STATISTICAL INFORMATION

Name of pre-school centre: / Belleek Pre-School Centre
Address: / Stepping Stones Childcare Centre
Station Road
BELLEEK
Co Fermanagh
BT93 3FY
Management Type: / Private Voluntary
Date of inspection: / 23 March 2006
Date of previous inspection: / 18 October 2000

1. Details of Children

Total number of children: / am session / pm session
·  attending the pre-school centre / 24 / -
·  in their immediate pre-school year / 18 / -
·  funded by Department of Education / 18 / -
·  qualifying under DE admission criteria 1 & 2 / 2 / -
·  with a statement of SEN* / 0 / -
·  without a statement but receiving therapy or support from other professionals for SEN / 1 / -
·  with English as an additional language / 4 / -
·  who left in previous school year to attend reception provision within a primary school / 2 / -
Attendance:
·  percentage attendance** of funded children for the previous school year / 84% / -

* Special Educational Needs

** Calculated from the date when the intake was complete

2. Details of Staff

Number of: /

Full-time

/ Part-time
Staff, including leader / 0 / 3
Staff holding recognised childcare qualifications / 0 / 3
New appointments within previous 12 months / 0 / 0
Number of: ***
Students / 0
Trainees / 0

*** Total placements since September of current year

3. Details of Sessions

Duration of morning session / Duration of afternoon session / Number of days open in previous year
3 hours / - / 190

4. Parental Questionnaires

Number issued to parents:

/ 18
Percentage returned: / 77.8%
Number of written comments: / 7

BELLEEK PRE-SCHOOL CENTRE, CO FERMANAGH BT93 3FY (2AB-0319)

1. The playgroup is accommodated in the Stepping Stones Childcare Centre in the village. The children come from a wide surrounding area. Since the last inspection, the outdoor area has been resurfaced and play equipment installed.

2. The parents, staff and management group were given opportunities to express their views about the centre through the inspection questionnaires. The responses have been taken into account as part of the inspection. All of those who responded expressed a high level of satisfaction with the provision. A small number of issues raised by a few parents have been discussed with the staff.

3. The centre implements appropriate procedures for child protection. The staff need to include in their documentation their procedures for the personal care of the children and to share these with the parents.

4. The main strengths within the centre’s educational and pastoral provision are as follows.

·  The staff present a good range of activities and materials to create an attractive and stimulating learning environment within the playroom; many examples of the children’s own art work are displayed attractively around the room.

·  Relationships between the staff and the children are caring and supportive. Most of the children are settled and well behaved.

·  During the inspection, there were some good examples of effective interaction between members of staff and the children which promoted language and learning as a natural part of the play activities.

·  There are satisfactory opportunities to learn in all areas of the pre-school curriculum. Particular strengths of the programme are the promotion of the children’s confidence and independence, the development of the children’s art work and the children’s interest in early marking.

·  Many of the children display sustained, co-operative and purposeful play during the session.

·  The staff are hard-working and have brought about improvements in some aspects of their work since the last inspection.

5. The inspection identified areas for improvement. The following are the most important areas that need attention.

·  The staff need to develop further their skill and understanding in order to ensure their involvement in the play activities is more consistently effective in exploiting all the opportunities for learning; more should also be done to promote the children’s interest in books throughout the session.

·  The assessment methods need to be developed further to ensure that they are implemented consistently and provide an accurate profile of the children’s progress.

·  Although the staff work well as a team, more effective leadership is needed to support further progress in developing the educational provision.

6. The staff evaluate aspects of their work each week. They have appropriately identified physical play as an area requiring further development. The centre is at a very early stage of self-evaluation and development planning. The leader, management group and early years specialist need to work together in taking this work forward and bring about continued improvement.

7. There are strengths in some important aspects of the educational and pastoral provision in this pre-school centre. There are also areas that require improvement if the needs of the children are to be met fully.

2