Crowhurst Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled at pre-school. They arrive with excitement, eagerness and anticipation for the day. As parents are currently unable to enter the premises, staff make sure they share sufficient information with them. This helps keeps parents fully informed about what children are learning and the progress they are making. Good attention is paid towards keeping children safe. Staff are vigilant in checking for any potential risks and take prompt action to keep the premises secure. Partnerships with parents are good. Parents praise the staff highly and say how much their children enjoy their sessions at pre-school. Staff plan an exciting range of activities based on what they know children enjoy doing. They teach children well and have high expectations of every child. Children behave well. They form close relationships with their peers. Older children are particularly kind and respectful of the younger children. The pre-school manager is a strong leader. There have been several changes to staff recently. However, the manager and management committee have made sure this has caused minimal disruption to the children. New staff have quickly settled into the setting and got to know the children and parents well.

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

• Teaching is good, overall. Despite some of the staff being relatively new to the setting, they know each of the children well and respond quickly to children's changing ideas. For example, when children decide to water the flowers and vegetables they are growing, staff encourage this. They make observations with the children and talk about which plants are growing and compare the lengths of the different shoots. However, the staff team is still new. The manager has not yet had sufficient time to organise an ongoing programme of professional development to further improve the quality of teaching. At present, very occasionally, staff do not always organise activities of the highest quality to support children's learning. For example, they provide a threading activity for children, but do not always make sure children have access to the relevant resources to complete this easily.
• Staff meet children's care and well-being needs well. They are very 'in-tune' with children and quickly recognise when a child may need extra help and attention. Staff actively encourage children to express their emotions and talk about how they are feeling. Children learn to understand that, sometimes, they may feel angry or upset and staff teach them effective ways to help them manage this.
• The curriculum offers a rich programme of fun and interesting learning activities. All areas of the early years foundation stage are covered, both inside and outside. Children explore different ideas and gain information which will support their future learning. For example, they understand which foods can be recycled and which can be composted. Following a recent topic around boats and beaches, children learnt about the different safety flags used by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).
• Funding is used well to make sure children who need extra help with their learning are supported effectively. Extra staff are brought in to give children individual help. Staff complete relevant training to make sure they have the skills and knowledge to support every child's needs.
• Children are prepared well for starting school. They develop positive attitudes towards learning and show interest and curiosity to try new things. Even the younger children persevere when tasks are more complex, such as threading wool through pasta tubes. They celebrate their achievements proudly by saying, 'I did it'.
• Leadership is good. The pre-school manager works closely with the management committee to make sure all legal requirements are met. Stringent procedures are followed to check that all new staff are suitable to work with children. The manager regularly reflects on practice. She recognises further improvements can be made to ensure teaching is outstanding and has identified a realistic programme of ongoing staff training.
• Partnerships with parents, other professionals and the local school are good. Pre-school staff liaise closely with all those involved in children's care and learning to make sure information is appropriately exchanged when necessary. Despite the restrictions imposed by the COVID19 (coronavirus) pandemic last year, staff organised a joint project with the Reception teacher and parents. This enabled children to take part in activities at both pre-school and home and then see their work displayed in the Reception classroom, when they joined the school last September. This contributed towards a smooth transition for children and enabled them to see their parents and teachers working closely together.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• continue to develop the staff team to ensure teaching is outstanding overall.