Dragonflies Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children benefit from the very welcoming and nurturing environment. They arrive happy and keen to attend, settle well and feel safe and secure. Staff provide comfort when children need additional reassurance, such as looking through their family photo album together. Children develop positive attitudes and behaviour. They play kindly, make friends, listen well and learn to resolve disagreements. Staff are good role models and help children to learn what is expected of them through consistent messages.

Staff deliver a broad and interesting curriculum with a focus on outdoor learning. Children enjoy many activities within the school grounds and outings in the local community to enhance their understanding of the world. For example, children join activities with the community centre members and visit the local museum. Children are interested and motivated learners. They explore freely and join in new activities with curiosity. Staff value children's interests and choices, and join in their play to enhance their ideas and learning further. For example, when children show an interest in washing their toy cars outside, staff help them to create a car wash. Children get involved in adding ideas and resources which excites and engages them well.

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

• The quality of teaching is good. Staff know the children well, monitor their progress closely and provide targeted next steps to help close any gaps in their development. They provide challenges to build further on children's learning. For example, children work out how to make playdough tracks the correct size to run their cars along, and sort the cars by size and speed. This helps children learn how to solve problems and to understand mathematical concepts.
• Children move freely between the playroom and outdoor area, leading their play. They enjoy planned and spontaneous walks in the school grounds to explore the natural environment and to collect resources for their imaginative play. For example, children help collect sticks to build a pretend bonfire.
• Children learn new words regularly to build their vocabulary, such as through their topical discussions, stories they read and colours in creative play. Staff provide targeted activities to help those needing additional support in their development. For example, staff sign, use flashcards and provide one-to-one and small-group sessions to help children build their language skills. However, on occasions, staff do not allow some children sufficient time to answer their questions to build their thinking and language skills even further.
• Staff help children to gain the skills they need in readiness for starting school. Children learn to manage tasks themselves to gain confidence and independence, such as chopping their snacks, changing their clothes and managing their personal hygiene. Children use one-handed tools to encourage their early writing skills, and learn to recognise their names.
• Children learn about the importance of developing healthy lifestyles. They eat healthy meals and snacks together, and enjoy lots of physical play throughout the day to develop their large and small-muscle skills.
• Partnerships with parents and other professionals are excellent. Staff gain a wealth of information about children before they start to ensure they meet their needs consistently. They encourage further learning at home, such as providing a book-borrowing scheme to support children's literacy. Parents express extremely positive views of the provision, in particular the excellent communication from staff in person and on-line. Staff develop very good links with the schools children transition to, and the other settings they attend to complement their learning.
• The strong and efficient management team works closely with staff to evaluate and to make ongoing improvements to the quality of the provision. This includes how they use any additional funding for children to have the most impact on their learning. The well-qualified staff value professional development to enhance their skills and children's experiences. For example, attending training to help them support children's mathematical development further and to develop opportunities for forest-school activities.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide time and opportunity for children to think and respond to questions to strengthen their thinking and communication skills even further.