Beansheaf Community Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children happily enter this warm and welcoming pre-school, keen to explore and play. They demonstrate how much they enjoy attending with wide smiles and prolonged engagement in the activities on offer. Staff have formed strong, caring bonds with the children, who clearly trust and enjoy sharing time with the kind and nurturing staff. For example, children are confident to ask for help or resources when wanted, as well as seek out cuddles for reassurance from members of staff when needed.

Children demonstrate a positive attitude towards their learning. They are curious and confident when freely exploring the activities. Here, staff skilfully engage children in conversation and play, which helps support language development. For example, when children are bug hunting outside and spot a caterpillar, staff members discuss 'cocoons' and 'chrysalis' with the children to extend their understanding and learning, as well as their vocabulary.

Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour. Children are respectful to both staff and peers. Staff promote children's independence skills well. Children are expected to hang up their own coats and bags and to have a go for themselves before staff assist with more challenging tasks. For example, when children find zipping coats up tricky, staff encourage perseverance with lots of praise and encouragement. If needed, staff only help as much as is needed before asking children to complete the task for themselves. This helps children to become independent and resilient learners.

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

• Throughout the pre-school, staff support children's speech and language progression effectively. For example, when spotting a tractor in a neighbouring field, children are encouraged to use descriptive language such as 'blue' and 'bright' to describe the vehicle. When the children are eating snacks and lunch, staff engage in conversation about tastes and textures of food. This helps to promote children's vocabulary development well.
• Children develop secure attachments with their key person and have a real sense of belonging at the pre-school. This is evident when the children separate from parents with ease, waving and saying goodbye happily as they enter the pre-school with confidence. This helps promote children's social and emotional well-being.
• Staff feel well supported and appreciate the wide range of training opportunities on offer. The hands-on manager is knowledgeable and passionate in her approach. She is a role model to children and staff. She is reflective in her practice and continually strives for improvements for the provision. This process of regular review and appropriate identification of professional development opportunities helps to ensure that the pre-school staff are continually developing their knowledge and skills to provide the best care and education that they can.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported very well. For example, staff identify children with possible additional needs and act swiftly in working with parents to provide additional support. This includes making timely referrals to outside agencies such as speech and language therapists. Consequently, all children are helped in gaining equal access to the provision and to make good progress.
• Staff know the children well and are clear about what the children can already do. Additional funding is used effectively to support children's development. For example, it is used for climbing apparatus to promote physical development where this has been identified as an area of need. Although staff have a sound general overview of children's progress, at times, they are not always specific enough about what precise knowledge or skills children need to develop next. Consequently, this does not consistently promote best rates of progress for children's learning.
• Children are learning the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. For example, they access the outdoors daily to gain fresh air and to be active. Staff discuss healthy eating choices at mealtimes and children enjoy brushing model teeth with real toothpaste and brushes while staff explain the importance of reaching all areas of the teeth.
• Children are learning to treat each other with kindness and care. Older children show empathy for younger ones. For example, they help with removing tricky lids from pots and hold hands when walking downstairs. Children behave well at the pre-school.
• The manager and staff develop strong bonds with parents. Parents who speak English as an additional language are supported exceptionally well. Staff work alongside local services to ensure that these families receive the very best care and support available to them. Parents speak very highly of the staff at the pre-school, stating their children have had a 'wonderful start to their education' and that children's 'communication skills have thrived here'.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support and strengthen staff's skills in identifying what children will most benefit from learning next to promote best rates of progress.