Longparish Little School

Longparish Playgroup Longparish Primary School, Longparish, Andover, Hampshire, SP11 6PB

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 06/01/2015 10/02/2009

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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

 The use of a very strong key-person system enables children to build good relationships with the adults from the onset of their placement at playgroup.  The staff have good teaching and learning strategies which enable all children to make good developmental progress.  The playgroup makes good use of their rural setting to keep children active and excited and learning about the world around them.  The partnership with parents is very strong because of the effective systems used to engage and communicate with them.

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It is not yet outstanding because

 The manager does not make the best use of performance management to monitor staff's teaching during some adult-led group times and routines to drive improvement in their practice and the outcomes for children

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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 play and learning activities indoors and outdoors and tracked a sample of children.  The inspector undertook a joint observation with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector had discussions with the manager regarding leadership and management.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector looked at a sample of tracked children's progress records and planning, and had discussions with staff relating to safeguarding and welfare.  The inspector spoke to some parents to gain their views of the playgroup.

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Information about the setting

Longparish Playgroup registered in 1988.The playgroup operates from a purpose-built annexe attached to Longparish School in the village of Longparish, near Andover in Hampshire. It is managed by a voluntary committee made up of parents. All children have access to an enclosed outdoor area and have the use of the school playground. The playgroup is registered on the Early Years Register and the compulsory and voluntary parts of the Childcare Register. There are currently 34 children on roll in the early years age range. The provider receives funding for the provision of free early education for three- and four-year-olds. The playgroup supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. Children come from a wide geographical area. The playgroup operates term time only and is open each weekday from 9am to 12 noon with a lunch club operating on a Monday, Wednesday

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Information about the setting

and Thursday until 12.45pm. Further sessions operate from 12.45 to 3.15pm when the lunch club is operating, offering optional full day care to children who attend on those days. During the summer term a 'preparing for school' session operates from 12 noon to 3.15pm on a Tuesday. The provider employs five staff, to work with the children, all of whom hold appropriate early years qualifications.

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

 extend the use of staff performance management systems, for example by undertaking sharply focused evaluations of the staff's individual teaching practice, particularly during adult-led group time, to further improve the learning outcomes for children.

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who attend

Children demonstrate they are keen and motivated learners during their play alongside the staff who support their needs effectively. The staff have a good understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage, of how young children learn and their different play preferences and styles of learning. Planning is responsive to children's developmental needs and interests. This means all children make good developmental progress from their individual starting points. The staff provide an effective balance of adult-planned and child-initiated activities which cover all areas of learning. For example, the children are given good challenges when they are encouraged to use the hand gym resources. These help children to strengthen their small muscles in their hands for their pre-writing skills. They excitedly used different types of one-handed tongs and chop sticks to pick up different sized and coloured pom poms; they are engaged, motivated, talk about what they are doing, about

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who attend

the colours the sizes, share and take turns with their friends. The staff ask children varied questions to encourage them to think and talk. They give the children good time to respond and engage in conversations, in their freely chosen play. Some staff use sign language alongside their speech in teaching activities. This promotes the children's good communication skills. During snack time, mathematical development is promoted exceptionally well. Children line up at the snack bar and pay for their snack with real coins; some recall excitedly what they have done. They count and solve problems, adding one more than a given number. The children capably recognise the numerals which are above the quantity of coins required for a particular snack. However, because of the way in which the snack time is organised, staff do not make the most of all learning opportunities around the snack table to extend children's learning and development. In

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who attend

addition to this, the show and tell group time does not enable children to have high learning outcomes because not all children are fully engaged and learning successfully.

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who attend

The staff ensure that children who are below the expected level of development on entry to the playgroup make good progress. There are good systems in place for staff to assess children's level of development when they start at playgroup. The staff provide small group language games to build up the children's communication skills and use small pictorial cards clipped to their clothing so they can reinforce the behavioural rules of the playgroup with the children. Each key person plans for their individual children and implements it during the session to ensure they effectively build on children's skills, knowledge and interests. For example, they noted as a team that many children were interested in farm animals and farm life so the staff and children went to a farm estate in the village, observed a tractor drilling, learnt about the crop and sampled biscuits made from the crop. This lead on to the children having a tractor play area for role play and

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who attend

developing their imaginations. They used seeds to make fields of their small worlds farm play and made their own biscuits.

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who attend

Staff complete accurate termly written assessments of children's development, including the progress check for two-year-old children. This means that staff can quickly identify children who need extra support and devise an individual education plan with structured one-to-one teaching, which enables the children to make progress. Overall, all children are developing well in their skills that will help them in the future.

