Greenways Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the pre-school excited for their day ahead. They confidently choose an activity and engage with purpose. Children learn useful skills and make good progress in readiness for school.

Children build meaningful relationships and demonstrate they feel safe and secure. They confidently seek adults to share their achievements. Staff respond with delight and enthusiasm. Children talk about experiences at home, such as having a new baby in the family. Staff respond by setting up cots and dolls in the home corner so that children can care for a 'baby'. Children assist each other when they wrap the baby in a blanket and put it into the cot. Children are supported by staff to take turns and share.

Children develop their independence while at the pre-school. They put on their own coats and shoes and serve themselves drinks throughout the day. The pre-school provides low-level storage so that children can independently choose their own activities.

Children are supported by enthusiastic staff as they explore the outdoor area. They develop their large-muscle skills as they ride tricycles around the playground. Children are encouraged to develop their balance and core strength as they walk along beams and roll hoops. Children access the local community when staff take them to the park or adventure playground and learn about the world around them.

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

• The manager and staff implement a high-quality, ambitious and child-centred curriculum. Staff create activities to follow the children's interests, such as a trip to the zoo. They enthusiastically facilitate children's learning through play. Staff adapt their teaching to meet children's individual needs.
• Staff encourage children's language and communication skills through singing, reading and conversations. Staff ask children open-ended questions. However, children are not always given the opportunity to extend their learning, test their ideas and develop their problem-solving skills.
• A significant strength of the pre-school is how much progress children make from what they know and can do when they first start, especially children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff ensure that they gather information from parents to support children's needs. This includes information about their home life, cultural background, likes and dislikes and language development. Staff take time to learn Makaton and new languages in order to communicate with children effectively. Children develop strong relationships with staff and feel comfortable and confident at the pre-school.
• Overall, staff support children's learning well. They get down to children's level when speaking to them. Children benefit from rich back-and-forth conversations with staff. However, occasionally, some staff mispronounce sounds, which leads to inconsistencies in what they are being taught. This means that children do not always hear the correct pronunciation of words.
• Children thoroughly enjoy taking part in the activities on offer. Staff help them to keep trying and focus well as they explore and play. Children concentrate well as they use tools to cut and shape play dough. They develop their small-muscle skills as they squeeze and squash play dough. Children excitedly describe the cookie they are making and what shape it will be.
• Parents describe the staff team as 'friendly' and 'nurturing'. They say that their children love attending the pre-school and are making good progress. Staff keep parents well informed about what their children are learning and how they can continue this at home. Families have the opportunity to be involved in pre-school events, such as the graduation ceremony, spring day and garden maintenance.
• Staff well-being is important to the manager. She takes steps to support team morale. This helps to ensure good teamwork and a positive learning environment for all children. Staff comment that they feel well supported. They are confident in approaching the manager with any issues they might have personally and professionally. Staff work together well as a caring and compassionate team.
• Children develop a love of reading and spend time looking through books. They love curling up with adults in the cosy den to share books and sing songs, repeating familiar words and phrases.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve staff interactions to provide children with even more opportunities to test their ideas and solve problems
• strengthen how staff speak and model words so that children can hear the grammatically correct pronunciation to help develop their speaking skills.