Ofsted Report 2004

COMBINED INSPECTION REPORT 29/9/04

This is a summary of our last Ofsted report. Text in bold italics is the action that were taken in light of the report.


SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Sessional Day Care
Setting Name Doxey Playgroup
Setting Address St. Thomas's Parish Centre
Doxey
Stafford
Staffordshire
ST16 1EQ

REGISTERED PROVIDER DETAILS
Name The Committee of Doxey Pre-School Playgroup Committee


ABOUT THE INSPECTION
The purpose of this inspection is to assure government, parents and the public of the quality and standard of day care in accordance with the National Standards for Under Eights Day Care and Childminding; and that the nursery education for funded three and four year old children is of an acceptable quality. Inspection of nursery education also identifies strengths and weaknesses so that providers can improve the quality of educational provision and help children to achieve the early learning goals (elgs) by the end of the Foundation Stage. This inspection report must be made available to all parents.

If the setting has been inspected previously, an action plan will have been drawn up to tackle issues identified. This inspection, therefore, must also assess what progress has been made in the implementation of this plan.

How good is the Day Care?

Doxey Playgroup provides satisfactory care for children. Staff have good relationships with parents and children and a consistent routine is followed that helps children to be settled and confident. Staff spend most of their time working directly with the children. An appropriate programme of adult led and child initiated activities are provided.

Attention is paid to ensuring that children can play safely although registration arrangements do not show when visitors and helpers are present. Security is good and there are effective procedures for the safe collection of children. Staff know about fire safety requirements and are aware of their roles and responsibilities. Although staff do not have written parental consent for seeking emergency medical advice or treatment, they have an understanding of health and safety issues. Children are encouraged to have regard for personal hygiene. Effective procedures are in place for sick children to protect others from infection. An adequate temperature in the rooms used by children is not maintained.

A varied range of activities is provided to promote all areas of development. Planning takes account of the foundation stage of learning but may not meet the needs of children under three years old. Children's behaviour is managed consistently and positive behaviour is praised and encouraged. Staff have a good understanding of the special educational needs code of practice and work to ensure children's needs are met by adapting activities and offering additional support when necessary.

Partnership with parents is good. Parents are kept informed about the provision and are encouraged to be involved in the life of the playgroup. Policies and procedures are shared although contact details of the regulator are not included in the complaints procedure. Confidentiality is maintained.

What has improved since the last inspection?
Not applicable as no actions were raised at the last inspection.

What is being done well?

Staff time is used well to ensure that they spend most of their time working directly with the children.
A varied and interesting programme of both adult led and child initiated activities are provided to promote all areas of learning. Interaction between staff and children is good and staff show an interest in what the children say and do.
An equal opportunities policy is understood and implemented by the staff. They respect and meet children's individual needs. Staff have a good understanding of the current legislation and guidance in relation to special needs. They are pro-active in ensuring children have the opportunity to develop to their full potential.
The management of children's behaviour is effective. Positive behaviour is encouraged and praised. Children's individual efforts are valued. Strategies to manage challenging behaviour are appropriate to the age and level of understanding of the children.


What needs to be improved?
the accuracy of registers for staff, visitors and helpers
the maintenance of an adequate temperature in rooms used by children
the arrangements to obtain written consent from parents to seek emergency medical advice or treatment
the arrangements to include the name and contact number of the regulator to the complaints procedure.


Action to be taken or already been updated
a) There is already a staff record of attendance in the back of the main register and we also have a visitors book. Unfortunately these were not seen by the inspector on the day. The staff attendance record was in the back of the main register. They have now been added to the bottom of the main register. Regular helpers,student, official vistors have also been added to the main register. The vistors book is used to record one off visits.
b) A new independant heating system has been installed since the inspection was carried out. The heating is timed to come on an hour before the children arrive to allow time for the heat to circulate the room.
c) Parental consent has been covered to some extent at the point of registration, however the wording of future enrolement forms for new children has been looked at and adjusted, to ensure that all instances for which parental consent is required are clearly stated. We have sent out a letter which includes a permission slip for children already on role which request updated information and ensured all have been returned.
d) The complaint policy has been updated to include contact details for OfSTED.
e) We have adopted a Birth to three matters framework to ensure the needs of our under 3 year old children are met.

Outcome of the inspection
Satisfactory

CONDITIONS OF REGISTRATION
All registered persons must comply with all conditions of registration included on his/her certificate of registration.

As a result of this inspection conditions of registration have been imposed / varied / removed and a new certificate of registration will be issued.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE NEXT ?

The Registered Person should have regard to the following recommendations by the time of the next inspection
Std Recommendation
2 Ensure that registration arrangements accurately show when staff, helpers and visitors are present.
7 Request written permission from parents for seeking emergency medical advice or treatment.

