/ Providing Inspection Services for
Department of Education
Department for Employment and Learning
Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure
Inspection of Greysteel Community Playgroup,
Co Londonderry
(DE Number: 2AB-0060)
A Report by the Education and Training Inspectorate
February 2004

STATISTICAL INFORMATION

Name of pre-school centre: / Greysteel Community Playgroup
Address: / St Columba’s Walk
Greysteel
LONDONDERRY BT47 3XZ
Management Type: / Voluntary
Date of inspection: / 2 February 2004
Date of previous inspection: / 4 April 2000

1.Details of Children

Total number of children: / am session / pm session
  • attending the pre-school centre
/ 18
  • in their immediate pre-school year
/ 18
  • funded by Department of Education
/ 17
  • qualifying under DE admission criteria 1 & 2
/ 6
  • with a statement of SEN*
/ 0
  • receiving therapy or support from other professionals for SEN
/ 1
  • with English as an additional language
/ 0
  • who left in previous school year to attend reception provision within a primary school
/ 0
Attendance:
  • percentage attendance** of funded children for the previous school year
/ 78.68%

*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 / 3
Staff holding recognised childcare qualifications / 3
New appointments within previous 12 months
Number of: ***
Students
Trainees

*** 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
2½ hours / 188

4.Parental Questionnaires

Number issued to parents:

/ 17
Percentage returned: / 64.7%
Number of written comments: / 1

Introduction

1.Greysteel Community Playgroup occupies purpose-built premises within the village. The children come mainly from the village and the surrounding rural area.

2.In their response to the inspection questionnaire, the parents expressed a high level of satisfaction with the centre’s provision.

The Quality of the Educational Provision

3.There is a warm, welcoming atmosphere; relationships between the staff and the children are very good. The children are settled and well behaved. The staff are caring and supportive; they display respect for the children’s ideas and foster their self-esteem. The playroom is bright, attractive and enhanced by the use of posters, photographs and displays of the children’s art work.

4.The communication with parents is good; a booklet, regular newsletters, and an open day are designed to encourage the parents to play a full role in the education of their children. In addition to the daily informal meetings, the parents are invited into the centre three times during the year to discuss their children’s progress with the leaders.

5.The centre has a suitable written policy on child protection. The staff implement appropriate procedures to safeguard the welfare of the children. A copy of the child protection policy is available in the centre’s information booklet and also on the parents’ notice board.

6.The staff work effectively as a team to compile appropriate medium- and short-term plans designed to foster the children’s all-round development. These plans outline varied learning experiences throughout the year and identify clearly the learning to be promoted from the play activities. As the staff continue to develop the planning, they should focus more closely on how the activities provide increased challenge and progression over the year.

7.The daily timetable provides a lengthy period of uninterrupted play and ensures that the children have ample time to explore freely the full range of activities and develop their play. The snack time is organised informally and provides good opportunities for the children to develop independence and to acquire early conversational skills. The children are provided with daily opportunities for energetic play and group stories.

8.The staff are successful in encouraging the children to play in a settled and productive manner. They regularly talk to the children about their play and experiences, and praise and encourage their efforts.

Some of the staff participate particularly skilfully in the activities, using open-ended questions and building on the children’s ideas to promote language and learning.

9.The range of activities provided offers good opportunities for learning in most areas of the pre-school curriculum. The promotion of the children’s early mathematical experiences is a particular strength. The points which follow illustrate specific aspects of the programme.

  • The children are well motivated and show a good level of involvement in their activities. The staff encourage the children to be independent, to share materials agreeably and to take care of the playroom environment.
  • The staff make effective use of the stimulating outdoor play area and the playroom to ensure that the children have daily opportunities for energetic play. The children are gaining some appropriate physical skills and are beginning to use a variety of equipment with confidence. Many of the children are acquiring good manipulative skills using a wide variety of small tools.
  • During the inspection, some of the most concentrated play was observed in the creative art area as the children used a wide range of materials to express their own ideas. A few

children have begun to make early representations of people and objects in their surroundings. There are daily opportunities for informal singing.

  • Careful attention is given to developing the children’s talking and listening skills, and fostering their interest in books. The children frequently browse in the book area; stories are read at the children’s request and a few children are beginning to create their own stories using visual cues. The children are introduced to text incidentally through the appropriate use of the children’s names during snack. A few display an early interest in writing as they explore a variety of writing tools and papers.
  • There is very good promotion of early mathematical ideas through the daily routine and a range of play activities. The staff frequently use appropriate mathematical language when participating in the children’s play and promote an early interest in size, shape, weight, capacity and positional language. Songs, rhymes and small group activities are often used effectively as a starting point for learning about number and sequencing.
  • The children have regular opportunities to explore the properties of sand, water and scrap materials. They design and build using a variety of constructional materials. The staff make good use of a range of educational visits and visitors to the centre to enhance the children’s experiences. More opportunities should be provided for the children to observe and investigate a range of natural materials, living things and items of interest.

10.The staff operate a key-worker system; they regularly monitor the children’s responses to the play activities and record relevant and accurate information. They are beginning to link the assessment information to their planning in order to meet the differing needs of some of the children. They should continue to develop this aspect of their work.

11.The staff report that useful links have been established with some of the local primary schools; the children have opportunities to visit the school and meet the staff. Transition records are completed for all the primary schools to which the children transfer.

12.The staff make good efforts to identify and address the learning difficulties experienced by some children. They are currently attending relevant training courses in special educational needs.

13.The centre is effectively managed and organised. The staff work well as a team and display much commitment to the centre and to the children’s welfare. Since the last inspection, further progress has been made in many aspects of the centre’s provision. The staff value the support provided by the management committee, and the appropriate advice and guidance offered by the centre’s early years specialist.

14.The quality of the accommodation is very good and well designed to meet the needs of pre-school children. The thoughtfully designed outdoor area provides further opportunities for the staff to broaden the children’s learning experiences. The centre has invested in furniture and equipment of good quality; there are adequate resources to support the implementation of a broad and balanced pre-school programme.

15.The strengths of the centre include:

  • the warm and welcoming atmosphere and the very good relationships between the staff and the children;
  • the good communication and links with the parents;
  • the children’s good behaviour and their settled, concentrated and purposeful play;
  • the good opportunities for learning in most areas of the pre-school curriculum, particularly the children’s early mathematical experiences;
  • the lengthy period of uninterrupted play;
  • the dedicated staff, the sense of team spirit, and the progress made in developing aspects of the centre’s provision since the last inspection;
  • the quality of the accommodation.

16.There are major strengths in nearly all aspects of the educational and pastoral provision in this pre-school centre. The needs of the children are being met effectively.

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Copies of this report may be obtained from the Inspection Services Branch, Department of Education, Rathgael House, 43 Balloo Road, Bangor, CoDownBT197PR. A copy is also available on the DE website: