Duckies Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are settled and happy in this kind and friendly setting. Staff work closely with children and form strong relationships with them, which helps children to feel safe and secure. Children enjoy individual attention from their key person and are quickly soothed with cuddles when they become tired or frustrated.

Environments and activities are thoughtfully presented to capture children's interests and promote learning. This helps children to concentrate for long periods of time as they explore different experiences and develop new skills, such as pouring fine soil into various-sized vessels. Children show increasing large physical capability as they confidently 'work out' in the setting's large indoor soft-play space. They make good progress in their learning and are well prepared for their next stages of development.

Children behave well and listen carefully to staff as they begin to learn the rules of the setting. They giggle as they are encouraged to walk on tiptoes indoors, as a means of discouraging running. Children are polite and follow staff's consistent role modelling of using good manners. They independently thank staff when they hold the gate open for them to walk through.

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

• Members of the management team are committed to developing and extending the skills of all staff. They have a clear picture of areas that will improve children's learning and fully support staff to work on these. For example, they make very good use of mentoring, displaying posters, and adding props and games to help staff to successfully support children's language development. Although this is in its early stages, it provides a successful foundation to extend staff expertise.
• The manager has a clear vision of the curriculum. Staff share this understanding and talk confidently about what they want individual children to learn. They plan interesting activities to promote this, which positively supports children to be curious and motivated learners.
• Overall, the quality of teaching is strong. Staff use precise explanations and demonstrations to help children learn new skills. For example, they teach children how to take a tightly fitted lid from a pot. Children persevere with tasks and proudly show adults when they accomplish the new skill independently. However, occasionally, staff do not fully extend children's learning experiences. For example, at times, there is not enough verbal interaction to fully encourage babies to explore outdoors, and there are missed opportunities to encourage children to help prepare the snack.
• Staff prioritise children's language development. They work closely with parents and external agencies to ensure that all children receive the support they need. Children show developing communication skills as staff skilfully model language and encourage all children to take turns in vocalising their thoughts and needs.
• Children begin to learn about their own uniqueness and individuality as they use mirrors to explore and clean their own faces. Staff extend this to talk about similarities and differences between them and the other children. Children begin to explore the idea of community through activities about people who help us. However, there are not enough opportunities to enable them to fully explore culture and equality in the wider world.
• Children show increasing ability to recall newly learned knowledge with skilful support from staff. For example, they remember the names of shapes when prompted by staff, and staff reinforce this learning by pointing out shapes in the environment throughout the session. This helps children to make good progress in their learning.
• Staff promote children's behaviour well. They use a very good range of strategies to support children to learn to manage their own emotions. For example, they use timers to help children recognise when changes are going to happen in the setting. Children respond extremely well to sensitive interventions and show increasing understanding and care. For example, they share and take turns with outdoor toys without being prompted by staff.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• continue to strengthen staff's teaching skills to enable them to consistently extend children's learning
• provide more opportunities for children to explore different cultures and diversity.