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

The playgroup offers a stimulating, child-friendly and enabling environment, where children can make good play choices. There is a well-resourced play space indoors and out with children's artwork displayed on the walls, which show their positive learning outcomes. This means that children and their families feel welcomed, very settled and happy. The good use of an effective key-person system means young children form strong bonds with the adults, who are very responsive to their needs. This is enhanced by the key person doing a home visit prior to children starting at the playgroup. Children relate well to their key person, who plans activities to promote each child's learning fully. Staff liaise with parents to establish and maintain effective home links to ensure children make the best progress while at the playgroup. All children demonstrate they have built good relationships with the adults and their friends, even the very new children. They often

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

show good negotiation skills as well as kind and helpful behaviour towards their friends, during purposeful play indoors. For example showing a new friend how to use the computer. All children behave well because staff are strong role models who offer good praise and encouragement. Staff use good teaching strategies to encourage children to listen when the routine changes. For example, they start clapping quickly; children stop what they are doing and join in, and when the clapping stops they listen to instructions from the adult.

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

The staff pay particularly good attention to promoting healthy lifestyles. Older children use the toilet independently and wash their hands unprompted because they are well aware of the routines to keep healthy. Staff are observant and remind children about going to the sniffle station when their noses need blowing. Here, children take a tissue, look in the mirror so they can independently blow their noses and then dispose of the tissue in the bin. This helps to minimise cross infection. Children enjoy nutritious snacks of various fruits and drinks mid-morning because they are learning to make healthy choices. Free- flow indoor and outdoor play means that children can have plenty of physical exercise and fresh air and decide when to do so. Children enjoy developing their movement skills as they use wheeled toys, skilfully manoeuvring around and using the space well. Others dig in the real life construction area with sand and wheelbarrows. Staff offer a lot of praise

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

and encouragement, and all children show they feel safe and secure through the attention they receive from the staff. They are learning to keep safe through initiatives such as recalling the safety rules, including not running indoors, when they look at the pictures during group time. The next stage in children's learning, as they move from playgroup to the on-site school, is managed extremely well. They have shared visits to one another's classrooms to talk about learning experiences, such as when they went to visit the butcher's shop and made sausages. During the summer, for one afternoon a week, children have lunch in the school and spend the afternoon in year R. These opportunities mean that children become very familiar with their new learning environment and become ready for school.

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provision

The cohesive staff and management team works well together to implement successfully robust policies and procedures. This means that requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage are consistently implemented at the playgroup and children are well cared for. Strong priority is given to safeguarding children, with staff being well trained on child protection issues, which includes whistle blowing and e-safety. Rigorous procedures are in place for the recruitment and appraisal of staff, which includes the monitoring of staff skills and regular training to increase their knowledge. However, the monitoring of staff's teaching skills is not of the highest quality, which means that, on occasions, the adult-led activities lack a little challenge and full engagement of the children in all learning areas. Safeguarding documentation is complete and readily available for inspection. For example the accident record. This is regularly looked at to see if there are any trends in

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provision

accidents or particularly hazardous areas. Staff ensure the play areas are safe for children to play in by carrying out daily safety checks.

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provision

The playgroup shows a clear vision to continually evaluate and improve their practice. The manager, in particular, shows a high drive and enthusiasm for her role, accessing training to implement high quality practice. The accurate benchmarking of their practice through the Ofsted self-evaluation form gives a comprehensive picture of the strengths of the playgroup and further areas for improvement. Partnerships with parents are strong; key staff are very welcoming and friendly when parents arrive with their children. They have a very good system with new parents to exchange information about the playgroup, verbally on their first day and through their documentation. Parents speak knowingly and glowingly of the playgroup and staff, and of the good information sharing, on matters relating to children's care and learning. For example, they say, 'They are so ready for school, communication is very good. Coming here, he has come on in leaps and bounds'. The

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provision

playgroup's good attention to involving and engaging parents in children's learning at home is influencing positively on children's development. For example, they have a butterfly achievement chart in the foyer and soft toys, which go home with the children to develop the home links. Partnerships with external agencies and other providers are well established, which means there is a shared approach to children's learning. For example, there are good links with the school, the children's centre and other childcare professionals.

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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. We re-inspect nurseries and pre-schools judged as requires improvement within 12 months of the date of 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

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Grade Judgement Description

is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be monitored and inspected again within six months of the date of this inspection. Met There were no children present at the time of the inspection. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not met There were no children present at the time of the inspection. 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 109902 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 839648 Type of provision Full-time provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 8 Total number of places 24 Number of children on roll 34 Name of provider Longparish Playgroup Committee Date of previous inspection 10/02/2009 Telephone number 01264 720455

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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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