Catshill Rising Stars Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily at this safe and nurturing pre-school. They receive a warm welcome from the kind and friendly staff team. Children separate from their parents with ease and are eager to tell staff about their morning and proudly show them their belongings. This shows their sense of security. Children rapidly settle into their day because they are greeted by an exciting and stimulating learning environment.

Managers and staff carefully plan and provide an ambitious curriculum for children. Children develop their small hand muscles by practising how to use scissors to cut paper and different tools to manipulate dough. They apply their imagination as they make lolly pops with dough, which they pretend to lick. Outdoors, children are thrilled to have opportunities to splash in puddles. They squeal with excitement as they practise their physical skills and move around in different ways.

Staff have very high expectations for every child to become independent. Children are confident in using water butts and jugs to pour their own drinks. They use a knife to skilfully spread their own crackers at snack time. Staff lead by example and support children to tidy up their cups and plates when they have finished, by guiding them to where they belong.

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

• The manager strives to provide every child with the best possible experience. She is highly reflective and regularly seeks the views of others, including staff, children and parents. The manager acts swiftly on feedback received to make further improvements. For example, an online communication system has recently been introduced to fulfil parents wishes to receive more detailed feedback. Consequently, the already good quality of provision is continually improving.
• The quality of education that children receive is good. Staff have a thorough knowledge of each child's interests, stages of development and individual needs. They use this information to provide a broad and varied range of activities that support children to make progress in their learning.
• Staff place high priority on supporting children's communication and language development. They constantly talk clearly and fluently to children to expose them to new vocabulary. Staff provide opportunities for children to practise using the words they hear. They support children to sound out words carefully and clap to the syllables they hear, which helps children to develop their pronunciation of words.
• Children delight in sharing books and stories. Staff spend time reading books enthusiastically. They allow children to analyse the pictures and ask questions about the story to verify their understanding. Children's love for reading is embedded. They happily choose books to read independently.
• Staff reinforce their expectations for children's behaviour. They remind children to put resources away when they have finished playing with them. The pre-school has recently introduced a group rewards system to encourage positive behaviour. Children proudly place stars on a tree in recognition of their good behaviours.
• Managers and staff are passionate about providing an inclusive service. There is a named coordinator who is knowledgeable about how to support children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. They work closely with other professionals to help children obtain the support they need to close gaps in their learning.
• Staff provide opportunities for children to celebrate festivals. Children have recently tasted different foods in celebration of Chinese New Year. However, children are not always exposed to, or helped to understand, differences between people in their local and wider community so that they fully appreciate equality and diversity.
• The manager is committed to supporting all staff to reach their potential. Staff benefit from regular opportunities for supervision and training. New staff receive thorough induction training to help them to fully understand their roles and responsibilities. This helps to promote the interests and safeguarding of children.
• Staff deploy themselves well around the environment to closely supervise children and guide their learning. Staff spend all their time directly interacting and playing with children. As a result, most children develop a very positive attitude towards their learning. However, on occasions, some children need more encouragement to join in with activities. This is not always recognised by staff so they do not fully benefit from being consistently and highly engaged in their learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• explore ways to support all children to be consistently engaged in their learning
• provide more opportunities for children to develop their understanding of equality and diversity.