Flamborough Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, settled and form firm friendships at the pre-school. Staff create a warm, welcoming environment for children and their families. They foster trusting relationships on all levels. Children often invite staff to play with them, and they approach them confidently when they need support. Children become incredibly independent and resilient. Staff praise children's independence and encourage them to keep trying when a task becomes difficult. Children delight in preparing snack for their friends. They wipe the tables, carefully prepare the fruit and set out the cups and plates. They make sure there is milk and water on the table. Children are proud of their achievements.

Staff carefully plan and resource the indoor and outdoor areas. This means that children make good choices in their play throughout the day. They frequently show what they have learned during their free play. For example, after an adult-led shape game, children go on to talk about the shapes they are making in the play dough. Children enjoy their learning. They join in excitedly with songs, stories and rhymes. Parents speak highly of the setting and the staff team. They particularly like the 'family feel' at the setting and how well their children are progressing.

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

• The enthusiastic staff work well together as a team. They support each other effectively when changes occur. This provides a high level of continuity and stability for children and their families. Staff identify and attend training that is most relevant for their children. For example, staff undertake safer sleep training now that younger children are attending.
• Staff know the children very well and plan the curriculum to meet their individual needs. For example, they develop strong links in the community. They take children to the local library and mini-church when they need to build children's confidence in new situations.
• Staff work proactively with other agencies to make sure that children get the support they need as soon as possible. For example, parents confirm that the setting has been instrumental in helping their children to access speech and language support. Staff make sure that additional funding is used effectively to support children's specific learning needs.
• Staff have clear plans for children's learning, which are shared successfully with parents. For example, following a focus on mark making and scissor control, parents have supported this learning at home. Children make good progress in all areas.
• Teaching is often very good. Staff are skilled in gaining the young children's attention at group time. Children learn and practise their new vocabulary as staff pause for them to show what they have remembered about a story. However, when evaluating activities, staff focus slightly more on what children have enjoyed rather than what they have learned and need to practise next. This means that children, parents and staff do not always fully reflect on and celebrate the learning that has taken place.
• Staff use mathematical language at every opportunity to promote children's understanding as they play. Children confidently count the building bricks, and they talk about the colours and shapes they are using. They use positional language well as they go on a 'bear hunt' to link with a story that has been read earlier. Staff harness children's love of books and songs to promote their learning across all areas of the curriculum.
• Children's behaviour is very good. They share and take turns with ease. If a conflict does arise, staff quickly support children towards a harmonious outcome. However, children are not always helped to talk about what happened, how they felt and how they could have managed the issue better themselves. This does not help them to regulate their behaviour and actions for themselves.
• Children take charge of their self-care and enjoy the routines at the setting. For example, they spontaneously sing a song about washing all the germs away as they wash their hands after wiping their nose. As a result, children learn about personal hygiene and develop their independence.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• celebrate learning even more, for example by providing increased focus on what children have learned, remembered or mastered when sharing evaluations with staff, parents and children
• build on opportunities for children to identify and talk about their feelings to help them to reflect and understand their actions and emotions.