Early Learners Centre Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children show strong and nurturing relationships with staff at this warm and welcoming setting. They arrive happy and are eager to explore the activities on offer. Children have a positive attitude to learning and show high levels of enjoyment and curiosity. They are fascinated how the fairy lights in the cosy area change colour. Staff's clear explanations support children to understand how this happens.

Children are independent and follow a good hygiene routine. They use the tissue station to wipe their noses and sanitise their hands afterwards. Children help themselves to a range of healthy foods for snack and persevere to spread butter onto their cracker. Outdoors, children build good physical skills. They practise throwing beanbags into hoops and assess risks, as they balance on a raised beam. Children also benefit from regular visits from an external sports coach.

Children express a keen interest in making a range of marks in a shallow tray of sand, using chopsticks. More able children confidently write their name on their artwork. Children develop a strong understanding of their own and other cultural practices, such as Ramadan. They learn the meaning of new words, such as 'sunset' and 'sunrise'. Children are responsible individuals. They sort and dispose of their rubbish in separate containers in preparation for recycling.

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

• Staff create a sequenced curriculum that incorporates children's evolving interests. They know the children they care for well and what they need to learn next to support them to make good progress. They ensure that children are provided with a good level of challenge that provides them with the essential skills in preparation for school.
• The manager and staff have recently adapted the daily routine to enable children to immerse themselves in play when they first arrive at the setting. However, they have not tailored all routines, such as the length and content of whole-group time to consistently meet younger children's learning needs and maintain their interest. As a result, these children eventually lose attention and do not fully benefit from what is being taught.
• Parent partnerships are a particular strength of the setting. Some parents eagerly volunteer to share their skills with children and work with staff to support children's learning. Parents speak highly of staff and are very impressed with the provision they provide and progress their children are making. Staff place a strong emphasis on keeping parents fully informed of their children's achievements via an interactive online app, daily verbal updates and parent evenings.
• Staff ensure that they provide an inclusive learning environment. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities have tailored support to help them to make good progress in relation to their starting points.
• Staff praise children for their efforts and achievements. This helps to promote children's self-esteem and confidence. Staff provide opportunities to help children learn about their emotions and feelings. Children complete puzzles that reflect different emotions and talk to staff and their friends about how they are feeling and why. This helps children to develop an understanding of different emotions and why they feel the way they do.
• Overall, children behave well. They show friendly relationships as they hold hands and sing songs together. Staff have high expectations of children and have worked together to create 'golden rules' to support children to understand what is expected of them. Children show that they are familiar with these as they pretend to turn on their listening ears in preparation to hear the questions that staff pose to them. They show how they must put up their hand should they wish to respond. However, staff do not consistently implement the 'golden rules'. This results in children speaking over one another. Therefore, staff do not always support children to develop a high level of respect for each other.
• Staff supervision is effective. They receive good opportunities to build on their knowledge and skills. Recent training has had a positive impact on developing children's love of books.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• refine the organisation of the daily routine to consistently meet the needs of all children
• support children to understand and follow the high expectations in place to enhance their respect for others.