Crowle Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children who attend this pre-school receive a warm welcome from friendly, caring staff. They settle quickly because staff take the time to put out activities that they know children will enjoy. The pre-school is a hive of activity. Children immediately become engaged in activities and are quick to join in. Routines are organised well. Relationships between staff and children are positive. Children actively seek out staff to join in their play and to share their achievements. Staff recognise when children may need additional support and are quick to provide reassurance. As a result, children grow in confidence and make choices in their play.

Staff plan a range of interesting activities based on what children need to learn next. As a result, all children, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make good progress in their learning. Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour and children respond positively to this. They are polite and learn to share and take turns. They stop and listen when a tambourine is shaken to give them a two-minute warning till it is time to tidy away. They join in the task with great gusto and are able to put the resources away in their correct place. Staff are prolific in their praise, which helps to raise children's self-esteem.

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

• The pre-school benefits from a strong, knowledgeable manager. She leads a team of friendly, competent staff who put children at the heart of everything that they do. The committee are very supportive. They have regular committee meetings and help to write policies and devise action plans. The manager is currently counted in ratios due to issues with recruitment. Therefore, she does not always have time to monitor staff practice effectively enough, or carry out regular supervisions to identify areas for professional development to help raise the quality of practice even more.
• The manager and staff implement the 'Seven C's of the Crowle curriculum'. It is specifically designed to focus on what children need to learn to prepare them for school and how they can achieve this. For example, they aim for children to become confident learners and communicators, to challenge themselves and be considerate and compassionate towards others. This child centred approach helps to ensure children succeed in reaching their individual learning goals.
• Children's safety is of paramount importance. Premises are secure and visitors are thoroughly checked to verify their identity. Recruitment and induction procedures are robust to ensure that everyone working with the children is deemed suitable to do so.
• Children's communication is given high priority. Staff continually engage children in conversations. Children thoroughly enjoy taking part in singing sessions and joining in with familiar stories. They know that books have a front cover, a back cover, and a spine. Staff explain to them that we all have a spine, and it is what holds us together. Children know that the explanation that tells us what is in the book is called the blurb and that the person who writes the story is the author.
• Children develop their imaginations as they play. They pretend to go shopping and say that their basket is very heavy with all the items they have bought. When they 'buy' a shiny vase they look inside to see if they can see the dragon and his friends who live there.
• Children spend time outside where they develop their physical skills as they climb, balance, and jump with dexterity. They work together as they put sand in a cement mixer and push it round, negotiating obstacles. They place a rod on a frame and decide if they will jump over it or crawl underneath it, depending on the height. Sometimes, staff are too quick to tell children things without giving them the time to think of solutions for themselves.
• The provision for children with SEND is superb. The manager and staff are highly attuned to children's individual needs. The manager works tirelessly to seek the additional support from other professionals that children and their families need.
• The pre-school is very much a part of the local community. Children take part in an act of kindness day where they leave flowers for the local residents to brighten their day. Staff work closely with the local schools children will move on to. They share information and hold a coffee and cake afternoon for reception teachers and teaching assistants to visit children in the pre-school surroundings.
• Parents and grandparents cannot speak highly enough of the care, learning and support their children receive. They say that the manager and staff go over and above to provide children with individual care and support their needs. They say children love attending and that staff do a fantastic job of keeping them informed of what is going on and what their child is learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• use supervisions and monitoring of staff more effectively, to identify professional development opportunities that will raise the quality of the provision even more
• support staff to recognise how to encourage children to think of solutions for themselves.