Alston Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders are aware of the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on children's emotional well-being. Supportive stay-and-play sessions are helping children to feel settled and assured when they first start. Relationships between staff and children are positive and respectful. Children are clearly very happy and comfortable in this safe and appealing pre-school.

Staff promote children's learning and development well. They create inviting areas that inspire children's natural curiosity. Children enjoy mixing materials such as petals, leaves and coloured water to create their own 'potion'. They use their good knowledge of different occupations, such as farming, when gathering grass and leaves to create 'bales'. Children listen to stories with increasing attention. They follow instructions from staff during imaginative play. For instance, children gladly make staff a 'cup of tea' when asked. They remember the details and place a slice of lemon and cucumber in before handing this to staff. Children persevere when using scissors to attempt to cut paper. They are independent at mealtimes.

Staff value each and every child. The 'kind tree' helps to recognise and celebrate the acts of kindness that children display on a daily basis. Children understand the expectations for behaviour. They willingly take turns when adding ingredients to create dough and share out bun cases equally between all of their friends.

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

• The long-standing members of staff work together very closely as a team. A reduction in paperwork is enabling staff to spend more quality time with the children. This is helping staff to gain a greater knowledge of what children know and enjoy and contributes to the well-matched learning experiences that staff provide.
• Staff plan exciting experiences that help to enhance children's knowledge of the world. For example, children gladly help to plant fruits and vegetables in the garden, such as strawberries, beetroot and carrots, and take care of these as they grow. They quickly learn that this is where some of their healthy food comes from and enjoy eating the produce as part of their nutritious meals and snacks.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Staff keep parents informed about their children's learning and progress. They share ideas with parents, such as reading a book, observing nature and finding different-coloured objects, to build on children's skills at home. Parents report that staff are passionate about what they do and they express that the pre-school has a very family-friendly feel.
• Overall, leaders have a good programme of support, coaching and training in place for staff. Staff undergo regular supervision sessions. However, these are often less formal and they do not focus intently on helping individual staff to extend their practice to the very highest levels.
• The proactive staff ensure that children receive the early help and support that they need. They work together with parents and other professionals and thread advice into targeted learning plans. This helps to close any gaps in children's learning. Additional funding is used well. Staff source new climbing equipment, such as an A-frame, to build on children's large-muscle skills. Children show increasing confidence when attempting to climb over this and do so safely.
• Children form positive links with their community. They work together with others, such as staff at local supermarkets, to raise funds to support worthwhile causes. Staff teach children about the people in the community who help them. They arrange timely visits from the fire service ahead of any upcoming public events, such as Bonfire Night. This helps to alert children to the dangers of fire and raises their awareness of the action they need to take to keep themselves safe.
• Generally, staff support children's communication and language skills well. They welcome children to show photos of their home-life experiences on the 'big screen' and support them to talk about these with their friends. Staff invite children to explore materials such as ice. They encourage children to make predictions and to talk about what is happening. However, occasionally, when children mispronounce words, staff do not consistently intervene to model these back precisely for children to hear and say. This does not fully support children to build on their good speech and language skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the arrangements for staff supervision and provide more formal and targeted support to each member of staff, to help to extend on their good knowledge, skills and practice
• support staff to intervene more consistently and model language most precisely, to help to enhance children's pronunciation of words and advance their speech and language skills further.