1st Step Pre-school Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, settled and secure at this friendly and welcoming setting. They form close bonds with staff, who are caring, gentle and kind. Staff plan strong support for children's personal, social and emotional development. They encourage children to explore their emotions through a 'feelings tree' display. Staff use this to support children to express how they feel. Staff return to the display with children throughout the day to highlight to them how their feelings can improve and to show them how resilient they are. Staff are good role models. They are respectful and support children to use manners. Children take turns as they wash their hands and share as they play with board games and puzzles. Their behaviour is good.

Staff provide strong support for children's growing independence. Staff encourage children to make their own choices and to have a try. They put thoughtful strategies in place to help children pour their own drinks and blow their own noses. Staff encourage children to zip up their coats, tidy away their toys and put their rubbish in the bin. Children are confident, curious and busy in their play. Staff are happy and positive. They clearly praise children's efforts and ideas and delight in their achievements.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

• Staff plan a wide range of exciting activities and experiences that interest and challenge children. For example, children explore with their senses as they investigate real flowers, fruits and vegetables. Children look for bugs in the enclosed garden and empty and fill containers with water and sand.
• Staff model new skills to children well. Occasionally, however, there are times during the daily routine when staff do not consistently provide more targeted support for children's learning.
• Staff use familiar books as starting points for activities. For example, children act out a favourite story as they use wooden hammers to explore vegetables that staff have encased in ice.
• Children learn about the lives of others and their local community, such as through visitors to the setting. For example, they meet a firefighter, a veteran, a volunteer from a local food bank and a representative from a local mosque.
• Overall, staff provide strong support for children's developing communication and language skills. Children enjoy singing, sharing stories and learning how to sign simple words. However, at small-group times, staff do not always check that children are settled and ready to listen before they begin.
• Staff plan good support to develop children's physical skills. Children balance, stretch and climb during outdoor play. They learn how to roll, pinch, splat and squeeze dough with their fingers. Children build houses with wooden blocks, make sandcastles and take part in action rhymes.
• Inspection report: 1st Step Pre-school Ltd 6 October 2023 2
• Staff weave mathematics through activities and children's everyday play. For example, they encourage children to build towers with bricks and discuss which is the tallest. Children count the rings of stacking towers and compare the size of potatoes.
• Staff talk to children about healthy eating and provide healthy lunchbox ideas for parents. Children benefit from hot and home-cooked meals, which are balanced and nutritious.
• Staff have experience in caring for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They understand the importance of working closely with other professionals in education and health to provide a consistent approach to support children's learning.
• Parents speak highly of the setting and staff. They say staff are very warm, friendly and approachable. Parents praise the systems in place for communication and the progress which their children make. They say their children settle quickly and love coming to the setting.
• Senior staff provide strong support for their staff team's professional development and well-being. They reflect well on experiences for parents, staff and children. For example, staff adapt spaces in which children play after observing how best to support their learning.
• Senior staff have a positive attitude towards continuous improvement. They are passionate about the service they provide and are dedicated to providing a home-from-home environment for the children in their care.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the structure of the daily routine and deployment of staff to provide more targeted support for children's learning
• develop strategies to settle and prepare children at the beginning of small-group times so that they are ready to listen and learn.
• Inspection report: 1st Step Pre-school Ltd 6 October 2023 3