Cove Pavilion Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are immersed in rich learning everywhere you look at this exceptionally welcoming and nurturing pre-school. They happily enter the setting, warmly greeted by their key persons. The familiar routine ensures that children know what is happening next. This all helps children to feel safe and secure.

Children develop their early creative skills when they create 'butterflies'. They use new language they have learned. For example, children are excited to tell their friends that they created symmetrical butterflies and how they did it. Highly engaging staff support all children to have a go at creating the symmetry. Children focus intently on achieving. Their behaviour is exemplary. They use good manners and are respectful to staff and their peers. Staff support them by consistently modelling the setting's rules and use positive reinforcement, praise and rewards to promote these behaviours.

Children develop excellent independence and experience physical challenge. For example, outside, children take delight in creating their own balancing beams, skilfully practising their coordination skills. Staff skilfully support children's thirst for learning and exploration. For example, children show delight as they explore bubbles and experiment with different tools to create them. Their attention is deeply absorbed in the wide range of motivating and challenging learning opportunities that reflect their current interests and stages of development. Children maintain the highest levels of enjoyment and concentration as they join in with mathematical games, adding and subtracting numbers.

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

• The managers create an inspiring pre-school for all that attend. The long-standing staff team shows genuine care and passion for the work in the pre-school. Staff demonstrate an admirable commitment to their continued professional development. Managers are constantly reflecting and improving on their already outstanding practice. They have strong links with outside agencies and local schools. They take every opportunity possible to strengthen and develop their exceptional pre-school. Recent training around self-regulation, for example, has helped children's resilience and well-being effectively.
• Managers and staff have developed a curriculum that is challenging and well sequenced. The quality of teaching is exceptional. Staff have a very clear understanding of what they want children to learn. Teaching is adapted to meet the individual needs of the children. This helps children make excellent progress in all areas of learning.
• Children develop a love of reading. They turn pages carefully and talk about the pictures with attentive staff. Children borrow books from the pre-school's library to enjoy at home. They enthusiastically talk about their favourite books. They describe characters in familiar stories, recalling animals from the farm.
• Parents describe the care and education their children receive as 'fantastic'. They describe staff as being like extended family, who always find time to support them. Parents talk about how their children have progressed well since joining the pre-school. Staff keep parents fully informed of their children's learning. They encourage parents to share children's home learning, as well as any concerns they have about their children's development. This information, along with staff assessments, is used to plan children's next steps in development effectively.
• Staff get to know children extremely well when they first start at the pre-school. They fully understand children's previous experiences and what they need to learn next. All children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, display exceptionally positive attitudes towards their play and learning. Children are superbly prepared for their next stage of learning, including their eventual move on to school.
• Staff engage children in meaningful conversations and discussions to further promote their communication skills. Children are successful communicators, confidently expressing their thoughts and ideas. For example, children enjoy creating songs and sounds with instruments together, outside.