All Stars Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children separate from parents at the pre-school door with an eagerness to start the day. Staff greet children with a friendly and cheery smile and chat to parents about how their children have been. Children show high levels of independence and care for their own play environment. For instance, they wash their own hands, serve themselves snacks and pour their own drinks. When they notice they have spilt water, they seek paper towels to clear up any puddles. Staff take care to ensure that children are praised for helping.

Children develop positive relationships with their key person, who know them well. Children enjoy spending time with familiar adults, who provide them with comfort to help them feel safe. Children are eager to explore and, together, they play with construction cooperatively demonstrating good concentration skills.

Children have many opportunities for outings in the community. Although there is no on-site outside space, the staff ensure that children regularly access outdoor spaces adjacent to the setting. Staff organise trips to the local town, park and railway bridge to watch the trains. Children have great fun as they are challenged to look for buses and identify the difference between a double-decker and single-decker bus. Children look for numbers on shops and buses, and look for letters in shop windows. Staff provide many resources for children to be physically active inside to ensure they have daily physical exercise. For example, children access climbing frames, trampolines and obstacle courses, which children help to build.

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

• The manager and her team take the time to get to know children well. This helps them to make effective use of any funding that is allocated to support children. Staff plan precisely to meet all children's needs. Consequently, children are making good progress in their learning and development.
• Overall, parents speak highly of the pre-school and comment on how well the staff keep their children safe and secure. However, occasionally, communication is not as clear as it could be. For example, there are times when parents are not always clear about what their children are learning at the pre-school to allow them to complement the learning at home.
• Children eagerly take part in story times and enjoy dancing to music with ribbons. However, staff have not fully considered ways to support children's concentration and engagement during planned group activities and transition times. This means that, at times, some children lose interest.
• Staff help children to develop an understanding of sounds and the letters they represent. Older children identify the initial letter of their name, and picture cues enable younger children to identify their initial letter. Staff praise the children highly for their achievements.
• Children are happy and confident in the pre-school. Staff recognise that for children to develop their early writing skills, they need lots of rich opportunities to develop their hand-to-eye coordination. Staff offer children activities such as manipulating play dough, building with small blocks and mark making to complement this area of learning.
• Children learn about emotions and are building increasing levels of self-control. Staff help children to resolve any minor conflicts as they play. For example, staff help children to consider how they each feel when they find it tricky to share toys and resources. Staff successfully help children to find solutions and play cooperatively together.
• The manager and staff complete regular risk assessments to ensure that the safety of the premises is maintained. This means that no unauthorised persons can enter the setting. Staff complete observational checks on the premises before and after children arrive at the setting. Toys and resources are routinely checked to help ensure that there are no broken parts. This helps to promote children's safety.
• The manager undertakes supervision sessions with her staff team. She identifies training during observations of practice. The manager and staff share planning, observations and assessments of children's learning to help identify what children need to learn next. The manager places a strong emphasis on promoting staff's well-being during regular conversations and meetings with them.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide clear information for parents about their child's learning to maintain good communication
• develop ways to extend learning opportunities during group activities and transition times, to enable children to sustain their concentration and make more progress.