The inspection of educational provision for children before compulsory school age Nursery report on Cylch Meithrin Dolgellau Gwynedd Registered Nursery Education Inspector: Wil Williams Date of inspection: 13 14 October 2008 (mornings only) Contract number: T/010/08N Queens Printer and Controller of HMSO 2008: This report may be re-used free of charge in any format or medium provided that it is re-used accurately and not used in a misleading context. The copyright in the material must be acknowledged as aforementioned and the title of the report specified.
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Report on the inspection of nursery settings in the non-maintained sector Name of nursery: Cylch Meithrin Dolgellau Address: Post code: Y Festri, Capel Tabernacl, Dolgellau, Gwynedd LL40 1SD Telephone: -776 283322 Persons responsible for day-to-day management: Mrs Eleri Lewis Mrs Eirian Davenport Position: Leaders About the inspection This inspection took place as part of a national programme of inspections of the educational provision for children before compulsory school age in Wales. It was commissioned by Her Majesty s Inspectorate for Education and Training in Wales. The purpose of inspection is to identify good features and shortcomings so that providers can improve the quality of education offered and help children achieve their full potential. Another purpose is to inform parents and the public about the quality of nursery education. A copy of the inspection report must be given to all parents/carers with a child at the nursery and should be available on request to other people. Inspectors have used a five point scale to record all judgements. Grade definitions are: Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 good with outstanding features good features and no important shortcomings good features outweigh shortcomings some good features, but shortcomings in important areas many important shortcomings 3
1.0 Context of the setting Context of the nursery setting Cylch Meithrin Dolgellau is a registered member of Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin and part of the Gwynedd Children and Young People s Partnership provision. The nursery has been providing Welsh medium education for the children of Dolgellau town and its surrounding area for a little over thirty years. Sessions of two and a half hours a day, four mornings a week are provided for three and four year old children. The number of sessions attended by individuals varies according to parents wishes. The sessions are attended by nine three year old children and one four year old. Only one child is funded by the Partnership. It is judged that the area served by the nursery is neither privileged nor economically and socially disadvantaged. Children of all abilities and backgrounds are admitted, including children with additional learning needs (ALN) or from ethnic groups. During the inspection there were no children with ALN or from ethnic groups. Welsh is the main home language of about a third of the children with others having one parent able to speak Welsh. Children s education is supported by four practitioners. Two have appropriate qualifications for early years education with another two of them studying for further qualifications in this subject. The nursery meets in the Tabernacl Chapel vestry in Dolgellau. The accommodation comprises one large room, kitchen and toilets but the setting does not include the necessary facilities for providing appropriate learning experiences for nursery children. There is neither a grassed area nor outdoor play areas and this limits the activities that can be provided. At the end of their time in the nursery, children continue with their education in other primary schools in the area. 4
2.0 Main findings of the report 2.1 The overall quality and standards of educational provision and whether or not the provision successfully promotes the goals for children s learning The quality and standards of educational provision, taken overall, are appropriate and successfully promote the Foundation Phase Outcomes for children s learning; 2.2 Standards achieved by children in the six areas of learning Areas of learning Personal and social development, well-being and cultural diversity Grade for under-fives Grade 2 Language, literacy and communication skills Grade 2 Mathematical development Grade 3 Welsh language development Not relevant Knowledge and understanding of the world Grade 2 Physical development Grade 2 Creative development Grade 2 2.3 Inspection judgement on the quality of education provided by the setting Quality of education Quality of provision for children s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development Grade for under-fives Grade 2 Quality of planning for children s learning Grade 2 Quality of teaching Grade 2 Quality of assessment and recording of children s progress, and reports for parents and carers Quality of the relationships with parents, carers and the community Grade 2 Grade 2 The contribution made by the setting to children s well-being Grade 2 Quality of the leadership and management of the setting Grade 2 The progress made by the setting in implementing the key issues for action identified in the last inspection report Grade 2 5
3.0 The standards achieved by children in the six areas of learning Standards achieved by 3-4 year-olds and standards achieved by 4-5 year-olds 3.1 Personal and social development, well-being and cultural diversity The quality of relationships is consistently good. Children have settled down well in the nursery and enjoy their learning activities. They are happy and confident when they arrive in the morning and they immediately go to the activities provided for them. They have formed friendly relationships with other children and are very comfortable in the company of adults. They show care and respect towards everybody in the nursery and display a caring attitude towards each other. The older children in the group are beginning to show sensitivity towards other children s feelings and to realise that they cannot continually demand the attention of adults. The majority of the children concentrate on their tasks for longer periods of time with some of the girls persevering with one activity until it is completed successfully. As the children mature, they work more independently asking adults for help when necessary. Children s learning skills are developing well. They make their own choices regarding the activities they wish to follow and they are adventurous and confident explorers. They face new experiences, especially experiences with the computer and the floor turtle, with enthusiasm. Children make good progress in their self-care skills and are beginning