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Inspection of Stepping Stones Playgroup, Ballymoney, Co Antrim

(DE Number: 3AB-0414)

A Report by the Education and Training Inspectorate

November 2002 INTRODUCTION

1. Stepping Stones Playgroup is a pre-school centre under voluntary management. At the time of the inspection, a total of 36 children attended the centre; 19 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. Fourteen 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 the centre’s provision. The few areas where the parents were less satisfied are addressed in paragraphs five and six of the report.

THE QUALITY OF THE EDUCATIONAL PROVISION

4. The staff are sensitive and caring towards the children; they create a warm and friendly atmosphere in which the children appear happy and relaxed. Most of the children are developing the ability to co-operate and to play purposefully with others. The staff intervene quickly to help the few children who experience difficulty with settling to an activity or interacting with others. On occasions, the noise levels rise too much;

1 more careful planning of some activities is needed to support the staff’s efforts to create a settled and productive atmosphere for play. The playroom is bright and colourful. There are well-defined areas for aspects of play. More stimulating interest areas should be developed which arouse the children’s curiosity.

5. At the beginning of the sessions, there is good informal communication among the parents and the staff. A variety of appropriate methods has been developed to inform the parents about the organisation of the centre and to share with them some details about the programme of activities. The good relationships established with the parents should be built on further in order to encourage their greater involvement in their children’s education.

6. The centre has a suitable written policy on child protection. The staff have a good awareness of appropriate procedures to safeguard the welfare of the children. The parents have access to the centre’s policies and are encouraged to read them; however, the staff need to take further action to inform the parents about child protection matters.

7. The staff work hard to prepare detailed weekly planning for each area of play and longer-term planning for the topics that are incorporated into the programme.

2 Relevant aspects of learning are identified clearly in the planning. The staff now need to extend the good start that has been made in order to identify how the play provision, and the children’s learning experiences, progress over the year.

8. The time available within the session is used well to provide suitable periods of free play and to enable the children to make choices and develop their ideas. Snack time provides good opportunities for them to develop independence and social skills. Many of the children are efficient in helping to tidy up the room and they are developing a sense of responsibility for the playroom and the toys.

9. The staff communicate naturally and easily with the children and become involved sensitively in the activities. During the inspection, there were many occasions when they interacted skilfully with the children to promote settled play and a range of learning. The staff’s involvement in the activities, however, is not always as effective, and opportunities for learning are missed. The staff need to continue to develop their skills in order to ensure that their interaction with the children is consistently of a high quality.

3 10. There is a good range of activities; the centre’s programme provides satisfactory opportunities for learning in nearly all of the areas of the pre-school curriculum. More attention should be given to providing early experiences of science and technology. The points which follow illustrate specific aspects of the programme.

 The children are generally well motivated by the play activities. Most of them are learning to share materials agreeably, and are developing the ability to concentrate and persevere as they play.

 The centre has good access to a large and a small hall. The staff use these rooms to provide the children with daily opportunities for energetic play. The available equipment is used thoughtfully to promote a range of physical skills, confidence and co-ordination. Although the staff work hard to overcome the drawbacks arising from the design of the larger hall, its size and acoustics tend to encourage noisy and uncontrolled activity.

 The arrangement of materials within the creative art area encourages the children to explore independently and to express their own ideas. The informal music sessions provide some good opportunities for exploring the sounds made by various instruments and for playing along with recorded music.

4  The staff promote valuable talk and discussion during play and encourage the children to develop an interest in books. The staff create a settled atmosphere in the small library area, fostering the children’s close attention during informal story sessions. During the sessions in the playroom, involving larger groups of children, the staff make use of puppets to maintain interest in the stories; however, some of the children experience more difficulty in listening when other activities are going on around them. The provision of writing materials as part of role-play, and in the creative area, encourages the children to explore marking and scribbling. Most of the children can recognise their own symbol or written name as part of the routine at snack time.

 The staff use appropriate mathematical language when participating in the children’s play. During the inspection, the skilful participation of a member of staff encouraged the children’s interest in measuring and comparing; the music session, and the use of number songs and rhymes, provided other useful opportunities to introduce informal counting and an awareness of number.

5  The good range of visits made to places of interest, and the visitors who come to the centre to talk to the children, provide valuable opportunities for the children to learn about their environment and the people who work in the local area.

11. Using a key-worker system, the staff make written observations of the children’s play and transfer these to individual records. They are developing appropriate arrangements for reporting to the parents. The staff are aware that their assessment methods are at an early stage and need to be developed further in order to identify clearly the children’s progress in learning. Better links are needed between the assessment information and the planning in order to meet the children’s differing needs.

12. The staff provide thoughtful support for those children who experience difficulty with aspects of learning. More detailed planning and assessment are needed to help the staff to monitor and review the progress being made.

13. Although no links exist currently with the many primary schools to which the children transfer, the staff plan, in the course of this year, to establish liaison with some of the schools.

6 14. The leader has given long service to the playgroup. Over a period of years, she has brought about important improvements in the accommodation and facilities for the children. All of the staff work hard and they co-operate effectively as a team. They have demonstrated their willingness to act on advice in order to develop further the educational provision. The centre’s early years specialist provides good support for the staff. Appropriate aspects of the provision have been identified for development and effective methods used to help the staff extend their expertise.

15. The centre has exclusive use of rooms within a community centre. The quality of the accommodation is generally good and there is ample space for energetic play indoors. The outdoor area is secure and the staff report that they make frequent use of this space when the weather permits. There are adequate resources for most aspects of play; additional equipment is needed to support a more progressive programme of physical play.

16. The strengths of the centre include:

 the warm and caring atmosphere;

 the good informal relationships with the parents;

 the organisation of the session;

 the staff’s natural and sensitive communication with the children during play;

7  the range of play activities provided;

 the hard-working staff and their sense of team spirit;

 the support provided by the centre's early years specialist.

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

 develop further the staff's skill in promoting the children's learning through play;

 ensure that all elements of the programme support settled and concentrated activity;

 extend the planning, and improve the assessment methods, ensuring that the programme of activities progresses over the year and takes greater account of the children’s individual needs.

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.

8 ã CROWN COPYRIGHT 2003

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: www.deni.gov.uk