St. Johns Playgroup

St. Johns Playgroup Kingston Park Avenue, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE3 2HB

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 10 March 2016 12 March 2015

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This inspection: Good 2

Previous inspection: Requires Improvement

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This inspection: Good 2

Effectiveness of the leadership and management Good 2

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This inspection: Good 2

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good 2

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This inspection: Good 2

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good 2

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This provision is good

 The well-established staff team meet regularly to review their practice, check children’s progress and set clear targets for improvement. Responsibilities are shared so all take an active role in securing best practice and promoting children’s safety and welfare.  Well qualified practitioners are adept at identifying and reviewing children's interests, strengths and individual needs. This, alongside good quality teaching, ensures all children make good progress from their starting points.  A significant strength of the playgroup is how well leaders and staff work with parents, schools and other professionals. This ensures that if any children have additional needs, these are swiftly identified and addressed, helping them catch up quickly.  Children are happy, settled and making friends. They are learning about acceptable behaviours such as sharing, taking turns, listening to, and valuing, others. They are

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It is not yet outstanding because:

 Existing systems for self-evaluation and action planning do not support leaders and staff to fully understand how to achieve the outstanding standards they are working towards.  Formal observations to assess the quality of teaching are relatively new. Time is needed to ensure these are used regularly across the playgroup in order to improve the quality and impact of teaching further.

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

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

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What the setting needs to do to improve further

 embed systems for supervision to ensure that staff receive the individualised support and training they need to reflect on and improve the quality of their teaching practice further  ensure identified areas for development are always robustly planned for, and improvements stringently monitored, to support leaders and staff to achieve their goal of becoming an outstanding setting.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed activities in the main playroom as well as the outside play area.  The inspector spoke to members of staff and children at appropriate times during the inspection and held a meeting with the manager.  The inspector carried out a joint observation with the manager.  The inspector took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day of the inspection.  The inspector looked at children's records, planning documentation, evidence of the suitability of staff working in the provision and a range of other documentation, including policies and procedures.

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management is good

Managers and staff have a good understanding of their responsibilities to keep children safe. This, along with the complementary work of partners, ensures safeguarding is effective. Priorities identified in the playgroup’s improvement plan are accurate and take into account the views of staff and parents. However, the use of available data as part of the self-evaluation process, requires some further refinement in order to improve practice at a faster rate. In particular, information about the progress of target groups across different areas of the curriculum is not used to inform on-going planning and to monitor impact. Good arrangements for supervision and checking on staff performance are in place. However, the implementation of formal observations needs time to embed in order to improve the quality and impact of teaching even further. Parents speak extremely highly of the playgroup staff. Without exception, all feel that their children are happy and

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Effectiveness of the leadership and management is good

making progress at what is described as a ‘nurturing, home from home’ provision.

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Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good

Staff work closely as a team. They know all of the children well, but are particularly aware of the learning needs of their key children. Staff make precise assessments of children's learning and have high expectations of what they can achieve. Staff plan and provide a variety of experiences to promote children's individual learning. Children thoroughly enjoy reading a favourite story together, eagerly anticipating the rhyming words. Staff spend time talking to them about other books by the same author, fostering a love of reading. All children are well supported to develop strong communication skills. They confidently add water to sand and describe how they are making ‘rock pools’. Staff ask them simple questions. This encourages children to think things through before responding and builds their vocabulary as they engage in meaningful conversations.

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Personal development, behaviour and welfare are good

The nursery environment is warm and welcoming. Staff work hard to establish clear rules and boundaries and to involve parents in this process. As a result, children behave exceptionally well. All children benefit from daily outdoor play. They have access to low- level climbing equipment, wheeled vehicles and plenty of space to move around and increase their physical skills. Staff find out about children's care needs and home lives. Consequently, they sensitively meet children's individual needs for support and reassurance. Children's similarities and differences are celebrated and valued. They learn to respect each other, be kind and include others in their play.

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Outcomes for children are good

All children, including those who benefit from funded education, make good progress. Children who speak English as an additional language, disabled children and those with special educational needs are particularly well supported. This is due to effective communication between key staff and other external professionals involved with children in their care. A clear focus on activities designed to improve the development of early communication skills, as well as confidence and self-esteem, ensures children are well prepared for their move on to school.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 319310 Local authority Newcastle Inspection number 1031728 Type of provision Sessional provision Day care type Childcare - Non-Domestic Registers Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register, Voluntary Childcare Register Age range of children 0 - 5 Total number of places 24 Number of children on roll 25 Name of provider The Trustees of St. Johns Playgroup Date of previous inspection 12 March 2015 Telephone number 0191 2866361

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Setting details

St. Johns Playgroup was registered in 1992.The nursery employs four members of childcare staff, all of whom hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3. The playgroup opens from Monday to Thursday, term time only. Sessions are Monday and Tuesday from 9.15am to 12.30pm and Wednesday and Thursday from 9.15am to 12.15pm. The playgroup provides funded early education for two-, three- and four-year- old children. The playgroup supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language.

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Setting details

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

procedures set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. 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, safeguarding and child protection.

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Setting details

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Setting details

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Setting details

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