Burbage Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are welcomed by staff when they arrive, they are eager to say goodbye to their parents and come inside to see what they are doing today. One or two children are hesitant to leave their parents. Staff support them gently, giving reassurance sensitively, which enables the child to feel confident to come in. Children clearly show they feel safe and happy during the session. Children behave well. They are confident to choose what they want to do, and they feel secure because they know what comes next in the daily routine.

Children's interests are central to the curriculum at this pre-school. This contributes to children being engaged, curious and highly motivated to take part in the activities. For example, children are keen to paint their own pictures. They become excited when they notice that the colours they use are mixing together. Children call across the room to their friends and staff saying 'Look, look, I've made purple.' Children respond to the staff's high expectations, and they learn resilience. For example, when they wobble and stumble from a balancing beam, children look to staff, who support and encourage them to keep trying. This results in children being successful because they are confident to try again.

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

• The staff team work very well together. They feel supported and valued by the manager and the owner of the pre-school. Staff are encouraged to keep their knowledge up to date and to work towards higher level qualifications. Recent training about risky play has given staff confidence to support children to take part in, and to consider the potential risks in their activities. This in turn has a positive impact on children's behaviour. Children have learned to follow their interests in a safe way.
• Staff help children learn to be independent. They show new children how to select their own food at snack time and how to pour their own drinks. Children are confident to scrape their own plates when they have finished their lunch and collect their yoghurt and spoon.
• Staff interactions with children are very positive in helping children to learn and remember. Children find green beans on plants and speak confidently about how they planted them. Children recall that this came after they read the 'Jack and the Beanstalk' story. Children talk about how Jack climbed the beanstalk 'that grew higher than the clouds' and found the golden eggs. Staff support them to think about what happened in the story and to link it to the planting activity.
• Children's thinking skills and their awareness about numbers and quantity is developing. Staff are effective in their teaching as they talk to children about numbers as they count pieces of pasta. Children eagerly scoop the pasta into different sized containers and recognise when their container is full. Staff help children to compare the length of spaghetti. The staff ask them to think abut which one is 'taller'. However, occasionally during activities, staff give children lots of information very quickly and do not give time for children to think about what they want to say before moving on further with the conversation.
• Children's behaviour is very good. They listen to staff, work well together and help their friends. For example, they ask to use a pot of paint that their friend has and then put it back in the easel tray, saying to their friend 'The yellow is there so you can reach it.' Children are familiar with the daily routine, and they respond when staff call them for nappy changes or for different activities. However, sometimes, the routines interrupt children's play because they do not have time to finish what they are doing.
• Staff are skilled in recognising when they can widen children's experiences and broaden their knowledge about diversity and other countries of the world. During the recent Platinum Jubilee celebrations, children listened to the British National Anthem. This prompted conversation with children from different backgrounds about the national anthems of their home countries, including Zimbabwe, France and Italy.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• ensure staff give children time to think about and process information they are given during adult-led activities before giving children more information
• review the daily routines to ensure children know when the activities are changing and have time to finish what they are doing.