Horfield Welly Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the pre-school keen to learn and get involved in play. They arrive happy and settle well. They build warm bonds with their key person. Parents are complimentary about the care and education that their children receive. Staff implement effective settling-in procedures for new children and they work closely with parents and other early years settings that children attend to get to know each child. This supports children's emotional development well.

Staff successfully deliver a curriculum that helps children to build on the things that they can already do and the knowledge they already have. Staff ensure that the curriculum inspires children and reflects their needs and interests. This helps all children to make good progress during their time at the pre-school, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who speak English as an additional language.

Children behave well. Staff interact well with one another and are good role models to the children. Children socialise well with others and build positive friendships with their peers. Children develop good self-care and independence skills. They are confident learners and take pride in their achievements. Children are well prepared for the move on to school.

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

• The well-qualified staff team has a good understanding of how children learn. They accurately assess children's development. There is a strong focus on continually developing staff's skills and knowledge. This helps to ensure that children receive good-quality care and education.
• Staff promote children's communication and language skills well. They use effective teaching techniques to extend children's vocabulary. For example, they use visual aids for children with SEND, alongside verbal speech, to help them to make choices and follow routines. Staff facilitate conversations among children well. Staff use questioning to encourage children to share their thoughts and ideas, to help all children to communicate well.
• Children develop a love of reading, and enjoy a range of mark-making activities that staff plan for them. Children enjoy looking at books and listening to stories that staff enthusiastically read to them. They frequently take books to staff for them to read. Children enjoy chalking and painting. They often give meaning to their marks, and older children talk about the letters in their name. However, staff have not designed the learning environment as well as they could to give children as many opportunities as possible to recognise letters and print, in order to extend their emerging literacy skills further.
• Staff incorporate mathematics into everyday activities, with particular regard to number. For example, they take opportunities as they arise to model counting with children. Children are developing good mathematical skills.
• Staff plan activities to support the children to make good progress. For example, staff organise group activities where children learn about the life cycle of a butterfly. However, at times, these adult-led activities do not always ensure that all children remain fully interested and engaged. For example, on occasion, some children are distracted by the props, and others who are keen to follow the story have their learning interrupted. This does not fully support children to remain engaged in adult-led activities.
• Staff support children to lead healthy lifestyles. They teach children about healthy diets and incorporate regular time in the daily routine to be active indoors and outdoors. For example, children take part in forest-school sessions. They delight in using the sports hall to let off steam and develop their motor skills as they complete an obstacle course.
• Staff promote gender inclusiveness in children's play and through the experiences and activities on offer. For example, girls and boys are inspired by, and encouraged to play with, all of the resources on offer, regardless of their gender.
• Leaders are dedicated to providing good-quality care and education for children. Self-evaluation methods are effective in enabling them to celebrate what they know they are doing well, and to plan for what they want to improve. Morale in the staff team is high. Staff have good opportunities to network with other early years providers to share good practice. They benefit from a range of professional development opportunities, and successfully cascade back what they have learned to the team to improve practice.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• continue to review and develop the learning environment, to provide further opportunities for children to see and recognise letters and print, to further enhance their literacy skills
• review and strengthen the delivery of group learning times to help engage all children taking part, so that they benefit fully from the learning opportunities.