Heanor Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are very happy and content in the pre-school. They feel safe and show confidence and motivation as they independently explore the activities on offer. Children show high levels of care for one another and help each other to fill buckets of water, to tip into the outdoor sand pit. They share resources with each other and take turns 'driving' the outdoor car pallet to the seaside. Children have strong relationships with staff. They show consideration for staff by wanting to carry out tasks. They help to sweep the floor after snack time and enjoy the reward of being called super star helpers.

Children show excitement when joining in activities. They learn about physical movement as they take part in 'wiggles and squiggles'. Children dance around to music joining in wiggles, using ribbons to make big circles, rainbows and up and down movements. They then move on to squiggles, using music and the same big movements to draw with crayons and make marks on to a large roll of paper. The children blow bubbles and watch them pop and fly high into the sky. While watching the bubbles, children talk to staff about what they can see in the sky.

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

• The manager encourages staff to reflect on their practice. She discusses improvements with staff from her termly 'walk of the floor'. She provides staff with some opportunities to improve professional development. However, further training, mentoring and coaching needs to be provided to staff to help support them to respond and adapt their teaching as necessary.
• Leaders and staff work well with a range of partner services and have strong links within the community. This ensures that when staff identify gaps in children's learning, they can access additional support in a timely manner. For example, a parent talks about how well the staff worked with a partner service, to offer support and share information when her child started at the pre-school.
• Parents are happy with the pre-school. They say that staff are 'brilliant' and are 'nice and approachable'. Parents talk about the progress their children have made since starting at the pre-school. They talk about how their child's social, language and communication skills have improved. For example, staff support children's speech and language at home. Staff send home 'chatter bags' to offer real objects for parents to practise everyday words with their child.
• The leaders have a clear vision for the pre-school. They ensure that the pre-school environment and resources meet the needs of all the children. Leaders and staff set up limited resources, they let the children decide and lead their own play using their own ideas. For example, the children use a wooden pallet outside, using their imagination skills to go on holiday to the farm and the seaside. A child takes notes, while another child drives the car. Some children discuss what they are going to do at the seaside and which flavour ice creams they are going to buy.
• Children take pride in their achievements at pre-school. For example, children work together to complete a puzzle. Once completed, they jump up and down and shout, 'We did it,' and show care for each other by holding hands.
• Staff encourage children to negotiate sharing with their friends. For example, when two children want to play with the same princess bag, staff talk to the children and offer advice. They talk about taking turns and one using it first and then letting their friend use it. Children show respect for each other and staff. They resolve the situation between each other and continue to play together.
• Leaders use additional funding effectively to help support children's learning and development needs and to widen the experiences on offer for children. For example, they know the children and their families well and they use this knowledge to offer new experiences through providing resources in the setting and to use at home. In addition, funding is also used to support the cost of ingredients for cooking and baking activities.
• Staff support children to manage hygiene routines for themselves, using picture sequences displayed in the pre-school. For example, children are able to wash their and dry their own hands and put on and take off their coats for outdoor play.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve professional development opportunities for staff, which will build on existing practice in the teaching of the curriculum.