to take responsibility for personal hygiene. The vast majority dress and undress without help, use the toilet independently and wash their hands before eating their snack. They begin to understand the changes taking place in their bodies when they work energetically in a dance session. When taking part in various activities, all children share resources with no fuss, showing patience and friendliness towards each other. They undertake day-to-day responsibilities, such as sharing or collecting resources, in a responsible manner and are very willing at the end of sessions to put apparatus away and tidy up. Children respond positively to the cultural and linguistic experiences provided for them, especially those linked to Welsh culture. They realise that some people s culture, ethnicity and way of life are very different to their own circumstances. Children s ability to practice self-discipline is developing well. They are aware of adults expectations and respond positively when efforts are made to reason with them if they are unready to join in a specific activity. 6
3.2 Language, literacy and communication skills Almost all children make themselves understood when discussing their play or expressing their needs. The more confident children use full sentences when speaking and when role playing in the surgery, use language appropriate to the situation. All children are happy to hold a conversation in their mother tongue with visitors to the nursery and they relate their experiences in some detail. Most children listen carefully to adult instructions, expressing an opinion or asking questions about the tasks in hand. In dance lessons, they remember and follow a series of instructions with increasing skill. All children enjoy listening to a range of stories, including traditional and modern stories from Wales as well as familiar songs and rhymes. They respond enthusiastically showing interest in the characters and main events with some predicting what will happen next. They remember an extensive number of songs and nursery rhymes, especially those which include movement. Older children s ability to express an opinion and to discuss what they like and dislike in familiar stories, is developing appropriately. All children cope successfully with Welsh as the main language of communication in the nursery. Learners of Welsh respond very positively to adult instructions and comments displaying an increasing understanding of the language. A number of them use words and short sentences confidently and make good progress in their bilingual competency. Almost all children show an interest in books and enjoy their content. They often look at books with an adult and occasionally share a book with a partner. They all handle a book as readers following the story from left to right, with some realising the association between print and pictures. A good number of children associate individual letters with sound and recognise their own name in print when finding their place mat. Many of the children enjoy mark-making using a variety of media and display an increasing understanding of some of the functions of writing. 7
3.3 Mathematical development During their play activities, children make regular use of mathematical language, for example, they describe the size of objects as being big or small. They show an interest in numbers and they follow, respond and join in nursery rhymes, stories and songs, familiar games and activities very enthusiastically. They often use number rhymes to help them count objects. Many of the children s counting skills are developing appropriately, with most of the older children counting up to at least five objects. A small number of children recognise numbers 1-10 on mats and independently place them in their correct order. Their understanding of one-to-one correspondence develops appropriately as they share food mats during snack time. When partaking in a number of practical activities such as building with blocks and classifying teddies according to their colour, children make appropriate progress in their sorting, matching and organising skills. During their play activities in the water trough and sand trough, children s concepts of volume and capacity develops appropriately. They recognise familiar two dimensional shapes well and describe some of the differences between them. Children s ability to create a repeating patterns is insufficiently developed. Their awareness of the purpose of money is very limited. 3.5 Knowledge and understanding of the world Children explore and experiment confidently as they partake in a wide range of indoor activities provided for them. They enjoy sorting objects according to specific criteria such as colour or size. They talk confidently about their home with the oldest in the group describing their journey to the nursery in appropriate detail. Their awareness of localities and countries outside their experiences develops well as they discuss fruit and where they grow. Children have a basic understanding of the seasons and their features and they realise that the clothing they wear in the winter is different to those of the summer. They are familiar with the nursery s morning routines and know that they go home at lunch time. They show a good awareness of the passage of time as they learn the days of the week and keep a diary of Mali the Bear s journeys. Following talks by visitors to the nursery, they know well about types of workers such as policemen, postmen and firemen and about the main features of their work. 8
When they compare photographs of themselves as babies and photographs of themselves as they are now, the children describe well how they have changed as they grow. They have learnt the names of some of the main body parts and realise that they need food, drink and care to thrive. Through first-hand experience, children s appreciation of the importance of the environment is developing well. They know that a daffodil needs water, soil and light to grow and their understanding of food and where it comes from also develops well. They ask a number of thoughtful questions about how things happen. As they weave with different materials, children show an appropriate appreciation of some of the differences in texture, feeling and colour between the materials. Although there are no important shortcomings, a number of the children s knowledge of how to care for living things is limited. 3.6 Physical development Children s awareness of their bodies and growth develops well. When using large and small apparatus, they move confidently with increasing control and co-ordination. Skills involving kicking a ball and throwing and catching beanbags develop well and children move confidently when running, walking, jumping and climbing. When responding to music in a dance lesson they run, walk, stretch, bend and roll energetically and confidently. They steer bikes and large toys with increasing skill. Children use a range of small and large apparatus skilfully. They work carefully when building a tower with blocks, and when cutting around a template they use scissors with increased control. They hold and use crayons and paint brushes correctly and roll and shape clay skilfully. They play with little world apparatus skilfully and when experimenting in the sand trough, they show appropriate perseverance and control. They show increasing control of the computer mouse as they control the movement of images on the screen. 9
