Brighton Hill Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are supported by experienced and nurturing staff at their pre-school. There is a wide range of enjoyable activities planned. These enhance their learning and development. Children love opportunities to develop their imaginative play with small-world toys and in their home corner. There are lots of opportunities for them to develop their early literacy skills. For example, they vote using tokens for their favourite book at story time. Staff use this opportunity to introduce counting. Children sit well alongside each other while listening to stories. Staff make sure all children are able to join in with these sessions. They adapt resources to help children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) play alongside the group and explore different sensory materials.

Staff closely supervise children's play. They ensure that children are safe and that any unwanted behaviours are swiftly diverted. Children settle quickly as they arrive for the day and select their names to self-register. This helps them to learn to recognise their name in print. Children participate in daily group times, where they take turns and learn new vocabulary. They learn about the days of the week, months and weather. Staff encourage all children to participate in these sessions, including those who are not able to communicate verbally.

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

• The manager encourages staff to reflect on their teaching skills and feedback to each other about their strengths and areas to develop. The manager is keen to encourage continuous improvement with the help of colleagues, the committee and parents. Staff receive training from speech and language specialists to help them deliver good support for children with SEND. They use additional funding to purchase resources to support children to make good progress in their communication, both at home and in the setting.
• The staff team plans a broad and interesting range of activities based on children's interests. However, this is not always precise in targeting learning intentions for children to make progress in different areas of learning and development.
• Staff know the children at the setting and their families very well. They communicate regularly with parents, carers and other professionals about children's learning and development. Speech and language professionals are particularly impressed with the quality of assessments completed and how staff support children who are not making expected development with their communication skills. The setting has recently introduced a communication board for parents and carers. This explains how people at home can incorporate new vocabulary, including descriptive words, relating to different topics. This promotes a united approach to children's learning.
• Overall, children's communication is a priority and promoted well. However, at times, staff do not wait long enough for children to answer questions and share their thoughts. When this occurs, children do not benefit from the best opportunity to practise their developing language skills.
• Children have good opportunities to learn about the similarities and differences between themselves and others. For example, they make tally charts to see which different hair and eye colours they have. They read from a variety of books that show people from a diverse range of backgrounds. Children and parents enjoyed filling a paper bag at home with objects about themselves. Children then shared these items at group time and learned more about each other's home and culture.
• Children are encouraged to develop their independence throughout the daily routine. For instance, they hang their own coats and wash hands ready for snack time. Staff give them lots of choice at snack time and encourage skills such as peeling and segmenting fruit.
• Staff plan activities in small groups to help children develop an awareness of healthy lifestyles. For example, children concentrate really well as they learn to brush their teeth. The activity is skilfully guided by a staff member, who makes sure children have fun as they learn.
• Children have good opportunities to learn about the natural world. For example, they grow tomatoes, potatoes and flowers in their garden. They have their own potting shed and learn to care for plants. The management team has plans to develop this area further, making the outdoor space a more natural environment in which for children to learn.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• create clearer intentions for children's learning, to help refine the curriculum which informs staff planning and implementation
• support staff to allow children the time they need to share their answers to questions and their thoughts more consistently, to develop their communication skills even further.