College Road Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff are kind and attentive to children's individual needs. As a result, children are happy and secure and enjoy their time in the pre-school. The key-person system is effective. Staff work closely with parents to find out about children's interests, needs and home care routines, which helps ensure their individual needs are met. Children settle quickly. They develop their independence from an early age. They take off their outdoor clothing on arrival and quickly identify their name on the pegs. They are eager to see their friends and join in the fun activities on offer.

Staff plan a wide curriculum, which captures children's interests. For example, staff provide frequent opportunities for children to be active. Children have fun as they hold brushes and use water to paint the outside wall .They show delight at the patterns they make. They develop their physical skills as they navigate and explore a variety of indoor climbing apparatus. Staff enrich children's vocabulary, as they talk about the movements they make, such as 'descend, skip', and 'roll'.

Staff have high expectations for all children and support children well to develop skills they need for the next stage, including school. They encourage children to master new skills and give them time to try to do things for themselves. For example, children persevere as they hold scissors to cut out shapes. Staff praise children for their achievements. This helps develop their self-esteem. Children learn to share and use sand timers to help them learn to turn take.

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

• The setting has made significant improvements. They have addressed the actions and recommendations from the last inspection. The manager has worked with staff to develop the curriculum and improve outcomes for children. For example, following recent training in managing children's behaviour, the staff help children to be better able to recognise and regulate their emotions, which has a positive impact on children's behaviour. Ongoing professional development, meetings and supervision help staff build on their skills and knowledge and improve outcomes for children.
• All children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress from their starting points, Staff understand how children learn. They ask parents about children's developmental stages and build on what children already know and can do. Staff observe children and identify the next steps in their learning. They work with other professionals to identify and close any gaps in children's learning, to help ensure no child is left behind. Parents are fully involved in this process.
• Staff encourage children to be healthy. Staff talk to children about the importance of good hygiene and children demonstrate they understand. For example, they know to wash their hands before snack and talk about how to brush away germs as they make hats from pictures of teeth. Children benefit from regular physical play and fresh air.
• Staff engage well with children and extend children's learning during play. For example, during a play dough activity staff talk about shape and size to help children develop their mathematical thinking. They ask open-ended questions to extend children's language. However, group activities are not always meticulously planned to differentiate between the different stages of children's development and maximise learning opportunities, particularly for the most-able children.
• Staff prepare the children for the next stage in their educational journey, including starting school. For example, they help children to begin to recognise letters in their name and to mark their initials on their work. They emotionally prepare children by talking about what happens next and what to expect. This helps develop children's confidence.
• Staff share positive relationships with parents and carers. Parents comment their children like attending pre-school and are very well supported by the caring staff. Staff keep parents informed about their children's learning and suggest ways parents can support children's learning at home. Parents comment they have been delighted by the the support they receive to find suitable school placements when their children move on to the next stage.
• The manager and staff work well as a team. They are polite, professional, friendly and approachable. As a result, children can feel relaxed and confident. Staff say they enjoy working in the pre-school and are supported by the manager.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the organisation of group activities, to maximise learning opportunities for all children.