Inspection Number: 1115420
| Name of setting: | Fletchlings |
| Setting number: | 584964 |
| Address: | Village|Hall |
| High Street | |
| Fletching | |
| Uckfield | |
| East Sussex | |
| Postcode: | TN22 3SR |
| Person responsible for the day-to-day management of the setting: | Mrs Tina Newman |
| Position: | Chairperson |
| Name of Inspector: | David Welsh |
| RgNI's Registration number: | 10992 |
| Date(s) of inspection: | 08 & 11 February 1999 |
| Inspection number: | 1115420 |
The inspection took place as part of a national programme of inspection of the educational provision for four year olds. It was commissioned by the Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), a department of central government.
The purpose of the inspection is to identify strengths and weaknesses so that providers can improve the quality of educational provision and help children to achieve the Desirable Outcomes for children's learning on entering compulsory education, (ie by the age of five). It is also to ensure parents and the public that nursery education funded by the state is of an acceptable quality. The inspection report must be made available to all parents.
If the setting has been inspected previously, an action plan will have been drawn up to tackle issues identified. This inspection, therefore, must also assess what progress has been made in the implementation of this plan.
Fletchlings first opened in 1965. It is situated in a rural setting in the Village Hall in Fletching and is managed by a committee of parents elected annually. The playgroup is registered for 25 children with the Inspection Unit of East Sussex County Council. It is open on three mornings each week from 09.15 a.m. until 11.45 a.m. for thirty-nine weeks each year.
The strengths and weaknesses of the educational provision provided
Fletchlings Playgroup provides a good range of activities. The children receive a sound start to their education in a secure and caring environment. By the time they are five years old, most children are likely to attain the desirable learning outcomes in personal and social education, knowledge and understanding of the world and physical development. They will attain most of the desirable outcomes in language and literacy, mathematics and creative development where there are minor weaknesses. The children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered appropriately.In order to improve the quality and standards of the educational provision, the setting should:
In practical activities and particularly imaginative play, provide children with more opportunities to "write" using a range of writing tools and papers.The provider must draw up an action plan within 40 working days of receipt of this report showing how the key issues or points for development detailed above will be addressed. The action plan must be made available to all parents, and to the Local Education Authority if required. An evaluation of the action taken will form part of the next inspection.
| Personal and social development | Promotes the desirable outcomes |
| Language and literacy | Promotes the desirable outcomes: has minor weaknesses |
| Mathematics | Promotes the desirable outcomes: has minor weaknesses |
| Knowledge and understanding of the world | Promotes the desirable outcomes |
| Physical development | Promotes the desirable outcomes |
| Creative development | Promotes the desirable outcomes: has minor weaknesses |
Taken overall, the quality and standards of the educational provision are acceptable in promoting the desirable outcomes for children's learning. The action plan should show how the provider will address the key issues within 12 months of the inspection.
It is recommended that the next inspection occurs within one to two years.
The strengths and weaknesses of personal and social development
The children make good progress in their personal and social development. Relationships are good. They enter the playgroup with confidence in the morning, greet their friends and staff and quickly choose an activity. Some choose to work independently while others prefer to work in groups such as loading and unloading wheat into lorries and trucks using a crane. Children share the tasks well and show good concentration. Children behave well. They respond promptly to the staff and have a clear idea of what is acceptable and what is not. They are polite and say please and thank you at appropriate times when having their refreshments. They look after the equipment they are using and they take care of animals when they are brought in. Children are encouraged to show their feelings and they have opportunities to respond to cultural and religious events such as Chinese New Year and Christmas. Children show initiative when they set up their own imaginative play as monkeys in need of veterinary treatment. Children are encouraged to remember they should wash their hands before cooking, eating food, and after using the toilet. They understand the need for hygiene.The strengths and weaknesses of language and literacy
The children make satisfactory progress in language and literacy although there are minor weaknesses. Children listen attentively to stories. They ask for their favourite stories to be read to them. They take books home regularly to share with their parents and they know how books work. They use the pictures to tell the story. They talk confidently about their experiences such as when they brought their rabbit into school. Teachers introduce vocabulary such as blowing, drying, and rotary clothes lines related to topics and the children use these words in their imaginative play and dramatised stories with puppets. Children recognise their own names when they hang up their coats, dry their hands on their towel and sit for refreshments. They recognise letters of the alphabet and can make up their own name using plastic letters. The know the sounds associated with the letters. Staff introduce the notion of rhyme and ask children if they notice which two words sound the same. Children can recognise that bear and there sound the same. They are writing their names on work such as completed paintings and they are making sufficient progress to write their name with appropriate use of upper and lower case letters by the time they are five. Opportunities for writing to communicate meaning are insufficient, particularly in the imaginative play areas.The strengths and weaknesses of mathematics
