The most recent Ofsted inspection was on 30th January 2008, the report is detailed below and a copy is available to download on the right.
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ABOUT THIS INSPECTION
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.
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 EDUCATION
On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:
The quality and standards of the care are satisfactory. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.
The quality and standards of the nursery education are good.
WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?
Swimbridge Pre-School has been in operation since 1984, serving the rural community in and around the village of Swimbridge, near Barnstaple. It is a registered charity, managed by a voluntary committee of parents. The pre-school opens between 9:00 and 11:30 on Monday to Friday term time only and operates a lunch club from 11:30 to 12:30 on Monday and Wednesday.
The committee employ three members of staff, all of whom hold an appropriate childcare qualification. Two staff work at each session with a parent helper.
The pre-school is held in a small room which was formerly a school room. There is no outside play area.
There are currently 14 children on roll, all of whom are in receipt of nursery funding.
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PROVISION
Helping children to be healthy
The provision is satisfactory.
Children show a developing awareness of health issues and are learning to meet these effectively. They take themselves to the toilet and have learned how germs are spread. For example, children are able to identify that they could catch germs if they all lick the same lollipop. However, the use of a shared bowl of water and towel in the main playroom and the occasional lack of monitoring of hand washing in the toilet means that children are not always protected from the risk of cross infection.
Staff are proactive in ensuring that they are able to take positive steps to protect children's health. All staff are trained in first aid and clear records are kept of any accidents occurring on the premises. Basic information has been recorded on the occasions when staff have administered medication. However, a newly introduced medication record and consent form allows staff to gather clear and detailed information from parents and keep a better record of any medicinal products administered.
Children are introduced to healthy eating as part of their daily routine and are encouraged to bring in items of fresh fruit or vegetables for snack time. Parents support children well in meeting this request and as a consequence children enjoy a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables each session. Although the setting does not run for very long children have access to a substantial snack and are able to enjoy as much as they want. They enjoy drinks of their choice at snack time and have free access to water throughout the session.
Children have regular opportunities to be physically active in spite of the size limitations of the playroom and the lack of dedicated outdoor space. They show developing control and co-ordination as they walk, run and jump across the range of balancing blocks set out in the playroom. Younger children use their arms to try and help them balance on the walkway and enjoy jumping from block to block, they are undeterred when they fall off and get back up and carry on. An older child was able to walk around the walkway with his arms folded demonstrating very good levels of control and co-ordination, he was even able to change direction without unfolding his arms. Children show good co-ordination and spatial awareness when they play in the church yard. They make very effective use of the space to run, are able to avoid others and create shapes when asked to freeze.
Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe
The provision is satisfactory.
Creative use is made of the small space to offer a varied range of experiences to the children. They enjoy being able to access a quiet area for looking at books as well as a dedicated area for physical play. Wall and surface space is used well to create a welcoming environment. Children have access to suitable child sized furniture to meet their needs and are able to help themselves to a variety of safe, good quality resources.
Children access a safe and suitable environment. Risk assessments are sufficient to ensure the premises remain secure, although elements of practice and policies, such as leaving the key in the door throughout the session, are not always rigorously monitored and assessed to fully identify or minimise all risks. Staff help children to begin to think about how to keep themselves safe through clear explanations and discussions. Consequently, children are able to tell staff what the group rules are and remember to follow these well throughout the session.
Staff are able to act in children's best interest as they have an adequate knowledge of child protection concerns and procedures are in place to help them report any such concerns. Although a log is available to record any existing injuries, staff do not make effective use of this to further protect children's well being.
Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do
The provision is good.
The environment is well set out to allow children to access a variety of experiences on any one day. Children happily enter the room, they greet their friends and quickly choose an activity to become involved in. They concentrate well when building with construction equipment and are able to create interesting models, with wings that move up and down. Children feel a sense of pride in their work and gain self esteem as staff praise their creations and ask meaningful questions about how they constructed them. Children are very confident within the setting. They move from activity to activity as they wish and are happy to help themselves to the resources available. The routine offers children a good variety of activities on a daily basis. This includes opportunities for free play and daily chances for directed learning. However, on occasion the group times do not always fully meet the needs of individuals. Children are developing good relationships within the group and respect the skills of others. For example, one child said to another 'Can you help me make one of those please?' after admiring the model created by the other. Children then worked together to create a model.
Nursery Education
The quality of teaching and learning is good.
Staff have a good understanding of the Foundation Stage curriculum and how young children learn. They demonstrate this through the broad and balanced curriculum they offer to children and through the many opportunities they create for children to explore and learn through their senses. For example, children are motivated and excited as they explore the contents of frozen water filled balloons and observe the impact of leaving ice in a warm environment.
