Findon Valley Free Church Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled. They have good relationships with the staff and each other. Children excitedly build towers together out of soft play blocks and giggle in delight when they fall down. Children have kind and caring attitudes. They politely ask each other to help them as they balance on balancing equipment. Children independently tidy up their toys when they finish playing, explaining that they need to be 'neat and tidy'.

Older children are keen to share their experiences with staff and their peers. They chatter happily about things that interest them. For example, as they play with toy cars, they talk about how 'Daddy's van needs diesel'.

Children love to read stories. They curl up in the book corner and happily listen as staff read to them. Staff pause at the end of sentences, and children eagerly fill in the missing words. Children listen and follow instructions well as they join in with small group activities. They excitedly shout out the answer when they work out which item has gone 'missing' from the tray as they play a memory game. Children enjoy being creative as they learn about fireworks. They create their own 'fireworks', using junk modelling, and proudly show staff their creations.

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

• Staff have developed a curriculum that particularly focuses on children's personal, social and emotional development. The curriculum prepares children for their next stage of learning, such as going to 'big school', well. This includes developing children's ability to have a go, take risks and to be curious about the world around them.
• Staff show a good understanding of child development. For example, they recognise that they need to build up the muscles in children's shoulders before moving on to strengthening the muscles in their wrists, ready for early writing.
• Children make good progress, and staff know children well. This helps them create next steps in children's learning that are individual, challenging and relevant to each child.
• Staff often use children's interests to expand their knowledge. For example, as children play 'cars' on a play mat, staff help them to recognise the letter 'p' and explain that it shows there is 'parking'. They explain about pedestrian crossings to children and model how to use them in the game. Staff and children then talk about pedestrian crossings that they use themselves. This builds on children's knowledge of the world around them.
• The manager has started to make improvements to the supervision arrangements as well as the training opportunities available to staff. However, these need strengthening, to ensure that staff get the support and training they need to raise the quality of teaching further.
• Parents comment that their children are happy at the setting. They explain that their children leave smiling, saying, 'that's important to them'. However, parents are not consistently kept informed about children's progress. Staff also do not fully share information on how to support children's learning and development at home. This impacts on the continuation of children's learning from pre-school to home. However, the manager has already identified this as an area for development and has plans to introduce parents' evenings.
• Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well. They work well with other agencies and use additional funding appropriately to ensure children are making the best possible progress.
• Confident and vocal children are supported well with their language development, which staff encourage through frequent conversations. Staff also introduce them to new concepts, such as 'the seasons'. However, these strategies are not consistently developed or used among all children. This means that some children are not supported as well when they try to communicate with their peers and share their thoughts, ideas and feelings.
• The manager supports staff's well-being effectively. Staff comment that the manager checks in regularly with them. They explain that the workload is manageable and that they have developed as a team, so it 'now feels like family'.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the use of supervision, training and coaching to raise the quality of teaching further
• build on the arrangements for providing parents with information on children's progress and how their learning and development can be supported at home
• develop strategies to consistently support all children to communicate their thoughts and feelings and to engage with their peers.