Chipping Norton Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are keen to play and learn. They arrive with enthusiasm and know the routines securely, such as taking off and hanging up their coats and changing their shoes. They learn to manage these tasks very well by themselves, which promotes their independence and confidence in their own abilities effectively. Generally, children develop good self-care skills, including using the 'tissue station' and toilet independently.

Overall, there is an effective learning environment for children. They freely choose and access a broad range of interesting resources, toys and equipment. These encourage them to explore and investigate. Children learn about science and technology concepts through daily experiences. For example, they attach items such as scissors and cutlery to magnetic strips, which promotes their curiosity to experiment with other items. This helps them to gain knowledge about different materials and their properties.

There is a well-considered curriculum that focuses strongly on the skills and knowledge children need to gain. Staff have an effective understanding of what they teach. They implement new strategies, including those to help close any gaps in children's learning. Staff use these strategies well, for example to promote children's listening and speaking skills. Children benefit from plenty of good-quality discussions and conversations with staff. This helps to support children to make good or better progress from their starting points.

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

• Staff show a strong commitment to their roles and they work effectively together. They have access to training to promote their professional development. Staff say they receive very good support for their well-being and their work. They have regular individual and team meetings to review their practice. This helps staff to reflect on their work and make improvements to benefit the children and families. The managers meet and liaise with the committee regularly, which contributes to the monitoring of the provision.
• Staff know the children and families well and offer them effective support, including encouraging home learning. Parents and children borrow books to read at home, which promotes children's continued learning. Additional funding is used effectively, for example to offer a wider choice of books for children to take home. In addition, staff identify and buy resources to promote children's individual learning needs.
• Children develop a suitable awareness of healthy lifestyles. They enjoy being physically active and develop good physical skills, including spatial awareness when running around. Children challenge their physical skills, for example when they persevere in throwing a ball into a net. Children wash their hands regularly as part of the routine. On occasion, these routines are not always consistently embedded, to further support children's understanding. At snack time, children eat and drink healthy options. However, staff do not fully promote healthy eating at other times, to enhance children's good health further.
• Staff know their key children's learning needs effectively and how to support them. They skilfully challenge children's learning with their interactions. During the inspection, staff extended children's learning, for example through encouraging counting, identifying sizes and the use of positional language. On occasion, the noise level rises indoors, which sometimes affects some children's engagement. Staff do not always respond quickly to this, to help minimise the impact.
• Staff identify and take effective steps to help close any gaps in children's learning. They know the importance of supporting children's additional needs and work with outside professionals when needed. Staff have strong partnerships with local agencies. This helps them work together successfully to support children and their families.
• Children are happy and settled. They form positive relationships with staff and each other. Children develop strong levels of confidence and resilience. Those who arrive with comforters, happily leave these to go and explore. Staff organise the environment to help children learn to work together and negotiate with each other. Children behave well. They receive warm praise and encouragement, which promotes their self-esteem effectively.
• Parents' feedback reflects staff's strong partnerships with them. Parents speak highly about the pre-school and staff. They say the support they and their children receive is 'excellent'. Parents comment that staff are approachable and they communicate effectively. They praise their children's progress, stating they have made significant progress in their language skills and confidence since starting.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review and reflect on further steps to take to enhance children's well-being and good health, such as consistency in hygiene routines and encouraging more awareness of eating healthily
• consider how to manage times when the noise levels rise, to help keep children better engaged at these times.