Hedgehogs Preschool At Silverdale

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are greeted by the friendly staff and manager, and welcomed into the setting as they arrive. The learning environment is thoughtfully arranged to capture children's curiosity. Children develop their independence, as they take off their own coats and confidently choose what they would like to play with. They happily play alongside their friends and learn to share and take turns. Children form strong bonds with their key person and staff, they enjoy their company and will seek them out for reassuring cuddles. Children feel safe and secure and are well cared for, which supports their emotional well-being. Staff know the children well and talk fondly about their individual personalities. They regularly observe children as they play to assess their progress and identify any gaps in their development.

Children enjoy an effective balance of enjoyable adult-led activities and child-initiated play experiences. They benefit from daily opportunities to play and develop their physical skills outdoors in the fresh air. For example, children squeal with delight as they excitedly kick and throw autumn leaves up into the air. They learn about the environment and the changing seasons, which helps children to develop an understanding of the natural world. Children take part in celebrating festivals throughout the year and learn about the cultures and traditions of other countries. This helps them to respect and value the differences and similarities of others, and develop an awareness of the diverse world in which they live.

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

• The manager is dedicated and strives for continuous improvement. She reflects on practice and the service she provides to make the pre-school the best it can be for the children and families who attend. The manager uses feedback from parents and staff, to help identify the strengths of the setting and areas for improvement.
• All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress from their starting points. This is monitored regularly in supervision and staff meetings. The manager encourages staff in their professional development to help raise practice to an even higher level.
• Parent partnerships are strong. Before new children start at the pre-school, staff gather key information from parents, which helps staff to plan effectively and follow familiar care routines. Parents speak highly of the pre-school and value the support and information they receive.
• Staff plan enjoyable activities that follow children's interests and what they need to learn next. However, on occasion, planned next steps for children's learning could be focused on more, to help children make even better progress. Additionally, arrangements for sharing those with all staff are not yet fully embedded.
• Overall, staff support children's communication and language skills well. They introduce new words to the children to support their growing vocabulary, and repeat words back so that they hear the correct pronunciation. Staff enthusiastically join in with children's play, offering a narrative and suggesting new ideas to extend their play and enjoyment.
• Children enjoy mixing water and flour together to make dough. Staff introduce counting and numbers as children follow the recipe and use words such as 'sticky' to describe the texture of the dough. However, staff do not consistently use a wide range of questioning techniques to enhance children's thinking skills to support their learning further.
• Children have opportunities to be creative and express themselves. For example, they work together to make a bear-shaped collage picture, using glue and different materials. Children have lots of fun exploring the different sounds of musical instruments and actively join in with singing rhymes and songs together at circle time.
• Staff support children's early literacy skills well. They read stories to the children with enthusiasm, and have created a cosy area to encourage children to look at books independently. In addition, children borrow books from the setting to read at home with their family.
• The manager and staff have established close links with teachers from the host school. For example, older children join in with phonics sessions with the Reception class, and staff share relevant information to support continuity in learning and aid smooth transitions.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• focus more on children's individual next steps in learning and strengthen systems to ensure that children's next steps are known by all staff to help children make even better progress
• support staff to develop effective questioning techniques to enhance children's independent thinking skills to extend their learning to the highest level.