Brandon Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are warmly welcomed into the pre-school by staff, who are friendly and approachable. Children have freedom to choose from a well-resourced and accessible learning environment, both indoors and outdoors. There is a good balance of free-choice and adult-led activities. This helps to capture children's attention and interest. Children use their imaginations in the role-play areas. They pretend to read a recipe before selecting paper and a pencil to 'write' a shopping list. They exercise their fine motor skills, safely handling a knife as they cut up real vegetables. Children explore their senses as they touch and feel a tray of ice. They talk about the different animals that live in cold climates. Children count the dots as they play giant dominos, learning to listen and to take turns.

Children develop good levels of self-esteem. They learn to understand their emotions and share how they feel. Children know and understand how to behave. Staff act as good role models, praising and supporting children to play cooperatively together and to respect each other. Children, particularly those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), receive individual, tailored support. Their needs are well met. Staff actively engage and share information with other professionals, support parents and help to ensure children reach their full potential. Parents speak highly of the pre-school and the care and attention their children receive.

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

• Since the last inspection, with support from the local authority, the manager and her staff team have continued to make further improvements. The pre-school is well led, and staff work effectively as a team. Staff receive regular training and effective supervision in order to continuously improve. This is having a positive impact on the care and learning the children receive.
• Children are well supervised. Staff are clear in their roles and deploy themselves effectively, often 'shadowing' those children who need additional support. Staff get down to the children's level, showing a genuine interest in what they are doing.
• Staff chat easily with the children, asking open questions to encourage the children to use their language. Staff read books with animation. They introduce some new vocabulary and correctly repeat words that children mispronounce. Staff use simple sign language and pictorial images to support children who find it harder to communicate.
• Children's progress is tracked effectively, and staff are swift to identify those who are at risk of falling behind. Children with SEND and children in receipt of additional funding benefit from additional attention in areas where they need support. Children who are learning to speak English as an additional language are helped to learn and say more words.
• Staff play alongside the children, modelling how to use resources and asking some questions to encourage thinking. However, learning for the most able children is not always adapted to build on what the children already know and can do.
• Children know the pre-school routines. They listen to instructions and join in with tidy-up time. Some take themselves to the toilet and know how to wash their hands. Staff sensitively support children's intimate care routines. However, they are not yet working effectively enough, in partnership with parents, to help those children who are ready for toilet training to make the transition.
• Children are encouraged to make healthy choices from the nutritious snacks provided by the pre-school. Staff are aware of what constitutes a healthy menu, but they have yet to work more closely with parents to ensure that packed lunches provided are always balanced and nutritious. This is to ensure that children receive the same consistent messages with regard to healthy eating throughout their time in pre-school.
• Children are offered good opportunities to be part of, and find out about, their own community. Their own experiences are broadened, as they make regular trips to the local library, fostering a love of books. They find out about 'people who help us', with visits from the dental nurse and the community police.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance the quality of teaching so that all staff understand how to sequence children's learning and provide challenge effectively, particularly for the more able children, so that they get to develop their own ideas and strategies for doing things
• engage more closely with parents, to promote healthier eating practices in the setting and support those children who are ready for toilet training to make the transition.