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Our Ofsted Inspection of June 2002 is still to be published by Ofsted, however our June 1998 Inspection report is shown belowThe outcomes of our 2002 assessment has once again given our pre-school 2-4 years before a further inspection, and upgraded our capacity from 24 to 26 children per session. We will publish the report here as soon as an electronic copy is made available to us. Nursery Education Inspection ReportWARMLEY COMMUNITY CENTRE PRE-SCHOOLInspection Number: 1112597
INSPECTION OF NURSERY EDUCATION |
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| Name of setting: | Warmley Community Centre Pre-School |
| Setting number: | 510924 |
| Address: | Warmley Community Centre |
| 20 Deanery Road | |
| Warmley | |
| Bristol | |
| Avon | |
| Postcode: | BS 15 4NB |
| Person responsible for the day-to-day management of the setting: | Ms Hazel Chapple |
| Position: | Leader |
| Name of RgNI: | Joan Margaret Stevens |
| RgNI's Registration number: | 26386 |
| Date(s) of inspection: | 16/6/98 and 17/6/98 |
| Inspection number: | 1112597 |
The inspection took place as part of a national programme of inspection of the educational provision for four year olds. It was commissioned by the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), a department of central government.
Warmley Pre-School Group is run by a committee of parents who support the group by managing finances and arranging visits. The group opened in September 1968 and supports children and families in the urban area of Warmley. The setting caters for children from three to four years of age. It is open weekday mornings from 9.30 am to 12.00 noon, for 40 weeks per year. There are currently 45 children on roll, including 21 four-year-olds, 12 of whom are in receipt of funding. Five members of staff work with the children and are supported by mothers and carers who work on a rota basis. There are no children with special educational needs or who do not have English as their first language at present in the setting. The accommodation consists of a large hall which also serves as the local community centre. This necessitates clearing all resources away, after each session. There is no outdoor play area available for the children. South Gloucester policy allows children to attend the setting for one session per day at the moment.
The strengths and weaknesses of the educational provision provided
The pre-school is a warm, welcoming establishment which serves the local community very well indeed. It provides positive support for families and carers and a variety of worthwhile activities for the children to enjoy. There is a strong emphasis on learning through play and first-hand experiences. Children are likely to achieve the desirable outcomes in the six areas of learning by the time they are five years old. The programmes for personal and social development, language and literacy, knowledge and understanding of the world, physical and creative development are good. The programme for mathematics is satisfactory but has minor weaknesses.In order to improve the quality and standards of the educational provision, the setting should:
Continue to develop planning systems to provide more detailed long-term plans. Introduce sessional planning showing how children will be grouped and staff deployed.The provider must draw up an action plan within 40 working days of receipt of this report showing how the key issues detailed above will be addressed. The action plan must be made available to all parents. An evaluation of the action taken will form part of the next inspection.
| Personal and social development | Promotes the desirable outcomes |
| Language and literacy | Promotes the desirable outcomes |
| Mathematics | Promotes the desirable outcomes: has minor weaknesses |
| Knowledge and understanding of the world | Promotes the desirable outcomes |
| Physical development | Promotes the desirable outcomes |
| Creative development | Promotes the desirable outcomes |
Taken overall, the quality and standards of the educational provision are acceptable in promoting the desirable outcomes for children's learning. The action plan should show how the provider will address the key issues within 12 months of the inspection.
It is recommended that the next inspection occurs within two to four years.
