Cavendish Pre-school

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children demonstrate their happiness as they arrive at this delightful pre-school. Staff greet children with reassuring smiles and enthusiasm. This helps children to part from their parents and quickly settle into their busy day. Staff support children to become independent. Children confidently place their coat on labelled hangers and put their snacks into their bags before changing into their slippers. Staff have an excellent knowledge of children and meet their individual needs well. A high priority is placed on helping children feel safe and secure. The robust key-person system ensures that children feel welcomed and have a sense of belonging at the pre-school.

Behaviour is very good. Children are developing an understanding of a range of feelings and emotions. Staff consistently talk to children about how they are feeling and why. Children confidently express a range of emotions, such as happy and sad. They connect these to experiences at the pre-school, such as when they feel tired or have minor disputes with friends. Children are kind to their friends. They offer to help them when they notice they are facing challenges, such as hanging up their coats. Staff praise children often. As a result, children show pride in their accomplishments. They exclaim, 'I did it', when they successfully roll out the dough.

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

• Staff know children well. They talk confidently about the start points for children and use their knowledge of child development to help children make progress in their learning.
• Children work together on tasks, such as completing puzzles, Adults skilfully support children, offering important information such as how to match the colours and pictures. This helps children develop perseverance and confidence in their abilities, meaning they are able to problem solve by themselves.
• Children use mathematical language in their play. They remember that the number two equals two fingers and five is the bigger number. They hear language such as 'bigger and heavier' and apply these concepts to their work and play.
• Staff engage well with children. They show interest and use back-and-forth conversation as they play. Children share their ideas and stories with adults, who listen and support their narrative as they explain, 'when the ice queen turns everything to ice'. As a result, children are becoming confident communicators, who use language well to express themselves and their ideas, thoughts and feelings.
• Storytelling is impressive. Staff immerse children in stories such as 'The Gingerbread Man'. They connect prior learning to the story, such as recalling when they baked cakes.
• Children recognise the letter sound at the beginning of their name. They confidently identify other words that begin with the same letter sound, such as 'snake' and 'snow'. Children have the opportunity to practise their early writing in their play. They draw on large drawing boards in the garden, make marks in foam with brushes, and scribe in notebooks. They use dough regularly to develop hand strength and dexterity.
• Staff help children learn about the wider world. They learn about different countries, including Australia and Antarctica. Children place postcards on the display and share their discoveries about the countries they visit.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make particularly good progress. This is because leaders place a high priority on providing the appropriate support that children need to make the progress they are capable of.
• Leaders use assessment to identify the progress children make. This is shared regularly with parents online. Reports and feedback are especially detailed for children with SEND, which helps to engage parents in targets and next steps. However, this is not as detailed for other children and, therefore, opportunities for shared learning are not as strong. That said, parents comment on how happy children are and that they would not choose anywhere else for them.
• Leaders use evaluation well. Regular observation provides leaders with oversight of teaching and the impact this has on the progress children make. Staff have regular supervision to talk about the quality of their teaching and ongoing support. Leaders have developed strong community links with the church and local school. They also have a strong committee. They use feedback from these partnerships to review the provision they offer. However, leaders have not yet extended the gathering of feedback to include views of parents, to further support their commitment to continuous improvements.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• extend the sharing of highly detailed information about children's progress to include all parents, enabling them to further support learning and development at home
• develop further the use of evaluation to regularly include the views of parents and further identify areas for development within the setting.