Friars Centre Playgroup

Inclusion: Strong standard

Inclusion is a significant strength of the setting. Leaders identify children's needs early and work closely with families and external professionals to reduce barriers to learning and wellbeing. They have established a knowledgeable team, including 2 qualified special educational needs coordinators, who use communication boards, Makaton, sensory resources and targeted support to help children access the curriculum and develop confidence. As a result, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make remarkable progress from their starting points. For example, children with autism develop their communication, emotional regulation and independence successfully, with children progressing from using communication boards to speaking independently and engaging in messy play.

Leaders support disadvantaged children particularly well. They use funding thoughtfully to provide sensory resources, literacy materials and experiences that promote emotional wellbeing and learning. Staff help families access wider support, including food banks and community services. Children who are known to social care or who have experienced adversity receive highly personalised support. For example, staff help children overcome significant anxiety linked to previous experiences through carefully planned emotional support, resulting in improved confidence, friendships and readiness for school.

Staff actively promote respect and tolerance through meaningful discussions about different cultures, family circumstances and individual needs, helping children develop empathy, celebrate differences and build positive relationships with others. Leaders foster a culture where all children and families feel valued. Consequently, children feel safe, included and highly secure, enabling them to thrive alongside their friends.

Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard

Leaders have designed an ambitious and inclusive curriculum that places communication, language, emotional wellbeing and independence at its core. They understand the needs of their cohort well and use this knowledge to shape curriculum priorities, particularly in relation to speech and language development, emotional regulation and school readiness. Leaders invest in staff training, including Makaton and behaviour management, ensuring that staff have the expertise to meet children's needs effectively.

Physical development is skilfully promoted through a wide range of indoor and outdoor experiences. Children develop strength, coordination and balance as they climb, balance, ride tricycles and navigate challenging equipment safely. Staff support fine motor development through activities such as mark making, using tools and everyday routines. As a result, children develop increasing confidence, independence and physical competence.

Staff deliver the curriculum through high-quality interactions that build on children's interests and extend learning. They introduce ambitious vocabulary, encourage critical thinking and use effective questioning to deepen understanding. For example, children learn words such as 'erupt', 'lava' and 'Antarctica' while exploring scientific concepts and the wider world. Staff expertly weave mathematics, literacy and communication into everyday opportunities such as counting birds and squirrels in the garden. Therefore, children apply learning in meaningful contexts.

The curriculum is highly inclusive. Staff adapt activities, resources and teaching approaches to ensure that all children can participate and achieve. Consequently, children develop wonderful communication skills, resilience and independence from their individual starting points.

Achievement: Strong standard

Children achieve remarkably well across all areas of learning and development from their individual starting points. They develop prominent communication skills and confidently share ideas, recall previous learning and engage in conversations. For example, children use vocabulary such as 'Australia', 'volcano' and 'vinegar' as they discuss their experiences and investigations.

Children develop secure mathematical understanding through everyday experiences. They count bugs, explore concepts such as 'full' and 'empty' and make predictions during experiments. They think critically, test ideas and compare outcomes as they investigate how volcanoes erupt.

Children develop secure physical skills and increasing independence. They climb, balance, ride tricycles, use scissors safely and manage routines such as self-registration and toileting independently. They assess risks sensibly and show consideration for others as they move around the environment.

Children build resilience, confidence and emotional security. They form positive friendships, cooperate during play and increasingly manage their emotions. Children who face barriers to learning make particularly notable progress, developing communication, independence and self-regulation. Consequently, children gain the knowledge, skills and confidence needed for their next stage of learning, including school.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Leaders establish clear expectations and routines that help children feel safe, secure and ready to learn. Children respond positively, transitioning calmly between activities, tidying away resources independently and managing tasks such as self-registration and handwashing with confidence. Staff use visual timetables, sensory strategies and personalised support to help all children engage successfully in daily routines. Staff respond skilfully when children with special educational needs and/or disabilities become unsettled. They use their detailed knowledge of individual children, alongside reassurance, choice and tailored strategies, to help children manage their emotions and return quickly to learning and play.

Children form warm and trusting relationships with staff and each other. They are kind, considerate and respectful, readily sharing resources, taking turns and helping their friends. Children show genuine care towards others by ensuring that friends are included in play and taking care to keep one another safe when riding bikes or moving around the environment. They are equally welcoming to visitors and confidently engage them in conversations and activities.

Children demonstrate highly positive attitudes to learning. They engage deeply in experiences, sustain concentration and show curiosity about the world around them. After activities have ended, children often choose to continue exploring, questioning and investigating. This reflects their enthusiasm for learning and desire to discover more, which staff happily accommodate.

Attendance is promoted effectively through positive relationships with families and responsive support for those facing challenges. As a result, children attend regularly, settle quickly and arrive ready to learn.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Leaders place emphasis on children's welfare and wellbeing and create a caring environment where children feel safe, secure and valued. Staff build trusting relationships with children and families and develop a detailed understanding of individual needs. As a result, children settle well, grow in confidence and develop a deep sense of belonging. Parents describe staff as kind, nurturing and genuinely invested in their children's wellbeing and development.

Staff support children's emotional wellbeing effectively. They respond calmly and sensitively when children become distressed and use personalised strategies to help them regulate their emotions. Children experiencing anxiety, emotional difficulties or additional needs receive tailored support that helps them build confidence, friendships and emotional security.

Children learn how to keep themselves healthy and safe. They manage risks sensibly, follow hygiene routines and benefit from effective supervision and care. Inclusive practice underpins welfare arrangements, with staff working closely with families and professionals to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those facing additional challenges.

Children develop increasing independence through daily routines. However, opportunities for children to take responsibility for tasks such as managing their own lunch items are not yet fully consistent across all rooms. Leaders have identified this and are taking action to strengthen practice. Consequently, children's welfare needs are typically met well, and they are emotionally secure, happy and ready to learn.

Leadership and governance: Strong standard

Leaders have a clear vision centred on inclusion, communication, emotional wellbeing and children's independence. They understand their community very well and respond proactively to the needs of children and families. For example, leaders invest in communication resources, sensory equipment and staff training to support children with special educational need and/or disabilities and those facing disadvantage. As a result, children receive timely support and make significant progress from their starting points.

Leaders reflect on practice thoroughly to identify improvements. They seek external advice, review procedures and provide additional training where needed. Leaders monitor attendance closely and maintain effective partnerships with other agencies, such as the local authority. Therefore, children are safe and extremely well supported.

Leaders place a big emphasis on staff wellbeing and professional development. Staff describe leaders as approachable and highly supportive. Regular supervision, training and dedicated time for key responsibilities help staff develop their expertise. Recent training in Makaton, behaviour management and safeguarding has strengthened practice and benefited children's learning and wellbeing. For example, staff now incorporate signing into everyday activities to further support children's communication.

Leaders demonstrate a wonderful commitment to supporting not only children but also their families and the wider community. They run art workshops to reduce isolation, promote positive mental health and create opportunities for adults to develop support networks. Leaders recognise that parental wellbeing directly impacts on children and have thoughtfully developed initiatives that help families feel connected. As a result, parents develop deep-rooted community links and feel confident to support their children's emotional wellbeing and learning.

Although independence during mealtimes is not yet fully consistent across both rooms, leaders have identified this and are taking action to further strengthen practice. This reflects a positive commitment to continuous improvement.