Gaddesby School Community Pre-school

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and secure at this welcoming pre-school. Children who are new to the pre-school receive consistent levels of support and reassurance from the warm and caring staff. Children thoroughly enjoy the activities provided for them. such as the lively action songs and games. They join in energetically with the 'hokey cokey' and laugh out loud when they play with balls and the parachute. They 'pop' the balls high into the air and run to retrieve them. This contributes to their physical development skills. Children have very good independence skills. Staff have high expectations of children and what they can confidently do for themselves. For example, children manage their own toileting and remember to wash their hands. They are developing the skills they need in preparation for school.

Children show a positive attitude to learning. They can choose what activity they want to take part in and they engage in a variety of learning experiences. Colouring is especially popular; children show very good writing skills when they write recognisable letters of their name on their paper. Children develop good social skills. They play together harmoniously and use their imagination, whether in small groups with the pretend emergency vehicle toys or alongside an adult in the role-play doctor's surgery. Children show kindness to each other, as they pass items to their friends when asked.

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

• The manager and deputy manager work very well alongside one another. The deputy manager works with staff and models high-quality teaching and positive interactions with the children. However, there is scope for further support for staff to ensure that the highest level of teaching is consistent throughout the pre-school. For example, occasionally some staff do not build and extend on what children already know and can do.
• Staff engage children as they read familiar stories with animation in their voices. They encourage children to re-enact popular stories, such as 'The Gruffalo'. Children actively seek out staff to read to them. This helps them to develop a strong interest in books.
• The deputy manager and staff know the children well and amend the curriculum to meet their current learning needs. For example, they recognise that since the COVID-19 pandemic, some children need some support with communication and language. Staff provide opportunities such as focused language groups to help children make progress in this area of learning.
• Staff teach children what is expected of them during daily routines and activities. Children are kind and take care of the environment. Staff praise children for their positive actions, such as when they stay behind at the end of the session to help staff tidy away the toys outside. Staff reward children for good deeds with a leaf on the kindness tree. When the tree is full, it lights up to show how kind the children have been that day. This helps children to feel proud of their achievements.
• Staff provide good opportunities for children to benefit from fresh air and enjoy outdoor learning. Following on from spotting lots of birds in the outdoor space and noticing some nesting birds, staff provide children with binoculars and pictures of birds to identify the different species. This helps to promote children's interest in nature and living things.
• Staff who come from the Philippines teach children words in their home language. Children impressively count to five and sing 'heads, shoulders, knees and toes' in Filipino. This teaches children that other people speak different languages.
• Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities well with their individual plans and one-to-one support. This helps these children to make good progress in their learning and development.
• The manager and staff build very positive relationships with parents. Parents speak highly about the pre-school. Parents say that they would recommend the pre-school to others. Those spoken to give a 10 out of 10 rating and say they would not change anything. The provider, who is also director of the local school, speaks highly of the pre-school. He praises the superb relationship the pre-school has with the school, which aids a smooth transition when the time comes for children to move to the school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to recognise how to further challenge children's learning and extend their knowledge to support them to make the best possible progress.