GattenandLake Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide children with a warm, welcoming and safe environment for them to play and learn in. Staff recognise and respond to younger and less confident children, to help them to settle into the pre-school happily. Children form close relationships with staff and with their friends. They enjoy playing with and alongside each other in group activities, developing good behaviours, as they show kindness and consideration of each other's needs. For instance, as older children build towers, they wait patiently for their younger friends to choose bricks before they select the ones they would like. Staff skilfully incorporate mathematical language into children's play, such as helping children to count out bricks and work out who has the highest tower.

Managers and staff create a varied curriculum for children. They recognise and respond to the differing ages and needs of children they care for. Children benefit from hands-on opportunities to learn about the natural world. For instance, they check the butterflies in readiness for releasing and talk excitedly about them once being caterpillars and then chrysalises. Children are excited to learn as staff take the time to ignite their curiosity. This helps to motivate children's learning and lays the foundations for future learning well. All children, including those in receipt of additional funding and those with special educational needs and or disabilities (SEND), make good progress from their starting points. Staff use additional funding well, including for one-to-one care, where children need extra support.

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

• Managers and staff have worked hard to successfully address weakness from the last inspection. Oversight of the pre-school is good. The managers implement safe recruitment and vetting processes to ensure that staff are suitable for their role and that they understand their responsibilities.
• Staff say they feel valued and benefit from regular supervisions to support them in their roles. Managers have put in place training for staff who work with the youngest children. This helps staff to review their knowledge of how children learn and helps them to adapt teaching to the needs of the youngest. Changes to planning are in their infancy and the managers recognise staff knowledge around learning intent, to enable them to focus specifically on what children need to learn next, is an area of future development.
• The managers review the curriculum and staff plan for children's learning regularly. Staff have a good knowledge about their key children's interests and abilities. They use observations and assessments to plan exciting and interesting learning opportunities. Staff demonstrate good teaching practice. However, on occasion, they do not challenge older and the most-able children's learning, to build on what they already know and can do.
• Staff place a strong focus on children's personal, social and emotional development. They encourage and support children's positive behaviour, good manners and courtesy when at the pre-school. Staff are good role models. They are kind and children learn the importance of kindness in daily routines. For instance, children wait patiently to wash their hands before they sit to eat and for their friends to finish eating before they go to play. Children behave well.
• Staff support all children's communication and language skills well. They use opportunities within learning experiences to teach children how to say new words and explain their meaning. For instance, as toddlers explore the soil and water, staff talk about textures being squidgy and squashy. Children hear these new words and repeat them back, to build on their language skills. Where children, including those with SEND, need help with communicating their needs, staff offer picture references, so that all children can share their wants, needs and wishes. This helps to promote children's communication and language skills well.
• Parents speak positively about the pre-school. They say that staff take the time to get to know children and their families. Staff share information about children's daily experiences and key achievements. They offer advice and guidance to parents, which they find useful. For instance, staff share tips on toilet training, healthy lunchtime foods that parents provide, and routines around mealtimes. Parents value these ideas, to help support children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• embed staff's understanding of curriculum intentions to enable them to focus specifically on what children need to learn next
• consider ways of providing further challenge for older and the most-able children, to extend their learning.