Church Preen Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The manager provides children with a wide range of learning experiences that complement and build on what children learn at home. Staff take time to get to know children, their families and home lives so they can enrich the learning for each child. They have created a play environment that reflects the seven areas of learning and provides quality invitations to play and learn. Children are happy and well motivated and choose whether they will play indoors or outdoors. They decide to engage in independent play or with their friends.

The manager places a strong focus on supporting children's independence as part of the curriculum. Staff encourage children to manage their self-care routines. This includes removing outdoor clothes, washing their hands and getting themselves ready for staff to change their nappy or clothing. When staff start preparing for snack time, two-year-old children know they must go to wash their hands and do so without being prompted.

Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour, and children know what they need to do during the various routines throughout the day. Older children understand what is right and wrong. They remind the younger children of the rules, such as being sensible while they wash their hands, and seek support from staff to help younger children understand about sharing the resources.

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

• The manager reflects effectively on staff practice and the service they provide. She works with the committee to develop action plans to further enhance children's education experiences. Recently, they have been extending the provision for children's outdoor learning.
• The manager monitors staff practice and provides them with effective supervision, guidance and training to help them continuously progress their knowledge and skills. Staff have recently accessed the Department for Education's training initiatives to support their mathematical teaching.
• Overall, staff provide children with good models to support their language development. They provide frequent opportunities for children to engage with books and sing songs and rhymes. Children build up a wide repertoire of action songs. However, the manager and staff do not focus as well as possible on providing two-year-old children with precise support for their speaking and language development. This means that the teaching for some younger children is not matched precisely to their specific language need, to help them make the best possible progress.
• The manager and staff monitor children's progress effectively. Overall, they plan well for children's learning. They take account of children's interests to plan the learning experiences so that children are engaged in purposeful play. However, the manager and staff do not identify how they can match their teaching to the needs of all children during large-group times. At times, staff do not offer the highest level of challenge for some older children and occasionally pitch activities too high for some of the two-year-old children.
• The provision for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is effective. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) liaises with parents and outside agencies so children benefit from the support they need.
• The manager ensures that children's emotional development is supported through the curriculum. Staff help children to regulate their feelings. This involves learning breathing techniques and controlling their body movements through stretching and balancing exercises. Two-year-old children understand that it is reasonable to return a toy when another child was already playing with it.
• Staff help children to develop their concentration skills and to find solutions to problems. For example, older children sustain their focus as they create boats using recycled materials. They decide whether their boat should have a mast and sail or oars for rowing and select appropriate resources to achieve their design ideas.
• The indoor and outdoor learning environments are both well designed to support children's physical development. Children develop a sense of risk as they use climbing equipment. Staff set up writing opportunities on a variety of angles to support a wide range of upper body movements, such as painting on vertical surfaces or kneeling to write.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Staff keep parents frequently updated about their child's progress. This includes offering guidance to support children's learning at home. Parents and grandparents speak positively about the service provided. They report how their children are well prepared for when they start school, especially with their independence and social skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• extend the language teaching strategies to help accelerate the progress for all two-year-old children
• review planning of large-group activities so that teaching is matched precisely to the wide variety of children's stages of development.