Hampstead Garden Suburb Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy and settled, ready to start their session at this pre-school. Staff welcome children warmly with big smiles. They help children to build trusting relationships with adults and their peers, which helps children to feel safe and secure. Staff know children well. Leaders and staff design a broad and ambitious curriculum which effectively links children's interests to what they want children to learn next. For example, some children have an interest in construction. Staff provide opportunities for children to build with blocks and bricks. They help children to use measuring tapes to find out how tall the constructions are that they build. Staff help children to compare sizes and write down numbers, where appropriate. This helps children to make good progress in their development and ensures that they are curious and motivated learners. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language.

Children behave well and share space and resources successfully. For example, they wait for their turn to use wheeled toys. Children are respectful and help one another. For example, some children help to bring water bottles for their peers. Staff support children's sense of belonging and feeling of being an important part of this pre-school in various ways. For instance, they encourage children to self-register on arrival and display their artwork around the class.

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

• Leaders and staff are dedicated to providing good-quality care and education to all children. They have worked tirelessly to make all needed improvements to ensure that all children have opportunities to achieve all that they can. Staff feel they receive good support and are given meaningful professional development opportunities.
• Staff help children to develop a strong interest in books. Children like to explore books independently, and often ask staff to read books of their choice. Staff help children to recall the main events and characters as they re-enact favourite stories in their imaginative play and during planned activities. For example, they go for a bear hunt in the nearby woodlands or make fruit kebabs for the hungry caterpillar.
• Overall, staff support children's communication and language well. They give children time to respond to questions asked of them. Staff introduce new words regularly. This helps children to increase the range of their vocabulary. However, at times, staff do not engage quieter children as much as possible, which does not continually help to build confidence in their own abilities, especially during group activities.
• Children benefit from regular, vigorous physical activities. The outdoor area is used well to support children's physical development. Children make choices to play indoors or outdoors. They enjoy exploring different textures, such as soil as they plant seeds or make mud pies. They say, 'We have so much fun,' as they climb and balance on provided apparatus.
• Staff prepare children for the next stages of their learning. Children have plenty of opportunities to strengthen their small-muscle skills and practise their mark-making skills, which prepares them for future writing. For example, children roll and knead play dough enthusiastically. They paint and draw using one-handed tools, with increasing control. Staff help children to use scissors confidently.
• Children learn about healthy lifestyles and self-care. They demonstrate that they know the handwashing routines and follow these carefully. Older children manage their own toileting with confidence. Leaders and staff work closely with parents to ensure that packed lunches contain balanced meals.
• Staff are good role models of expected behaviour. They regularly remind children about behavioural rules of the pre-school. They praise children for their achievements. However, at times, staff give children praise that is generic and unclear, without additional context. This means that, occasionally, children do not learn what they have done well.
• Partnerships with parents are strong and effective. Parents are fully involved in all aspects of their children's learning and development. They provide staff with details about their children's experiences at home. Staff use this information, together with their observations, to effectively assess children's stages of development. They plan next steps and provide purposeful opportunities that support children's development effectively.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support quieter children, to help build confidence in their own abilities and in group situations
• strengthen staff's knowledge about their use of praise so that children are clear what they have done well.