The strengths and weaknesses of personal and social development
Children's personal and social development is good and a strong feature of the setting both in planned activities and daily routines. Behaviour is very good, the children are aware of right and wrong and show sensitivity to others. Relationships between children and adults and children's attitudes to each other are also good. Children show confidence and self-respect and are encouraged to select their own activities. Concentration, turn-taking, co-operation and perseverance are promoted as children work in small groups and individually. Excellent resources, such as dolls, games and dressing-up clothes, support children's understanding of other cultures and beliefs. Opportunities are provided for children to respond to cultural activities and children enjoy celebrating Christmas, Easter, Diwali and the Chinese New year. Children are allowed to express a range of feelings and show concern for living things, such as animals during a visit to a local park. Children concentrate well for example, when involved in writing, drawing and making models. Photographs show children's evident delight with seedlings and plants which they have cared for. They express their feelings spontaneously through activities such as role-play and share fairly during group activities. The room is organised so that children can select activities and resources. They are able to take turns for example, serving the snacks at break time and in group time when playing with musical instruments. Children work well independently with jigsaws and puzzles. This area is a strength of the setting. Children's spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development is fostered appropriately.The strengths and weaknesses of language and literacy
The programme for language and literacy is good and promotes the desirable learning outcomes. There are many good, well-balanced activities which foster children's language and literacy skills. Children respond well to instructions. In large group time children listen well to stories, join in with poems and rhymes and listen to each other. 'Circle time' is used to encourage children to talk confidently about themselves and their experiences. They are encouraged to explore new vocabulary when they are engaged on a wide range of activities. For example, children are encouraged to look at topic books from the local library. The emphasis of the 'home corner' is changed regularly and resources are available to extend their imaginative play. There is a shortage of good quality story books available for the children in the book corner. However, children use the book corner on a regular basis and staff spend time with the children reading to them and listening to the children talking about books. Children understand that text goes from left to right and from top to bottom of the page. An alphabet frieze is also displayed which helps children to recognise the shapes and sounds of letters. However, this not displayed at child-eye height and is difficult for some children to see. Children sing rhymes and listen to poetry which helps them to begin to associate sounds with patterns in rhymes. Children are able to recognise their own names, some letters and familiar words. They are beginning to develop writing skills, including writing their own names and use both upper and lower-case letters appropriately. There are many opportunities for children to use these early writing skills, for example during imaginative play situations. They use writing for a variety of purposes, for example writing letters, sending messages, invitations or writing lists during play in the 'post-office' and 'home-corner'.The strengths and weaknesses of mathematics
The programme for mathematics is satisfactory but has minor weaknesses. A wide range of quality activities is provided to promote children's understanding of mathematics. Children are able to use a variety of equipment to sort, to recognise numbers to ten, to count, to compare and to create patterns. An excellent activity involved a child matching and sorting according to various attributes. Staff use group and snack times to count, to talk about days of the week, the months of the year and the weather. Group activities have a strong emphasis on developing children's understanding of mathematical concepts using appropriate language and by asking questions. Displays include a number line and weather chart but these are not at child height. Children use prepared worksheets to record numbers. There are few practical experiences provided for the children to show awareness of number operations, introducing appropriate language such as, 'add one more', 'take one away', 'how many are left?' There are few opportunities to extend counting which lead the children into simple problem-solving from their discoveries. Children develop spatial awareness through movement and handling objects. Planning is not structured to ensure mathematic activities for four-year-olds lead progressively towards the desirable learning outcomes.The strengths and weaknesses of knowledge and understanding of the world
The programme for knowledge and understanding of the world is good and is a strength of the setting. The themes create good opportunities for children to talk about where they live. There are regular, spontaneous opportunities for children to talk about their families. Good use is made of visits to the local shops, park and library for example, in order to help children's understanding of the local area. A visit from the saftey-crossing man, helped children to understand the wider world and allowed children to ask questions. Children experience growing and living things. Staff introduce excellent activities based on learning from first-hand experience. A good example of this involved children planting seeds and holding a variety of small animals. Children are interested in seasonal similarities and differences. They enjoy building and use a variety of construction equipment. They make road and rail layouts and enjoy play with a garage complete with revolving turntable. They use sand and water and discuss why things happen and how things work. Children have many opportunities to look at nature during visits to the park. They are encouraged to talk about what they have discovered and to record their observations through their artwork. In order to develop their understanding of technology, there is a wide variety of construction toys available for the children to build with. Children are able to select a variety of equipment to use skills such as cutting, joining and folding. There is a collection of photographs in the setting showing children enjoying baking, a weather project, making a boat that floats and visiting an animal park. Children were able to experience technology by using a calculator/till, in the 'post-office', telephones and the tape recorder.The strengths and weaknesses of physical development
