Bradwell Common Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are settled, happy and confident at pre-school. They eagerly and easily access a variety of engaging resources and activities. These are set out ready for the children based on their interests. Children enthusiastically learn about similarities and differences. For example, they create Eid mobiles and talk about what they know about Eid. They enjoy learning about each other's culture and special celebrations, such as Diwali and Christmas.

Children enjoy access to a large garden area where they gain good physical skills and learn what their bodies can do. For instance, they enjoy climbing and running around large outdoor equipment. Children are polite and behave well. They understand daily routines and expectations in the pre-school. All children build and form meaningful relationships with their peers and staff. They have a good sense of belonging and are confident in finding and putting away their own belongings. Children are starting to recognise their names and those of their friends. This is helping to support early literacy skills.

Children develop a good understanding of healthy lifestyles. Hygiene practices are well embedded. For instance, children know to wash their hands before eating and after being outside. Communication and language are a focus in pre-school. Children become immersed in books and stories, along with songs and rhymes. Children develop their literacy skills and love of books as they listen to stories being read aloud and learn new words. They enjoy moving their bodies and singing along to action songs and nursery rhymes.

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

• Staff establish a secure and trusting relationship with all children. This helps children to develop a good sense of belonging. Staff know each child well and their starting points. This helps staff to plan activities that are engaging and will extend children's learning, such as making Eid mobiles.
• All staff establish positive relationships with parents. Staff offer parents regular feedback of children's progress and areas to work on at home to support next steps in learning, including through sharing daily diaries. Children enjoy taking books home to share with parents. This helps to support children's literacy skills and their love of books.
• Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities well. They listen to parent concerns and seek advice promptly from the inclusion team to meet the needs of children. They recognise and identify any concerns early on and work closely with the local authority to get additional support as needed.
• The manager has an ambitious curriculum for the children, and effective planning provides learning opportunities for the individual needs of the children.
• However, there are times when staff do not use opportunities to extend other areas of children's learning outdoors.
• The manager shares information and ideas to support staff planning and children's progress. She provides some feedback for staff to help them to improve practice. However, feedback is not always specific enough to help the individual staff improve skills and knowledge further. Consequently, there are some variations in the quality of education across the pre-school. For instance, not all staff are clear on how they can extend children's learning outside.
• Children understand and know the routines of pre-school and behave well. They can share and take turns independently, such as lining up behind each other to have a turn on the slide. Children are supported in developing social skills through small-group activities to build on what they can do and their next steps.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop the planning of experiences outside so that it is effective in helping those children who prefer to learn outdoors
• formalise supervisions to enhance professional development and knowledge, evaluating practice to plan effectively for the outdoor area.