Beetley And District Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy and are excited to learn at this warm and nurturing setting. They confidently leave their parents at the door and quickly settle into the pre-school routine. Children are curious and show a positive attitude to learning as they explore their environment. For example, they successfully use scissors to cut flowers and discuss the different types they have and how they grow. Children follow instructions well and help each other to put the toys away at tidy-up time. They have formed close friendships with their peers and learn to share and take turns.

Staff plan activities that enable children to make good progress in their learning. For instance, children use play dough to create minibeasts and count how many legs they have. Children benefit from a range of experiences that prepare them for future success. They develop good communication skills and confidently articulate what they know and can do. Children show increasing levels of independence by dressing themselves, pouring their own drinks and washing their hands. Staff have high expectations of what children can achieve. Therefore, children make good progress, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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

• Staff make effective use of assessments to plan for children's individual needs. They quickly identify gaps in children's learning and put appropriate support into place. Staff plan activities that reflect and build on the children's interests. They provide a broad range of experiences for them to learn about the natural world. For instance, children are currently learning about the life cycle of a frog. They investigate how frogspawn becomes tadpoles, then froglets and how they eventually turn into frogs. Children are highly engaged in this and explore frogspawn made by staff.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. They comment positively on how attentive and caring staff are. Staff involve parents in their children's learning and keep them well informed about their children's development and next steps. Parents discuss that their children have made good progress and enjoy attending the setting.
• Staff place a high emphasis on supporting children's communication and language skills. The management team identifies that some children needed additional support with their communication and language skills as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff support children to increase their language through meaningful conversations and group activities. They have introduced signing to support children who have limited language, and children confidently use this throughout the day.
• The management team is passionate about the service they provide. A high priority is given to supporting staff's professional development to maintain the quality of education available to children. Staff comment that they feel happy and well supported in the setting and receive continuous support from management. They work effectively with parents and engage in fundraising initiatives with the local community. The management team reflect on the quality of their provision and make positive changes to improve outcomes for all.
• Children learn about leading a healthy lifestyle and engage in physical activities throughout the day. For example, children dance to music and follow various actions with their bodies. They then reflect on how this makes their bodies feel. At snack time, children have a choice of healthy foods, water and milk provided by the pre-school. However, staff do not ensure that lunch box contents always follow the pre-school's healthy eating policy. Therefore, children do not receive consistent messages to support healthy choices around food and drink.
• Children behave well and staff support them to develop good social skills and manners. They say 'please' and 'thank you' and play cooperatively with their friends. Children follow instructions and make their own choices about what they would like to play with. Staff have high expectations for all children and use their knowledge of the children's needs to support future learning. However, on occasions, staff do not consistently support children in understanding how their behaviour affects others when they get frustrated.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• ensure staff give consistent messages to children about healthy lifestyles to further promote their understanding of healthy food choices
• build on good behaviour strategies and help children enhance their understanding of how their feelings and behaviours impact on others.