Cygnets Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children beam with excitement to see staff from the pre-school greet them at the door. Staff welcome them in using the children's home language. This gives children, who may speak English as an additional language, a sense of belonging. Children can make independent choices about their learning and play. Activities provided ignite their interest and curiosity for learning. Children learn early mathematical concepts as they investigate different shapes and colours. Staff skilfully play alongside the children and become a part of their imaginative role play. They support children and enhance their experiences. For example, children show an interest in the small-world post office. Staff enhance this by making small paper letters for children to post through the letterbox. Consequently, children are highly engaged and spend sustained periods of time at their chosen activity.

Children are highly motivated and keen learners. They enjoy singing songs and listening to stories. Staff read stories which children love and know very well. Staff leave gaps for children to say the word which comes next. Children feel safe and secure. Staff are kind and caring. They offer reassurance and cuddles when children clamber onto their knees. The pre-school has access to a fully secure garden space, where children can continue to practise and develop their physical skills. Activities such as 'funky fingers' help to support the development of small muscle skills, which children need for eventual pen control and writing.

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

• The provider, who is also the manager, and her staff team work tirelessly to provide children with the best start to their learning. The curriculum centres around the individual needs of the children. It builds on what children already know and can do and provides experiences across all areas of learning.
• There is a strong focus on communication and language. Children hear a rich vocabulary of words as staff constantly talk to them. Staff hold conversations with children and are genuinely interested to hear what children have to say. This makes children feel valued. However, at times, staff do not always question children in a way which allows them to think and respond using the sentence structures they are learning.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Parents say all the staff are friendly and caring. They say the setting feels like a family and they appreciate and value everything the staff do. Parents receive termly reports about their child's progress and daily feedback on collection. The provider recognises that they can expand further on the partnership with parents. More regular information about children's next steps for learning is to be shared, along with support for parents at home to develop good reading skills with their children.
• Support for children who may have special educational needs and/or disabilities is good. Staff have high expectations for all children. They share information with other professionals, including other settings which children may attend. This ensures children make the best possible progress.
• Children gain the confidence to try new things. Staff praise children for their achievements and this helps to build their self-esteem. For example, children who have not previously put their hands in paint, as they do not enjoy sensory play, do so because of the patience of staff and prior opportunities to watch others. Children enthusiastically explore the paint and make handprints with great gusto and excitement. They beam with a sense of pride because they achieve this, and staff celebrate their success.
• Children's independence is promoted. At snack time, children choose and pour their own drinks. They get to practise spreading their own butter onto their crackers. Children follow routines and know that they must wash their hands before eating. They say it is to wash the germs off, so they do not go into their tummies.
• Staff support children to understand the principles of sharing and being kind to friends. Children sit together in a circle and sing a song about sharing, as they pass Lola the soft toy to one of their friends. On the whole, children behave well. Staff promote children's social and emotional resilience. They encourage children to use their words when they are not happy and to explain how they are feeling so they can be helped.
• The staff team works well together. There is mutual respect and a high level of morale. Staff reflect together about their practice and how well children engage with the activities provided. This evaluative approach, and access to professional development opportunities, ensures the quality of teaching is consistently good, and at times excellent.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to consider different ways of questioning children which allow them time to think and respond using the sentence structures they are learning
• continue to build on the already good partnerships with parents by sharing more information about children's next steps and support for their learning at home, so children can make even better progress.