make them think. For example, children have been considering why chocolate melts and how best to melt it as they decorate biscuits. Children use a range of games and activities, which encourage them to problem solve, count, calculate and recognise numbers. For example, some children show sustained levels of interest and concentration as they play with these in pairs. Other children thoroughly enjoy playing

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who attend

with the games console with its various games, which encourage children to problem solve and be active. Some construction toys are made available but children do not always show a good level of interest in them as they lack challenge and there is not a broad enough range to choose from. Children use crayons, pencils, glue and paper to make their creations and children also have their own 'scrap books', which they have made and are proud of. Although arts and craft activities are popular with the children staff do not make a broad enough range of materials readily available for children to use at each session. Therefore, this limits choice and enjoyment. Children enjoy dressing up and playing with dolls and play imaginatively as they use the small world toys, such as the cars and garage.

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who attend

There are appropriate systems in place to keep parents informed about their child's day at the club and to pass on any message to and from school. Parents spoken to on the day, report this is invaluable and they feel staff have a genuine interest in their child's wellbeing. Staff make observations of the children's play and development and complete assessments on the children in the Early Years Foundation Stage. This helps them to identify any areas for concern and this information is shared with parents and carers to help address any concerns together.

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

Children are confident in this relaxed and familiar environment where they have the autonomy to decide how to invest their curiosity through mostly playing spontaneously. This routine complements the school day well and they show a strong sense of belonging. Children are confident within their environment and vocalise easily what they like and do not like. For example, staff use helpful strategies like a suggestion box and questionnaires with smiley and sad faces to capture what the children like or are unhappy about at the club. Staff are beginning to use this information to help influence and shape the club. The positive relationships fostered with children results in children who are happy, confident and easily approach staff to engage them in their play. There is an appropriate key worker system in place, which means assigned key staff get to know each child and build a rapport with them and their parents and carers. All children attending the club are pupils

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

from the on-site school. Therefore, links with the teachers are well established to meet the needs of children and to support their transition from the club to school in the morning and from school to the club in the afternoon.

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

Children are well behaved and respond well to gentle reminders, such as sharing toys and following rules for their safety. Children have helped make the rules and, therefore, are clear about behaviour expectations. The club runs from the school dining room, which restricts the floor space available for children to play due to the amount of tables in the room. Consequently, the large majority of resources are placed on the tables and this, on occasions, limits how well children can use these resources to fully extend their play. Therefore, planned goals in children's play and learning are not met consistently enough.

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

Indoors, children move safely and staff supervise the children well to keep them safe. When accessing the outdoor area staff escort children to the enclosed outdoor area, within the school grounds. However, when children need to use the toilet they are not always escorted and they could access the car park area, as on occasions the gate at the bottom of the drive leading to it is left open. Although staff are vigilant and visually watch the children this is open to human error and compromises the children's safety. This also relates to not consistently meeting the requirement of the Childcare Register, of ensuring that the premises for the purposes of the childcare are safe and suitable. There are effective hygiene practices in place to prevent the spread of infection. For example, all children wash their hands prior to eating their snack and parents and carers are made aware of the sickness policy. First aid requirements are met and exceeded in relation to

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

ensuring there is at least one member of staff who holds a current paediatric first aid certificate. All children benefit from being outdoors in the fresh air and this contributes to their good health. Staff prepare and provide a good choice of food for the children to choose from daily. For example, children select from a variety of toppings on toast, soup and crackers, which they order on arrival. They also benefit from a bowl of fruit, which is made readily available throughout the session, along with drinks.

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provision

All staff are appropriately qualified in child protection issues and clearly understand their roles and responsibilities in relation to this. For example, there are secure systems in place to ensure staff are suitably vetted and inducted in safeguarding and child protection. All the required records, policies and procedures are in place and up to date, including written risk assessments. However, on occasion, although children are supervised a gate is left open and is not fully secure. The management team consists of the two registered individuals and the manager and nominated deputy. The manager and deputy are appropriately qualified and experienced and are responsible for the day-to-day running of the club. The club opened in November 2013. The manager has a realistic overview of the club at this time and is keen to improve the range of resources and activities on offer for the children. Self-evaluation is in the

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provision

early stages and the registered individuals have made a start on it but are yet to share it with the manager and staff. Therefore, it is not yet fully effective in incorporating all views and identifying all the areas for improvement. Quarterly staff appraisals have already taken place and weekly staff meetings also take place to discuss any issues, training needs and to keep staff informed. However, although the registered individuals visit at least weekly they do not spend enough time observing practice and monitoring the quality of play and learning experiences. Consequently, there are weaknesses in staff consistency of fully implementing the risk assessments in place and the quality of what is on offer for children.

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provision

Partnerships with parents and carers continue to strengthen. Parents and carers are kept appropriately informed about the club's polices and what is on offer through the prospectus, notice boards and regular newsletters. Parental satisfaction surveys and discussion with parents on the day of the inspection are positive. They are most impressed with the relationships staff develop with their children and the sharing of information, such as the regular text messages which they find convenient. Relationships with the on-site school also continue to strengthen as the registered individuals meet with the school headteacher once a term and regularly exchange emails to keep each other informed. For example, recently they have worked together with the headteacher to agree that parents will gain access to the club grounds via the side gate, which is kept locked. The staff team understand the importance of working with other professionals to help meet the individual

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The Childcare Register

The requirements for the compulsory part of the Childcare Register are

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actions)

The requirements for the voluntary part of the Childcare Register are

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To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register the provider must:

 ensure that the premises for the purposes of the childcare are safe and suitable for that childcare (Compulsory part of the Childcare Register)  ensure that the premises for the purposes of the childcare are safe and suitable for that childcare (Voluntary part of the Childcare Register)

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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 EY471408 Local authority Sandwell Inspection number 941365 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 0 - 17 Total number of places 25 Number of children on roll 45 Name of provider Samantha Kolar and Michelle Kirwan Partnership Date of previous inspection not applicable Telephone number 07904942281

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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

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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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