Collaton St Mary Pre-School Paignton

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are eager to enter this welcoming and safe pre-school. Friendly staff welcome them individually. Children settle quickly and engage in a variety of stimulating activities. Staff plan and implement their curriculum well to ensure that children make good progress from their starting points. For instance, staff encourage younger children to put on pretend binoculars. They look out of the window to see what the weather is like. Children establish that today is cloudy. They move their weather chart to the appropriate picture. Staff support all children with recording the temperature. Children record this twice a day, helping to support their mathematical development. They talk about how the temperature changes as the pre-school warms up and cools down. Older children enjoy identifying shapes within their environment. They try to find triangle-shaped items around the room. Children do so successfully, promoting their self-esteem.

Children have a positive attitude to learning and play cooperatively. They develop good independence skills and enjoy serving themselves with healthy fruit at snack time. They show skill in using large serving spoons and manipulate these well to place the food into their bowl, ready to eat.

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

• Children enjoy creative activities. They use a variety of materials to create their own 'winter weather' picture. Staff encourage them to talk about their picture to promote language skills. Children show how well they can use different tools. Older children learn how to take tape off the dispenser, and they use scissors independently to cut up materials. Younger children enjoy learning how to use runny glue. They try hard to keep it on their glue stick before placing it on their picture. All children develop good finger muscles in preparation for early writing.
• Staff provide children with good opportunities to be active. Children enjoy using the large equipment in the pre-school garden, such as balancing with stilts and riding tricycles. They also engage in forest school activities. For example, children learn how to 'whittle' using a vegetable peeler and sticks. Staff help them to understand safety when building a fire, using logs as a boundary.
• Partnerships with parents are effective. Staff keep parents informed about their child's progress. They often invite them and the grandparents to the pre-school for various events. For example, they watched their children perform 'The Nutcracker' at Christmas time. Staff provide information to parents about what their child is learning. They encourage children to borrow books from the 'book library' to share at home. Children also bring in natural items for the pre-school 'nature table', such as leaves and pine cones. However, staff do not tailor home-learning activities to children's individual next steps for a consistent approach to their development.
• Staff plan extra events for children to attend. Children visit a local residential care home with staff where they spend a few hours engaging with the residents. They enjoy sharing activities with them, such as music and movement sessions or arts and crafts. This helps to build positive relationships in the community.
• The pre-school premises are secure to ensure the safety of children. Staff have a good understanding of safeguarding and know who to contact in the event of a child's welfare being at risk of harm. They show confidence in following local safeguarding procedures should they need to.
• Staff generally promote children's social and communication skills well. They provide children with one-to-one reading, where children can share a book with an adult. Staff also put in place specific group work to enhance children's language skills. However, during mealtimes, staff do not sit with the children while they eat to encourage positive interactions and conversations. Children often get up and wander around.
• The manager and some staff are musically talented. They are passionate about sharing their skills with the children. For instance, children listen to various instruments, such as drums, clarinet, flute and different types of guitars. Staff then encourage children to explore these and have a go at playing them independently. Children's confidence and concentration grow as they learn about rhythmic patterns and musical beats.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• tailor home learning more precisely to meet children's individual needs for a consistent approach to their development
• promote children's social and communication skills further, particularly during mealtimes.