Bobtails Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children make exceptional progress in their behaviour and self-care skills at this welcoming nursery. They are supported by dedicated staff who have the highest expectations. Children's behaviour is exemplary. Staff are impressively good role models. Children mimic staff's qualities in abundance, such as demonstrating their confidence and self-control, particularly when meeting new people. Staff cleverly show children how to put on their own coats and zip them up. They give children the time and opportunity to practise. Children show high levels of perseverance and patience, such as when they wait for their turn in a group activity. They smile with pride when they are praised by staff for their successful efforts. Children possess extremely positive attitudes to learning, and very high levels of curiosity and attention to detail.

Staff provide a good quality of education to children. They offer a stimulating learning environment, indoors and outdoors, which provide children with opportunities that they may not have experienced before. Children's physical health and communication skills are given high priority. Leaders effectively use additional funding to meet children's needs. For example, they organise athletic and dance sessions run by external professionals. This helps children develop outstanding listening skills as they follow instructions very well. These skills are transferred into everything children do, such as when they sit in a large group totally immersed in a story that is read to them.

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

• Leaders possess a clear vision and drive to provide the highest quality of education and care. They have ambitious aspirations for children and staff, such as improving the lending library experience for children. Leaders regularly observe the quality of teaching and provide purposeful feedback to staff. Leaders meet with staff to discuss their professional development needs. Staff show what they have learned in their practice with good outcomes for children. For example, they successfully implement a targeted talk programme for children with speech delay.
• Children's emotional development is promoted very well. Staff hold meaningful discussions with children throughout the day, helping them to identify how they are feeling. Children cleverly apply words related to their feelings as they engage in activities. For example, they talk to their friends about events that make them scared and what situations make them happy.
• Staff support children to adopt healthy lifestyles. For example, children are energetic outdoors, where they run, ride tricycles and jump with increasing control and coordination. Children talk eagerly about their sandwich fillings at lunchtime, knowing which are the healthier options. Staff ensure that children wash their hands thoroughly before mealtimes and after using the toilet. This helps to improve children's good health and well-being.
• Staff strongly promote values, such as democracy and tolerance. Children's characters are developing extremely well. They are very confident to make their voice heard, such as when they are encouraged to vote from a choice of activities. Staff help children to understand about the majority vote. They expertly share children's cultural traditions and home languages. This is evident when staff talk to children about their Christmas experiences at home and children recognise that children from other faiths celebrate other festivals. Staff actively research key words in children's home languages and use them, alongside the English equivalent, to successfully develop children's understanding.
• Staff add an exceeding amount of value to children's wider experiences at the preschool. They use detailed information gathered from parents to provide children with highly innovative and very exciting opportunities. For instance, they visit the local church to choose from an array of artificial Christmas trees. Children work collaboratively to assemble the parts on their return to the setting. They talk with immense pride about their team work.
• Staff's interactions with children across the pre-school are warm and caring. They know children well, through their ongoing assessments, observations and discussions with parents. Staff use this knowledge to help identify children's next steps in learning. However, on occasions, staff do not focus sharply enough on extending children's existing learning to further support their individual progress.
• Children learn about numbers as staff encourage them to practise counting throughout the day. For instance, staff and children count the number of balls on an abacus and staff ask children to count the number of balls floating in a puddle. However, staff do not consistently broaden other aspects of children's mathematical knowledge, such as shape, measure and size.
• Parents are delighted with the progress their children make, particularly in their confidence, speech and social skills. They say they form trusted relationships with the approachable and knowledgeable manager and staff. Parents feel they are well-informed about their child's learning and development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to plan more precisely to build on children's next steps in learning and development
• improve the curriculum for mathematics to support children's understanding of a variety of mathematical concepts, in particular, shape, space and measure.