Barnabee's Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are busy, engaged and happy in this welcoming, inclusive pre-school. They share, take turns and are kind to each other. Children behave well. They form strong attachments to their key person. This helps them to feel safe and secure. Children enjoy doing things for themselves, such as putting on their shoes. They enjoy the praise they receive for their efforts and achievements. This helps to build their self-esteem and confidence. Children learn about the benefits of a balanced diet, regular fresh air and exercise. They have lots of opportunities to move their bodies in different ways. Children bend, jump and stretch while they chase and pop bubbles. They kick their legs out to make themselves go higher on the swing.

Children confidently articulate what they know and have remembered. They use vocabulary introduced by staff during recent science projects. They explain in good detail about the 'reaction' caused by mixing the 'vinegar' and 'soda'.

Children are keen, motivated and inquisitive learners. They explore the environment with enthusiasm and enjoyment. All children, including children with special educational needs/disabilities (SEND) and children in receipt of early years funded education, develop a positive attitude towards learning while they learn skills for life.

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

• The manager and staff have high expectations for children. They have adapted their well-sequenced curriculum in response to changes in children's needs. They have refocused the curriculum on areas in which children have fallen behind due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. These include children's speech, language and confidence skills.
• Staff have a good understanding of how children learn. They make regular observations to identify realistic next steps in children's learning to support their progress across the seven areas of learning. Consequently, all children, including those children with SEND, make strong gains from their starting points. However, on occasions, some staff overly direct children's play, reducing opportunities for them to lead their own learning and explore, test and try out their own ideas.
• Staff encourage children to be independent and to develop effective self-care skills, including toilet training. They regularly and discreetly remind children to go the toilet, to avoid any potential upset from 'accidents'.
• Staff make learning enjoyable. Children are eager to choose the colour of the glitter they want to use. They apply soap to their hands and then press them into the glitter. Children laugh when they see how easily they can pass on their 'germs' by touching others. Staff encourage children to try and remove the
• 'germs' from their hands. Children find that the only way to do this is to wash their hands thoroughly with soap and water. Children know that germs on their hands can make them ill.
• Children can recognise and write familiar letters. They enjoy listening to stories and traditional tales, and re-enacting them in their play. Children learn to count, make comparisons and learn about basic and more complex shapes. They enjoy drawing shapes in the soil outdoors.
• Children take part in activities that help them to learn about healthy lifestyles, such as growing their own fruit and vegetables in the garden.
• The manager monitors children's progress and staff performance well. This helps her to identify where children or areas of practice require additional support. She promptly put plans into place, where needed. The manager works well with outside agencies and other professionals.
• Parents are complimentary about the pre-school. They comment on how friendly and caring the staff are. They say that their children make good progress, particularly in their speech and social skills. However, parents do not always receive the precise information they need to enable them to extend their children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enable children to lead their own play and to incorporate more of their own ideas into adult-led activities
• provide parents with more detailed information about their child's learning to enable them to extend this further at home.