Allesley Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

All children arrive extremely keen and immediately begin their learning. Staff provide exciting activities in all areas of this small nursery. Staff know how to ignite and capture the children's interests and provoke their imaginations.

Children's behaviour is superb. Staff are quick to praise them frequently throughout their play and routines. Staff acknowledge and reward their individual achievements, commenting on their 'excellent ideas', 'very clever brains' and 'super knowledge of language', when they identify a creature that is 'camouflaged'.

Children are transported into another place, such as 'being under the sea', through the staff's superb execution of storytelling and the use of books. Staff create awe and wonder, and this promotes the children's natural curiosity as learners. Consequently, children listen intently to factual information about sharks. Staff support children to take turns at wearing 3D glasses and articulately share their experiences of what they can see. Staff enthusiastically engage with the children and, in turn, excitedly ask questions about why a hammerhead shark has eyes that are so far apart?

Children love being outdoors. Staff innovatively enhance their learning linked to their current topic of under the sea. Children show their interest in pirates, and staff introduce fun action songs about 'scrubbing the deck'. Staff support children to enthusiastically use their bodies to create shapes during a yoga session. Staff use chalk to draw around the outline of the children's bodies as they lie on the floor. Children squeal with delight when staff draw a mermaid's tail in place of their feet.

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

• The management team has extensive knowledge and experience of working with children and their families. The manager and her deputy lead their staff team with confidence, guided by their robust policies and procedures. They also place a high emphasis on staff mental health and well-being, and staff report that they feel incredibly well supported.
• Recruitment and selection processes of staff and the members of the committee are extremely secure. Frequent checks are undertaken to ensure staff's ongoing suitability. Checks are frequently made directly with staff, giving them the opportunity to make the provider aware of any changes in their health, well-being and suitability to work directly with children.
• The staff work exceptionally well together as a team. There is a cohesive approach in providing high-quality care and education. The manager acknowledges the staff's individual qualities and abilities. Staff who have qualifications and experience in supporting mental health and well-being provide the children with daily yoga sessions. Children have lots of fun and enthusiastically engage in these sessions, creating shapes of mammals, such as dolphins, and moving their bodies in a variety of ways. Children learn and practise the benefits of breathing techniques. Children understand that this helps them feel calm and relaxed, thus providing them with skills that support their overall well-being.
• Staff have extensive knowledge of each child's current stage of development and their identified next steps in learning. Each child has a key person, who also has a buddy. This ensures that each day a child attends, their care and education is specifically tailored to their needs. Children are making outstanding progress. This is because the curriculum is incredibly well thought out and designed around children's individual interests. Staff implement the exciting and innovative curriculum superbly and, as a result, children engage in heaps of activities that really inspire them to learn. Children's confidence overflows as they express the new knowledge they have gained.
• Children with special educational needs/and or disabilities receive support from staff tailored to their needs. They are swift to identify children who may need additional support and begin a process of monitoring in a timely manner. Referrals are made to ensure children get the early help and support that they may need. Staff build solid working relationships with other professionals involved in the children's lives.
• Parents of children attending this pre-school are delighted with the service they receive. The praise for staff is overwhelmingly high. Parents report that they especially appreciate the time staff give in supporting them through emotionally difficult times in their lives. Parents also appreciate the relationships shared between the staff and their children, describing the staff as much like extended family. Above all, parents describe the progress their children make attending the pre-school as fantastic. Many talk about the equally excellent experiences their older children received, who are now in school.