Bobtails Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children beam with excited faces as they arrive at the pre-school. They show that they know the routines extremely well as they put their things away and select items at the snack bar. Staff expertly use this opportunity to check on their well-being and guide them through the healthy choices available. Children's ideas and voices are highly valued. For example, the snacks available are chosen on Fridays by all children and a shopping list is created. This has a very positive effect on children's self-esteem and sense of belonging at the pre-school.

Children thrive as they embrace the rich experiences that the curriculum has to offer, led by their own imaginations and democratic decisions. Staff have set up very effective systems and routines for children to have a meaningful say in what they learn and how the pre-school is set up. For example, children place pebbles in different-coloured buckets to vote for which story they want to hear that day. The manager and staff know the children and families exceptionally well, and have very high expectations of the children. This has a powerful effect on children's highly positive attitudes to learning.

Children's achievements are celebrated by the whole community. Parents are encouraged to share 'wow' moments from home on cardboard stars, which they write as they arrive and share with their child's key person. Staff expertly use this opportunity to build children's language skills and confidence as they chat about the achievements and share them with other children and staff. Children can then choose whether to put the star into their memory books, which they very much enjoy reading through and sharing with each other.

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

• The inspirational pre-school manager has extremely high expectations for the children and provides a highly ambitious curriculum. It has a rich set of experiences that enable the children to develop their skills and knowledge across the seven areas of the curriculum. These experiences and activities are carefully considered and sequenced to build on children's learning over time. For example, the home corner inside the pre-school is filled with real items. However, china cups and crockery are only provided later in the year once the children have learned and understood how to carefully use the real items.
• The manager's vision to help children to have a real sense of belonging at the pre-school and to be confident and independent learners is entwined in everything that they do. All staff show a secure understanding of how the curriculum is intended to support each child and the best way to do this. As a result, children are flourishing at the level they are working at, and staff expertly help children to thrive.
• The manager encourages all staff to work very closely with families to find out what the children know and can already do. The staff team is incredibly reflective of practice. They adapt the curriculum, experiences and environment to support children's next steps. This level of reflective practice about what each child needs is carried out on a daily basis. Staff make children's emotional well-being a priority in everything they do.
• Staff have had training on how to support children's speech and language skills. They are highly focused on supporting children to interact with each other and improve their vocabulary. This approach has been highly successful and has had an outstanding impact on the children's speech and language development in the pre-school.
• Children with special educational needs have exemplary support to meet all their needs and make excellent progress. The extremely knowledgeable special educational needs coordinator works very closely with parents, the local authority and other professionals to implement support plans. Furthermore, she organises the staff to attend appropriate training in the strategies that children need. These strategies are also shared with parents. This has an extremely positive effect on children's progress and swiftly reduces gaps in their learning.
• Staff develop excellent relationships with parents. The manager and staff share ideas for home learning with parents on daily basis. There is a book loaning library available for parents to borrow from every day. Pre-school rhyme booklets are developed and sent home on a six-weekly basis to encourage children to sing along at home. These are adapted according to the development and interests of the children. Parents speak extremely highly about the pre-school team and the impact they have had on their children. Parents describe how their children's language, vocabulary, focus and attention has significantly improved.