Hardwick Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy spending time at this welcoming pre-school. Staff have high expectations of children's abilities. From the outset, children show increasing independence in their self-care skills. They leave their parents with confidence, place their belongings on their pegs and walk into the main room to find their names for self-registration. Staff place great importance in nurturing children's individual characteristics. As a result, children feel valued, develop high levels of self-esteem and behave well.

Books are widely accessible in the pre-school. Children of all ages sit attentively as they listen to familiar stories read by staff with great enthusiasm. Overall, children are focused and engaged when they play. They demonstrate perseverance as they use wooden blocks to create roads and rearrange the blocks to create new shapes or ramps. Children understand early mathematical concepts. They compare shapes and count and match patterns when completing different puzzles.

Children are developing into confident talkers. They initiate interesting conversations with staff about their home experiences. Children hear new words provided by staff and begin to apply these in context. For instance, children in the role-play area pretend to be at the hairdressers. They discuss their own experiences at the hairdressers and even discuss their aspirations, as one child wishes to have a fringe when they grow up. Overall, staff use opportunities to reinforce language and extend and model vocabulary to children.

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

• The manager and staff work well together to identify any gaps in children's learning. Staff work confidently with other professionals to implement effective strategies to provide early intervention for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) where required. This supports all children, including children with SEND and those in receipt of additional funding, to make good progress in their learning.
• Physical development is promoted well. Children enjoy being outdoors, where they have opportunities to be active and explore the environment. Furthermore, they benefit from regular yoga sessions, where they learn to stretch, practise their tree pose and balance on one leg. Staff provide resources and activities that encourage children to use their small muscles. For example, children manipulate and make marks in the pretend snow, and they have a range of opportunities to paint and make marks with pens and pencils.
• Staff provide a broad and varied range of activities for children and actively play alongside them to support their learning. Staff observe children as they play and assess what they can do. However, staff are not always clear about their curriculum intent and how to sequence some planned activities. This prevents staff from supporting children to make the best possible progress.
• Children behave well. They are able to recall the pre-school's rules at circle time and respond to staff when they are informed that it is 'tidy-up time'. Staff are good role models, who make their expectations clear.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents comment that their children have made good progress since joining the pre-school. Parents feel supported with how to help their children at home and receive regular updates about their children's learning.
• A strong key-person system is in place. Staff understand the importance of this role in helping children build attachments and feel safe and secure.
• Overall, staff's teaching skills are of a good quality. The manager monitors staff practice and offers feedback to help improve their teaching skills. However, she does not always precisely identify where staff need further support and guidance to maintain consistency in teaching and to engage in high-level interactions with children.
• Staff support children to follow good personal hygiene routines. Children recall why they need to wash their hands after outdoor play or before eating food. Staff discuss the benefits of leading a healthy lifestyle with children, discussing why some foods are better than others and the importance of good oral health.
• Children go on outings in the local community that are linked to the curriculum. For instance, children baked biscuits on World Kindness Day and delivered them to the elderly residents in the village. These outings help children to develop an understanding of their community and the wider world.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff in how to plan and sequence the curriculum more effectively
• build on arrangements for staff supervision and training, to further improve their practice.