Foundations Community Pre-School Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive at this pre-school, which is described by the owners as the 'Foundations Family'. The well-being of staff and children is a priority. For example, at the beginning of the session, children look at pictures on a board and choose how they want to be greeted. They choose from options such as a hug, fist bump, wave, handshake or just saying hello, and staff respect their decisions.

Children engage in purposeful play and are curious, inquisitive learners. They receive individualised support from the highly skilled staff who have an in-depth knowledge of all the children's capabilities. Staff deploy themselves exceptionally well around the setting and constantly make the most of impromptu learning opportunities. For example, when one child shows an interest in a guitar, one of the owners encourages the child to turn the tuning keys and listen to the different sounds the strings make afterwards. The child responds to the owner's genuine enthusiasm and is fascinated as they listen together to where the sound is coming from.

Children develop strong emotional attachments with their key person and build extremely positive friendships with their peers. They thoroughly enjoy being the designated helper to prepare snack for their friends and take responsibility for their environment as they wash up their plates afterwards.

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

• All staff share a common goal and want the best for all children. The manager and owners speak passionately about their ethos, wanting children to value everyone's backgrounds, respect each other and be kind. Children are exceptionally well behaved and, as a result, the atmosphere in the pre-school is calm and peaceful as children are busy and positively engaged.
• The care provided for children with special educational needs is exceptional. Staff take great care to find out as much as they can about the children's likes, needs and family backgrounds. They do this through trusting partnerships with parents and close relationships with professional agencies. Every achievement is celebrated, with staff showing genuine delight at even the slightest progress children make.
• Children who speak English as an additional language and those eligible for additional funding are similarly well supported. Staff are constantly working out the best ways to aid individual children's communication skills and careful consideration is given to how additional funding will have the greatest impact. For example, funding has recently been used to improve the outdoor area for those children who have fewer opportunities to experience an outdoor space at home.
• The staff team ensures that the curriculum continues to challenge all children, builds on their existing skills and widens their experiences. Children enthusiastically join in 'wake up, shake up' movement sessions in the morning. They develop their language and imagination as they concentrate for long periods, telling 'Helicopter Stories' for staff to write down, and on visits to a local care home where both the children and residents reap the social benefits.
• Staff invest heavily in their partnerships with parents. They ensure parents are fully involved in their child's learning from the start and share detailed information both verbally and online about their child's progress. Parents report very positively on the extremely responsive and approachable staff and management team. They comment on how the staff are outstanding role models for their children, that the staff have positive friendships with each other and the impact this has on the atmosphere within the setting.
• Staff receive a great deal of support to enable them to carry out their roles effectively. They comment that they feel valued and are extremely happy. The owners place a great importance on supporting children's cultural capital and have set up the 'Foundations Trust' to help families in any way that they can. They teach children how to contribute positively to society by sponsoring a child from another country and learning about others less fortunate than themselves.