| Unique Reference Number | EY341640 |
|---|---|
| Inspection date | 13 September 2007 |
| Inspector | Michael Collins |
| Setting Address | Clawton Primary School, Clawton, HOLSWORTHY, Devon, EX22 6QN |
|---|---|
| Telephone number | 01409 271347 |
| Registered person | Clawton Pre-School |
| Type of inspection | Integrated |
| Type of care | Sessional care |
The purpose of this inspection is to assure government, parents and the public of the quality of childcare and, if applicable, of nursery education. The inspection was carried out under Part XA Children Act 1989 as introduced by the Care Standards Act 2000 and, where nursery education is provided, under Schedule 26 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.
This report details the main strengths and any areas for improvement identified during the inspection. The judgements included in the report are made in relation to the outcomes for children set out in the Children Act 2004; the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding; and, where nursery education is provided, the Curriculum guidance for the foundation stage.
The report includes information on any complaints about the childcare provision which Ofsted has received since the last inspection or registration or 1 April 2004 whichever is the later.
For more information about early years inspections, please see the booklet Are you ready for your inspection? which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk.
On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:
The quality and standards of the care are good. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.
The quality and standards of the nursery education are outstanding.
Clawton Pre-School has been registered since 2006. It is managed by a committee of parents and interested others. Based in the village of Clawton, close to Holsworthy, the setting operates from a community room in Clawton Primary School and children have access to a large sports hall and an outside play area. The setting is registered to care for a maximum of 20 children and currently has 14 children from two-years-old to five-years-old on roll. The setting is open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 09.30 to 12.00 during school term time only. They employ two members of staff. The manager holds an appropriate level four early years qualification, and the deputy holds an appropriate level two qualification. The manager is currently studying for a level six qualification and the deputy is going on to study for a level three qualification. The setting operate a parent helper rota to support the staff. They are members of the Pre-School Learning Alliance and receive support from the local authority.
The provision is outstanding. Children have access to their own secure play area and may now choose to play in or outside during free-play. This area is used superbly by the setting and the children particularly enjoy using this as they: push, pedal or scoot using a range of wheeled toys; extend their imaginary play into the garden; use the slide; or play with cars, scoops, and the gravel tray. Children also have access to the school sports hall where they take part in activities which develop their spatial awareness, ball skills, and physical control. This ensures that the children have access to activities which support their physical development throughout the year, regardless of the weather.
Children are protected from infection due to the good hygiene procedures followed by staff and parent helpers. Surfaces are kept clean and children learn to wash their hands appropriately. This, coupled with vigilant attention to the need for tissues, and the children’s growing understanding of why they must wash their hands, reduces the risks of cross-infection. The children are cared for as their parents would wish should they become injured or unwell. Both members of staff now have recognised first aid qualifications and these documents are on display for parents to see. The recently updated records for medication are now in place and meet requirements, and the accident record continues to be completed comprehensively, with action plans developed for any perceived repetition.
The setting has a very good food and drink policy, which management committee and staff, now ensure is implemented consistently and effectively. They continue to follow the guidelines of the Food Standards Agency, and both members of staff hold recognised food hygiene and safety qualifications. Children now consistently eat a selection of healthy foods at snack time, such as fresh fruit, vegetables and cheese, and they pour their own drinks of water or milk. They are also encouraged to increase their fluid intake by helping themselves to drinking water from a jug permanently available to them. Children’s dietary needs and parent’s wishes are clearly recorded and carefully followed. Staff use appropriate opportunities to discuss healthy eating and use practical group activities, such as cooking, to talk about healthy food, how it is grown and where it comes from, to excellent effect, using this to increase children's knowledge and understanding in all areas of learning.
