Beenham Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily at this welcoming pre-school, eager to start their busy day. They are warmly greeted by caring staff, who know them very well. Children readily engage in the exciting, carefully planned indoor and outdoor activities on offer. They form affectionate bonds with staff, strong friendships with other children and play together harmoniously. Committed staff ensure they meet the care needs of all children. Children follow the same good qualities that staff show. They learn to be helpful and considerate towards others. Children beam with pride when praised for their kind gestures.

Staff give high priority to children's personal, social and emotional development. All staff benefit from the manager's extensive knowledge of supporting children's emotional well-being. This is evident when staff consistently acknowledge children's moods and discuss ways to help them self-regulate their emotions, when needed. Children have opportunities to share their feelings and how their actions can affect others. This creates a respectful and empathetic culture.

All staff have high expectations for children's behaviour. For example, children learn to share and take turns well. They impressively use a sand timer to enable all children to have equal access to popular activities. Staff successfully support children to manage their self-care skills, such as how to put on their coats with ease and do them up. Even the youngest children persevere to master these skills and then proudly cheer, 'I did it'.

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

• The manager and staff work collaboratively to plan a meaningful and engaging curriculum that supports children's interests, abilities and needs. For instance, children keenly learn about different road signs in the local environment. They connect their learning when they avidly talk about their experiences of being stuck at nearby roadworks in their parents' cars.
• Children develop important skills for their future learning, such as practising purposeful mark-making in different situations. They understand that their marks have meaning. For example, they play a 'robin hunt' indoors and use a 'tally' method to record every time they find a picture of a robin hidden around the classroom. Staff support them to count the marks they make accurately. Younger children learn from the older ones and try to count with them. This helps to support children's early literacy and mathematical skills successfully.
• The manager is highly skilled and committed to continual improvement. For instance, she works in partnership with the chair of the committee, parents and outside professionals to constantly improve the already good standards of care and education. The committee chair specialises in training staff to tackle minor incidents of poor behaviour, using a positive approach. Children learn to make 'good choices' throughout the day and rectify any 'poor choices' they display. This has a highly positive impact on children's decision-making skills.
• Children love to be physically active outdoors. They run, jump and balance with increasing control and learn to build up their stamina. Staff talk to children about the impact of exercise on their bodies. For instance, they encourage children to recognise their increasing heart beat as they hop while pretending to be flamingos. This helps children to understand the importance of staying fit.
• The manager and staff have received an accreditation for the use of sign language. This helps to increase children's communication skills effectively. Non-verbal individuals and those in need of extra support to fully understand instructions apply these signs to express their needs and wants. The pre-school strives to meet the needs of all children. However, during group sessions of mixed ages, staff do not always plan precisely enough for younger children to benefit the most from the activity. This means that some younger children lose interest and show a lack of engagement.
• Staff feel valued and thoroughly enjoy working at the pre-school. They report that staff morale is high and they belong to a cohesive team. Staff are reflective in their practice. They receive constructive feedback from the manager on the quality of their interactions with children. Staff's professional development provides a consistent approach to improvement. Despite this, the existing arrangements for the ongoing development for newer staff is less robust. It does not fully equip them to gain the knowledge and skills they need to help sustain the already good practice across the pre-school.
• Parents are very complimentary of the education and care their children receive. They report that their children make good progress, particularly in their confidence, independence, speech and social skills. Parents praise the variety of ways the manager and staff keep them informed of their children's progress. They appreciate the weekly newsletters and regular updates on an online application, which helps them to promote children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to reflect the needs of younger children in group activities in full
• strengthen the ongoing coaching and support for newer staff to help them consistently deliver high-quality teaching and learning experiences for children.