Hawley Pre - School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children happily arrive at the setting and separate from their carers with ease. They become fully engrossed in the activities on offer. Children form secure attachments with staff, who are kind and welcoming. This helps them to feel safe and confident to explore their surroundings and enjoy their learning.

Children receive a range of healthy snacks and drinks to choose from. This helps to support children's physical health effectively. Children demonstrate that they understand the snack time routine. For example, they independently find their name card and place it on the table before washing their hands. They clear their cup and bowl away when they have finished. Overall, children behave well and generally receive good support to help them understand the expected behaviours. They respond well to praise and encouragement from staff. Children hear polite words, such as 'please' and 'thank you', in everyday interactions with staff and model this back to them.

Children show an eagerness to learn, which prepares them well for future learning. They enjoy activities that support their early mathematical skills. Children explore shape and space as they complete simple puzzles. They experiment with volume as they pour water into different sized containers, and excitedly tell staff 'it's too much' as the water overflows. All children make good progress from their starting points, including those who receive additional funding and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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

• Staff monitor children's progress and get to know them well. They recognise when children need extra help with their learning. Staff are skilful in supporting children with SEND. They provide one-to-one support when needed. Staff work closely with other professionals to ensure they meet the individual and changing needs of each child.
• The manager continuously evaluates the performance of the pre-school and takes into account the views of staff and parents. Staff feel that they are managed well and receive meaningful support and training opportunities.
• Staff ensure that all children can choose to play inside or outdoors. Children enjoy a range of physical activities from riding scooters and bikes to balancing on crates. They work together to build a den, stretching up to peg different fabric together. Children pass material to their friends and talk through what their den will look like. They gain strong levels of coordination and stamina.
• Children develop good literacy skills. For example, staff help older children to link letters and sounds. Children engage deeply while they find illustrated pebbles in the sand. They excitedly identify the drawing and confidently tell staff the letter it begins with. Staff encourage children to sound out each letter and provide gentle hints, when needed.
• Staff understand how and what children need to experience to be able to master handwriting skills. They provide an array of fun activities to help children develop their small muscles, in readiness for future writing. Younger children enjoy pushing and kneading dough or taking small pinches of glitter to decorate the caterpillars they are making. Older children are beginning to form letters with chalk on slate and some can confidently copy their full name.
• Overall, staff support children's communication and language skills well. They ensure children have the opportunity to listen to stories and they excitedly join in with a favourite song about an 'upsy down town'. Staff routinely use picture cards and simple signs to reinforce children's early communication skills. However, occasionally, not all children who speak English as an additional language are supported as effectively. Staff do not consistently promote children's home language at nursery to support their language development.
• Children generally behave well and show respect towards each other. However, on occasion, staff do not address unwanted behaviour swiftly enough. This means at these times, children do not receive guidance from staff, to help them understand and learn to regulate their own behaviour.
• Staff are aware of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on children's development and well-being. There is a strong focus on children being settled and happy at this welcoming pre-school. Parents now enter the setting to drop off and collect their children. Staff use these times to share key information and build on the good parent partnerships.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's understanding of how to support language development for children who speak English as an additional language, to help children make more progress in their home language as well as English
• support staff to provide a more consistent approach when managing children's behaviour, to help children develop further skills to regulate their own behaviour.