The provision is good. Children are cared for in a safe secure environment that is consistently monitored and risk assessed. The setting have introduced alarm systems for all exits. Entrances are kept locked, and there is now a fully enclosed and secure outside play area. Staff carefully monitor access to the setting and a visitor's book is signed and dated. The parent helper rota now ensures there are at least three adults present at all times, allowing for good adult deployment, thus ensuring children are unable to leave the premises unsupervised. Staff regularly practise the emergency evacuation plan with the children to ensure that both they and adults know the procedures. Staff conduct regular safety checks and ensure that all hazardous materials are out of reach of the children. This combined, and now thorough, approach to safety ensures the children are safeguarded at all times.
The environment is organised and welcoming. Children have a good amount of well-organised space to move around in. They choose from a good variety of toys and resources, which are easily accessible, appropriate for their ages and in good condition. Staff regularly check all equipment for safety and cleanliness. Children are learning how to keep themselves and others safe through the establishment of appropriate boundaries, discussions with staff, and practical activities which link their learning. This active learning can be seen when they remind each other to be careful during their activities, or when they introduce safety into their imaginative or creative play.
All documentation and procedures required to safeguard the children’s welfare is in place and well maintained. For example, staff hold recognised first aid certificates, and records of risk assessments and action plans to minimise risk are maintained. Also, the setting shows a strong commitment to the ongoing training of staff with regard to safety issues, for whilst staff have a good understanding of child protection policies and procedures currently, and the setting has a good child protection policy in line with the local Safeguarding Children Board, arrangements have also been made for them to attend a refresher course.
The provision is outstanding. Children arrive happily at the setting, are eager to participate, and settle to their chosen activities very quickly. The children know their way around the setting and are aware of where resources are safely stored. They play happily independently or in small and large groups, and clearly make their own choices, quickly becoming engrossed in their play. The setting’s excellent approach to new or anxious children, and the fact that they welcome and encourage parents to attend sessions and stay with their child, allows both children and parents to have positive first experiences there.
The staff have developed genuinely consistent, warm and trusting relationships with children of all ages, thus allowing them to support and develop the children’s trust, friendship, and sense of well-being. Early communication skills are fostered by a consistently high standard of adult-child interactions, which are chatty, informal and friendly, but purposeful. The child-friendly atmosphere created by staff and parent helpers makes sure the children are relaxed and able to make their own choices. As a result the children are thoroughly absorbed and happy in their play.
Children are confident, independent learners, who develop excellent concentration, as they engage in a balance of free play and carefully structured activities, from a young age. They initiate their own play and develop this to include ideas and subjects they have learned about. Children successfully achieve because staff plan well and have a keen understanding of early years guidance, such as the Foundation Stage curriculum and Birth to three matters, using these to plan activities.
Nursery Education
The quality of teaching and learning is outstanding. The highly effective baseline assessments, subsequent observation and assessment systems used by the staff, and their excellent partnership with parents ensures they are keenly aware of the next steps for individual children. Using this and their keen knowledge of early years guidance they are able to plan a comprehensive programme of activities, whilst fully allowing the children to progress at their own pace, and learn in their own style.
Staff provide a very good selection of resources that are used with purpose and to the benefit of the children. The children are animated and enthusiastic about their learning, eagerly asking questions and often supplying their own answers. They actively decide what they will do and staff are particularly skilled at using the children’s own choice of activity to introduce learning opportunities. The children confidently self select resources, negotiate with each other about taking turns, and can independently clear their choice of things away when finished.
Older children’s growing independence is evident as they go to the toilet unaccompanied and wash their hands without prompting. Younger children are supported appropriately to achieve this independence and they are particularly praised and encouraged when they do.
There is an excellent balance of adult and child led activities and the staff are particularly skilled at developing activities that match the children’s interests. For example, previous discussion with the children identified an interest in making soup, so staff brought in organically grown root and other vegetables that had not been processed, and still contained all of their foliage. Lively and animated discussion took place about healthy eating, how the food grew, how you prepare and cook it, being safe whilst cooking, what each vegetable was, it’s shape and colour, how they tasted before they were cooked, and how they might taste differently after cooking. The children were totally enamoured with this activity and particularly enjoyed sampling their finished soup whilst they listened to a story about a farm at the end of the session. This dynamic and ‘joined-up’ approach to children’s learning, and the staff’s ability to allow the children to lead, impacts positively in all areas of learning.
