Frenchay Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, secure, form strong friendships with their peers and enjoy playing together. There is a well-structured curriculum, which the staff implement effectively, preparing children well for their next stage of learning. Staff offer a rich variety of learning experiences, both indoors and outdoors, with a focus on children's physical development, social skills and emotional intelligence. Children have unrestricted access to outdoor play, where they develop their physical strength on balancing equipment, improve their coordination by throwing balls and roll balls down a tube with staff guidance. When the balls get stuck, staff support children in developing their critical thinking to find a solution. Staff build strong bonds with children, making them feel safe, secure and ready to learn. Children of all ages enjoy the reassurance of cuddles from staff.

Staff place a strong emphasis on developing children's confidence in mathematics. Older children confidently count up to 10 and understand the difference between left and right. Staff challenge most-able children, helping them to understand subitising and complete simple maths tasks, such as addition and subtraction. Children are supported in recognising and understanding different shapes, including a pentagon, which has five sides.

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

• Staff support children well to develop their physical skills. They encourage children to roll out dough with a rolling pin, building their hand-eye coordination and hand strength. As they use scissors to cut the dough, children develop hand dexterity. With staff support, children develop jumping skills by playing a game where they jump over a line on the floor, then run to find an item the staff ask them to look for, such as a soft toy or an animal figure. The children eagerly join in the game.
• Staff focus on guiding children to develop their language and communication skills. Young children speak short sentences confidently. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive the support they need to build their communication skills using visual aids and make good progress in this area. However, at lunchtimes, although staff sit with children, they do not engage them in conversations, for example to support them to explore their ideas and interests even further.
• Staff provide children with a wide range of age-appropriate learning experiences, and children concentrate well. Children make good progress in their learning and development. However, during lunchtimes, staff do not provide an environment where children can be settled and engaged. As a result, some children who have finished eating become disruptive. Children who have not finished their lunch become unsettled, stop eating and leave the table until the environment is more settled.
• Children are encouraged to develop a love of books and stories and explore experiences beyond their own. Staff read to children throughout the day using engaging voices. Most children listen well. For those who do not want to listen, staff allow them to play with other activities, respecting their individual needs and choices. Staff plan activities that connect with the stories they read. This helps children build a deeper understanding. For instance, after reading a book about houses made of straw and bricks, staff guide children to create houses with dough. Children learn that we read books from front to back and left to right.
• Staff know the children in their care well, and a good key-person system is in place. Staff support small groups of children, building their knowledge of the world as they explore toy animals and discuss their names. However, during larger group times, staff do not consistently provide older or most-able children with further challenges.
• High morale is evident among staff, who say they enjoy working at the setting. A robust system is in place for reviewing children's progress and keeping staff updated on the latest educational developments. Leaders have established strong links with other early years professionals and local schools.
• Parents are happy with the care their children receive and report good progress in their learning and development. They also comment that the setting keeps them well informed about the activities their children do, and they appreciate the good communication.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• engage children in conversations to support them to develop their communication skills and explore their ideas and interests even further
• improve arrangements after lunchtime so that staff provide an environment where children can be settled and engaged
• strengthen the planning of group activities to ensure that older and most-able children are provided with further challenge.