Fountains Playgroup and Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, confident and independent learners. They smile and laugh throughout the day. Children's well-being is at the heart of this nurturing pre-school. They recieve an excellent level of care and attention from staff. Children have strong attachments to staff. They approach staff and sit on their knee to listen to a story, or seek them out and tell them about an activity they have completed. Children feel safe within the pre-school. They talk about what they need to do if there is an emergency, in a calm way. Children develop excellent independence skills. In preparation for outdoor play, they find their outdoor shoes and coat, trying to put them on themselves.

Children's behaviour is exemplary. They work together to build, act out role-play scenarios and engage in joint tasks, such as building a tower. Children's language and communication skills develop very well. Staff and children share conversations at every opportunity. Children with additional needs are supported well. Staff use their knowledge of child development to help children and families put strategies in place to help them to make good progress.

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

• Children make excellent progress in their learning. Staff work together to observe, assess and plan for children's learning. This provides a secure approach to monitoring children's individual needs and helps them to develop well.
• Staff are skilled in identifying children's current stages of development. They plan fun, relevant and interesting activities to help children to move forward in their learning.
• Children share stories and sing action songs as a key part of their day. They develop their listening and attention skills, and choose which song they would like to sing. Children are encouraged to share stories about their home lives in a warm, welcoming and nurturing environment.
• Staff provide resources in the indoor and outdoor environments to follow children's interests, provide challenge and fun. For example, outside, children use the large wooden blocks to make bridges and see the flow of water on a wall-mounted drainpipes. However, at times, staff plan activities which are too focused and do not allow children to express themselves in a creative way.
• Children have good social skills and play collaboratively. For instance, they excitedly pretend to mend a broken roof with tools. Any minor disagreements between children are resolved in a sensitive and timely way by skilled staff.
• Parents say how pleased they are that their child can experience their early education sessions within the pre-school. They comment on how well the staff team know their child and how they go above and beyond to help them develop and learn. They feel that their children are safe and happy within the pre-school and are delighted that their children have had a positive early years experience.
• Staff see continuous professional development as important. They attend regular training events, sharing new learning with the team and also use them as a refresher for things they already knew.
• The manager is enthusiastic, committed and well supported by her knowledgeable team. Staff work well together, sharing best practice ideas and sharing points from recent training. They reflect on their pre-school and make positive changes. For example, staff have moved different resources to make them more accessible and enticing for children.
• Children engage in conversations with each other and staff. They use language as a powerful way of communicating their thoughts, needs and wants, such as excitedly talking about an upcoming holiday. Children's vocabulary is broad and continually extended by staff who introduce words, such as 'squidgy', during a craft activity.
• The environment is warm, welcoming, clean and purposeful. Staff clearly label resources to help children to see what they can access. However, staff do not consistently develop children's understanding of diversity to provide them with a view of modern Britain.
• Staff help children to learn about different types of feelings and children are confident to explain if they are happy or sad. For instance, children recall receiving a get 'well card' in the post from the pre-school when they had chickenpox, and explained how it made them feel very happy.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide activities that provide more choice for children so that they can express themselves creatively
• support children to learn more about diversity and provide them with a more accurate view of modern Britain.