This is a copy of our latest inspection report
Inspection date 05 November 2007 About this inspectionThe 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.
The key inspection judgements and what they mean
Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality
Good: this aspect of the provision is strong
Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is sound
Inadequate: this aspect of the provision is not good enough
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.
THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATIONOn 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 good.At the time of the inspection there were no children in receipt of nursery education. Ofsted judges that the provider remains suitable to provide nursery education.
WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?Doxey Playgroup opened more than thirty years ago and operates from the church hall of St Thomas's Church in the Doxey area of Stafford, Staffordshire. A maximum of 26 children may attend the group at any one time. The playgroup is open each weekday from 09.15 to 11.45 during school term times. All children share access to an outdoor play area.
There are currently 15 children from two to three years on roll. Currently there are no children on roll in receipt of funding for early education. Children come from the local area. The group supports children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and also supports children who speak English an additional language.
The group employs four members of staff. Of these, three hold appropriate early years qualifications and one is working towards a qualification.
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PROVISIONHelping children to be healthyThe provision is good. Children learn the importance of personal hygiene through planned routines and specific adult-led activities. They know they have to wash their hands before food and after using the toilet and painting activities. Staff follow effective procedures such as routinely cleaning the tables with anti-bacterial spray before food and practising the clear procedures for managing sick and infectious children to prevent the spread of infection. This protects the children from cross-infection. Staff have first aid certificates and written parental permission to seek emergency medical advice or treatment. This means that children receive appropriate treatment in the event of accident.
Children have healthy snacks of cereals and fresh fruit. They are offered a choice of milk, juice and water at snack-times. Staff ensure all individual dietary and health requirements are recorded on children's individual record forms. This helps to ensure children remain healthy.
Staff ensure all children have regular opportunities for physical play on large climbing equipment. Occasionally, small groups of children are taken on walks in the surrounding areas. The group has a varied selection of toys and resources to develop the children's physical skills.
Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe
The provision is good. Children are cared for in an organised environment where risks are limited through effective procedures including restricted access to the group at all times with a locked entrance doors and a record of all visitors. Firefighting equipment is well maintained and children practise fire drills regularly. This means that children will be safe in an emergency situation. Children are taught road safety when out on walks and encouraged to walk in a line to the toilets.
Children use an extensive range of safe developmentally appropriate resources. These are well maintained and presented by staff to enable children to choose from the varied range on low tables or the floor. Children are encouraged to be independent and understand the safety rules within the group.
The outside play area is not secure but staff have undertaken risk assessments and take small groups of children under close supervision for occasional outside play. However, children have regular access to large climbing equipment inside the spacious hall to develop their physical skills.
Children are protected by staff who have an understanding of child protection issues and follow the correct procedures to report concerns to the local authority. Staff record injuries that children have sustained before attending the group which protects the staff from any accusations of abuse.
Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do
The provision is good. Children attend from the local area and staff ensure the children are appropriately grouped according to their likes and dislikes. The group has a strong family approach, children attend because their older brothers and sisters attended. Staff have created good links with the local school and children frequently visit to attend school assemblies.
Children are absorbed in their play using resources such as computer games, farm animals, wooden bricks and art materials suitable to their age and stages of development. Staff are actively involved with the children, for example, staff sit with the children and join in with rolling play dough and general conversations. Children are happy and settled in the playgroup's welcoming, caring environment. They have positive relationships with staff and each other.
The group is in receipt for funding for the delivery of early education to children aged three years. Currently, there are no children on roll receiving early education but the manager confirmed that all children attending the group follow the 'Birth to three matters' framework and the early learning goals.Consequently, effective observations and documentary evidence provides a clear picture of all children's good progress and development.
Early EducationStaff use effective methods to maintain the children's interest. Plans are flexible and allow staff to spend the majority of their time working directly with the children and asking understandable questions. For example 'are these two colours the same?' as they hold up two coloured cards. When the children are grouped together at story time all children are effectively challenged to extend their intellectual development as staff allow time for children to think and respond.
