Ascott-under-Wychwood Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The pre-school is a magical place full of exciting learning experiences. Staff are caring and nurturing. They take time to get to know every child and their family well. For example, they excitedly greet children and parents as they arrive at pre-school. Staff enthusiastically celebrate with them what they have been doing at the weekend. Children feel happy and have very close bonds with their key persons.

Children thrive here and make exceptional progress in their learning and development. Staff's skillful teaching, alongside their sensitive support, helps to provide children with remarkable learning opportunities. For example, children are mesmerised as staff enthusiastically retell the story of the 'Three Little Pigs' using only actions and voice. Staff's inspirational story telling enthuses children to eagerly anticipate what happens next. This significantly supports their concentration.

Children's behaviour is exemplary. They confidently move from one high-quality activity to the next. Children constantly consider each other's feelings as they play together. For example, children delight in building a train track together and politely say 'Excuse me' to ask others to move as they build their track. They know how to take turns and communicate their needs to others.

Staff expertise in teaching children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) means that these children make exceptional progress. For example, staff support children to communicate their needs through visual prompts. Those with SEND make impressive progress in their development.

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

• Experienced leaders have established a magnificent, well-sequenced curriculum. They fully understand the importance of securely embedding children's learning in the prime areas of learning and they prioritise the development of children's language development. For example, leaders passionately explain training they have attended and how they expertly use this to support early language. They use this skill to assess every child's ability and to plan focused learning for the children's age and stage of development. As a result, children's communication and language skills are extremely strong. For example, they go into real detail to describe the 'garage' they have built and tell others it has a 'roof' to keep them dry.
• Children consistently engage for long periods of time in activities that offer a wide variety of learning outcomes. They are highly motivated to explore early mathematics throughout pre-school. For example, children eagerly and excitedly line up number bags and count them confidently up to seven. Staff expertly support children and children beam with pride as they count for themselves up to 10. Staff and children dance in delight, celebrating their achievements together.
• Staff plan inspirational activities and children's early literacy skills weave through the curriculum. Children are highly enthused and eagerly join in with daily stories and songs. For example, they are ecstatic as they recite lines from the poem 'Splash went the raindrop'. Children proudly talk about when they were in the rain and got wet. They remember previous learning and understand amazing concepts, they are ready for school when the time comes.
• Children with SEND take part in well-planned learning activities. Staff build sensory experiences into their day. This helps children to be calm. Staff are knowledgeable about the children's needs and know how to adapt learning for them. For example, staff support children's sensory needs as they jump on a trampoline and climb onto higher platforms. Children enjoy this experience; they giggle and smile with delight.
• Children have astonishingly positive attitudes to play and learning. For example, they delightfully steer electric cars and engage in hilarious conversations with friends about where they are going. Children make amazing friendships and together they enjoy giving things a go and trying hard. For example, they spend some time working out how to get themselves and their toys onto the back of a bike. They work this out and smile and laugh as they cycle away together. Children have exceptional social skills they need for future learning.
• Staff offer precise teaching that captures the children's interests and imagination. The highly experienced staff use this to offer a rich set of experiences to celebrate children's cultures. For example, children proudly talk about celebrating Thanksgiving at pre-school last week. Their faces light up with joy as they talk about how they celebrated this at home with their family at the weekend too. Children have an extraordinary strong sense of self and know what makes them unique.
• Leaders go above and beyond to ensure children receive the best possible outcomes in learning. They recognise the importance of high-quality teaching and provide strong and supportive direction for their staff team. Leaders are highly enthusiastic about staff's professional development and make sure that staff are well qualified and knowledgeable about the early years curriculum. For example, leaders support new staff by expertly role modelling and shadowing them as they learn to teach yoga to small groups of children. Staff feel well supported and praise leaders for their amazing mentoring and understanding.
• Parents are eager to share their amazing feedback with visitors. They adore the pre-school for its caring and nurturing staff team. They say that staff know the families well and this helps children to settle very quickly. Parents love the regular updates they receive about their children's learning and development. They say that staff give thorough, daily verbal handovers as well as messages and observations on an online platform. Parents appreciate the wide variety of activities, such as visits to forest school and from the librarian. This helps parents to support their children's reading at home.