Chudleigh Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children make good friendships at this welcoming setting. They arrive ready to play and confidently find their favourite toys. Staff are attentive to children's needs and ensure they are well cared for throughout the day. They develop warm and responsive relationships with children. Leaders ensure there is an effective key-person system in place. Staff know the children in their care well and provide challenging activities that help build on what they already know and prepare them for the next steps in their early years education.

Staff provide an inclusive environment for children to learn in. They allow children to take part in activities at their own pace and gently encourage them to join in when they are ready. Children learn how to look after the pre-school environment. Staff help them to learn the importance of tidying away toys, and in return, children are very keen to be helpful. Children demonstrate a good sense of right and wrong and learn how to regulate their emotions.

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

• Leaders have developed a rich curriculum designed to meet the needs of the children in the setting. Staff have high expectations of what children can achieve and regularly extend their learning through their discussions with children. They work closely with their key children, including as part of daily focused groups designed to help children meet their next steps.
• Staff promote a love of reading and stories with children. Children delight as staff read stories to them and enthusiastically join in with repeated sections and rhyming words. Staff encourage them to make simple predictions about what will happen next in a story and deliberately make mistakes to check children's understanding.
• Staff use imaginative play particularly well to help children learn. They take part in high-quality interactions with children, which helps them to develop their ideas further. Children demonstrate good communication skills and apply their mathematical skills well as part of their imaginative play. For example, children demonstrate their good understanding of quantities, shapes and money as they pretend to make and sell pizzas in a restaurant.
• Children develop good levels of independence. Staff have shared expectations of what children can do for themselves and set up the pre-school environment to aid this. For instance, children of all ages confidently find their water bottles at the drinking station when they are thirsty. Staff try to make learning fun, including singing songs to support children to learn to wash their hands effectively.
• Overall, staff support children well within the pre-school. However, on occasion, staff do not intervene quickly enough when children find it hard to join in activities to offer them additional support. At these times, children can wander off from a group activity and not be purposefully engaged.
• Children generally develop a good understanding of routines and what is expected of them throughout the day. They respond quickly to staff's instructions and are keen to follow the simple behaviour 'rules' in place. However, staff do not always manage transitions from one activity to the next smoothly, which can leave children with little to do. For instance, staff leave children waiting for too long for their food at snack time.
• Leaders are thoughtful and regularly assess the effectiveness of their provision. They have put in place an effective induction process for new members of staff and undertake regular observations and supervisions for all staff. Leaders monitor staff development closely and provide regular training opportunities. For instance, some staff have recently undertaken additional training in supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
• Parents are very happy with the level of care provided by the setting. They speak highly of how staff have identified and supported any additional needs their children have. Staff communicate well with parents and ensure they are aware of their children's progress and next steps.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide children with the support they need when they find it difficult to join in an activity to enable them to remain purposefully engaged
• manage transitions from one activity to the next more effectively to ensure children are not left waiting for too long for the next activity to start.