All Saints Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily into the pre-school. The staff team have developed a warm and welcoming relationship with the children, which helps to build children's self-esteem. Children show signs of being confident and excited as they talk about who they are going to see and what they are going to play. Staff respond sensitively to children's questions and requests. Staff know the children well, which helps them to recognise when to offer support and when to wait to encourage children to have a go themselves. Children show high levels of engagement as they are eager to explore the broad range of activities in the room. For example, children are seen investigating a programmable toy activity, which created lots of purposeful conversation about how to move around the map, such as 'don't let it fall in the volcano'.

Children develop deep conversations, through first-hand experiences, including children talking about their favourite television shows and their birthday experiences. Children show lovely behaviour towards each other, for example, staff support children to ask politely if they can have a turn. Children understand that they might sometimes need to wait and are considerate to each other by sharing.

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

• Staff promote language development well. They engage children in conversation, supporting clear pronunciation, such as hearing and saying the initial sounds of words, for example, 'W' for wheel. They also model the language of counting in sequence, making sure they correct the children at the appropriate time.
• Children develop good manners and behaviours at mealtimes. Staff model positive language and discuss personal experiences to gain natural conversation with the children. Staff and children speak about experiences, which helps children to think about foods that they do not like now but may like in the future. This supports children to think critically about their future.
• Children benefit well from the manager spending additional funding effectively to support their individual needs. For instance, offering children's opportunities to build relationships with staff by providing new books to explore together.
• Children learn how to have a healthy lifestyle. They thoroughly enjoy eating the fresh fruit snacks that are provided. Children develop independence through daily mealtime routines, for example, learning how to recycle their food waste and food packaging after their meal has finished.
• Children develop secure relationships with staff. They show confidence approaching adults to inform them of their toilet needs.
• Children's current interests are always adopted through the child-initiated planning. Staff make sure that children always feel appreciated and if time runs out, they make it a priority to make sure that child gets their choice of activity next time they are in.
• Staff record children's medical requirements well. All staff fully understand how to keep children safe and how their welfare is paramount.
• Staff implement strategies for early intervention well and ensure that children are making good progress. Staff initiate action plans to support children before a referral has been made to outside agencies.
• Staff explore a range of activities with children. All the children are happy to play with their friends confidently. However, at times children can be seen in solitary play for an extended time without adult intervention. Staff do check on how they are doing but do not initiate play with them. This can lead to children's learning not being advanced.
• Parents happily comment about how much their children love coming to the nursery. They have good daily handovers with staff. However, some parents have state that they would like more information with regards to their child's development as they do not know how their child is developing.
• Staff provide opportunities to enhance children's understanding of the natural world. For example, when out in the garden, children show excitement and tell adults that a child spotted a robin. The staff member demonstrates excitement for the child. She encourages him to go inside to tell the others what he had seen, therefore developing his language and confidence.
• Children show exceptional behaviour during circle time activities. The children work together as a team to tidy the room and sit fully immersed in stories.
• Staff provide opportunities for children to participate in small group activities. Overall, staff organise and deliver these well. However, at times staff do not effectively support all of the children to think critically. Resources, at times, can be limited and are not provided at children's height. Staff, at times, do not respond to children's requests quickly enough, and this can lead to them being disinterested and can impact on the children's ability to develop imagination and creativity.
• The manager supports her staff well. She constantly models positive behaviour and trains her staff to enhance their knowledge as she notices opportunities for their development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve communication with parents to keep up to date with information on children's ongoing development and learning
• plan and resource focused activities more appropriately to enable children to fully extend their learning and interests.