Brooklyn Preschool Playgroup Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are warmly greeted by the staff and confidently settle into the routine of the day. Children demonstrate excellent social skills. When multiple children want a turn of an activity, they use a timer and patiently wait for their turn. When children wait to go on the swing outdoors, they patiently sit on a crate until the swing is free. During a group activity, children point out who has not yet had a turn. Children demonstrate kindness towards their friends and staff. They demonstrate that they feel safe and secure.

Children benefit from the inviting and stimulating learning environment, which supports them to be fully engaged in meaningful play throughout the pre-school. Staff skilfully adapt their interactions to build on what children know and can do. For example, when children find a beetle outdoors, they anticipate what will happen as it crawls along a stem of grass. They shout out, 'It is going to fall', as the beetle gets towards the end of the grass. Staff ask open-ended questions, such as what the beetle eats or where it lives. This encourages children to think and explore their answers. Children carefully move the beetle onto a leaf, commenting that it is for its 'dinner'. This helps children to develop an understanding of the world around them.

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

• The manager and staff work closely together to provide a consistent and coherent approach to children's learning. Staff observe and assess children's development effectively. They use children's next steps in development and interests to plan activities to engage children.
• Staff support children to develop the skills and knowledge, which they need to achieve the next stages in their learning. For example, children practise their pencil control as they draw pictures on the whiteboards. However, staff do not consistently encourage the quieter children to participate. They focus on the interactions with more engaging children. This reduces the learning opportunities for some children.
• Children's communication and language development are supported very well. Staff ask effective questions to encourage children to think and communicate. For example, staff and children discuss the emotion cards that staff carry with them. Children confidently describe the emotions on the cards and discuss what might make them feel happy, sad or angry. As a result, children make wonderful progress in their speech and language skills.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive tailored and effective support. For example, staff use specific strategies, such as visual prompts and signing to support children. They understand that promoting an inclusive environment also helps to keep children safe.
• Children develop good physical skills outdoors. For instance, children use large building bricks to build a brick house from the story of 'The Three Little Pigs'. Children use their imaginations to be the wolf and knock the house down. Children retell a story using resources available to them.
• Staff teach children how to keep themselves safe. For example, when going outdoors in the hot sun, children check with each other that they have sun cream on and remind others to put their hats on. Children understand the rules and boundaries within the pre-school to keep themselves safe.
• Children learn good hygiene routines and build their independence. For example, they wash their hands before and after eating and handling food. Children place their dirty food plates into a bowl for washing. Children confidently talk about what is healthy and what is a treat in their lunch boxes. Children learn what makes them healthy.
• The manager provides staff with ongoing professional development support. This includes regularly observing their practice, giving specific feedback and holding supervision meetings. This means that the quality of education is regularly evaluated and improved.
• Partnership with parents is good. Staff share information regularly regarding their child's daily routines and well-being. Key persons have meetings with parents to discuss areas of their children's development and share ideas of how parents can extend this at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to actively encourage all children to take part in planned activities to extend their learning opportunities even further.