Childville Pre School @ St Johns

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders and staff provide a broad curriculum that is ambitious for all children. They plan and deliver a good range of motivating experiences to help children to build solid foundations for their future learning. Staff guide children with respect and understanding. They support children's curiosity and engagement through well-planned activities that foster their desire to learn. For instance, staff recognise how children enjoy role playing as builders. They successfully use this interest in construction to help children to learn about shapes and practise counting and measuring.

Staff provide a safe and welcoming space for children. They are kind and attentive to children's needs, which helps them to form strong and affectionate bonds. Children show that they feel happy and secure at the pre-school. They arrive with big smiles, eager to greet staff and settle down to their play. Staff have high expectations for children. They are clear about rules and boundaries and successfully motivate children to behave well. For example, staff have introduced a colourful chart to enable children to celebrate their positive behaviour. Children are proud to share how they have been kind or helpful as they move their photos from the clouds up to the rainbow.

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

• Leaders and staff are committed to giving all children a positive start. The highly trained staff provide targeted interventions to support children's language and social skills. They forge strong links with other professionals, so that children receive the right help at the right time. Staff work closely with parents, linking them with services that can offer support. They use additional funding effectively to enhance children's experiences and help them to achieve their potential.
• Leaders have a good overview of the provision. They get to know children well and quickly adapt the environment and teaching to close any gaps in their learning. For instance, leaders and staff have identified that some children need more help to regulate their behaviour. They have introduced a 'calming area', with resources that encourage children to talk through their feelings with staff. Children learn to express their feelings more effectively, which has a positive impact on their well-being and behaviour.
• Staff read to children daily and ensure that they have access to books during their independent play. They have plans to further encourage children's interest in books, such as by making the reading area more comfortable and attractive. Staff provide opportunities for children to practise making marks. However, they do not always consider how to nurture children's early writing skills in interesting and meaningful contexts.
• Staff ensure that children have opportunities to practise speaking and listening throughout the day. This includes singing and looking at books together. They introduce children to the names of objects and repeat words to children as they play. This is particularly useful for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language, helping them to acquire a good basic vocabulary. However, staff do not always consider introducing children to a broader range of words to enrich their vocabulary even further.
• Children develop good independence with their personal care. Staff give them time and encouragement to acquire useful skills, such as putting on their own shoes. They promote children's oral hygiene very well, including through encouraging children to brush their teeth in the pre-school. Children show an increasing understanding of their own care needs, such as recognising when they need to wipe their noses.
• Children learn about themselves, their families and their community in engaging ways. Staff arrange visits from local police and firefighters, so that children can find out about people who help them. They create meaningful opportunities for children to explore cultural events, such as creating cards for their loved ones on Mother's Day. These experiences help children to develop respectful attitudes and begin to understand their differences.
• Leaders and staff establish strong and supportive partnerships with parents and carers. They provide useful information about the curriculum and keep parents fully up to date with their child's learning. Parents are highly complimentary about the care, education and experiences their children receive.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop the curriculum for literacy further, to continually enhance children's early reading and writing skills
• support staff to consistently introduce children to a broad range of words, to help children to build a rich and varied vocabulary.