Crookham Sunshines Community Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children build excellent relationships with staff. They enter the pre-school enthusiastically, safe in the knowledge that their individual interests are acknowledged and catered for. This encourages children's readiness to learn, right from the very start of their day.

Children make good progress from their starting points across all areas of learning. Their preferred styles of learning are considered well when staff plan. For example, water stations are thoughtfully set up as children have demonstrated a love for this type of play. These opportunities support children's problem-solving skills when staff offer challenges, such as, how to get the water from the top to the bottom, using gullies and without spilling water. Consequently, children show impressively high levels of motivation, resilience, and remain focused for significant periods as they persist in achieving their aims.

Children behave exceptionally well. They readily invite others to join in their play and consistently share resources. Children benefit from staff consistently modelling calm and positive behaviour choices. Subsequently, they show excellent levels of acceptance and compassion for peers who find things more challenging than themselves. For instance, when situations arise like toys being taken, or towers being knocked down, children understand that some friends find things more challenging and respond with high levels of self-control and compassion.

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

• All children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are supported exceptionally well. They benefit hugely from the wide range of learning opportunities tailored to suit specific needs. Managers make good use of additional funding to consistently support children to access all areas of the provision. This results in all children making very good rates of progress.
• The manager and her close-knit staff team work superbly well together. They are all dedicated to providing the best learning and development opportunities for children. Staff clearly enjoy working at the pre-school and have a passion for their work with children. They consistently report workload expectations being manageable and feel very well supported, both professionally and personally.
• Children show exceptional levels of self-confidence. They very much enjoy taking responsibility for housing their belongings appropriately and completing the self-registration process. Children engage deeply in activities and ask for help or resources should they be required. They speak confidently to visitors and ask them questions when their natural curiosity arises. For example, as children role play in the home area, they ask visitors what they would like to eat. They ask further questions to find out topping selection requests, side orders and drinks.
• This demonstrates high levels of engagement in their learning and play.
• Staff plan lots of opportunities for children to be physically active and to gain a good understanding of what healthy lifestyle choices might look like. The outside area provides opportunities for children to run and move with speed, as they practise control of their large-muscle movements. Staff help children to understand and assess risk effectively. For instance, children recognise when they need help to jump down from the climbing frame, as they ask staff for a helping hand.
• Staff support children's communication and language development well. They model ambitious language and allow children time to think through and answer questions. For instance, as children explore fruits, staff help them think about the different textures and shapes of the fruits to help them guess which they have. Children are confident to share their ideas and make good progress in their speaking skills.
• Managers plan an ambitious curriculum that caters for all children well. Staff have an in-depth knowledge of each child and provide opportunities for personal interests and preferred styles of learning to be incorporated into daily planning. However, at times, these do not offer opportunities for children to learn about lives and communities which are different to their own.
• Parents comment that their children 'adore their time at pre-school' and cannot wait to attend, and that 'they enjoy every moment they have at this loving and caring pre-school'. Parents feel well informed and leave their children feeling relaxed and assured that their children are well cared for and thriving. Parents report feeling well supported through any referral processes required, including referrals to speech and language therapists, and very much appreciate advice staff provide about how to best help their children prepare for their start at school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop the curriculum further to help broaden children's understanding of the communities and lives of people which are different to their own immediate experiences.