Broad Oak Pre-school

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children flourish and thrive in this inspirational setting. Staff consistently prioritise children's emotional well-being. They know children extremely well and are precisely tuned in to the needs of individual children. For example, they ensure a familiar adult is always available to help reassure younger children, which helps them to feel completely safe and secure. Furthermore, children develop exceptionally strong bonds with their key person and benefit from their superbly caring and nurturing approach.

Children are extremely assured and competent learners. This is seen when children of all ages chat with visitors and invite them to join in their play. Staff expertly encourage children to 'have a go' and persevere, such as when they teach younger children to successfully climb a tree. This enhances children's resilience and self-esteem very effectively.

Children's behaviour is exemplary. They show consistently high levels of engagement and concentration throughout the day. Staff create an enticing environment with a wide range of exciting activities that ignite children's interests and curiosity. For example, children become completely engrossed in making marks, using the paints they have made themselves by mixing water with crushed coloured flowers.

Staff use their extensive knowledge and awareness of child development to deliver a highly ambitious curriculum for all children. This helps children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make the best possible progress.

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

• Staff use their comprehensive knowledge of how children learn to identify precise next steps in learning to support all children reach their full potential. They carefully plan an exciting range of inclusive activities that successfully promote learning for children at different stages of development. For example, younger children are absolutely fascinated as they examine worms with a magnifying glass and older children gain excellent investigative skills as they measure the worms with a ruler and identify their colour using colour boards.
• Partnerships with parents are exceptionally strong. Staff value their input and involve them in their child's learning at every level. They meet regularly with parents to discuss their child's progress and work collaboratively with them to plan what their child learns next. The manager has created a lending library that contains a wide range of resources, including books, that parents can use with their children at home. This helps children to make the best possible progress.
• The manager and staff have refined the assessment processes to ensure they consistently build on what children already know and can do. For example, they visit children at home before they start at the setting to gather detailed information about children's starting points. This means they can precisely tailor care and learning experiences from the outset to help children settle.
• Children are polite and demonstrate excellent manners. Staff are exceptional role models and consistently show high levels of respect for children and adults. This encourages children's social skills, such as kindness, incredibly well. This is demonstrated when children help each other to complete tasks, such as threading pasta with pipe cleaners.
• Staff support children amazingly well during times of change. They respond sensitively to the needs of children. For example, they use precisely tailored visual timetables and picture cards to help children understand what comes next and to communicate their needs. This helps all children to become highly independent.
• The special educational needs coordinator works closely with parents, outside agencies and key persons to put in place achievable targets for children to work towards. This means children with SEND are superbly supported, which helps to prepare them exceptionally well for their next stage, including moving on to school.
• The incredibly passionate and dedicated manager expertly supports her staff. She coaches and mentors them highly successfully, which assists them to confidently deliver consistently high-quality care and teaching. Furthermore, professional development is precisely focussed on meeting the needs of the children on roll. For example, following recent training, staff have reviewed resources available for the youngest children to focus more accurately on their specific ways of learning. This keeps children highly motivated and extremely excited about learning.
• The manager has established superb relationships with parents and the local community. She has a deep understanding of the importance of family well-being and the positive impact this has on children's outcomes. For example, she has liaised with local services to provide drop-in sessions for parents to offer confidential advice and support, which has improved children's attendance.