Holmbridge Pre-School and Out of School Club CIO

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff in the pre-school provide a safe and secure environment, where all areas of the indoor provision are accessible to the children. Staff motivate the children by providing stimulating activities and care routines to support their growth. This is done by presenting planned experiences and outings that consider children's preferences and which enable them to engage and develop their skills. Staff observe children while playing and then monitor and track their progress. They use this information to consider further opportunities for learning based on the children's current abilities and take into account their next steps for development.

Staff provide consistency with rules and boundaries that support children's understanding and promote positive behaviour. Children show confidence in their capabilities and share their accomplishments with each other while engaging in their play. For example, children engage in building a train track. Older children support younger children to achieve this by showing them how to attach pieces of the track together. Staff offer praise and recognition for children's successes and invite children to celebrate these. Staff place a strong focus on developing children's independence, and this is continually encouraged and supported. There is also a positive culture for supporting children's language and conversation skills.

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

• Staff promote children's understanding of the world around them by presenting activities that engage children in their learning. For example, children are encouraged to consider which creatures live in the ocean and then think about how fish are gathered. Staff talk to the children about different fishing boats and how fishing nets catch fish. Children apply this knowledge to their play as they use the resources available to recreate an ocean scene.
• Children are encouraged to be independent. This is done through a series of activities, including serving themselves snacks, washing their hands and toileting independently, as well as putting on their own coats to go outside to play. This has a positive impact on children's personal development, as they understand more of their own capabilities.
• Children show confidence in exploring their activities and are enthusiastic to be involved. For example, staff present a selection of resources and equipment for children to access at will, and children are keen to engage with them. Children show positive behaviour and good manners during their learning and are happy to take turns and share the resources with each other.
• Children's progress is tracked and monitored. Staff use this information to plan appropriate next steps and set learning targets so children achieve. This also enables staff to identify and act on any developmental concerns appropriately. However, at times, staff do not recognise or use their knowledge of children's individual interests to full effect. This means that opportunities to use this information to extend their learning even further are sometimes missed.
• Staff engage well with children and promote conversation skills by talking to children about their feelings and ideas on what they would like. This builds on children's knowledge and understanding of concepts and words. For example, children show curiosity for 'marriage' and 'weddings' and talk to staff about these while recreating an animal wedding with the sea creatures.
• Parents are happy with the pre-school as well as the education and care that staff provide for their children. They are informed about their children's learning experiences and are provided with information regarding future activities and outings. Parents use words like 'nurturing' and 'homely' to describe the setting and believe that staff take a holistic approach to children's development.
• Leaders and managers are effective in decision-making that provides support for the whole staff team and ensure that continual professional development is an area of focus. Leaders and managers are also organised in their approach to outings that promote children's learning and engage them in experiences in the local and wider community. However, although leaders and managers gather information from parents before children start at the setting, systems to do this are not always robust. This means that, sometimes, the information gathered lacks the necessary detail to support children's learning and development to the best effect.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• make better use of the knowledge gained about children's interests to extend their learning further
• develop a more robust system for gathering information from parents to further support children's development.