First Steps Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children have good attitudes and are active in their learning. They are content and confident in their surroundings and demonstrate a sense of belonging. Staff know the children well and successfully manage and support their behaviour. For instance, staff role model expected behaviour effectively and enforce realistic rules and boundaries for children to follow. This helps children to feel safe and secure in their environment and creates a culture of respect. Furthermore, children are laying down good foundations for understanding what is right and what is wrong, which helps prepares them for their future education.

Children explore and investigate the activities with appropriate adult support and supervision. They develop positive relationships with each other and are creative in their play. For example, children have make-believe tea parties in a sensory tent. They use available resources that represent objects to support their play.

Staff engage children in conversations that are meaningful. Children learn in a language-rich environment. Interactions are positive and consistent in quantity and quality. Staff take time to explain and give examples to prompt children's thinking and deepen their understanding. The impact of this is that children feel like their words matter, and they feel valued.

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

• Children are happy, and their personal, social, and emotional needs are met. They go to staff for emotional support and reassurance, and staff are available to support their needs. Staff are nurturing in their interactions and encourage the children to recognise and explore their feelings.
• Parents speak highly of the care, support and education that their children receive. They are kept up to date with their child's progress and feel included in their learning. Managers and leaders explain the benefit of working in partnership with parents. They send out annual surveys to gather valuable information that helps them grow as a team.
• Managers and staff strive to provide high-quality learning and education for all children. They are highly effective in their practice, and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported to achieve their individual goals. Staff adapt activities to ensure that all children can access learning that is right for them. This promotes equal opportunities so that all children can make good progress.
• Managers and staff have a clear ambition: to provide the best care and educational outcomes for children and their families. They have a continual commitment to increasing and improving practice and provision. Leaders use reflection as an effective tool to evaluate ways to enhance practice. For instance, changes are made to the daily routine, including tidy-up time, to ensure the smooth running of daily events.
• Staff have a clear vision of what they want children to learn and how to get them there. Staff understand what they are teaching children and focus on key elements of development. However, when all children participate in whole-group activities, the youngest children become distracted and lose focus. Therefore, they are not fully benefiting from the teaching and learning during this time.
• Children are polite, and staff gently encourage good manners. They respond well to the routine and demonstrate an understanding of what is happening next. Children are confident to try new things and use their senses to explore. For example, staff provide lemon and pancakes at snack time for Shrove Tuesday. Children try the lemon and have fun showing the staff their 'sour faces'. Staff praise children for trying something new.
• Managers support staff effectively and focus on ways to enhance their skills and knowledge. Their strengths are identified and used within practice, and areas to be developed are recognised. Staff have good attitudes and feel supported. They seek to enhance their skills with training and in-house learning. They understand the impact this has when growing as a team to deliver good outcomes for children and their families.
• Managers have robust systems in place to recruit staff and ensure they are suitable to work with children. They check staff's ongoing suitability to ensure the children are kept safe.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to consider the developmental needs of the youngest children more effectively when they are included in whole-group activities.