Fyfield Village Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children come in happily to pre-school and show that they feel settled and secure. They build close relationships with staff and regularly go to them for a cuddle or to read a story together. Children develop their independent self-care skills, such as handwashing and taking turns to prepare snacks. They show care for living creatures; for example, they look after a worm they have found in the garden. They make the worm a house in a bowl full of mud and fetch it leaves to eat. Other children use the mud kitchen area to prepare snacks and meals for each other. They share mud pies and milkshakes with visitors and say 'yum yum' when they pretend to eat them.

Children enjoy physical play and the opportunity to develop their large and small muscles. Children have access to lots of activities to help develop their hand control in readiness for early writing. For example, children dig and scoop mud, pour and tip water and mould dough. They poke pieces of pasta into dough and thread other pasta shapes onto spaghetti and straws, showing increasing control over their movements. Other children drive around the outdoor area in play cars. They negotiate objects carefully and say 'beep beep' as they ask others to move out of the way.

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

• The leaders of the setting work closely together to make sure that they meet all regulatory responsibilities. They have a realistic view of the setting and a clear vision of the future to continue to drive improvements. Leaders communicate with staff about children's learning needs, particularly to support children's language and social skills. This helps them to ensure that plans for children support their further development. They support staff to work with other settings that children will go to next. This helps children to make a smooth move, for example to school.
• The robust recruitment, induction and training programme ensures that all adults who work with children are confident to fulfil their roles and responsibilities. All staff benefit from close supervision and regular opportunities to access training, discuss their progress with leaders and to raise any issues about workload or well-being. Staff report that they enjoy working at the pre-school.
• The curriculum is well understood by leaders and staff. The staff and leaders reflect well on their practice, which helps to drive continued improvements. Children remember what they have been taught and build on this to make good progress. Staff take into account what they learn about children's home lives to close any gaps in their experiences or development. Arrangements for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are particularly effective. Staff have high expectations for all children, regardless of their starting points, and this helps all children to achieve to a good level.
• Overall, children are well occupied and spend much of their time with staff who extend some of their development. However, staff do not always join in at the optimum moment to extend or develop an activity further. For example, children build towers and show pride in their achievements. Staff are not always on hand to help encourage children, for example to build a higher tower, and children lose interest. Also, some staff do not recognise which activities may be more popular, which can leave some staff trying to support more children than is ideal.
• Outdoor spaces are particularly inviting to children and they explore and investigate different ideas. For example, children use magnifying glasses to hunt for different bugs in the garden. They explore plants in the garden and examine different dinosaurs hidden in the garden area. At times, when children are indoors, there are so many activities set out for them that some children find it hard to concentrate on one thing at a time. This also makes it harder for staff to position themselves to engage with some children at the right moment, and children move too quickly to the next activity to become deeply involved.
• Parents are very positive about the pre-school. They praise the dedication of the staff and comment positively on the progress their children have made since they joined the setting.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the indoor environment to better support children to concentrate on fewer activities at a time, to become more deeply immersed in their play
• help staff to be more aware of when to engage with children in their play, to further extend opportunities for learning and help children make their maximum progress.