The quality of teaching and learning is good. The staff team have developed their knowledge and understanding of the Foundation Stage and plan and provide a varied range of activities under each area of learning. The learning intention is detailed and recorded and relates to the stepping stones and early learning goals so that all aspects are covered. Staff have developed their practice of recording observations on the children's progress and the development records clearly show children's attitude to learning to provide a complete picture of achievements and progress over time. This enables staff to make accurate progress reports to parents.
Staff record the next steps for each child's level of future development and the evaluation of activities and teaching methods are fully developed to show the impact of planned activities and daily routines on the children and used to inform future planning.
Children are clear about the purpose of planned activities because staff clearly explain and show children how to use resources. Children frequently join in with their own ideas and home experiences. Development is good in all six areas of learning but particularly in the areas of personal, social and emotional development because staff frequently engage the children in one to one conversations and encourage children to express themselves in variety of ways.
Behaviour is well managed by consistent methods. For example, children are encouraged to understand the behaviour boundaries and respond to staff with 'please' and 'thank you' and applaud each other's achievements. This results in an ordered caring environment for children.
Children are settled and show a sense of belonging and are motivated to learn. They are friendly and confident to speak in a group such as registration time. Children behave well and show care and concern for each other. For example, children help each other to build bricks and prompt each other to help tidy up. They are encouraged to develop their personal independence by managing their clothing when visiting the toilets and daily routine opportunities such as snack-times are planned to encourage children to pour their own drinks and clear the table.
Children are beginning to make recognisable marks on paper and recognise labels of their own names and resources. They are developing skills to speak clearly and express their choices and opinions. They tell each other stories as they look at pictures in books that are well known to them. Children use a variety of writing materials and mediums such as shaving foam spread on tables to form shapes of letters relating to phonic sounds.
Children explore and investigate as they collect leaves to make their Autumn pictures. However, opportunities for children to discover the natural world and living things are limited because of lack of an outside play area. Children use everyday technology and computers to play matching games and use 'real' telephones, camcorders, cameras and cash registers they select from the technology box. They widen their understanding of their own cultures and beliefs and those of other people with activities such as tasting fruit from around the world and inviting elderly residents from a local retirement home to share their Harvest festival celebrations.
Children are developing an understanding and beginning to use numbers meaningfully. They are progressing with problem solving using addition and comparisons with mathematical language whilst counting how many children in the line. Children experience weighing and measuring with water and sand during free play. They demonstrate that they have a good understanding of shape as they name shapes of their jig-saw pieces.
Children have regular planned periods of physical play in the spacious hall. They use large physical equipment to travel around, under, over and through equipment to develop their physical skills. But they do not have regular opportunities to run and enjoy a sense of outside space. Children use small tools and construction materials with increasing control.
Children express themselves through creative activities and role play. For example, playing on bicycles and pedal cars and stopping at the road signs and petrol pump to 'fill-up'. Children know and identify colours as they identify their coloured card name labels. They clap rhythmically and in time as they sing to welcome 'Beatbaby', a soft toy staff use innovatively to enhance children's enjoyment of songs and music.
Helping children make a positive contribution
The provision is good. Children celebrate other nations festivals, such as Diwali by making collages and lanterns and tasting potato and onion bhajis. They have free access to resources with positive images of minority groups. This helps to increase their knowledge of the wider world and raises children's awareness of diversity in their community and develops a positive attitude to others. Children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.
Children enjoy close relationships with the staff and each other. They are valued and respected as individuals, their confidence and self-esteem is developed by staff with use of praise and encouragement on arrival and during their play throughout the session. Children behave well, they take turns, share and remember to say 'please' and 'thank you'. Staff encourage the children to help tidy the toys away, they teach the children how to return toys to the correct container. Children are enthusiastic and take a pride in helping and staff reward them with stickers, certificates and being chosen as a special helper.
The group operates on the ground floor. Currently there are no children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and specific language requirements attending. But staff have formulated a policy and procedure to offer appropriate support and promote inclusion for all children. Staff work closely with fellow professionals and parents and undertake training to ensure all children's and parents needs are met.
All children benefit from the positive partnership staff have developed with parents and carers. The individual routines and preferences are discussed and recorded which means that staff are aware of all the children's care needs. Children settle well because staff work closely with parents.
