Bizzie Lizzies Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

This is a caring and nurturing pre-school, where children demonstrate happy and friendly behaviour. The children benefit from being in a learning environment which is attached to the local school where the majority of them will be joining in September. These children take part in regular transition days when they meet their new teachers prior to them starting school. This helps to promote a sense of security and supports children to be well prepared for future learning.

All children are happy and eager to join in and enjoy exploring the huge school field. They are excited as they use their own maps to hunt for the bear. Some children run to find different spaces and hide behind bushes and tree trunks, while their friends count up to 15 and then come to find them. Children are sociable and encourage others to join in. They particularly enjoy it when they get to share their play alongside the Reception class children. Pre-school children are confident and keen to tell the older children what they are doing. They are caring and thoughtful of others as they share the toys and equipment. Children show that they feel extremely comfortable around the staff, and seek them out to share their experiences. For example, children call staff by their names and invite them to their play. They are pleased and enthused as staff join in and continue to talk in more detail and extend their learning about the pretend farm animals they are playing with.

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

• The staff are good at building on children's interests and help prepare children for their move on to school. Children expand their vocabulary, knowledge and understanding as staff introduce names of baby animals and discuss with the children about what the different animals would like to eat.
• Children are cared for by attentive staff, who talk to children about the importance of wearing sun hats and drinking lots of water in hot weather. When children express how they are feeling, for example, when they feel sad, staff speak to them using gentle, kind and reassuring words. Children's well-being is promoted and they feel safe, reassured and understood.
• The special educational needs coordinator is highly knowledgeable in her profession and demonstrates her abilities through planning for children requiring additional support. Individual care plans are in depth and are shared and used by the staff to provide experiences to support children in their learning and development. These children are making rapid progress.
• Literacy is a priority for this pre-school. This area of learning runs consistently throughout every activity with a focus on encouraging the love of books. Children regularly access the book area while they are outside and sit together sharing the contents of the familiar stories.
• The adult-led activities are based on the children's interests. Children enjoy a familiar story in the morning and staff plan activities linked to the story and extend this into the outdoor area. For example, children draw a map to follow and repeat phrases in the book and re-enact the storyline. However, the lack of organisation by the adults prior to the activity means that not every child is receiving the same quality of learning as others. Children become frustrated while waiting to go outside and others are still drawing their maps without support. Meanwhile, some children at the back of the line do not hear the instructions and are unsure what they are doing. Therefore, children quickly loose interest and find it a challenge to engage.
• The leadership and management team hold regular meetings to discuss the ways they can provide consistent learning for children. They produce coherent action plans together, that support the children's progress and focus on extending children's next steps.
• Parents are happy with their children's progress and specifically describe how well prepared their children are for their transition to school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review and improve the organisation of planned adult-led activities to enhance learning opportunities and engagement for every child.