Bell Day Pre-school

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are at the centre of this unique pre-school. Fun-loving staff personalise care and teaching to ensure all children's individual personalities and characters shine through and they flourish. Staff get to know children incredibly well before they start. They offer a home visit, bespoke settling-in processes and a robust key-person system, all adding to children's steady transition to pre-school. Staff use their in-depth knowledge of children to plan activities that consider individual interests and are familiar to them. Therefore, they feel safe and comfortable in their environment and ready to explore, play and learn.

Children benefit from a superb and endless array of wider experiences in the local community, where they learn about the wider world and their place in it. These extra-curricular activities include swimming, trips to the local town, market, pet shop, forest school and visits from the local police and fire service. This well-rounded start to children's early education, creates curiosity and wonder for life-long learning. Children develop care and empathy for living things. They remind visitors to look at a spider from a distance, so not to hurt or scare it. Staff reinforce expected kind and positive behaviours with meaningful praise for children's care of the spider.

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

• Staff set out the knowledge and skills that they want children to be able to know. To enhance children's pencil control and support early writing skills, staff bring the curriculum to life with imaginative and fun teaching. For example, following children's interest in mini-beasts, staff plan stimulating activities to help children to develop their fine motor skills. While some children enjoying painting a picture of a ladybird, others practise their scissor skills, cutting pretend worms made from spaghetti.
• Robust assessment of children's progress means staff identify any gaps in children's learning and plan activities to help reduce these. Consequently, all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make very good progress from their starting points. However, at times staff do not consistently use spontaneous learning moments that naturally arise during children's play, to fully extend children's overall learning and development.
• Children are proud when staff praise them for their good behaviour and positive attitudes towards others. This contributes to children's growing ability to regulate their own behaviours and emotions. When children become upset, staff comfort and reassure them sensitively. However, there are some inconsistencies in how staff respond to unwanted behaviours such as when children start running indoors. This reduces children's ability to fully understand the importance of following fair rules and expected behaviours, so they can begin managing and adapting their behaviour themselves, to assure their own safety and well-being at pre-school.
• Children develop healthy eating habits as they experience growing fruit and vegetables in the allotment and cooking and eating it at the pre-school. Physical exercise is engaging, varied and supports healthy lifestyles.
• Consistent daily routines mean children learn to take responsibility and develop skills they need to be independent and make choices, for example, about when they want to have a refreshment and snack. Mealtimes are incredibly sociable and well organised, preparing children for when they have lunch at school. For example, they carry their own plates to the table and pour their own drinks confidently.
• Parental partnership is at the heart of the pre-school. Parents are overwhelmingly complimentary about daily updates they receive about their children's care and learning. Regular invites to discuss their children's progress means parents can further their children's learning at home. Staff make timely referrals and work closely with parents and outside professionals to ensure all children with SEND leave the pre-school prepared for their next school.
• The management team has strong links with local schools. This fosters good relationships between the teachers and parents and supports children's smooth transition to school. Staff have a wealth of opportunities to attend training and develop their skills. Staff express that they feel valued by the management team and really love their jobs. This helps ensure a positive and happy atmosphere for everyone.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to consistently provide meaningful interactions to further enhance and extend children's learning
• implement effective teaching strategies consistently to support children's deeper understanding of safe and positive behaviours and the impact their behaviour has on others.