Benger Bears Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff welcome children as they enter the pre-school. Older children settle quickly and greet their friends as they arrive. Younger children who may be unsettled are beginning to form good relationships with their key person, who offers lots of comfort and cuddles from the start. Children enthusiastically explore the environment and easily select the toys they want to play with.

All children behave well. They learn to take turns and share the resources. When children want to play with the same toy as their friends and become upset, staff sensitively help them to understand and manage their emotions. Children learn to identify feelings. Children have good opportunities to develop their physical skills. For example, they enjoy running and rolling balls outdoors. Older children are confident and are motivated to learn. For example, they develop their mathematical skills as they build the train track to form different shapes.

Staff teach children about oral health as they talk about the dentist and how to brush their teeth. Children enjoy counting the teeth in the toy play mouth and remember how they brush their teeth and visit the dentist with their parents.

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

• The manager evaluates the provision effectively and put plans in place to make improvements. For example, they have recently developed the outdoor provision by adding a fenced area and other resources to support children who prefer to learn outdoors.
• Children learn about what makes them unique. Staff support them to understand similarities and differences between themselves and others. Children learn about different cultures and ways of life to those of their own. This helps to support children to understand the world around them.
• Parents speak highly of the pre-school. They comment on the high-quality support that staff provide for their children. Parents talk about how staff share different strategies with them that they can use at home. For example, staff share ideas about how to encourage children to try new foods at home, to support healthy eating. Parents feel that the staff keep them well informed about what their children are learning and that their children enjoy the activities on offer.
• Staff help children to recognise the importance of healthy lifestyles. Children benefit from having good access to outdoor spaces where they engage in energetic play, such as rolling tyres and climbing on crates. Staff provide a healthy snack and encourage children to eat a healthy lunch. Children learn to be independent as staff encourage them to wash their hands and serve their own snack. There are good personal hygiene routines in place.
• Staff skilfully support children to develop their communication and language skills. They encourage children to extend their vocabulary when they play. For example, older children learn new words as they begin learning about recycling, such as 'compost'. Staff repeat tricky words so that younger children learn to pronounce words correctly.
• Staff provide engaging opportunities for children to practise their early writing skills. For example, older children explore the marks they make using chalks outside. Younger children make marks using easels and paper. Older children take care colouring pictures and drawing on the blackboard.
• The manager and staff have a good understanding of each child, their family and their needs. They track their progress well and identify children who require additional support. Older children have a varied curriculum, which challenges them to learn and prepares them well for their next stage of learning. However, daily routines and learning have not been adapted effectively for younger children and are often too complex to meet their developmental stage. For example, young children struggle at story time because the books chosen are too long and they become distracted.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• monitor staff practices more closely to ensure that staff provide targeted support for the younger children, particularly at group times and when the routine changes, so they benefit fully from the learning opportunities on offer.