Staff are each responsible for planning and recording the development of a small number of children but also work well together as a team to ensure that individuals are challenged and supported according to their need. Systems are successful in planning to help individual childrenmake good progress in their learning according to their level of skill and development. Although written systems are not always so successful in supporting staff to achieve this.
The quality of interactions between staff and children is of a high standard and this positively contributes to the good progress that children make. Staff consistently challenge children through asking questions such as ' What do you think will happen if you drive the car through the red paint and then the yellow paint?'. They give meaningful praise to help children reinforce their understanding of right and wrong. For example, they comment 'That was very good asking, well done' upon overhearing one child asking another for help. As a consequence, children are confident, well behaved and motivated learners.
Children access a broad range of exciting learning experiences where they are able to develop skills and experiment to broaden their knowledge. Younger children are delighted to notice the shrinking size of the ice in the water tray and excitedly share their findings with others.
Children are competent counters, they are able to recognise numbers and count on to add two numbers together. They demonstrate increasing skills in letter and phonic recognition and all children are able to find their own name labels on entry to the group. Children are developing their independence throughout the sessions, they spread their own toast, pour their own drinks and make choices about when they want their snack. Children tidy up the sand toys and work well together to carry the bucket between them to the kitchen.
Helping children make a positive contribution
The provision is good.
Staff create an inclusive environment that welcomes individuals into the group. Children are confident, independent and well behaved. They share special friendships within the group and make good progress in their personal and social development as staff meet their individual needs well. Clear and detailed systems support staff in providing the high quality guidance they offer the children. Children gain pride and self esteem because staff care and show appreciation of children's efforts. Children are learning to respect the skills and needs of others. For example, they listen carefully to each other at chat time and celebrate a range of festivals from different cultures. Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.
The partnership with parents and carers is good. Children benefit from the flow of information shared between the parents and carers and the staff of the pre-school. Although a substantial amount of this relies on the informal use of discussion it is successful in keeping parents abreast of children's progress and allows staff to develop a clear understanding of individual children. Parents play an active part within the provision, they help out on a rota basis and form the committee that runs the group. Children benefit from increased resources funded by parents and from the additional input of the parent helper at each session.
Organisation
The organisation is satisfactory.
The committee provide clear support to the pre-school. They implement systems, such as appraisals, well to ensure that staff are appropriately trained and qualified to meet the operational demands of the group. They have suitable systems in place to check for individual suitability although these are not sufficiently comprehensive to allow them to keep on going checks fully up to date. Although the committee is responsive to making changes to documentation, systems are not sufficiently rigorous to ensure that all policies and procedures remain up to date or sufficiently detailed to support staff in their implementation. Staff make particularly good use of the premises to offer children a variety of experiences. Consequently, outcomes for children in enjoying and achieving and positive contribution are good.
Leadership and management of the educational programme is good. There are clearly defined roles for all staff and committee members within the setting and everyone is clear about their own role and responsibility. This works well to support the group. Good management of expertise by the committee has led them to give responsibility of leading and managing the educational programme to the supervisors. Supervisors are aware and happy with this and have good systems in place to monitor the educational programme. They use the daily reflection of provision to initially monitor what has gone well and what has worked. They then make very effective use of the regular planning meetings to monitor the breadth and balance of the curriculum. Staff have a clear commitment to improving the quality of provision as part of an ongoing process and made good progress in addressing the issues raised at the last inspection to further improve the curriculum on offer.
Improvements since the last inspection
At the last care inspection the setting were set several recommendations in relation to improving and updating their policies and procedures and making these accessible to parents and carers.
The setting has made appropriate progress in addressing these recommendations. However, systems are still not sufficient to ensure that they continue to review these in order to keep them up to date at all times, which has led to some policies again being out of date. Therefore, a further recommendation will be made in relation to this.
At the last education inspection the setting were asked to improve the opportunities for children to share books and explore the possibilities of increasing children's opportunities for large physical movement.
The setting has made good progress in addressing these issues. Children have good access to books and audio scripts and show increasing skill in using these independently. Staff support children well in their use of books and are responsive to sharing books on an individual basis. Consequently, children make good progress in their learning and development.
Complaints since the last inspection
Since 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 EDUCATION
On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:
The quality and standards of the care are satisfactory. The registered person meets the National Standards for under 8s day care and childminding.
The quality and standards of the nursery education are good.
WHAT MUST BE DONE TO SECURE FUTURE IMPROVEMENT?
The quality and standards of the care
To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s):
• improve hand washing practices to further reduce the risk of cross infection
• further develop staff knowledge of child protection and the procedures for recording existing injuries
• develop and implement systems to review policies and procedures on a more regular basis to update and make changes as necessary
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):
• further develop planning and assessment systems to ensure that individual needs are fully met at all times
• improve the range of systems for sharing information about children's progress at home and within the setting