Through the constant provision of writing materials and by encouraging children to use reading and writing in their own play, staff ensure that children have good access to the tools they need. As a result, all children use mark making to represent their ideas, with older children being able to write their own names on their artwork. Children sit patiently and listen carefully to various stories, and will offer suggestions for storylines, or talk about what they think will happen next. They speak to each other and adults about activities and past events and they do this fluently, depending on their stage of development. They discuss their home life, families and memories with confidence, express their delight at activities, and say how they will tell their parents all about this event or that. Children learn to recognise their names and are developing an understanding of letter sounds, through gentle reminders and the use of phonetics. The staff and other adult’s commitment, coupled with the staff’s excellent knowledge of individual children, ensure all children are able to take part in activities in a purposeful manner.
Children’s imaginative and creative play is encouraged and supported exceptionally well by staff. For example, children decide to make a rollercoaster in the garden, and staff ask what they will need, the children suggest they need chairs for seats, tickets, and someone to collect the tickets. The children then proceed to independently get these things and further embellish their play by getting the ‘post box’ to put the tickets into. Other children play police officers and are talking about a diversion ‘because of the floods’, this is supported by staff, who, with the children, make a diversion sign using mini cones, paper and markers. Children initiate their own role-play and are able to play individually or in co-operative groups, whichever they choose. The children are curious and inquisitive, clearly intrigued by planned activities and stories, and asking appropriate questions. They thoroughly enjoy music and movement and are becoming adept at banging drums, shaking rattles and moving in time to the music.
Children’s mathematical vocabulary and skills are developed and extended particularly well through the use of planned activities. The children are growing pumpkins in the garden and have been measuring them regularly and have produced a graphic representation of their growth. The children count the vegetables being used to make the soup, they talk about which is smallest and which is biggest, and which is the longest and which is the shortest. The children go on to use these skills with purpose in their own free-play by counting objects such as cars, tickets and people on the rollercoaster, and talking about the small and the large dips. Staff also now reinforce this learning by using everyday activities such as snack time to extend the concepts of mathematics and calculation, say by intentionally obtaining the wrong number of plates and asking the children to calculate how many more will be needed.
Children learn about and experience the wider and natural world through planned projects and activities. They particularly enjoy outside play, and can be seen to examine insects, leaves and other natural items, with the magnifying glass they have retrieved from resources themselves. They use and experience a good range of technology equipment such as a computer, telephones, tape recorders and tills. They explore their own and other cultures through planned activities and good use of local amenities. They have access to and use a good range of small and large equipment, such as tandem bikes, single bikes, a slide, scissors, pencils, markers, etc. They are also developing very good control of their large and small physical movements, as they take part in organised activities such obstacle courses, ball games, and dance and movement, both in the sports hall and outside in the play area.
The staff are particularly skilled at promoting children’s learning through effective questioning, reflection and discussion. They plan and prepare a superb variety of activities, which offer a balanced range of outdoor and indoor experiences, covers all areas of learning, and maximises play and learning opportunities for the children. This ensures that children are making excellent and sustained progress along the stepping stones.
The provision is good. Children’s behaviour is exemplary. They respond positively to the clear routines and high expectations of the staff. They enjoy particularly warm and genuine relationships with the staff, and are given ample praise for their efforts and achievements. They learn to share and take turns, as staff encourage them to think of others. Children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered. Through planned activities and opportune discussions, they learn to respect differences and celebrate their own and other’s cultures. Although no children with learning difficulties or disabilities currently attend, the setting is able to support them.
