Chieveley Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

All children make good progress. They are provided with an ambitious curriculum and a welcoming, calm learning environment. Children eagerly take part in a wide range of activities, indoors and outdoors. For example, they thoroughly enjoy making bird feeders, which they hang in the trees in the pre-school garden. They enjoy colouring in pictures of birds and learn that owls can be seen at night.

Staff form close emotional relationships with children. At the start of each session, they greet families individually and make sure that children feel happy and safe. Children quickly settle, feel secure and form friendships.

Children develop good physical skills. For example, they learn to balance as they walk and jump across low-level tree trunks. Children develop good hand-to-eye coordination, such as when they use foam bricks to build walls inside a playhouse and move sand around using play diggers.

Staff have clear expectations for children's behaviour. They successfully gain children's cooperation and help them to understand and manage their feelings and emotions.

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

• Children develop the skills they need for future learning. Staff successfully support children to listen and concentrate, such as during group story times. They inspire children to use their imaginations and make up their own stories, for example while dancing and playing with puppets.
• Staff focus strongly on developing children's confidence to talk and engage in conversation. They support children well to develop and use a range of vocabulary. Staff give children time to talk and share information about, for example, their home lives and experiences.
• The manager and staff have a good knowledge and understanding of the intent of the curriculum. Staff use their comprehensive knowledge of children's individual needs and interests to help them make good progress. The manager takes a lead role in the implementation of the curriculum. She provides a positive role model for staff. However, she does not always support staff to develop their skills further so they can consistently challenge and extend children's learning and development in all activities.
• Children behave well and learn to take turns. They develop good self-confidence and independence. For example, they wash their hands, pour drinks and serve themselves at snack time. Staff support children well to make choices during their play. They listen attentively to what children say, help them set up the resources and give them time to try things for themselves.
• Staff provide children with a good range of activities that help them to understand the world. For instance, children enjoy exploring and learning about vehicles that people from the local community bring to the pre-school, such as tractors, motorbikes and coaches. Staff teach children about the weather. Children collect leaves, sticks, stones and shells, which they then put into a large tray of water in the garden. Staff support children to notice and talk about what happens, and why, when the water freezes overnight.
• The recently appointed nominated individual and the manager work well together. They have overcome significant challenges in the pre-school. For example, they have successfully recruited a new staff team and committee, which has enabled the pre-school to reopen after closing for a short time last year. Additionally, the nominated individual has improved the implementation of recruitment policies and procedures. For instance, she uses safe recruitment guidance to ensure that staff and committee members are suitable and fully understand their roles and responsibilities.
• Since the last inspection, the manager has improved how parents are supported to continue their children's learning. For example, she has introduced a book lending library, which parents use to develop their children's interest in books further at home. Parents spoken to during the inspection are happy with their children's care and learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the arrangements to identify and address areas for improvement in staff practice
• support all staff to improve their teaching practice further so that children are consistently challenged in their learning and development.