The programme for physical development is good and promotes the desirable learning outcomes. Children have a range of spontaneous opportunities to develop confidence in movement and awareness of space. There is a wide range of well-resourced activities provided such as modelling, cutting, sticking, 'junk' modelling and painting to develop children's manipulative skills. There is no outdoor play area available for the children to use but a variety of equipment and apparatus is used indoors. Children enjoy using a slide, trampoline, tunnel, boat, parachute and wheeled toys. Photographs show children balancing, sliding, climbing and moving confidently and imaginatively. The children enjoy sand, water play and playdough. Staff encourage the use of jigsaws and threading activities to foster hand/eye co-ordination and spatial ability. Children experience a range of tools and equipment to develop fine manipulative skills.The strengths and weaknesses of creative development
The programme for creative development is good. Children enjoy using musical instruments, singing and listening to music. They explore colour, shape and three-dimensional artwork. Photographs show children making windmills, printing, collage work and construction using tubes and boxes. They enjoy planting seeds and making models. Children experience different fabrics when using the dressing-up clothes. The layout of the setting encourages children to play on their own, or with others during imaginative play. Children enjoy playing in the 'shop', 'home corner', 'hospital' and 'post office'. Self appraisal and photographs indicate that children have opportunities to enjoy painting, cutting, gluing, threading and baking. Children use their imagination in play situations and have opportunities to use their imagination through art, music, dance and stories. There are no displays of children's own work, which would also contribute to the area of creative development.The strengths and weaknesses of the overall planning of the educational programme
Planning is satisfactory and the six areas are covered in the plans. Planning shows that priority is given to the key areas of personal and social development and language and literacy. Plans do not give priority to mathematics. It is clear what children should learn from the activities. The plans do not indicate the appropriate activities for the differences in children whose rates of learning vary. However, children spend part of the session in groups with children of a similar age, this helps to ensure that activities are matched to their needs. The members of staff are deployed effectively and know each child well. The layout of the setting helps to ensure that a wide range of activities is provided. Short-term plans do not show how children will be grouped or how staff deployed.The strengths and weaknesses of teaching and assessment
The quality of teaching is satisfactory and promotes the desirable learning outcomes. There are minor weaknesses in the areas of assessment, record-keeping and the monitoring of teaching. Staff have a secure understanding of the six areas of learning and this has a positive impact on the children's learning. The staff members are deployed effectively and use suitable teaching methods. Apart from the area of mathematics, the educational programme is balanced and monitored sufficiently. Staff have good interactions with children, they give clear instructions, explanations and encourage children to think for themselves. They understand how young children learn and many activities are rooted in practical learning and play activities. Staff give children the right balance between novel and familiar experiences in the learning situation. Staff offer children plenty of first-hand experiences such as planting seeds and watching them grow. There are limited activities which encourage problem-solving in practical ways. Children have few opportunities to see their own work on display. Children are encouraged to initiate and choose their own activities. Staff constantly praise good work and behaviour. There is a limited system in place for assessing children's progress through careful observation but key pieces of work are not kept with the records. Assessment and record-keeping are being developed in order to influence future planning. There is no staff appraisal system in place and staff do not undertake regular staff training.The strengths and weaknesses of equality of access and opportunity
All children are encouraged to take part in the full range of activities. Adults provide a suitable degree of support for individuals and intervene when appropriate. There is a wide variety of activities such as the 'home corner', construction toys and games to ensure that all children have an opportunity to participate in play. There is a policy for special educational needs and equal opportunities. Staff know each child well and use the support of other professional agencies when required. Children with special educational needs or with English as an additional language would be welcome and supported in this caring pre-school. There are no four-year-olds with special educational needs at present in the setting and no children for whom English is not their first language.The strengths and weaknesses of the learning resources and accommodation
Learning resources are generally good in the six areas and these are used effectively by staff to promote the desirable learning outcomes. The setting has a comfortable place to sit and look at books, but there is a shortage of quality story books for children to enjoy. Books and resources promote sensitivity to other cultures and beliefs. There are plenty of resources to support the areas of creative and physical development. There is a dressing-up area and the setting has imaginative resources to promote and extend early writing, in a structured play situation. There are growing and living things to observe and care for, and collections of interesting objects to sort and count. There are plenty of excellent resources to support knowledge and understanding of the world such as a road layout and garage. Children enjoy playing with construction materials using hammers and spanners. There are sufficient resources to support the areas of mathematics and personal and social development. The accommodation is suitable and provides an attractive setting for learning. There is no outdoor area which is suitable for children’s play and physical development. The indoor accommodation could be further enhanced with examples of children’s work and posters at child's eye height.The strengths and weaknesses of the partnership with parents and carers
A positive and supportive partnership has been developed with parents. There is a prospectus containing information for parents and carers about the educational provision in the setting. Parents are welcome in the playgroup and daily contact is maintained. Staff talk freely to parents and parents talk to staff informally on a regular basis. Parents and carers are encouraged to become involved in the activities in the pre-school and help on a rota basis. They do not contribute to the initial and ongoing assessment of their children’s learning. Parents speak highly of the educational provision and the caring staff at the setting.Implementation of action plan
Key issues from the previous inspection required staff to provide more details in planning a programme for the six areas, and to provide more opportunities to develop reading and writing skills. Children should be given more opportunities to recognise and write numbers and to solve problems in practical ways. Staff were required to provide more teacher-directed activities in the area of knowledge and understanding of the world. Written information should also be made available for parents and carers.