3.7 Creative development Children of all ages respond well to music. They know a range of songs and nursery rhymes and sing them with enthusiasm and enjoyment. They use different percussion instruments thoughtfully when trying to emulate familiar sounds and they keep a regular beat to the accompaniment of a piano. Their ability to make their own choices when taking part in creative activities, develops well. Children use a range of materials and media very creatively to portray their ideas and feelings. They colour patterns carefully and use clay skillfully when making small models. They use a range of materials to create a collage of a butterfly. The quality of their drawing and painting is good with most of the older children including parts of the body such as the head, arms and legs in their work. Individuals have discovered for themselves that two primary colours can be mixed to create new colours. On a simple level, children discuss their work with adults and try to explain their intentions. Brush skills develop well as children create a variety of pictures using more than one colour. Children enjoy role playing and imaginative drama. They get into the spirit of the situation and they use language and gesture that are well matched to the character they are emulating. 10
4.0 The quality of educational provision The quality of educational provision for 3-4 year-olds and for 4-5 year-olds 4.1 The quality of provision for children s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development The day-to-day running of the school is founded on clear principles and values which are incorporated in comprehensive documents. They are known to parents. The curriculum and the day-to-day life of the nursery promote respect towards diversity in a positive manner. Appropriate resources are provided such as a variety of dolls and clothes, which ensures the absence of any stereotyping in the choices that children make. Substantial emphasis is placed on celebrating Christian holidays such as Christmas with the children performing the Nativity to parents. The custom of singing a prayer before eating contributes well to the spiritual development of the children. Moral values such as honesty and fair play are promoted consistently in the life and work of the nursery. Children s personal and social skills develop well. They work together and are very mindful of each other s feelings and needs. They have good opportunities to take on day-to-day responsibilities and to make decisions and choices independently. Welsh and the Welsh culture have a significant role in the curriculum and everyday life of the nursery. Welsh is the language of both learning and teaching with the setting successfully creating an awareness of Welshness in the children. Although there are no important shortcomings, the attention given to other beliefs and cultures tends to be superficial. 4.2 The quality of planning for children s learning Planning is effective and provides continuity and progression in learning. It is balanced and likely to promote the Foundation Phase outcomes in each of the seven areas of children s learning. Good progress has been made towards implementing the requirements of the Foundation Phase. The planning s main emphasis is on providing practical opportunities for children to learn through play and to ensure that they have an active role in their learning. On the whole, there is an appropriate balance between childled and adults-led activities. The setting responds effectively to the needs of individuals by planning specific activities for individual children. 11
Equal access and opportunities are ensured for each child including those with additional learning needs. Effective strategies have been established to provide those children who come from non-welsh homes to develop a Welsh identity. Some attention is paid in the planning to other cultures and traditions. The resources are of good quality and they are used effectively by the practitioners and the children. 4.3 The quality of teaching Practitioners quality of teaching is consistently good and based on a sound understanding of the Framework for Children s Learning for 3 to 7-year-olds in Wales. Expectations are high especially for learning Welsh and an appropriate emphasis is placed on encouraging children to think for themselves and not to be over dependent on adults. Purposeful strategies are implemented to promote gender equality and to avoid any form of stereotyping. A great deal of attention is paid to the personal, social and learning needs of each individual. The learning environment is stimulating and the sessions are organised and managed effectively to ensure that children s knowledge, understanding and skills are developed successfully in the six areas of learning. Active learning is emphasised and appropriate opportunities are provided for children to make some decisions by themselves regarding their learning. The purposeful and timely intervention of the practitioners is one of the strengths of the teaching. They learn alongside the children and by effectively questioning and challenging they move the learning forward. The good quality language used by the practitioners contribute very effectively towards the progress made by the non-welsh children in their ability to understand and speak the language. 12
