Holy Trinity Pre-school

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and build close bonds with the staff, who are caring and friendly. The manager and staff prioritise children's safety and well-being. Children enjoy a healthy and nutritious breakfast to help set them up for the day with the energy they need to play, explore and make new discoveries. They make confident choices in their play and confidently explore the well-resourced learning environment. Children are inquisitive and keen to investigate. They have thoughtful conversations as they help to prepare the fruit snack and talk about the features of the fruits, including kiwi fruits and apples. They know that the inside of the apple is called 'the core' and that it contains seeds that they can plant to grow apple trees.

Children behave very well and staff have high expectations of them. Children respond positively to the gentle reminders from staff and to the general rules. They know how to travel safely around the premises, which includes crossing a car park and using stairs. They develop good social skills and are friendly to each other and to visitors. Children listen to each other and develop storylines in their play. They dress up as different characters and travel around the room in role. For example, they pretend to be a spider.

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

• The manager shows strong reflective practice and works closely with the staff team to develop their plans for future improvements. For example, they have plans to enhance the outdoor learning environment even further. The manager provides staff with effective ongoing professional development and supervision sessions. This helps staff to extend their skills continually. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) has recently completed an extensive training programme to support children's communication and language development. She has begun to implement effective interventions to help children with language delay.
• Overall, the manager's curriculum is effective in helping children to progress and develop a wide range of skills in readiness for school. The curriculum for younger children's communication and language skills is particularly strong and precisely breaks down the knowledge and skills they need to become confident communicators. However, the curriculum progression for older children in the different areas of learning is not sequenced as precisely as possible to help them to build on what they already know.
• The manager and staff monitor children's progress carefully. They take swift action to make referrals and implement interventions when children do not meet their development milestones. The SENCO is knowledgeable about the children. She works closely with outside agencies so that children receive the support they need to make good progress. Overall, staff plan well for children's learning.
• However, some of their planning and teaching are not precisely focused on what children need to learn next.
• Staff use a range of teaching approaches to enable children to extend their understanding. For example, they provide good modelling for the two-year-old children while they play together in soil, such as showing them how to use a spoon to fill containers. Children show high levels of interest in caterpillars, and staff facilitate quality discussions that encourage children to use a wide range of language.
• Children enjoy the opportunities to be physically active outdoors. They develop their balance, strength and coordination as they negotiate obstacles and access a wide range of resources. They are inventive and explore how they can travel over equipment using a scooter.
• The manager and staff successfully support children to develop their understanding of healthy lifestyles. Children keep themselves hydrated and access drinks when needed. They understand about good hygiene routines. Staff make good use of mealtimes to further extend children's knowledge of healthy and unhealthy food choices. They provide children with positive role models as they model healthy eating habits and good manners while they eat their lunches at the same time as the children. Children are polite and show consideration to others as they enjoy the social occasion together.
• Parent partnerships are effective. Parents and grandparents say how staff are 'brilliant' and fully support their children. They appreciate the in-depth feedback they receive about their children and the progress they make. Staff provide them with useful guidance to support children's continued learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review and extend the curriculum progression for the older children so that this focuses sharply on building on what children already know and can do
• provide staff with further support with their planning so that teaching precisely reflects children's individual learning targets.