Children make satisfactory progress in most of the desirable outcomes in mathematics but there are minor weaknesses. They use mathematical language, such as 'triangle', 'diamond', and 'square'. They compare sizes of children's feet and can talk about which are the biggest and smallest. They learn about first and last when they line up before having refreshments. They make patterns using beads, commercial construction boards, and large soft cushions. Children count how many are in the playgroup at registration and they count the number of jumps one child does on the trampette. Children match beakers and biscuits to children and animal toys in pairs. They recognise numbers to 10 and can recognise 11 on the weather board. Children know a limited range of number rhymes, songs and stories such as "Five Little Ducks". Children are shown numbers such as '3' and asked to copy them but they have few opportunities in practical activities to solve problems and to show an awareness of number operations, such as 'add one more', 'take one away' and 'how many are left?'The strengths and weaknesses of knowledge and understanding of the world
The children make good progress in their knowledge and understanding of the world. They talk about visiting their grandparents and the gifts they are given such as a dress. They mention how long ago this was. They talk about their pets and how long they have had them. They compare the weather of yesterday with today and realise that yesterday is the past. They make good progress in developing an understanding of history. Children learn from play mats and other toys. They understand the need for bridges across rivers. They can explain why hay bales need to be stored near to horses. They understand the roles of people in the community such as the local baker. They learn their way to the local recreation ground nearby when they visit for physical development activities and they visit other places such as a farm and the Ashdown Forest Centre. They make good progress in their geographical understanding. Children make good progress in science. They experience a wide range of activities such as how the wind plays an important part in our lives by considering how it is used to power windmills and to dry the washing. They learn about how pet rabbits are looked after and they think about aeroplanes and how they work. They make paper aeroplanes to help them. They carry out investigations such as growing bean shoots in different environments such as light and dark. They talk about the differences. Sometimes they record their observations such as making a large picture of the differences between life under the sea and on the beach. Children experience a wide range of tools and materials to develop skills in design and technology such as cutting, joining, folding and building. They make a dinosaur out of junk materials, a kite picture and a collage of washing on a line. Construction materials are used to build a range of buildings and creatures. In information technology, children have the use of a simple computer to make tunes and to recognise numbers. They use the tape recorder for listening to tapes. In addition, staff have made arrangements for the children to use the computers in the nearby primary school each Monday morning from the spring half-term onwards.The strengths and weaknesses of physical development
The children make satisfactory progress in their physical development. They develop bodily control when they move confidently and imaginatively to the sound of the wind. They move to and fro as a washing line. They have an appropriate awareness of space and of others. They control their movements and show increasing co-ordination. They confidently use the climbing and balancing apparatus indoors. They show increasing skill when they climb onto the frame and control their descent on the slide. Children use a range of large and small equipment with increasing skill. They use a trampette for bouncing and bikes for riding. They practise rolling and catching balls. They improve their fine manipulative skills by using a wide range of cooking utensils such as wooden spoons and bowls and small tools such as pencils, crayons, brushes and spatulas. They handle tools such as hammers safely and they play with construction materials and malleable materials such as dough with increasing control.The strengths and weaknesses of creative development
The children make satisfactory progress in their creative development although there are minor weaknesses. The children explore sound by listening to tapes and singing songs such as "Old McDonald had a farm". They dance to music and play musical instruments to accompany songs on tape. In art, they have many opportunities to develop their skills in two and three dimensions. They have regular opportunities to paint, and to print using a variety of objects such as bubbles, hands and feet. They make collages and they make three dimensional models and shapes using dough and recycled materials such as the dinosaur. Children respond positively in a variety of ways to what they see, hear, smell, touch and feel. They dance to the sound of wind on a tape. When they stroke the rabbit they talk about how the it feels. They comment on how ingredients smell and food tastes when they are cooking. Children use a range of materials, suitable tools and other resources to express ideas and to communicate feelings. They use paper, card, fabrics, straws and other media to make pictures, models and collages. They use construction materials to make buildings, transport models and creatures. They express their feelings when they play musical instruments to accompany "Old McDonald had a farm". Through art, dance and imaginative play, they show increasing ability to listen, observe and use imagination when they make up their own stories using puppets, paint their own pictures and make collage pictures of washing drying on a line. They create their own creatures from construction materials. In dance, they use their imagination when they show how a bean shoot grows from a seed. Children have insufficient opportunities to use their imagination in music and in "writing" stories.The strengths and weaknesses of the overall planning of the educational programme
