Fledgelings Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide children with a welcoming and interesting play environment. Before children start to attend, staff find out all about them. They make sure that there is something of interest and familiarity available in pre-school, such as dinosaurs, for children to play with. Children settle in quickly and their learning journey with the pre-school begins smoothly. Staff have golden rules in place for children to follow, which they do successfully. If children need a reminder, staff do this sensitively, making sure children fully understand why they need to change their behaviour.

All children are supported to access activities and resources, some of which are in place or adapted to suit the needs of particular children. For example, children enjoy identifying letters and sounds and finding an object starting with the sound, while others make good attempts at naming the objects. Children's speech and communication develops quickly at the pre-school. Staff use a wide range of methods to help with this. This includes using Makaton sign language, letting children blow bubbles to develop their mouth muscles to support making speech sounds, and talking to children about what they are doing as they play.

Children are confident and demonstrate emotional security at the pre-school. They and their parents have strong relationships with their key person. Children gravitate to their key person when they are unsure about a situation, such as a visitor being present, and staff reassure them and support them until the children are happy with the situation.

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

• Staff have developed a curriculum that has clear intentions for what they want children to know, understand and be able to do when they start school. Staff focus strongly on developing children's confidence, physical, communication and language and social skills. For example, children successfully learn how to share. Even children who have only attended for two weeks understand that the fruit at snack time is for sharing. They select their fruit before kindly passing the plate to the next child.
• Staff use their observations and information gained from parents to assess children's development. When they identify concerns, staff act swiftly to work with parents to find the support children need. Staff work closely with other professionals, such as speech and language therapists, to give children the best possible opportunity to slow down any developmental gaps that might be emerging. Parents receive good-quality information about their child's progress.
• Children have numerous experiences of hearing staff using language to communicate their ideas, needs and what they want from children and each other. Staff model speaking, using one-syllable words for the children who need it and more complex sentences for other children. Carpet time provides children with an opportunity to speak up in a group situation, which the older children do with confidence.
• Staff are aware that the youngest children may struggle with time spent in group activities. They make sure the children have an adult near to them to help them to focus. When they can sense the children have reached the limit of their concentration, they quietly allow the children to move away to take part in a different activity, such as a game, with another adult. This allows children to learn about behaviour expectations in a positive and supportive way. Children take pride in being chosen as the daily helper and they know they have been chosen because the staff are pleased with them.
• Staff understand how the development of children's large muscles and movement contributes to their future writing and drawing skills. Outdoors, children have many places to practise and develop their strength and coordination. They work out how to move tyres and planks to make walkways that they balance on. They paint using different-sized brushes on large boards, and cut, crush and mash flowers and leaves in the kitchen area using a variety of tools. That said, staff occasionally do not recognise when they can introduce new ideas or language to children to provide an even better learning experience for them.
• Children have lots of freedom to explore and experiment. There are times, however, when staff do things for children that they could manage to do for themselves, such as scooping paint, pouring water or pushing bottle pumps. While this does not impair children's development, it does mean they cannot practise and refine these skills independently.
• Leaders and managers have a good routine in place for monitoring staff practice and children's progress. Staff access training and development opportunities. These are either to develop a skill or interest they have identified or that the manager has identified through monitoring. Staff work very well together, which makes the pre-school a calm and productive environment for children to learn in.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to identify when children's learning can be extended during play
• help staff to understand when to step back and allow children to do things for themselves before intervening.