Badgers Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive and settle quickly in the care of the warm and friendly staff. Parents, carers and staff members all contribute to celebrating children's success. Children place achievements on a 'proud cloud' and also receive certificates. This helps children to feel valued and motivates them to try.

Children enjoy doing things for themselves. They confidently fetch their coats before going outside and some try to put these on independently. Children develop social skills to help them work together. For example, when children struggle to fit a nappy on a doll, they turn to their friends for help, who offer assistance.

Children develop their small-muscle skills very well. Young children use pens with excellent control. A staff member compares the marks they make to fireworks and engages children in a discussion about Bonfire night. Children talk excitedly about their experiences.

Staff have an in-depth understanding of children's individual needs and how they progress. This enables leaders to use funding very effectively to target any gaps in children's development. This includes supporting children's communication and language development as well as good health through the use of, for example, toothbrushing activities and healthy eating resources. As a result, children learn how to take care of their bodies and gain the skills they need for their future learning.

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

• There are some committee members who have been in place for a while who are not known to Ofsted. This means Ofsted has not been able to verify their suitability as required. However, they have completed Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. There is no impact on children's well-being or safety as these committee members do not have any contact with children. Furthermore, they are not involved in any areas of decision making, such as safeguarding and recruitment.
• Staff prepare children for school from an early age. Staff work in excellent partnership with parents to encourage children's toilet training and reduce the use of dummies. For instance, when children are ready to give up their dummies, staff plan a trip to the local post office where children post away their dummies in a goodbye ceremony. This enables children to have a sense of ownership in this process.
• The managers have recognised some gaps in children's physical development that may be due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. They have a strong commitment to promoting healthy eating and physical activities and involve parents in this. This supports the provision of nutritious lunches and increased opportunities for sport and physical activity. As a result, children learn to live healthy lives.
• Most staff ask children effective questions. They introduce vocabulary during story time, extending children's knowledge of characters in books. However, on occasion, some staff do not fully explore the questions children ask and what children talk about. For example, when children question whether there is thunder outside, staff do not explore this further with them. In addition, during role play, some staff do not build on children's comments. This does not fully extend children's language and understanding as well as possible.
• There is very effective support for children with speech delays. The knowledgeable special educational needs coordinator involves parents and staff effectively to target children's progress. Staff have received training in Makaton signing to aid communication. Children delight in exploring 'chatter boxes'; decorated shoe boxes that contain personal items from home. Children enthusiastically explore these with staff and their friends. This promotes some children's rapid progress in their speech and communication from their starting points.
• Overall, most staff have high expectations of what children can achieve on their own. They let children attempt more complex tasks, while keeping a watchful eye, ready to support. However, on occasion, staff complete tasks for children that they may be able to do for themselves, such as tidying up after eating. As a result, children are not always challenged to develop their independence skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider must:

• ensure Ofsted is provided with the relevant information for all existing committee members not currently known to Ofsted, including submitting EY2 forms for each committee member to enable Ofsted to verify their suitability. (by 30 November 2022)

The provider should:

• monitor staff practice to ensure all staff consistently offer language that extends children's knowledge and understanding, such as during their self-chosen activities
• strengthen the approach towards children's independence, to help them build on these skills even further.