Bunnies Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled. Throughout the pre-school, staff's warm smiles and positive attitude help to create a welcoming environment. The key-person system is well established, and staff know the children in their care well. Children demonstrate that they feel safe and secure. They are eager to come into the pre-school and confidently explore their surroundings.

Children behave well and show a positive attitude to their learning. Staff provide fun activities, such as 'egg and spoon races', to challenge children and encourage them to think critically. During this activity, children show high levels of resilience and perseverance. For instance, when the eggs fall from the spoons, they pick them up and try again until they succeed. At other times, children explore different ways to complete the task, such as using bigger spoons. These positive experiences motivate children to learn and help them to develop a 'can-do' attitude.

Children develop good communication and language skills. Throughout activities, staff provide a dialogue and speak to children in Polish and English. Children communicate confidently in both languages. They enjoy listening to stories, songs and rhymes, and they happily engage in two-way conversations with others.

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

• Leaders ensure that all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, receive high-quality care and education. They have designed an ambitious curriculum to help children gain the knowledge and skills that are needed for the next stage of their learning. Leaders and staff recognise the importance of regularly assessing children's progress to ensure that they are developing well. They work effectively with other professionals to provide the necessary interventions so that children receive targeted support when needed.
• Staff incorporate mathematics into everyday routines and experiences. Children naturally use numbers during play, such as counting how many cakes they make with dough. Staff provide engaging activities to help them to recognise numbers. For example, they hide numbered eggs in the garden for children to find. After finding the eggs, staff help children to peg these to the fence in the correct order. Children of all ages count confidently to 10, and older children can match quantities to their corresponding numerals.
• Overall, teaching is good. Staff provide a range of activities to help support children's learning across all areas of the curriculum. However, during some activities, staff do not consider the learning needs of individual children. For example, they teach children the 'letter of the week' to help develop their early literacy skills. However, this activity is too challenging for the youngest children.
• As a result, they do not become fully engaged in the learning opportunities that are available to them.
• Staff have clear expectations for children's behaviour and conduct. They reinforce the rules of the pre-school daily to help children to understand what is expected of them. Staff act as positive role models and praise children regularly to reinforce positive behaviour. On the rare occasion that children struggle to manage their behaviour, staff quickly intervene and help them find solutions. For instance, when children struggle to share, staff suggest they count to a given number, and then it will be the next child's turn.
• Overall, staff support children in developing a good understanding of the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle. Children follow good hygiene practices, such as washing their hands before meals and cleaning their teeth. Mealtimes are treated as a social occasion, and staff use these opportunities to engage children in small-group conversations. For example, some staff discuss how the foods children eat provide them with energy. However, this message is not consistently reinforced by all staff to fully support children to understand the importance of making healthy food choices.
• Partnerships with parents are built on secure and trusting relationships. Staff communicate well with them to ensure that they are included in all aspects of their children's care and education. Leaders send regular emails to parents and invite them into the pre-school to discuss children's progress and make suggestions on how parents can support learning at home.
• Staff work well together as a happy and enthusiastic team. Leaders ensure that staff complete routine training to keep their knowledge and skills up to date. Regular supervisions enable leaders to discuss staff's workload and well-being.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide children with suitable levels of challenge, particularly during planned activities, to capture their interest and support their concentration skills
• strengthen children's understanding of the importance of making healthy food choices as part of leading a healthy lifestyle.