Heatherton Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide very good support to help every child to enter the setting and settle. Staff work really well together to ensure that children separate from their parents and carers and are quick to start playing with the activities. Children are developing a clear understanding of the expectations and routines within the setting. Staff give positive reminders consistently throughout the session and use additional prompts, such as picture cards, to support children's understanding.

Staff provide focused support for children who need to develop their listening and attention skills. Children regularly join in with well-planned small-group activities. They develop their knowledge and understanding, such as by attempting to recall the sequence of a task. The children make good attempts to remember the character names and what happens next in a story that is starting to become familiar to them. They are well supported throughout the activity to maintain their focus and attention.

Older children join the staff in playing a board game. Staff support children's mathematical development as they ask them to recognise the number of dots on the dice and move their counter forward the correct number of places. Children show high levels of involvement and patience as they take turns.

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

• Since the last inspection the manager has made a strong commitment to developing her knowledge and understanding and that of her staff team. She has also embraced external support and guidance to drive standards within the setting. For example, all staff have a clear understanding of the curriculum and where they are focusing their support.
• Staff place high importance on promoting children's well-being and attachments. The manager has recently completed training on self-regulation and cascaded this information to all staff. Staff work really well together to use the techniques learned to support and comfort children if they become emotional. Their calm manner and soothing voices quickly resolve any upsets.
• Children are developing good friendships with each other. Staff encourage children's self-initiated play and give them time to play together to form bonds with each other. Children develop their own ideas for a game. They have great fun as they chase each other and pretend they are capturing the adults with their different superpowers.
• The manager makes timely and appropriate referrals to external professionals to ensure that children receive the support they need. All staff know every child well and are clear on the strategies to support children while in the setting. They ensure that planning focuses on what skills children need to develop, as well as providing them with a broad range of experiences. The progress check at the age of two is well managed to identify children who might need additional support at an early age.
• Parents and carers speak very highly of the setting. They comment that it is brilliant, has a homely feel and that they have absolute trust in the staff. They commend the manager for her supportive approach in discussing and referring any concerns she has about children's development. They value the regular update they receive about their children's development and what they are learning next.
• Overall, staff are effective in supporting children's communication and language skills. As children comment on something that interests them, staff develop the conversation, drawing other children in and prompting their contributions. Conversations evolve naturally and flow well due to the effective support of staff. However, although it is a current area of focus, staff are not always consistent in supporting the broadening of children's vocabulary.
• There is effective partnership working with other settings. The manager gathers useful information when children leave another setting to attend this one to inform children's initial assessment. She ensures there is a termly sharing of information when children attend another setting in parallel to this one, to provide consistency of support for their learning.
• The manager demonstrates she can evaluate staff practice and identify where they need support. She identifies clear targets for staff to improve, which she includes in their action plan. However, she does not ensure that all relevant feedback from her observations of their practice is included in their targets so she can monitor this and identify appropriate support.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to build on their interactions with children to consistently extend their vocabulary
• develop the performance management of staff to include all areas of improvement and how these will be supported to raise the quality of education higher.