Holding Hands Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children access an exciting, varied and interesting curriculum because leaders and staff place children's needs and interests at the heart of their planning. As a result, children are constantly engaged and completely immersed in their learning. There is an atmosphere of fun, warmth and happiness that is strongly instilled by leaders and staff. Children are greeted with extreme warmth when they arrive, and staff take a genuine interest in what they share about their home lives. Consequently, children settle quickly into their play and are completely self-assured.

Children's behaviour is excellent. There is a strong focus on supporting children's emotional well-being. Staff provide ample opportunities to help children express and understand their emotions. This includes regular mindfulness sessions, and a sensory room called the 'Pod', where children can take 'time out' and relax if they are feeling overwhelmed.

Children have access to an abundance of rich experiences that help them to learn about the world around them. Staff plan weekly outings and are meticulous in ensuring there are clear learning intentions from these activities to help expand children's knowledge and experiences. For example, children visit museums and learn about how local people used to live historically. They use public transport to visit nature reserves, which they have had less opportunity to do over the COVID- 19 pandemic. They learn the value of money and about the food they eat, as they buy seeds from the local market and grow and nurture the plants in their garden.

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

• The manager and staff work together meticulously to deliver an exciting, challenging and well-sequenced curriculum to closely meet children's individual needs. They exude a passion for providing all children with the highest quality of learning and giving the best possible start to their education. They constantly evaluate their curriculum as a team and look at ways they can build on children's experiences and development. There are highly focused and ambitious plans in place to improve the quality of the provision further.
• Children's development is monitored exceptionally closely and constantly. All staff, including leaders, know children incredibly well and understand how to support their learning needs. Their teaching is consistently of a high quality. Staff expertly tailor their interactions with children to allow them ample opportunity to express themselves, solve problems and try things out for themselves. They interact readily with children as they play to extend and support their learning. Daily focused activities are provided to support children who are at risk of falling behind their peers, to help them catch up rapidly.
• All children thrive and make tremendous progress in their learning, including those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders and staff show a formidable commitment towards providing support for children with identified gaps in their learning at the earliest opportunity. They work closely with and take account of advice from other professionals. This includes a private speech and language therapist who is funded from the pre-school budget.
• Staff foster a strong love of books and reading. They read animatedly and expertly interact with children to encourage lots of discussion and to introduce vocabulary. Children's passion for particular books is extended in unique ways, such as staff performing a Gruffalo pantomime over Christmas. Children were able to post a letter to a popular author, enclosing photographs of themselves enjoying her specific stories and associated craft activities. Children and staff are immensely proud of the personal letter they received back in response.
• Partnership with parents is excellent. They individually receive detailed, weekly personal emails from their child's key person to tell them about their week at pre-school. This includes ways they can extend their children's learning at home. Leaders chose an online portal that could be set up in different languages to help parents who speak English as an additional language be fully informed of their child's development.
• Managers place the utmost priority on investing in staff's professional development. Staff feel extremely well supported by the manager. They benefit from focused time to work towards their qualifications. The manager plans regular interactive training activities in team meetings to continually enhance their already excellent practice.
• Children are incredibly well supported to develop their independence skills. They relish the responsibility of helping to prepare the fruit and vegetables they have grown in their garden for snack time. They select their own choices from the self-serve snack bar, pour their own milk or water and take their food to their table.
• Staff are excellent role models. They issue instructions followed by 'please' and 'thank you'. Rare and minor conflicts between children are dealt with in a calm and warm manner, without raised voices. Staff supportively reinforce expectations for behaviour and encourage children to learn about making positive choices. Children demonstrate a strong affection for their friends and are kind to each other.