Fairways Pre School Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children flourish in this exceptionally welcoming pre-school. They form warm and affectionate relationships with the manager and staff. Children know the daily routines well and are extremely happy and self-assured. They behave exceptionally well. Staff are excellent role models and have exceedingly high expectations of all children. Children are helped to regulate their behaviour through yoga and mindfulness activities. The 'Colour Monster' book and 'emotion cube' successfully support children in understanding and managing their emotions. Children readily share resources, take turns and play happily and cooperatively with their friends. They learn good manners, such as waiting until all the children are sitting down at the table before they open their lunch boxes. Children are polite and confidently introduce themselves to visitors.

Children have a fantastic time at the pre-school. It is a hive of activity, with every child engrossed in their learning. Children relish being in the garden, exploring natural materials in the mud kitchen. They learn how to keep themselves safe when using the real tools on the woodwork bench. There are excellent activities to spark children's curiosity and imagination. For example, they create exciting stories as they play with the small-world fairy garden. Children who are fascinated with dinosaurs make landscapes using rocks, stones and leaves. They love being creative and making marks using different media. Staff plan wonderful activities and experiences to provide children with a superb foundation on which to build their future learning.

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

• The manager and staff have designed a rich and varied curriculum based on the children's individual needs, experiences and prior learning. Staff regularly assess what children know, understand and can do, as well as take account of their interests and characteristics of effective learning. This information is expertly used to plan children's next steps in learning. As a result, all children make outstanding progress at the pre-school.
• The excellent settling-in procedures ensure that every child begins their pre-school life in a positive way. Staff get to know the children and their families extremely well. Children are skilfully supported as they move between rooms, so that they feel safe and secure. Staff establish excellent links with the host school. Children attend school events such as sports day and Christmas productions. They have many opportunities to meet their new teachers, which supports them exceptionally well in their move to school.
• Staff use all opportunities to include parents in their children's learning. Children are thrilled when parents come in to demonstrate amazing scientific experiments and talk to them about birds. They thoroughly enjoyed making crowns with a parent who told them about kings and queens. Children learn about different festivals, such as Eid, and were very excited when a parent came in to demonstrate how to create 'henna' hand designs.
• Children have many wonderful opportunities to learn about the natural world. They are fascinated when blue tits come into the pre-school garden. Staff provide binoculars for them to watch the birds making their nest. They take photographs so that the children can see the eggs hatch and the baby birds growing. Children enthusiastically watch the adult birds bringing back caterpillars to feed the baby birds. They learn fascinating facts about blue tits. For example, they know that they lay one egg a day, and when the last egg is laid, they are incubated and all the eggs hatch together.
• Staff create a truly inspiring, language-rich environment, both inside and outside. Children listen enthusiastically to stories. Staff are exceptionally skilled at interacting with children and asking them challenging questions to develop their thinking. Children have fun as they learn about letters and the sounds they make. There are superb resources to support children who speak English as an additional language. All children make exceptional progress in their communication, language and literacy skills.
• The manager and special educational needs coordinator quickly identify children who may require additional support. They liaise with parents and establish exceptional partnerships with other professionals, such as speech and language therapists. The manager uses additional funding extremely well. For example, she arranges extra language and music and movement sessions for the children.
• The exceptionally strong partnerships with parents help to contribute to the success of the pre-school. Parents are extremely complimentary about the staff and the 'amazing progress' their children make. They talk enthusiastically about the wide range of experiences their children enjoy.
• The manager provides high-quality supervision, training and guidance for staff. She skilfully monitors staff practice, celebrating outstanding practice, as well as identifying areas for development. Staff speak passionately about their roles and say that they are extremely well supported. The committee, manager and staff work tremendously hard to provide the best possible provision for the children.