Duffield Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are invited to visit the provision with their parents prior to starting at the pre-school, helping them to become familiar with staff and the environment. They are greeted by warm staff when they arrive. Staff get down to children's level and talk to them about family members and their holidays. This helps children to have a sense of belonging. These interactions contribute to all children, including those who are new to the pre-school, settling quickly when they arrive, demonstrating that they feel emotionally secure. Children are encouraged to be independent. For instance, at snack time, staff ask children to hand out plates to their peers and pour their own drinks.

Children are encouraged to have a positive attitude to solving problems. When they use bricks to build and construct, staff ask how they can make their construction taller, and children say, 'add more'. Children smile when they receive praise from staff for building it taller, helping to develop their confidence and self-esteem. Children are shown how to develop new skills. For example, they are supported by staff to understand how to make play dough flatter. Staff show them how to push on the dough when they roll it with their hands. Children show their imaginations when they happily tell staff that they are making their 'daddy's hair' with the dough.

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

• Staff help children to broaden their knowledge of the local community. For example, when a scarecrow competition takes place in the village, staff provide children with craft activities to make pictures of scarecrows. Staff offer children a range of materials to create their artwork and help them learn what scarecrows are used for.
• Staff practise fire evacuation drills with children, helping them to understand the procedure to follow in the event of a fire in the building. Staff supervise children when they use technology in the pre-school, promoting their safety well. However, staff do not help children to understand how to identify and what to do if they encounter potential risks when they use technology to access the internet at home.
• Mealtimes are sociable occasions. Staff sit and talk with children at snack time, offering them healthy foods and drinks to promote a nutritious diet. Children have opportunities to learn how food grows and the process from ground to plate. For example, they help staff to plant and grow tomatoes and strawberries in the garden. Children pick the produce when it is ripe and eat it at snack time.
• Staff help children to develop their knowledge of measure and to identify significant numbers in their lives. For example, staff use a tape measure with children to measure their height. Children are asked to identify the number for their age and how old they will be next.
• Staff give children plenty of praise for their achievements. For example, when they show children how to use scissors and they cut paper, staff praise them for 'good cutting'.
• The manager and staff reflect on their practice and identify ways to improve experiences for children. Recent changes include purchasing dual-language books for children to borrow. This is to encourage parents of children who speak English as an additional language to read to their children, to encourage their language development.
• Parents comment positively about staff. They say that staff are very welcoming and their children are happy. Staff talk to parents daily and share information with them about their children's learning and development. This helps to keep them informed about their children's day.
• The manager and staff observe and assess children's learning. They use this information to plan for children's progress. Staff introduce new words to help develop children's vocabulary, such as 'beehive' when children see images of these in a book. However, occasionally, when children do not know the answer to questions they are asked, staff do not give them the information to build up their knowledge. For example, when staff ask children to count the legs on a toy spider, children do not answer, and staff do not help to find out how many legs the spider has.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to support children to identify and know what to do if they encounter potential risks when they use technology to access the internet at home
• support children to find the answers to questions they do not know to help build on their knowledge.