Chalfont St Giles Pre School Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Since the last inspection, the pre-school has been through a significant period of change. There has been a complete change to the leadership and management and also the staff team. They have all worked extremely hard with the support of the local authority advisor to re-establish the pre-school and provide the best possible provision for children. Children arrive happily and settle quickly in this small, calm pre-school. Staff support anyone who needs extra comfort and time to settle. Children quickly engage in planned activities and the resources staff provide, making independent choices. Staff are available to offer guidance and support. Children are keen to have a go and enthusiastic to get involved in the activities staff plan for them. Children understand staff's expectations for behaviour, as they gently remind them of these, such as how to share space and resources with their friends.

Leaders have developed a simple but ambitious curriculum for all children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. The curriculum is based on themes. Their ultimate aim is to ensure children develop the knowledge and skills they need to be ready for school or the next stage in learning. Staff understand the curriculum as they are an integral part of the daily and weekly planning. This helps them to target their teaching and interactions to support and encourage children's learning. Any additional funding received is appropriately spent, for example, to enable children to attend for additional sessions.

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

• Leaders and staff gather relevant information from parents when children first start, about what they already know and can do. Staff build on this with their own initial assessment. They then use all the knowledge they have about children to create a targeted focus for their learning. Staff monitor any identified gaps in learning, sensitively share these with parents and seek suitable support from outside agencies as needed. This helps to ensure any gaps close quickly and all children make good progress.
• Staff develop individual learning intentions for planned activities and the resources provided to support learning through play and exploration. This helps them to know and understand how to best support children's learning. However, on occasions staff do not recognise opportunities to extend children's learning even further. They do not always encourage children to share their knowledge, such as linked to the current theme. Nevertheless, their interactions with children are positive.
• Leaders know and understand their roles and responsibilities. They have good processes in place for self-evaluation and are aware of where they need to make improvements. Leaders and the staff team work closely together, and staff comment that they feel supported in their work. They have regular opportunities to meet with leaders to discuss any concerns and review their practice. Leaders set realistic targets to help staff understand how to improve even further. This supports effective teamwork and ensures what is offered to children is of high quality.
• Children understand the pre-school routines. Staff give them relevant warnings when things are going to change, such as tidy-up time and nappy changes. This allows children time to prepare for the next stage in the day. Occasionally, these changes are not always managed as well as they could be. It can become very noisy and some children lose focus and run around. This means they could fall or hurt one another.
• Mealtimes are social occasions, where staff sit and support children and engage them in conversations. They encourage children to be independent, including to have a go at cutting fruit and pouring their own milk or water. Staff work with parents to ensure children's lunches are balanced and nutritious. This supports children to learn valuable life skills.
• Staff recognise the importance of promoting children's communication and language skills and focus closely on this. When children's speech and communication are still developing, staff take time to encourage them to use words and make animal noises. Staff also introduce new vocabulary, such as 'lilypad'. Children communicate well, they are confident to share their wants and needs with staff.
• Staff identify opportunities effectively to introduce mathematics during children's daily experiences and play. Children are exposed to numbers in the environment and during singing. They enthusiastically count down from 10 when singing the rocket song. They also count balls with corresponding numbers in the garden and talk about size, for example building a big tower. This helps to develop their early mathematical skills and language.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to recognise opportunities to extend children's learning further in group times and planned activities to ensure children make the best possible progress
• review the arrangements when children move from one activity to another to ensure they receive consistent guidance and engagement at these times.