Holy Cross Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are friendly, outgoing and confident. They have lots of fun and thoroughly enjoy their time in the pre-school. Staff always pay close attention to children and freely join in with their activities. They encourage children to take the lead in their play and learning. This helps children to use their imagination, solve problems and make decisions.

Staff ensure that children stay safe in the pre-school and learn to take well-supervised risks. This gives children confidence to try new things and to challenge themselves physically and mentally. Children are physically active. They have a lot of space to run around as they balance on planks and ride around on scooters and tricycles. Children really enjoy imaginary play. They clamber into a wooden boat together and pretend to be sailing around the world.

Staff are kind, nurturing and encouraging. This helps children to feel emotionally settled. They form strong bonds with staff and make friends with each other. Children are happy in the pre-school. Their behaviour is very good. Staff teach children to share and take turns. They teach them to respect each other and to be considerate. Staff manage children's behaviour well and have secure boundaries in place that help children to feel secure.

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

• All children make good progress in their communication and language development, including those who speak English as an additional language. Staff talk to children all the time, in English and other languages. They ensure that children's home languages are used in the pre-school to aid communication. This helps children to settle well and feel confident.
• Leaders and staff build a curriculum around children's interests and what they need to learn next. Staff know that children learn best when they enjoy what they do. They work closely with parents and other professionals involved in children's care and learning to ensure that individual children's needs are met. Staff are swift to notice if there are any gaps in children's learning and give additional support to ensure these gaps are filled.
• Children are curious. They enjoy exploring nature in the pre-school garden. They look for insects on the herbs and fruit bushes they have grown. Staff help them to look beneath leaves and talk about the texture of the different leaves they see. Children gently place insects in magnifying pots to examine them and show the inspector how they look bigger inside.
• Staff help children to develop their independence. Children change their shoes and put on wellington boots to explore the muddy parts of the garden. They independently help themselves to drinks from water dispensers in the classrooms. They manage their self-care and wash their hands.
• Children develop their fine motor skills and their hand-to-eye coordination as they cut and stick shapes onto bunting ready for a family picnic. Children learn about letters and sounds and enjoy regular visits from a specialist teacher. They learn about mathematical concepts such as 'next to', 'behind' and 'in front' as they play with a train set. They count the trains on the track and talk to staff about the colours.
• Older children and younger children enjoy times when they can play together in the large outdoor area. Staff lead them in team games linked to their current theme. Children behave well. They are considerate to each other. However, on occasions, in a large group, the rules of the games become confused and some children miss the opportunity to take part.
• Staff manage transitions well as children prepare to go to school. They form strong links with local schools and invite teachers to come into the pre-school to talk to the children. Staff go along with children to play and story sessions at schools to support their transitions. Children learn to sit still for group sessions in the pre-school. However, staff do not always ensure that sessions, such as story time, are interactive or engaging enough to sustain children's interest.
• Parents say they are very happy with the progress their children are making. Leaders manage the pre-school well. They offer staff regular supervisions and meetings and promote their well-being. Leaders support staff with plenty of training opportunities for their professional development. They evaluate their practice and take account of the views of parents, staff, children and other professionals when making improvements to the pre-school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• plan more precisely for large-group activities to ensure that all children stay focused on their task and have an opportunity to take part
• refine group activities, such as story time, to maintain the interest and engagement of all children.