Court Fields Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children flourish under the care of exceptionally committed staff in this welcoming pre-school. They settle as soon as they arrive and quickly become engrossed in playing. All children have extremely close bonds with their key person and other staff, and they take part in activities that enthuse and engage them. They enthusiastically stomp and roar like dinosaurs in music sessions as part of their theme-based learning. They develop their imaginations by making 'potions' in the mud kitchen while learning new descriptive words and how to measure.

Children exhibit very high levels of confidence and perseverance in all aspects of their learning. They develop their physical skills through activities, such as cutting their own fruit at snack time or learning how to use a real saw with an adult. They take calculated risks in the very well-supervised and organised outdoor area, for example climbing tree trunks using rock-climbing holds or jumping from play equipment.

Staff make the highest effort to ensure that children feel part of their local community. Children delight in collecting and then delivering toys to a local charity. They relish the regular opportunities to go to the shop to buy resources or food for snack time. Staff are proud of the children's impeccable behaviour, particularly when out and about.

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

• The manager leads the pre-school with enormous enthusiasm. She is extremely knowledgeable, well organised and very well respected by her staff, as is her deputy manager. She ensures all staff have opportunities to further their training, including obtaining higher levels of qualifications. All staff are incredibly well supported, including apprentices, and staff enthusiasm and well-being are incredibly high.
• The provision for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is very strong. Regular, high-quality tracking of all children's development ensures that areas for concern are picked up very quickly, particularly in relation to speech and language development. Exceptionally detailed plans for interventions and their regular delivery by the staff, who are all highly trained, ensure that targeted support is in place very quickly. Staff spend additional funding extremely well and ensure it is targeted to the children's specific needs, such as providing specialist physical support equipment.
• Key persons know their children exceptionally well. They tailor support to their key children to ensure they make noticeable progress over very short periods of time. Staff adapt their teaching methods to suit different children. Key persons work very well in groups of 'key families', which include four key persons and their key children. In their key families, staff support each other in observing children, discussing progress and developing their teaching. This highly effective key-person system also ensures parents feel very well informed of their children's progress and next steps.
• Staff are highly effective at ensuring that children become independent. They are extremely patient with children, allowing them time to persevere. For example, staff give children a great deal of time and encouragement to put on their outdoor clothes independently if needed. Staff provide exceptional support with toileting arrangements, with personalised plans readily available for all children. All children are very well prepared for the next stage in their learning and for school.
• All staff are extremely skilled at using questioning to deepen the children's understanding at every opportunity. Vocabulary development is excellent. For example, staff introduce new descriptive or mathematical vocabulary while playing with the children. All children, including children who speak English as an additional language, confidently use new words, such as 'delicious', in their play.
• Parents are extremely happy about the service provided by the pre-school. The level of communication, both formal and informal, to parents and the detail provided are superb. Staff provide activities to engage families, which go above and beyond. Half-termly family activity days that promote learning are extremely well attended. A vast range of story bags are sent home as part of a targeted support programme. For example, they help to develop both the parent and the child's knowledge of nursery rhymes. Parents comment that they relish being on their child's learning journey with them.