Breachwood Green Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children settle quickly in this warm and inviting pre-school. They develop close bonds with staff, enabling them to feel safe and secure. Staff know the children well and offer a wide range of activities and learning that stem from the children's interests. For example, children's curiosity in minibeasts leads to a sensory activity with soil and pasta to represent worms. Children become deeply engaged as they use tools for a purpose. They use tweezers to pick up pretend worms, and magnifying glasses to look at different textures. This helps children to develop their fine motor skills.

Children thoroughly enjoy learning in the well-equipped outdoor area. They demonstrate enthusiasm and concentrate well on activities. They learn about aeroplanes as they watch them flying overhead from the special viewing point. They learn to use binoculars to see the aeroplanes in more detail. Children become engrossed as they experiment with different volumes during water play, helping them to develop an early understanding of mathematical concepts. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported. Staff work closely with parents and other professionals to ensure children receive the support they need. Activities are sharply focused to ensure children progress well and move to the next stage of education to the best of their ability.

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

• The recently appointed committee and manager have a strong sense of direction and high ambition. They demonstrate focus and have a robust plan for ongoing improvements. They show commitment to providing the best care, support and education to further improve the outcomes for children.
• Children make good progress in their communication and language. Staff use rich language, introducing new words, such as 'squishy' and 'shiny', during messy play. Children clearly articulate their needs as they indicate which toys they would like to play with. This enables children to feel empowered in their environment and helps to develop their self-esteem.
• Staff promote opportunities for children to develop their independence skills. Children learn how to do things for themselves. For instance, staff teach them how to put their coats on independently, and children know to hang these back on the hooks after playing outside. Children understand healthy routines, such as washing their hands before snack time. They enjoy accessing the self-service snack. This helps children to develop the skills they will need as they move to the next stage of their education.
• The manager has established clear roles and responsibilities within the team, which has helped staff to grow in confidence. Staff report much-improved support and share their commitment to improving the pre-school to ensure its successful future. The manager ensures that staff complete mandatory training and has a robust plan to improve staff's skills and teaching. However, staff have not yet had regular opportunities to enhance their knowledge of supporting children's learning even further.
• Staff strongly promote children's love of books. Children eagerly share books and stories with staff in the cosy reading area. They choose their favourite story and recall the familiar characters' names as they read the story together. Families can borrow books from the lending library to enjoy and extend their learning experience at home.
• Staff are implementing methods to support children to behave well and understand what is expected of them. For example, the manager is introducing more routines, such as 'circle time' and 'story session', to support this. Staff are swift to support children when there are disagreements. They teach children to be kind and share. However, on some occasions, they do not always help children to fully understand how their behaviour impacts on others.
• The manager works effectively to build a good rapport with parents. Parents' evenings provide opportunities for parents to discuss their children's progress. Daily handovers, newsletters and pictures keep parents up to date with the activities each day. Parents speak highly of the pre-school. They report their children are happy and make good progress. They would highly recommend the pre-school to others.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to support children to fully understand the impact of their actions and help them to regulate behaviour
• strengthen professional development opportunities to progress teaching skills to ensure children receive high-quality education.