Cuffley Hill Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive very happy and keen to start their day at the pre-school. They are greeted warmly by the kind and caring manager and staff. All children settle quickly and demonstrate that they feel safe and secure. Children behave very well and use excellent manners. They show respect and kindness to each other. For example, when a child is upset, another child takes them a tissue. Children understand the rules, boundaries and routines. They respond promptly to instructions, for example when asked to tidy up their toys. Children happily share and take turns. They wait patiently for their turn to wash their hands and readily share the tools to make marks in the play dough.

Children can choose from the wide range of exciting and well-planned activities. They spend long periods concentrating and enjoying what they are doing. For example, children thoroughly enjoy painting a snowman on their Christmas card. They count the buttons they stick on and decide which colour hat and scarf they would like. Children take great pride in their achievements. All children are progressing well. They are developing the skills they need to be successful in their future learning, such as starting school.

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

• The provider, manager and staff work very closely as a team. They are extremely friendly and approachable. Together, they provide a welcoming and happy environment for the children and their families. Staff demonstrate a genuine enthusiasm for their work. They develop excellent relationships with local schools. This helps to support older children during their transition to school.
• Staff get to know the children and their families very well. Key persons can talk in detail about what children know and can do. They make very good use of the progress check for children aged between two and three years. This helps them to identify any gaps in children's development and plan the next steps in their learning.
• Staff have identified that some children show delays in their learning following the national lockdowns. They provide children with lots of extra support to help them settle into the pre-school. Staff give high priority to developing children's language and social skills. They ensure that all children have an exciting and enjoyable pre-school experience.
• Children quickly develop a love of books. Staff read stories with enthusiasm and children listen intently. They enjoy answering questions about the story. Staff cleverly use story props to bring the story alive. They explain the meaning of words, such as 'twilight'.
• Staff use a variety of activities to enhance children's listening, understanding and speaking skills. They continually talk to children and model language. Children enjoy singing songs throughout the session. They confidently sing about the days of the week. When they sing a song about a rocket going to the moon, all children join in enthusiastically counting down from 10.
• Parents spoken to on the day of the inspection were very complimentary about the pre-school. They particularly appreciate the loving and caring way that staff support their children. Many parents talk about the improvement in their children's speaking and social skills since starting at the pre-school. Staff regularly share information with parents. They keep them fully informed about their children's care and learning. Parents welcome the helpful suggestions about how they can extend their children's learning at home.
• Staff well-being is a priority for the provider and manager. They highly value the staff and the important work they do with the children. They offer good support and guidance. Staff have regular meetings and one-to-one supervision to support them in their roles. This helps to build consistency across the staff team and enables staff to reflect on their practice. The manager and staff make full use of all training and development opportunities to increase their knowledge and skills.
• All children receive very good levels of support. Staff learn key words in the home language of children who speak more than one language. However, they do not fully embrace children's cultural backgrounds to support all children's awareness of similarities and differences in their community and the wider world.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• increase the opportunities for children to embrace their cultural backgrounds, to develop their awareness of similarities and differences in their community and the wider world.