Report Belleek Comm Pg

Introduction

1.Belleek Community Playgroup is a pre-school centre under voluntary management. At the time of the inspection, a total of 21 children attended the centre; 14 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 happy, family atmosphere throughout the centre. The children and their parents are welcomed into the playroom. The room has been arranged to create distinct areas for play with interest areas which stimulate the children’s curiosity and increase their knowledge of the environment. Samples of the children’s art work and a variety of posters, are displayed. The staff are hard-working and treat the children with care and respect; they support the development of the children’s self-confidence. The majority of the children are well-
behaved and relate well to one another; some firm friendships are developing. A significant minority, however, experience difficulty in playing amicably and productively, and thus become noisy, boisterous and unsettled during their play. The staff need to implement effective and consistent strategies for behaviour management in order to promote settled play.

4.The staff are developing suitable methods to involve the parents in the work of the centre through the use of a noticeboard, newsletter, open-day and parents’ meetings. A written report of the children’s progress is provided for the parents. The inspection provided opportunities for the parents to express their views about the centre. The majority of the parents who responded were satisfied or very satisfied with the centre’s provision.

5.The centre has a suitable written policy on child protection. The staff have discussed and developed appropriate procedures to safeguard the welfare of the children. The parents are given information about the centre’s policy and procedures.

6.The staff have compiled written planning which identifies some learning to be promoted. The planning is not yet focused clearly to take account of the children’s differing needs and to outline progression in the use of the resources and in the activities. The staff need to ensure that all aspects of the children’s development are promoted systematically.

7.The daily timetable provides some opportunities for freely chosen play during which the children’s independence is promoted. Sometimes, there is too much emphasis on routines which limit the children’s opportunities for choice during play, particularly during physical play and story-time. The organisation of snack time needs to be developed further to promote the children’s personal development and social skills. The staff should improve the organisation of the daily timetable in order to ensure that all time is used more effectively for learning.

8.Sometimes, the staff participate appropriately in the play to promote the children’s enjoyment and extend their thinking; at other times, however, their involvement is too narrowly focused on reinforcing knowledge, and limits the development of the children’s ideas. The staff need to develop additional expertise in stimulating play of good quality and in fostering the children’s all-round development through more appropriate involvement and intervention.

9.Although an appropriate range of activities is provided, the learning opportunities inherent in these activities are not exploited skilfully enough to promote effective learning in early mathematics, science and technology. Aspects of the children’s personal, social and emotional development and physical development need to be promoted more consistently and effectively.

There are some instances when the children share materials agreeably and take account of the wishes of others. The staff often encourage the children to be independent; however, some children move from activity to activity without clear purpose and do not show a sense of responsibility towards the care and appropriate use of the play materials.

The children’s abilities to control small tools such as scissors and pencils are developed effectively. The staff provide a variety of equipment for energetic physical play to help the children develop a range of skills. The staff need to improve the organisation of the physical play session in order to promote the children’s interest and provide choice throughout the activities.

The range of creative activities provided encourages the children to explore and experiment with different materials and some children create representations of the world they know.

The children are introduced to text incidentally through captions displayed around the room; some show an early interest in writing as they explore a variety of writing tools and papers. Although stories are read at the children’s request, and to the whole group, more needs to be done to encourage the children to develop an interest in books.

Seasonal topics are used to extend the children’s knowledge of, and interest in, the world around them. There are opportunities for the children to explore materials found in the local environment; the children play with peat and create pots from clay. The children’s experiences are extended usefully by members of the local community who visit the centre and by visits to places of interest.

10.The staff work hard to provide the parents with some information about their children’s progress. Further development is needed, however to ensure that there are effective arrangements for monitoring the children’s progress. The staff need to develop consistent methods to record the children’s progress and ensure that the information is used to inform the planning.

11.There is good co-operation between the centre and one of the local primary schools. There are no links with the other primary schools in the area.

12.The centre has moved recently to new premises. The leader ensures that the administrative aspects of the provision operate smoothly. The staff display much commitment to the centre and to the welfare of the children. Although relationships among the staff are good, there is a need to establish a consistent approach to the development and implementation of policies and procedures. The management committee need to ensure that the leader and staff are involved appropriately when decisions are made which affect the development of the centre’s educational programme.

13.The quality of the accommodation is excellent. The centre has an adjoining outdoor play area and facilities indoors for physical play. Storage facilities are shared with other users. The centre has recently purchased a basic range of good quality resources which will need to be enhanced in order to support the implementation of a broad and progressive programme.

14.The strengths of the centre include:

the caring and hard-working staff;

the welcoming atmosphere in the centre;

the bright and attractive learning environment;

the excellent accommodation.

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

implement effective and consistent strategies for behaviour management;

improve the organisation of the daily timetable to ensure that all time is used for learning;

ensure that the staff develop expertise in order to participate effectively in the play;

develop further the methods used to plan and assess the children’s learning, ensuring that the children’s varying needs are met.

16.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.

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Health and Safety

The stacked chairs in the room used for physical play are potentially hazardous when children are engaged in energetic activity.