Angels Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are active and motivated learners. They have access to a wide variety of toys and resources that reflect the rich diversity of the setting. For example, through multi-cultural toys and books, children develop an awareness of similarities and differences between people. Children show that they feel safe and secure at the nursery. They move around the indoor and outdoor areas freely and happily. Children develop close attachments with staff, who are kind, caring and approachable. Staff give children lots of praise and encouragement that supports children's emotional well-being effectively.

Children are eager to show their skills. For example, on arrival, they locate their name card and place it on a board, indicating how they are feeling. Children's feelings and emotions are recognised as they are given opportunities to discuss how they are feeling. They are highly creative and rise to challenges set by the staff. Children paint intricate pictures of real fruit and are very proud of their creations. They also have great fun as they manipulate dough by squashing, squeezing and rolling it. This helps to promote their small muscles in readiness for developing further skills, such as pencil control.

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

• Staff give priority to children's personal, social and emotional well-being. For example, children learn to put on and take off their coats and wellington boots to play outside. The children know routines well. Staff promote children's health well. Children learn about the importance of healthy eating and good oral hygiene. Children are very independent in their self-care, remembering to wash their hands after toileting and before eating.
• There are close partnerships with parents. Parents speak highly of staff and feel well supported, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. The manager and staff have devised new ways for parents and children to send in videos to share on the setting's social media page. Staff communicate with parents in various ways to engage them in their children's learning and development. The strong partnerships between parents and staff have a positive impact on children's development. However, staff do not involve parents in the initial assessments when their children start. This means staff do not plan as precisely as possible for children's learning from the outset.
• Staff are successful in incorporating numbers and simple mathematical concepts, such as addition and subtraction, into everyday play-based activities. For example, children count out the number of plates and cups they need for snack time and draw numbers in the air with ribbons.
• Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is a strength at this setting. Staff work very well with parents and professionals, such as physiotherapists and speech and language therapists. This helps them to implement specific strategies to help children make the best possible progress. Gaps in children's learning are closing and they are prepared well to move on to school.
• Children develop good language skills. They regularly hear words and repetitive phrases, for example, through rhymes and singing songs. Most children listen to stories being read and join in with repeated refrains. However, staff do not always adapt their teaching to maintain children's listening and attention during group activities, such as story time and before going home. As a result, some children lose focus and become distracted.
• Staff provide many opportunities for children to be physically active. Although the on-site outside space is out of use due to refurbishments, the staff ensure that children access outdoor spaces adjacent to the setting daily. Children gleefully hold each other's hands as they run across the green to find the wooded area with the willow tree. Staff use this area very well to support children to learn about nature and how things change over time. Children look in awe at a spider inside a daffodil, and discuss that the buds appearing on the willow tree indicate that spring is nearly here.
• The manager and staff have a good vision for the setting and offer an inclusive environment for all children. For example, they have reviewed the provision for two-year-old children to provide a quiet area where they can relax on cushions and select books to share with their friends.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• gather more detailed information from parents about their children's starting points on entry, to further inform the initial assessment and planning of learning from the outset
• review the organisation and structure of group times to take into consideration the age ranges and individual needs of the children present, to enhance learning opportunities to the highest level.