Blackberry Lane Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily and are greeted warmly by staff. They are eager to choose from a well-considered mix of adult-led and child-led activities. Children are taught new skills that they practise in their own play. For example, they competently use the hose to collect water in containers and steadily pour it into a water butt without spilling. All children make good progress from their initial starting points and are ready for their move to school.

Children are skilfully supported to develop their speech. This is evident in their growing confidence to share ideas with each other. Children access appropriate resources independently and carry out tasks for themselves. They are respectful and well behaved. Children know what is expected of them and consistently follow the well-established daily routines. The atmosphere in the pre-school is positive as children are busy and positively engaged in their learning.

Children form strong bonds with staff and their peers. They confidently make up their own games and readily invite others into their play. For instance, when balancing on wooden planks, children explain the rules of their game to others joining in. Children develop good body control as they practise their balancing techniques and avoid landing on the floor. They celebrate their successes with each other, giving them a sense of achievement.

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

• Leadership and management are a real strength of the pre-school. The manager has an ambitious and clear vision. She wants children to be happy and independent learners and supports her staff well to achieve this. Staff feel respected and appreciated. High priority is placed on the professional development of staff and this has a positive impact on their skills and abilities to meet the emotional and educational needs of children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Children develop a love for books and help themselves to the wide range on offer. They use events in stories in their make-believe play. For example, they use their prior knowledge of traditional stories and change the characters, such as monkeys instead of goats from 'the Three Billy Goats Gruff' story. They cleverly adapt the repetitive phrases to take account of their changes. This broadens children's knowledge of how a story is structured.
• Children have lots of fun as they become immersed in their imaginative play. However, occasionally children's play is interrupted by staff and they are not given enough time to finish what they are doing. This means that children's learning flow is disturbed. For instance, children place a stethoscope on a doll's chest, and pretend to listen to the heart. They begin to engage in a conversation about what they can hear but are unable to continue this meaningful exchange as they are told to move on to an adult-led activity.
• Children are motivated and eager to learn. They enjoy mark making and create their own detailed drawings. Children feel a sense of pride and talk interestingly about their work. However, in some adult-led activities, such as when they make superhero masks, children's individual creations all look similar because staff take a prescriptive approach to complete the task. This does not allow children the freedom to express themselves and feel that their individual efforts are valued.
• Children learn to adopt healthy lifestyles. They have ample opportunities to explore the outdoors and play in the fresh air. Children know that to keep their own teeth healthy, they need to brush them daily. This is introduced in exciting ways, such as an experiment where hard-boiled eggs are left in different fruit drinks for a few days. Children observe that the shell of the egg which had been immersed in apple juice, is stained heavily. They test out their ideas to remove the stain and are fascinated when a toothbrush removes it successfully. Children then say, 'I love brushing my teeth'.
• Parents are very complimentary about the staff and provision. They say staff communicate very well about all aspects of children's learning and development through an online application, verbal exchanges and progress meetings. Parents use this information to support their children at home, which helps to reinforce their learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to allow children time to finish their activities, to enable them to respond more successfully to their spontaneous interests and gain a sense of achievement
• provide children with the freedom to attend to tasks independently, using their own thinking and creative skills to produce individualised work to help them feel unique.