The partnership with parents is good for care and outstanding for nursery education. Parents receive regular information about activities and planned events. The policies and procedures for the setting are available to the parents, and the majority of these are very good and well maintained. However, the complaints policy is out of date and does not contain the correct contact details for the regulator. Parents are actively encouraged by the staff to participate in their children’s care and education from the beginning of their placement. They complete excellent baseline assessments with the staff before placement and these are used effectively to plan the next step for the children. Staff go on to use their own observation and assessment records and regular meetings and discussions with parents to maintain and develop this knowledge. They have introduced superb reports which use their observation and assessment records and link the children’s achievements to the six areas of learning. These are shared with parents at newly introduced meetings, and the setting retains a signed copy of these for their records. The setting have redesigned their prospectus to include further information for parents about the Foundation Stage curriculum, and the person in charge has designed a display linking the areas of learning to activities. The setting also continues to provide exemplary practical opportunities for the parents to participate in their children’s education by encouraging the borrowing of books to take home and by continued use of ‘scruffy’ the soft toy puppy, who accompanies children home with his scrapbook. There is a parent helper rota in place and all parents are encouraged to participate in this. This excellent partnership with parents, particularly with regard to nursery education, ensures that parents are closely involved in the setting and this stunning partnership work benefits the children tremendously.
The organisation is good. Children are cared for by experienced and qualified staff. It is a clean and child-friendly environment and the space is used particularly effectively to meet the needs of the children. The staff team work extremely well together and are obviously committed to the ongoing development of the children’s care and education. The setting follows recognised recruitment procedures and effectively inducts staff to policies and procedures. However, procedures for checking that staff remain suitable are not robust. The deployment of adults has improved to ensure full supervision of the children, and the very good teamwork continues to enhance the children’s care and learning.
The quality of leadership and management is outstanding. Through regular monitoring and evaluation of the nursery education provided, both staff and management committee are able to assess and plan for improvement. The monthly reports produced by the manager detail learning intentions for both the previous and the following month. Using these, the committee are able to determine whether full coverage of the Foundation Stage curriculum is taking place. The manager is fully aware of the setting’s strengths and weaknesses and is consistently looking at ways to maintain or improve these. The staff’s ability to be flexible with their planning, and to follow the children’s lead, enables them to skilfully use the children’s choice of play to develop their learning in all areas.
The setting is ably led by a skilled and committed manager who, along with the deputy, works closely with the management committee to ensure the smooth day to day running of the setting, and all are obviously committed to its continued development and improvement. All legally required documentation, which contributes to the children’s health, safety and well-being is in place. The setting is able to meet the needs of the range of children who attend.
The setting have made good progress since their last inspection where they were given four actions to improve the care of the children, and two recommendations were made to improve the nursery education of the children. They have improved their ability to ensure the children stay safe by: ensuring that adults are deployed effectively; ensuring children cannot leave the premises unsupervised; providing alarm systems for all exits; providing a secure outside play area; removing hazardous materials from the toilets; and by ensuring the visitors record is well maintained. They have improved the delivery of nursery education by ensuring that plans now show how activities may be extended for the less/more able child and recording the next steps for the children in conjunction with their parents. They have also ensured that opportunities to explore mathematics and calculation are included in everyday activities.
Since registration there have been no complaints made to Ofsted that required the provider or Ofsted to take any action in order to meet the National Standards.
The provider is required to keep a record of complaints made by parents, which they can see on request. The complaints record may contain complaints other than those made to Ofsted.
On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:
The quality and standards of the care are good. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.
The quality and standards of the nursery education are outstanding.
To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s):
No recommendations for improvement are made because the quality and standards of nursery education are outstanding.
Any complaints about the inspection or the report should be made following the procedures set out in the leaflet Complaints about Ofsted Early Years: concerns or complaints about Ofsted's role in regulating and inspecting childcare and early education (HMI ref no 2599) which is available from Ofsted's website: www.ofsted.gov.uk