All Saints Pre-School Runcorn

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at this pre-school happy and ready to learn. The warm and friendly staff form strong bonds with the children and their families. Children separate from their parents and run into the setting with confidence and delight. They quickly engage in their choice of exciting play activities that staff have planned for them.

Leaders and staff have the highest ambition for all children. Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), children who speak English as an additional language, and children in receipt of additional funding, are well supported. The accurate use of assessment, together with excellent partnerships with external agencies, means that gaps in children's learning and any specific needs are identified early and acted on quickly. Leaders and staff plan individualised learning for all children to ensure that they make good progress for their future learning.

Children are respectful of each other and demonstrate high levels of resilience. For example, on the day of inspection, a child worked incredibly hard to build a tall tower of bricks. He skilfully carried it around to show his friends. When it toppled over, his friends helped him to rebuild it again. This demonstrates that children recognise and show high regard for the achievements of others.

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

• Leaders and staff have carefully considered the learning environment to meet the individual needs of children. Additional funding has been used to enhance the newly developed outside play area. Children benefit greatly from being able to make choices in where they want to play and learn. Furthermore, leaders and staff have worked with their local authority to enhance the provision for children with SEND.
• There are effective arrangements in place to best support staff to continually improve their practice. Staff undergo professional training, which has a direct link to improving outcomes for children. For example, staff learn about 'superhero' play. Children put on their costumes and use their 'kindness super strength' in their play. Staff comment on the impact that this new play has had on helping children to regulate their behaviour. Staff say that they feel well supported by the manager and the trustees, and are determined to provide children with the best start in life.
• Staff use an extensive range of strategies to enhance children's communication and language. For example, they use visual signing and picture-based communication systems to build children's attention and listening skills. Staff extend children's vocabulary. They discuss with children why flowers are closed and why they need water to grow, while the children draw still-life paintings of daffodils. Consequently, children are learning to communicate with confidence and are building their language structures.
• Staff carefully plan and resource many opportunities for children to be physically active inside and outside. They start their session with a vigorous wake-up, shake-up song, which they thoroughly enjoy. Children use their hands to squeeze lemons and add herbs into their play dough, and they work hard to kneed it all together. When outside, staff support children to practise their balancing skills and climb apparatus to help to develop the children's small- and large-muscle strength.
• Staff support children to develop an understanding of some mathematical concepts, such as colour, number, and shape. However, staff do not provide children with opportunities to learn about and understand wider mathematical skills, such as weight and volume. This means that children are not consistently developing a base knowledge of mathematics to support them in their next steps for learning.
• Staff promote children's personal, social, and emotional behaviour well. Children independently manage their own self-care needs, such as going to the bathroom. Staff support children to understand their emotions through using a range of positive strategies. For example, some children use visual sand timers to understand when it is their turn. When minor squabbles occur, staff remind children to use their words to tell their friend how they are feeling. Children are learning to regulate their behaviour and resolve issues for themselves.
• Parents and carers are extremely complimentary of this pre-school. They talk repeatedly about how leaders and staff have worked tirelessly in supporting them to access external support and funding for their children. Furthermore, they comment on the significant progress that their children have made, and how they are well prepared for their next steps in life.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide children with opportunities to develop their wider mathematical knowledge and skills.