Loughgiel Pre-School Pg, Co Antrim

Introduction

1.Loughgiel Pre-school Playgroup is a pre-school centre under voluntary management. At the time of the inspection, a total of 25 children attended the centre; 20 were in their pre-school year.

2.The inspection is part of a programme to ensure that appropriate standards of education are provided in centres receiving funding as part of the Government’s expansion of pre-school education.

The Quality of the Educational Provision

3.There is a caring, friendly atmosphere in the centre. Relationships between the staff and the children are good. The children are settled and well behaved; they relate well to one another and some firm friendships are developing. The centre is bright and attractive; good use is made of a wide range of the children’s art work and photographs to create colourful displays around the walls. The playroom is arranged thoughtfully and some areas are supported by appropriate books which help to stimulate the children’s curiosity and increase their knowledge of the environment.

4.The majority of the children travel to the centre by bus and, as a result, there are limited opportunities for the parents to meet informally with the staff. More needs to be done to inform parents about the educational programme, the centre’s policy on child protection, and their children’s progress and development throughout the year.

5.Currently, the staff are developing a written policy on child protection. All the staff need a clearer understanding of the procedures to be adopted in the centre to safeguard the welfare of the children. They need to ensure that the parents and the members of the management committee are informed of the centre’s procedures. The inspection provided opportunities for the parents to express their views about the centre. The vast majority of those who responded were satisfied or very satisfied with all aspects of the centre’s provision.

6.The staff have made a useful start to planning the educational programme and use themes to introduce some variety to activities. In the written planning, the reference to the learning potential of the various activities is too general to guide effectively the day-to-day work with the children. The planning needs further development in order to take account of the children’s differing needs and to outline progression in the use of the resources throughout the year.

7.The daily timetable provides a suitable period of uninterrupted play during which the children’s snack, and other necessary routines, are organised informally and operate efficiently. Due to the bus timetable, some of the children arrive at, and leave, the centre later than others; the staff need to ensure that all of the children have equal access to a suitably broad range of activities. When the weather permits, there are opportunities for outdoor play.

8.The staff are successful in encouraging the children to play in a settled manner and offer continuous support throughout the session. The quality of the interaction between the staff and the children ranges from that which is good to that which is not entirely satisfactory. The staff need to ensure that their interaction is more consistently of a high standard. They need to develop expertise in stimulating play of good quality and in fostering the children’s all-round development.

9.The centre’s programme provides a range of activities throughout the year; however, the learning inherent in many of these activities is not developed adequately. Some important areas of the pre-school curriculum are under-developed. The points which follow illustrate specific aspects of the programme.

During the inspection, there were several instances of co-operative play when the children shared materials agreeably and took account of the wishes of others. This was particularly evident during play in the writing area and also in the “restaurant” when the children prepared and served “pretend meals” to one another.

The children’s abilities to control small tools such as scissors and pencils are developed effectively. The staff are aware that the opportunities for the children to develop confidence and agility in their use of large equipment are limited and plan to address this shortcoming.

The children’s abilities to express their ideas creatively are developed effectively through the use of a range of materials. Some children have begun to make representations of people and objects in their surroundings. More attention needs to be given to the use of percussion instruments in order to help promote early ideas of rhythm.

The provision of a range of paper and writing tools helps to generate interest in experimental writing. Some children are beginning to show an awareness of early letter formation. The staff need to review and improve aspects of the story session in order to ensure that the children’s differing needs are met.

At times, the staff use some appropriate mathematical language; however, they need to develop greater skill in recognising the potential of activities, and in using appropriate strategies, in order to promote mathematical learning naturally through all aspects of play.

There is a need to develop the activities in ways which promote more effectively the children’s exploration and understanding of the world around them. There are limited opportunities for the children to learn about living things.

The development of imaginative play in the “restaurant”, and the use of appropriate themes and topics, help to promote the children’s awareness of their environment.

10.The staff have begun to make written observations of some aspects of the children’s play; further development is needed, however, to ensure that there are effective arrangements for monitoring, recording and reporting the children’s progress to the parents. In addition, this information should be used to inform the planning of the programme and the provision of resources.

11.Links with the local primary schools are under-developed.

12.The staff are hard-working and dedicated; they co-operate well as a team. Some appropriate areas of the curriculum have been highlighted by the staff for developmental work. The centre’s early years specialist has highlighted appropriate priorities for action and has provided useful advice to the staff about ways of improving these areas of their work. In addition to the early years specialist, the management committee has recently appointed an early years co-ordinator for the centre. There is a need for both these roles to be more clearly defined in order to ensure that appropriate guidance and support are given to the staff.

13.The quality of the purpose-built accommodation is excellent.

14.The centre has an adequate supply of good quality equipment and materials. Additional resources are needed in some areas to support the implementation of an educational programme which progresses steadily over the year.

15.The strengths of the centre include:

the excellent accommodation and the attractive learning environment;

the good relationships between the staff and the children;

the suitable period of uninterrupted play that supports the development of concentrated play;

the children’s good behaviour and the many examples of co-operative play.

16.The inspection has identified areas which require action. In addressing the most important areas, the centre needs to:

ensure that the policy on child protection, and the procedures to be followed, are understood by all of the staff and that the information is shared with the parents;

ensure that the quality of the interaction between the staff and the children is more consistently of a high standard;

develop further the planning to ensure breadth, balance and progression in all areas of the curriculum and provide better guidance to the staff on the learning inherent in all areas of play;

develop a more systematic method for monitoring, evaluating and recording the children’s progress and use the information to guide the planning of activities which meet the children’s differing needs.

17.Although there are some strengths which can be built upon, aspects of the educational provision in this pre-school centre are not entirely satisfactory. There are shortcomings in important areas which the centre needs to address. The management committee should work with the staff to plan and implement the necessary improvements. The Department’s Inspectorate will carry out a short follow-up inspection to evaluate the progress being made.