Evidence shows that the partnership with parents and carers of children in receipt of early education is good. They are made aware of how the setting operates in a detailed prospectus. They are informed of topics and operational changes verbally, in regular newsletters and from written notices on the white board in the singing room. Staff have developed a routine for parents and carers to have detailed information on suggested activities to continue at home to further involve them in their children's education. For example, the words of the Christmas songs are provided for parents to help the children practise at home. Written assessment and development records and scrap books are freely available to parents at all times and at the 'stay and play' sessions every Friday to track the progress of their children. Children's health and dietary needs are discussed and recorded. Verbal exchanges with key workers keeps parents informed of their child's well-being and progress each session.
Organisation
The organisation is good. Children's records and staff details are stored securely and available for inspection. Staff attend training on a rolling programme and are continually increasing their understanding of children's development and knowledge of appropriate activities. Staff are experienced and knowledgeable and ensure children's individual needs are met.
suitability of staff, students and There have been some recent changes to the management committee at the setting. All policies and procedures have been reviewed and updated. The nominated person has robust recruitment methods to ensure staff are appropriately checked, vetted and qualified. Senior staff have developed an impressive system to ensure the continued volunteers to work with children.
The leadership and management of early education is good. The staff team regularly attend training on the Foundation Stage to increase their knowledge of the stepping stones and the early learning goals. Staff are confident and have established their own methods and evaluations. They are supported by a visiting development advisor who provides examples of practice and record keeping to further develop their knowledge and understanding of planning and how children learn. Documentary evidence and observations show that when children have attended who are in receipt of funding for early education they have steadily achieved and progressed because the teaching methods are effective.
The policies and procedures work in practice to keep children healthy and safeguard their welfare. There are clear systems in place for recording accidents, medication. However, the children's and staff's daily attendance record does not show actual times of arrival and departure. This has the potential for compromising safety during an emergency evacuation. In addition, the registration certificate is not prominently displayed for parents to check conditions of registration. Most documentation is meticulously maintained, up to date and regularly reviewed to reflect the progressive improvement of the operational practice. The staff team work well together to plan and provide all children with exciting innovative experiences to enhance their development and progress. Overall, children's needs are met.
Improvements since the last inspectionAt the last care inspection the provider was asked to ensure that registration arrangements accurately show when staff, helpers and visitors are present; and to request written permission from parents for seeking emergency medical advice or treatment.
The provider has implemented a visitors' book and records all children's, staff's, students' and volunteers' attendance. However, some detail is missing from the daily attendance record and this is carried forward to this report.
At the last early education inspection the provider was asked to; develop planning to provide opportunities for children to be involved in number problem solving and numeral recognition and encouragement for them to explore everyday and information technology; to develop planning of adult-led activities to simplify the learning objectives, enabling staff to focus on one area of learning in an activity, consider the involvement of children in adult led activities; and to evaluate activities to help inform future planning.
The provider has attended training to increase and develop knowledge of all aspects of planning and evaluation of activities and introduced parent's questionnaires which are used to inform the self-evaluation documents. This has resulted in significant improvements in the delivery of early education and progress of the children.
Complaints since the last inspectionSince the last inspection 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.
THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE CARE AND NURSERY EDUCATIONOn 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 good.At the time of the inspection there were no children in receipt of nursery education. Ofsted judges that the provider remains suitable to provide nursery education.
WHAT MUST BE DONE TO SECURE FUTURE IMPROVEMENT?The quality and standards of the careTo improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s):
ensure the daily attendance record contains the actual times of arrival and departure of staff and children and that the registration certificate is clearly displayed.
The quality and standards of the nursery education
To improve the quality and standards of nursery education further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s):
develop further opportunities for children to experience features of living things and enjoy a sense of outdoor space.
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
End of Report
Action to be implementedThe following information is the action we at Doxey pre-school playgroup intend to/or have already implemented in line with the recomendations above.
a) Ensure that any actual times at which individual children or staff arrive late or leave early are recorded in the register. The registration certificate has been removed from the insurance documents envelope and displayed on the notice board.
b) We are currently looking at applying for funds to allow us to construct our own secure outdoor play area at the rear of the church. This will make outdoor play much safer for our children. Ofsted acknowledged that our children do have access to outside and therefore they the made their recommendation to "develop futher opportunities to experience features of living things and enjoy outdoor space".
