Growing Tiny Minds

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff plan a curriculum with specific and inclusive intentions for children's learning. Consequently, it meets the needs of all children well, and all are making good progress. Staff carefully consider how they implement the curriculum, including the arrangement of resources in the room. To ensure that there is suitable access for wheelchair users and to support children with visual impairments, the equipment and room layout are familiar and predictable. Furthermore, staff must pack away all equipment at the end of the pre-school day. Despite these challenges, staff ensure that activities are well displayed, enticing and varied for children, promoting their concentration, independence and ability to make choices.

Staff ensure that there are quiet times during the session where they sit and talk with children. They encourage children, sing songs and support children who are not yet talking using visual prompts and sign language. These are valuable times where children talk and communicate to adults who listen. As a result, all children find their voice and express themselves effectively at the pre-school.

Staff encourage children to make choices and to be independent. Children get along together, share resources and behave well. The pre-school is a warm and welcoming environment where children form close relationships with the staff who care for them and develop into confident individuals.

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

• Staff ensure that the curriculum evolves to meet children needs. They recognise that children will sometimes want to play differently according to their gender. As a result, they plan high-energy, physical play coupled with quieter mindful activities to ensure that children have suitable ways to expel excess energy and play in the ways that they prefer.
• Support for less qualified staff encourages them to take an active role in planning the curriculum and implementing it well. Through assigned roles and tasks, staff take responsibility for thinking about creative ways to ensure that all children can access the curriculum relevant to their needs and abilities.
• Activities that promote and encourage children's mindfulness, such as stretching and breathing exercises, encourage children to unwind and relax in readiness for eating their lunch. Children enjoy the experience and calming effects of quiet, thoughtful times, where they learn about how their breathing affects their bodies and emotions.
• Although there is strong emphasis on supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), on occasion, changes to the daily routine can be unsettling for some children. Sometimes, during group times, children find ways to regulate their feelings and behaviour, such as by going out into the garden. Although staff follow them, they do not always adapt the activities to ensure that children do not miss out or remind them that going outdoors needs to be agreed with adults.
• Staff recognise the importance of healthy eating and ensuring that children have balanced snacks. As a result, when children arrive at the pre-school, they eat breakfast to help fuel their bodies in readiness for playing and learning. Staff help children to learn about making healthy choices for eating and drinking.
• Parents appreciate the extensive information that staff share regarding children's learning and progress. Parents say that staff are approachable and friendly. The home visits that staff carry out prior to children starting at the pre-school help to reassure parents. Staff get to know children and learn about their family life so they can support them from the very start.
• Staff undertake mandatory training. Supervision for staff is good and has a positive effect on their well-being. However, staff do not have specific training to know how they can support children with SEND when they are waiting for external support and assessments. This leads to staff not always feeling confident in advancing children's progress during this time.
• The committee members who lead the pre-school are professional and knowledgeable about their roles. The enthusiasm and dedication of managers motivate the staff team effectively. Their kind, caring and compassionate approach ensures that all children enjoy coming to pre-school and make significant gains in their development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• encourage more ways for children to adjust to changes in the daily routine and find appropriate ways to regulate their feelings and behaviour
• develop more targeted professional development to support staff's confidence in expanding on children's learning.