Written plans, based on themes and weekly topics, are agreed for each half-term and they include all six areas of learning. Activities for personal and social development and language and literacy are given priority but mathematics is given insufficient time. Planning for the regular daily activities such as table top and play mats shows what learning may come from them. Other planning does not always show what children should learn from the activities. This results in some areas of learning receiving insufficient attention and activities in which learning does not build on what children know and can do. Written plans do not show how children will be grouped or how staff will be deployed though it is apparent that staff have discussed and agreed this before starting each session.The strengths and weaknesses of teaching and assessment
Staff have secure knowledge and understanding of the desirable outcomes for all six areas of learning. This is demonstrated through the planned activities and from discussion with staff. They regularly attend in-service training to update their skills. Staff are deployed effectively. They work well together and take specific responsibility for some activities such as the craft activity. They intervene with individual children such as when they are on the computer. They give clear explanations of what is required and they ask questions which make children think, such as, "What do you think will happen next?". Activities are well organised. Children have opportunities to choose their own activity and on other occasions they are expected to do as the teacher directs. When this happens, staff monitor to ensure that all children participate in the activity. There are minor weaknesses. Staff do not assess children's attainment and progress regularly or keep manageable records to assist with planning what children will learn next. They make insufficient use of resources in the elements of language and literacy, mathematics and creative development which have minor weaknesses. Staff are keen to improve and develop the way they plan the educational programme and make use of the resources. The self appraisal schedule has been used effectively to identify strengths and weaknesses of the playgroup. Regular staff meetings are held and all activities are evaluated at the end of each session though these do not always evaluate the impact of the session on children's learning. A programme of staff appraisal is to be implemented once the new supervisor has settled into her role.The strengths and weaknesses of equality of access and opportunity
The playgroup has a written policy statement for equal opportunities published in the handbook for parents which makes it clear that no child should be discriminated against. Staff ensure it is implemented through monitoring the activities in which children participate and ensuring that no child dominates any activity to the exclusion of others.The strengths and weaknesses of the learning resources and accommodation
Staff make good use of resources to promote learning in personal and social development, knowledge and understanding of the world and physical development. They make satisfactory use of resources in language and literacy, mathematics and creative development but there are minor weaknesses. Staff do not provide sufficient opportunities for children to "write" in imaginative play in language and literacy. In mathematics, they do not teach a broad enough range of number songs, rhymes and stories and they do not offer children sufficient opportunities to solve problems in practical situations or show an awareness of number operations. In creative development children have too few opportunities to use imagination in music and "writing" stories. Resources are sufficient to cover all areas of the curriculum except in the area of display. There are few posters, displays of children's work, and no number line or poster of the alphabet regularly on display. Staff are severely restricted in the amount of display they are allowed to use and this limits the support to children's learning. Staff use the indoor accommodation effectively. There is very little outdoor accommodation and so the playgroup makes extensive use of the large play facilities in the nearby recreation ground when the weather is fine and the ground is dry. Staff also make good use of the local environment such as visits to the local baker, farm, and gardens.The strengths and weaknesses of the partnership with parents and carers
The partnership amongst parents and carers and staff is good and effectively contributes to the progress children make. Parents and carers receive helpful information about the educational programme from the parents' handbook and more particularly from letters each half-term which give more precise details. Parents are kept well informed of their children's progress by the work they bring home, the sharing of reading books and from discussions with staff who are available at the beginning and end of each session. Parents and carers are encouraged to join in with activities and even to initiate them such as the farm visit. Staff indicate that parents do contribute information about their children but as there is no system in place for assessing and recording children's attainments, parents are not yet able to contribute to this process.Implementation of action plan
Not applicable.