Holmhirst Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Practitioners create a very safe and caring learning environment. They place a priority on children's personal, social, and emotional development. Children arrive excitedly and practitioners get to know them very well. Practitioners provide lots of opportunities where children spend time with them expressing their feelings. They encourage children to express themselves freely. Children are extremely happy and content and increasingly show high levels of confidence in social situations.

Practitioners support children to develop positive attitudes to their learning. They create an organised and interesting environment. This supports children to be calm, relaxed and absorb information. All children remain focused on exciting activities and show deep concentration. This helps them to learn well. Children show enthusiasm and engagement when a learning opportunity occurs. For example, during a sand activity, they are eager to participate and help their friends. Children ask lots of questions and share their ideas with friends to make flags. Their behaviour is exemplary.

Practitioners have high expectations for children's learning and development. They encourage children to independently make their own choices and access all areas of an ambitious curriculum. Practitioners' interactions with children are of a high quality. They engage in back-and-forth meaningful conversations. Practitioners are skilled in engaging in children's play and developing their learning. For example, children play bowling. They roll balls down numbered channels. Practitioners add higher numbers to challenge children. They swap numbers around, so they are not in order. This encourages children's critical thinking. Practitioners skilfully question children about what number is next and what was before. This helps children to learn about number sequencing and develop their coordination.

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

• Children have exciting opportunities to develop and strengthen their large and small muscles. Practitioners deliver sessions on physical education. Children independently get undressed and dressed for physical play. Children walk the plank during a pirate activity. They improve their coordination and control skills. They race their friends climbing over obstacles. Children work together to balance on large shapes. They recognise colours they are wearing and excitingly take steps forward towards a finish line, counting as they do so. Children freeze when practitioners turn around. They are deeply engaged in activities.
• During storytelling sessions, practitioners use small-world figures and props. They create visual storyboards. This encourages all children to engage, particularly those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Children join in and recall parts of the story with enthusiasm and excitement. This helps them to develop their concentration further and embed their vocabularies.
• Children have exciting opportunities to develop an understanding of the world. Practitioners take children out in the community and teach them about housing and construction sites. Children look at diggers and cement mixers. Practitioners teach children how to keep safe when crossing a road. Children grow vegetables and herbs. They develop an understanding of growth and time and learn about the food chain.
• Practitioners are highly successful at providing children with exciting opportunities to embed and learn new language. They create daily visual boards with the day, date, month, weather and special occasions on. They talk about how they travelled to nursery and what they saw. Practitioners challenge children by asking what day it will be in two days. Children stand up and take part in show-and-tell sessions. They talk about the activities they have done at home. Children develop self-confidence and a positive sense of themselves.
• Practitioners teach children to manage their own personal needs. Children show good personal hygiene at snack time and lunchtime, washing their hands before they eat. They independently access the snack table and pour their own drinks. Children brush their teeth after lunch. They fasten their shoes and put their own coats on to play outside. Practitioners give verbal guidance to zip up their coats. Children are increasingly independent and learn skills they need for when they start school.
• Practitioners implement strategies to support children with SEND and those children who are non-verbal. They use picture cards, sign language and visual prompts consistently across the curriculum. This enables children to understand the routine, the activity and communicate their needs. Children make excellent progress from their starting points in development.
• The provider is passionate about providing high-quality care and education. Practitioners reflect regularly and make changes to practice. For example, staff provide sessions to engage fathers in their children's learning. Practitioners share activities half termly on an app for parents to engage their children in home learning. Parents report that information sharing is excellent.