INSPECTION OF THE NURSERY EDUCATION PROVISION FOR FUNDED THREE AND FOUR YEAR OLDS.



How effective is the nursery education?
Doxey Playgroup provides good quality nursery education overall which enables children to make generally good progress towards the early learning goals. Children are making very good progress in all areas of learning except

mathematical development and knowledge and understanding of the world.

The quality of teaching is generally good. Staff have an understanding of the Foundation Stage of learning and use it to plan activities. However, planning of adult-led activities is overly detailed, resulting in there being too many learning intentions to enable all of them to be met and not enough attention is paid to ensuring that children are actively involved. Activities are not evaluated. Assessment of children is on-going and is used to help plan the next steps in their learning. A toy rota ensures that toys provided for free choice activities promote all areas of development, although opportunities for children to experience everyday and information technology are limited. Children are not learning sufficiently about numerals and number problems. Staff interact well with the children and are interested in what they say and do. There are currently no children with special educational needs but there are good systems in place to ensure support. Staff manage children's behaviour effectively and children respond well to expectations.

Leadership and management is generally good. Staff have a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities and work well together as a team, offering good support to the supervisor who is new to the post. Procedures to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the setting and its educational provision are not effective. Professional development is encouraged.

Partnership with parents is generally good. Although there are no procedures in place to keep them informed about their children's developmental progress, good information is shared about the setting. Parents are encouraged to be involved in their children's learning.


What is being done well?
Activities provided are interesting and varied. Staff know the children well and are interested in what they say and do. They interact well with the children and ask questions to challenge their thinking and expand their vocabulary.
A familiar routine is provided by staff that promotes children's self-confidence. There is an appropriate balance of adult-led and child-initiated activities to enable children to have choice and work independently.
The provision for children with special needs is good. Staff work effectively with outside agencies to ensure that individual needs are met. They have a good understanding of the current legislation and requirements with regard to special educational needs.


What needs to be improved?
the provision of opportunities for children to count and be involved in solving number problems
the arrangements to encourage children to experience and explore every-day and information technology
the simplifying of activity planning to enable learning intentions to be met and the evaluation of activities to help inform future planning
the arrangements to ensure that children are actively involved in adult-led activities.
Action to be taken or already implemented.

a) Throughout the session our children are surrounded by opportunities to use numbers and take part in problem solving. Unfortunately not enough of these practices were seen at the time of the inspection because other areas of learning were the focus that week.

b) Telephones had traditionally been provided for children to play with during home corner activities. however we have now put together a technology box. To have out inbetween the times the home corner is out.

c) A change in procedure has already been implemented which ensures that only one learning intention per age group is focused on during a planned activity.

d) The begining of that particular term had seen a change in leadership and a new intake of much younger children. This understandably had led to a period of time when we were all getting to know each other and finding our feet.


What has improved since the last inspection?
Not applicable.




SUMMARY OF JUDGEMENTS



PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Judgement: Very Good
Children show an awareness of the need to share, take turns and respect others' needs. They play co-operatively with each other. Relationships with adults are good and children are confident to seek support. They are developing independence skills in selecting and carrying out activities as well as personal skills such as toileting. Children respond well to the consistent behaviour boundaries.

COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY
Judgement: Very Good
Children are developing good vocabulary based on their own experiences, books and adult input. They show an interest in books and handle them carefully, holding them the correct way up and turning pages one at a time. Writing skills are developing well and children are able to practise writing in everyday play situations as well as structured times with adults. They recognise their own and others' names when written.

MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT
Judgement: Generally Good
Children show an interest in numbers and counting and count reliably up to ten although they are not developing this understanding further through counting in everyday play situations or the exploration of problem solving. They are not learning sufficiently to recognise numerals. Children show an understanding of shape and size and enjoy mathematical language. They recognise simple shapes in the environment.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD
Judgement: Generally Good
Children show an interest in the world in which they live and explore the natural world. They are developing an awareness of their own and other cultures and beliefs. A sense of time and place is developing and children confidently predict the day. They are developing investigation skills and are able to talk about changes they see happening. Children do not show an interest in everyday technology such as telephones.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
Judgement: Very Good
Children travel competently through, over and under large apparatus. They negotiate appropriate pathways when running, walking, stopping and starting and are able to change direction to avoid obstacles. Small objects are handled well. Hand to eye co-ordination is developing and children are able to control objects. They enjoy handling malleable materials and use simple tools competently.

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT
Judgement: Very Good
Children are able to explore colour, media and texture and are developing individual creativity in art and craft activities. They engage in a varied range of role play situations, drawing on their own and imagined experiences. Children enjoy simple songs and join in enthusiastically, recalling the words confidently. They show an interest in music and sound and are developing an understanding of rhythm.

Children's spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development is fostered appropriately.