Epsom Playhouse Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy and they confidently leave their parents and carers at the door. They learn to take care of their own belongings, placing their coats on their pegs when they arrive. Children demonstrate that they feel safe and have a good sense of belonging as they greet the members of staff, talking about their morning. They are very happy and settled in this friendly pre-school.

Children thoroughly enjoy sensory play as they use their imaginations. They illustrate this as they make 'hot chocolate' with cocoa-scented sand. Children show curiosity as they explore resources and activities. For instance, staff thoughtfully interact with children and provide them with different tools to measure the amount of rain they have collected in a tray. Children enjoy using their fine motor skills to squeeze pipettes to extract and transfer water to different-sized containers. They paint the walls with water, talking about their paintings. Children work with staff and build with large panels, creating a house. Children strengthen their muscles groups well. They are provided with a good set of experiences that support them in being ready for school.

Children develop positive relationships with the staff. The effective key-person system ensures that staff know children well to support their emotions. Staff model clear and appropriate expectations for children's behaviour. They swiftly identify any gaps in children's learning and development and work with other professionals to provide intervention sessions to support their emotional literacy development. This supports children's good behaviour.

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

• The manager of this pre-school is passionate about delivering an inclusive setting for all. She has developed a good curriculum, with a focus on children's speech and social skills. Overall, staff have a good understanding of what it is they want children to learn and how to plan activities based around these intentions. However, on occasion, staff do not implement activities well enough to build on what children already know and can do.
• Staff have recently taken part in a programme to support children's behaviour. They share strategies to support children's emotions and provide children with consistent messages to promote their good behaviour. Children treat each other with consideration and respect as they play together.
• Children make good progress in their speech. Staff provide a narrative as children play, introducing new words. When children make mistakes in their speech, staff sensitively repeat back the phrase or word correctly. This helps children to develop good speech and language skills.
• Children learn about healthy foods and the importance of good oral hygiene.
• Staff educate parents on the importance of oral health and share healthy lunch ideas. This helps to promote children's good overall health.
• Staff teach children to develop their independence. Children confidently put their coats and boots on to play out in the rain. If children become wet and need to change their clothes, staff give them plenty of time to succeed in their self-care. This helps to develop children's self-confidence and supports them for their transition to school.
• Children go on outings in the local community that are linked to the curriculum. For instance, children visited the local library to support their love of books. These outings help children to develop an understanding of their community and the wider world.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported to a high level. Staff work closely with parents and external agencies to ensure the best outcomes for all children. The manager acts with integrity to ensure children with SEND receive the highest level of support. For example, staff complete specific training to support children's individual needs. This means staff are fully informed about any care or developmental needs to support children.
• Parents are very complementary about the care and education their children receive. They comment on how they are 'always kept informed' about their child's progress. This helps to provide a consistent approach for children's development.
• The manager works with the committee and is highly reflective of the pre-school. She carries out regular supervision meetings with staff to support teaching. However, routines for monitoring staff performance and identifying professional development opportunities are not yet fully established. This means the manager does not always support staff to continue to develop their already good teaching to the highest level.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider ways to link the implementation of planned activities more securely to the children's next steps, to further the good learning opportunities in place overall
• develop an effective coaching and mentoring system to help staff raise the quality of teaching to a higher level.