4.4 The quality of assessment and recording of children s progress and reports to parents and carers The assessment arrangements are effective and based on agreed strategies. They are implemented consistently and regularly by all the practitioners. They are comprehensive and reliable but also manageable to implement. A good system has been established to keep daily records of any notable learning by individual children. At the end of the week the significance of the informal records are discussed by the leaders who than decide which ones should be included as a continuous record in the individual child s profile. In addition, samples of children s work are kept which contain comments on their significance as a record of development. Discussions take place regularly between the practitioners and the children about what they are doing. Children are given clear suggestions on how to improve or develop their work further. Effective use is made of assessment results to plan and to provide specifically for the needs of individual children. The support and expertise of the Local Education Authority and other institutions are taken advantage of if it is thought that a child has additional learning needs. Good quality information is provided for parents about their children s progress. At the end of a child s period in the nursery, parents are given a detailed written report on the progress made in the six areas of learning. These reports are of good quality and written in clear and intelligible language. Numerous opportunities are provided during the year for parents to contribute to their child s assessment. 4.5 The quality of relationships with parents, carers and the community There are close links between the nursery and the Ti a Fi group who shares the same building. New parents are invited to attend the nursery and an extensive information package is provided for them. It contains useful information on the nursery s policies, systems and curriculum. The leaders know the parents well and are available for them at the beginning and end of each session if they need to discuss their child. There are suitable arrangements for parents to contact the nursery during session times. Each child is allowed to settle in the nursery in his or her own time and no child is expected to attend each session from the first day. A formal complaints procedure is in place. 13
Six questionnaires were returned by the parents after the inspection all of whom were positive. There are close links between the nursery and the community and a number of local people such as firemen, policemen and postmen share their work experiences with the children The nursery s leaders are substantially restricted in their use of the local environment as a learning media. It is impossible to use the parking ground behind the vestry and the path into town is narrow and dangerous. This substantially impairs the range of experiences that can be provided for the children. 4.6 The extent to which the setting contributes to children s wellbeing There are clear and effective systems for ensuring children s wellbeing and safety. All staff takes great care of the children and they respond quickly to any situation or incident which has the potential to impair or threaten the welfare of the children. A good number of policies have been adopted in this area. An appropriate accident book is kept and any day to day incident to do with the welfare of the children is recorded. There are safe arrangements for receiving and releasing children to their parents or carers at the beginning and the end of sessions and there are clear policies regarding anti-bullying and child protection. They are effectively implemented and any concern is shared immediately with the parents. All visits are risk assessed and parents written permission is obtained to take photographs of the children. There are effective arrangements for promoting children s health and welfare. Numerous opportunities are provided for them to take part in energetic indoor physical activities. They are given healthy food during snack times and it is ensured that there are high standards of hygiene in the nursery. The nursery s homely together with the close relationships between children and adults contribute substantially towards each child s physical, mental and emotional development. 4.7 The quality of the leadership and management of the setting The quality of leadership and management provided by the two leaders is good. They have a good understanding of the Foundation Phase, they work together very effectively and they ensure that sessions have a strong sense of purpose. They plan together carefully for every session so that children and adults time is used effectively. 14
All the practitioners work together effectively as a team. They share the same values and expectations and they fulfil their work in a thorough and conscientious manner. They are ready to shoulder responsibilities and display a good degree of initiative. Leaders benefit substantially from working closely with the Local Education Authority s advisory teacher. Both leaders are very ready to take advice and are consistently look for ways of improving the effectiveness of the nursery s work and the quality of the provision provided to children and parents. All practitioners have taken full advantage of all the training opportunities offered by Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin and the Local Education Authority and this has had a positive effect on the quality of the planning and the experiences provided for the children. Recent courses on the Foundation Phase greatly helped them to adapt the provision in order to meet the new requirements. The recently established systems for self-evaluation has enabled the leaders to consider the nursery s strengths and weaknesses in an objective and honest manner and to adopt clear priorities for improvement Valuable contribution is given to the quality of the provision and the effectiveness of the nursery by the hard working management committee. The committee s members take a prominent part in all of the nursery s activities and offer strong support to all the staff. 4.8 The progress made by the setting in implementing the key issues for inspection identified in the last inspection report The nursery has made good progress in addressing all the recommendations identified in the Estyn 2000 inspection. Good standards have been maintained and further improved upon. It is ensured that older children are sufficiently challenged, and effective and manageable assessment processes have been established. 15
5.0 Recommendations The setting needs to: develop children s ability to create repeatating mathematical patterns and increase their awareness of money; improve children s awareness of other religions and cultures; and continue to look for a more suitable accommodation for the nursery. The provider must draw up an action plan within 40 working days, or 45 working days if the plan needs to be translated to or from Welsh, showing how the issues identified above will be addressed. The action plan must be given to all parents/carers with a child at the setting. A copy of the action plan must be sent to the Chair of the Early Years and Childcare Partnership or Children and Young Peoples Partnership, as appropriate, and to the Local Authority. An evaluation of the action taken will form part of the next inspection. 16