Eaton Socon Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy their time in this well-run and welcoming pre-school. They form firm friendships with their peers and play cooperatively together. Staff consistently support children to regulate their feelings and actions for themselves, which is embedded in the clear ethos and curriculum all staff helped to create. Young children learn to regulate their emotions while they begin to take turns in simple games with staff. Children quickly progress to finding ways to communicate how they feel and find the words they need to ask others to share and to be kind. As a result, minor disputes are quickly resolved, contributing to the harmonious and industrious environment.

Children follow their interests while they play and explore. They welcome the attentive and friendly staff to join in their explorations. Staff support children's developing communication and language skills effectively. Children snuggle up to staff to listen to their favourite stories, turning the pages of the books and talking about what they see and hear. Staff take time to answer children's questions. Children hear how sentences are constructed, helping them build on their own vocabularies when they answer open-ended questions themselves. Staff use a variety of ways to support children who speak English as an additional language. They show children pictures and objects to help them understand the words they hear. Parents share key words and phrases in the language children use at home, helping staff to support children right from the start. By the time they leave for school, children are articulate and confident individuals.

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

• From an early age, children master skills to help them become independent. For example, they learn how and why they need to wash their hands and brush their teeth. Children wait patiently before they use their own toothbrush to clean their teeth. They follow the instructions staff give them, carefully making sure all their teeth are brushed. This activity is embedded in the daily routine within the pre-school, helping children establish positive attitudes to health and hygiene.
• Staff know children very well. They find out key information to help them understand what each child likes, already knows and has an interest in. This helps them provide resources and activities that children want to engage with. This enables staff to use their skills and knowledge to incorporate what children need to learn next into both adult-led and children's self-chosen play and investigations, contributing to children's good progress throughout the pre-school.
• Staff quickly build very strong and trusting partnerships with parents, helping them have an even deeper understanding about children's progress. For example, they find out what children have been doing at home. Staff support families through different aspects of parenting, such as toilet training and getting ready for the transition to school. Leaders have an excellent knowledge of the local area and sensitively give parents information about groups and professionals who can also help, if needed. Staff encourage parents and carers to borrow books to share with their children at home, helping to promote a continuity of learning, both in pre-school and at home.
• Senior staff work closely with parents to help find out the best ways to spend any additional funding that children may be entitled to. Through careful review and assessment, leaders monitor how effectively funds are used to help give every child high-quality experiences and education. While planning their curriculum, staff incorporate memorable and exciting trips and events, helping to broaden the experiences children have during their time in the pre-school. This contributes to children's positive attitudes towards learning.
• Children with special educational needs and/ or disabilities make good progress in their learning and development. Staff work together to help ensure that individual plans target the specific needs of children. Other professionals and agencies involved in children's health and well-being visit the pre-school and give advice to support the effective strategies staff put in place. Regular meetings with parents help to ensure children have a good start in their educational journey.
• Staff work very well together. They use their skills to identify when to let children play alone and when to support their continued learning. They have a clear understanding of the sequence of learning children experience, which is rooted in the curriculum. However, there are times that the enthusiastic staff do not give children sufficient time to find different ways of doing things or solving problems for themselves. As a result, children's developing thinking skills and creativity are not optimised.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• give children even more time to find alternative ways of doing things and solve problems for themselves.