/ Providing Inspection Services for
Department of Education
Department for Employment and Learning
Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure
© CROWN COPYRIGHT 2002
This report may be reproduced in whole or in part, except for commercial purposes or in connection with a prospectus or advertisement, provided that the source and date thereof are stated.
Copies of this report may be obtained from the Inspection Services Branch, Department of Education, Rathgael House, 43 Balloo Road, Bangor, Co Down BT19 7PR. A copy is also available on the DE website: / Inspection of Forever Friends Playgroup,
Coalisland, Co Tyrone
(DE Number: 5AB-0397)
A Report by the Education and Training Inspectorate
February 2002
INTRODUCTION
1.Forever Friends Playgroup is a pre-school centre under voluntary management. At the time of the inspection, a total of 26 children attended the centre; 17 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. Seventeen of the centre's pre-school places are funded through the expansion programme.
3.The inspection provided opportunities for the parents to express their views about the centre. Almost all of those who responded were satisfied or very satisfied with nearly all aspects of the centre’s provision. Some parents included positive comments about the staff and the work of the centre.
THE QUALITY OF THE EDUCATIONAL PROVISION
4.There is a warm and welcoming atmosphere throughout the centre. The children are greeted on arrival and settle quickly to play. The children are well behaved and relate well to one another; some firm friendships are developing. Relationships between the staff and the children are very good. The staff are caring and supportive and promote effectively the children's confidence and independence. The environment is attractive and stimulating; much thought has been given to creating clearly defined areas for play. Good use is made of a wide range of the children’s art work to create colourful displays around the playroom. Interest areas, supported by appropriate books and pictures, stimulate the children’s curiosity and increase their knowledge of the environment.
8.The daily timetable provides a suitable period of uninterrupted play and emphasises opportunities for the children to make choices, to explore freely the full range of activities and to develop their play. The children’s snack, and other necessary routines, are organised informally and operate efficiently. The children are provided with daily opportunities for energetic play, group stories and informal singing sessions. The smooth organisation of the session, and the involvement of the children in the activities, ensure a relaxed and flexible programme.
9.The staff are successful in encouraging most of the children to play in a settled manner; they frequently join with the children in play and participate sensitively in many of the activities. The staff recognise the importance of developing the children’s language and social skills. During the inspection, there were instances when the staff provided sustained support, which fostered successfully the children’s language and learning. This was evident particularly during block play when the children were encouraged to observe and to think, and there was valuable discussion about the activity. The quality of the staff's interaction is, however, variable and opportunities for learning are sometimes missed or not developed fully. The staff need to develop a more consistent approach to their involvement in the play in order to promote fully the children's learning and development.
10.The range of activities provides satisfactory opportunities for learning in most areas of the pre-school curriculum. The points which follow illustrate specific aspects of the programme.
·The careful attention given to promoting the children’s personal, social and emotional development is evident in the many instances of good co-operative play when the children share materials agreeably and take account of the ideas and wishes of others. The children are confident in using a wide range of activities and materials. The play is purposeful and
around the room and by the appropriate use of their names at snack time; many display an early interest in marking and writing as they explore a variety of writing tools and papers.
·The staff occasionally use appropriate mathematical language when participating in the children’s play and promote an interest in counting, measuring, colour and shape. During the inspection, the children enjoyed using the tape measure to compare the lengths of blocks. The staff should extend further their skills in developing the mathematical learning inherent in a range of play activities and in the daily routines.
·The children are provided with a broad range of experiences that encourage exploration and investigation. There are opportunities for the children to learn about living things by growing spring bulbs and helping to care for the goldfish. The children have opportunities to become aware of the properties of materials through play with sand and water. The staff need to develop more effectively the children’s abilities to investigate and find out for themselves in order to promote early scientific awareness. Technological skills are developed through the provision of a wide variety of constructional materials and equipment. On the day of the inspection, some children engaged in good concentrated play as they made models using a range of constructional equipment.
