Bare Necessities Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children and parents are warmly welcomed into the pre-school. They are greeted by happy and nurturing staff, who are genuinely pleased to see the children. Children are very settled and leave their parents with ease. Children's emotional well-being is well supported. Staff help children who have recently joined the pre-school to settle quickly. They provide lots of reassurance and help them to build friendships and understand the daily routine. Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), seek out staff for comfort and cuddles. This helps to build their self-esteem and confidence.

Children make good progress in their speech and language. Older children talk enthusiastically and recall what they have previously learned as they discuss road safety. They speak with confidence to visitors about using 'stop, look and listen' when crossing the road. Furthermore, all children listen carefully to a range of stories, ask questions, and talk about the pictures. Children demonstrate a love of reading and early learning.

Staff support behaviour well. For example, they encourage the children to be kind to each other through stories and conversations. Furthermore, staff give gentle reminders to children to return toys once they have finished playing with them. Children of all ages understand that they have choices, and know their views will be listened to by staff. Therefore, children demonstrate good levels of respect for each other, staff, and their environment.

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

• Children with SEND are given extra support throughout their time at the pre-school. Children receive one-to-one support when required. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) works closely with other professionals and parents to plan appropriate targets for each child to support their continuous development. Furthermore, funding is appropriately used. For example, the manager and SENCo identify and purchase resources to meet children's individual learning needs. Children with SEND make good progress.
• Children develop their physical skills both indoors and outdoors. For example, children use rolling pins and shape cutters to make marks in the play dough to develop their small-muscle skills. Children have various opportunities to develop large-muscle movements in different ways. Children enjoy riding the bicycles around the church garden, and older children enjoy developing their climbing skills when exploring the indoor climbing frame and slide. However, some staff do not encourage some children to take age-appropriate risks, such as climbing up the slide. Therefore, these children are not consistently developing an understanding of risks and how to safely manage them.
• Staff report high levels of well-being and receive good support. The manager carries out regular supervisions. Staff say that they welcome feedback on their practice and feel that they can approach leaders to share any concerns. The manager has a good oversight of staff, and confidently identifies staff's strengths and areas that they would like to further develop. Therefore, morale at the setting is high and staff enjoy working as a team to ensure that children receive high-quality education and care.
• Children are provided with real-life experiences in the local community. For example, the children enjoyed a visit from the local lifeguard. The children discussed the dangers of the beach and the sea before going on an outing to explore the local beach. As a result, children develop an understanding of the world around them.
• Children learn about healthy foods and the importance of drinking water regularly. However, hygiene practices are not always consistent. For example, staff remind children to wash their hands after using the toilet. Yet, on occasions, some staff do not encourage children to wash their hands after sneezing, increasing the risk of infections spreading. Therefore, staff do not consistently support children to develop healthy lifestyle habits.
• The manager and staff have built strong relationships with parents. Parents are complimentary about the pre-school. They comment that staff are friendly and nurturing. Parents are very happy with the communication and are kept up to date by their children's key person. Parents feel well informed and involved in their children's care and learning. They report that all staff know their children well, which helps them to settle into their day.
• In the main, staff provide children with an ambitious curriculum. However, some staff do not consistently build on what older children already know and can do. This means that some activities are not pitched at the right level for older children. For example, some staff do not encourage older children to develop their critical thinking skills to keep children's interest maintained during activities. This means that, on occasion, some children lose interest in their learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop further the curriculum to ensure that it is even more ambitious to extend children's critical thinking, particularly for the oldest children
• maximise opportunities for children to take appropriate risks and challenges to enhance their resilience and independence further
• ensure that staff give clear messages to children about the importance of adopting healthy lifestyle habits.