Allsorts Preschool Underwood

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are supported to settle at the pre-school by kind and considerate staff. Staff reassure new children with cuddles and soothing words, helping them to feel safe and secure. They know children well and adapt their care and learning approaches to children's individual needs. For example, staff recognise some children benefit from comforters and provide these to help them settle.

Staff find out and plan for children's unique interests and learning needs. As such, children show high levels of curiosity and enjoyment as they confidently explore the activities. Staff provide opportunities for children to develop the skills required for the future. For example, children manipulate play dough, squeeze water through pipettes and make marks with paintbrushes and water. This helps strengthen children's arm and hand muscles for later writing.

Staff extend children's previous experiences and learning. They help children to learn about the natural world. For example, children learn where food comes from and how it is grown. Staff help children to plant and care for runner beans, parsley and strawberries. Once grown, children enjoy eating and talking about the fruits and vegetables produced.

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

• Staff help children to manage their own personal needs. For instance, they support children who are toilet training. They provide children with regular opportunities to use a potty. Staff effectively use praise and encouragement to support children in becoming comfortable with this routine. For example, they tell children how proud they are of them when they attempt to use the potty.
• Staff complete regular assessments of children's development. These assessments and the progress check at age two help them to identify what they want children to learn next. However, staff do not consider who and how to best share progress checks with other professionals, such as health visitors.
• Staff help children to develop good personal hygiene practices to minimise the spread of infection. For example, children know to use hand sanitiser provided by staff on arrival to the pre-school. Staff encourage children to wash their hands after using the toilet and before eating. They provide clear explanations to help children understand how and why they need to wash and dry their hands properly.
• Staff engage children with stories and rhymes, promoting their listening and attention skills. However, they do not always fully support children's communication skills. For example, staff are not always clear on how to help younger children's early language development or correct pronunciation of words.
• Children learn to behave well and listen to instructions from staff. Staff help children to understand the expectations at pre-school. They prompt children to put their bottom on the slide before going down and ask children to walk when inside, clearly explaining why these rules are in place.
• Staff provide healthy snacks and drinks for children. They extend children's understanding of the impact of healthy food choices. For example, they explain that drinking milk makes their teeth and bones strong.
• Parents are complimentary about the pre-school and the staff. They say that they recommend it to others and that children love attending. Staff maintain effective two-way communication with parents. They discuss and celebrate what children have achieved at home and at pre-school. Staff share with parents any emerging needs and children's next steps in development. This helps to provide a consistent approach to support children's learning.
• Staff support children's imaginative play well. They know that some children have younger siblings at home and set up the home corner with appropriate resources to enrich children's experiences. Children role play all aspects of caring for a baby. They pretend to feed, change and place the dolls down to sleep.
• The established staff team is passionate and supports each other well. The management team helps staff to identify strengths and areas of development through observation of practice and regular supervision. This helps to improve the overall quality of the pre-school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the arrangements for sharing the progress checks at age two
• strengthen support for children to build on the range of words they know and to practise their language skills.