·Good use is made of seasonal and environmental topics to extend the children’s knowledge of, and interest in, the world around them. On the day of the inspection, the attractive photographic display of children from different countries initiated discussion between a child and member of staff about the children’s dress and where they lived. The children’s experiences are extended usefully by members of the local community who visit the centre.
16.The strengths of the centre include:
·the warm welcoming atmosphere and the good relationships between the staff and the children;
·the bright and attractive learning environment;
·the caring and supportive staff who promote effectively the children’s confidence and independence;
·the very good behaviour of the children and the many instances of purposeful and concentrated play;
·the effective communication and links with the parents;
·the staff’s hard work and dedication.
17.The inspection has identified areas which require action. In addressing the most important areas, the centre needs to:
- consolidate and develop further the assessment methods in order to ensure that the children’s differing needs are met;
- ensure that the quality of the interaction between the staff and the children is consistently of a high standard and fosters the children’s thinking and learning in all aspects of the play programme.
6.The centre has a suitable written policy on child protection. The staff are aware of appropriate procedures to safeguard the welfare of the children. The parents are given information about the centre's policy and procedures.
7.The staff have made a good start to planning the educational programme. They have outlined long-, medium-, and short-term plans. The planning of themes is effective in introducing a variety of interesting activities and experiences for the children. The planning identifies some facets of learning inherent in the play activities. As the staff develop further their approaches to planning, attention should be given to identifying how the use of resources will provide challenge and progression in the children’s experiences and the ways in which their differing needs will be met.
productive and most children sustain high levels of concentration and involvement in their activities. The staff encourage the children to develop a sense of responsibility for the care of the playroom and equipment.
·There is appropriate development of the children’s fine manipulative skills as they use small items of equipment and tools such as pencils and staplers. The centre has a secure outdoor play area which is used daily when the weather permits. The staff plan to develop this area further and are presently seeking funding for additional resources. On the day of the inspection, the children thoroughly enjoyed their energetic play session indoors and displayed confidence and agility in their use of the climbing frame and tunnel.
·The wide range of creative activities encourages the children to explore and experiment with different materials and tools. Some of the displayed examples of the children’s art work include early representations of people and objects. The children have daily opportunities for informal and group singing and many have developed a repertoire of rhymes and songs.
·The centre is rich in opportunities to develop language. The children are encouraged to express themselves confidently in conversation; as a result, they can talk about their play and share their ideas with others. There are good opportunities for the children to develop an interest in books. During the inspection, there were opportunities for informal stories throughout the morning. The children are generally attentive during the group story session and a few children choose to browse in the inviting book area or to explore the books incorporated into the other areas of play. The children are introduced to text incidentally through captions displayed
11.The staff have made a suitable start in developing their approaches to monitoring and reporting the children's progress. The centre operates a key-worker system and the staff know the children well. They record some thoughtful observations of the children’s achievements and meet with the parents to share information on the children's development. The staff now need to consolidate and develop further their assessment procedures in order to ensure that adequate information is recorded on each child’s progress and that key areas of development are monitored closely. They also need to link the assessment information to the planning to ensure that the children’s differing needs are met.
12.Although there are presently no links with the local primary schools, the staff plan to provide the schools with some information about the children’s progress.
13.The staff are aware of the children’s learning difficulties and have sought help and advice from other professionals.
14.The leader has given long service to the centre and has worked hard to develop the pre-school provision in the community. She is dedicated to the centre’s future development. The centre is organised and managed effectively. Weekly staff meetings ensure there is a shared understanding of the objectives of play sessions. The staff are hard-working and dedicated; they co-operate well as a team. The staff value the support and guidance provided by the centre’s early years specialist.
15.The quality of the accommodation is satisfactory. The centre is bright, attractive and well maintained; good use is made of all the available space. The centre has an enclosed outdoor play area. The staff have recently invested in a wide range of good quality resources which have enhanced the educational programme.
18.Overall, the quality of the educational provision in this pre-school centre is satisfactory but improvements are needed in the areas identified if the needs of the children are to be met fully. The staff should draw up a plan to address these areas. The Department’s Inspectorate will monitor the progress being made.
VP/WATSON/3 – 05.03.02