Hucknall Pre-School Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy when they arrive at the pre-school, and they separate from parents confidently. They are keen to investigate the toys and resources offered. Children show good imaginative skills and understand how to use tools safely. They start to develop their independence skills as they learn to use a knife to cut up carrots in the role-play area. Children concentrate when staff provide hand-over-hand support to guide them to use a potato peeler safely. Children behave well and work together as a team to tip all the vegetables into one bowl. They are excited to tell staff that they are making 'carrot soup'.

Outdoors, children are physically active. They take and manage risks when they make up their own games of 'tag'. Some children run around, while others ride on tricycles to try and catch each other. Children listen with enthusiasm when staff read them stories. They take an active part in the story and copy the actions of characters in the book. For instance, children look through a cardboard tube and pretend it is a telescope. Children learn new words, such as 'quiff', to extend their vocabulary. They learn the meaning of the new word when staff explain that this is a 'hairstyle'.

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

• The supervisors work closely with parents to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They make referrals to other agencies to help support children's individual needs, for example to help develop their speaking skills.
• The supervisors use additional funding effectively to help close any gaps in learning, such as children's understanding of the world. For example, staff purchased a toy zoo and, with help from staff, children explore and learn about different animals in the world and people who work in a zoo.
• Staff find out about children's home-life experiences. They use this information to broaden the opportunities children receive in the pre-school. For example, staff offer activities that enable children to use instruments, learn about beat and rhythm and explore music.
• Staff keep parents informed about their children's progress and what they need to learn next. They support parents to continue children's learning at home. For example, staff encourage parents to read children stories at bedtimes to help them develop a love of books.
• The supervisors and staff reflect on the service they offer children and their families. Recent feedback from parents identified that they wanted to come into the pre-school to drop off their children. Because of this, the supervisors arranged for parents to enter the hallway through one door and to exit through another door. This allows parents to settle their children and to speak to staff, and helps to maintain children's and adults' safety during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Staff use the curriculum to plan activities that encourage children's understanding of oral hygiene. For instance, they provide resources such as large pretend teeth and a toothbrush for children to explore. Staff talk to children about the importance of cleaning teeth. Children say that they need to brush them 'two times a day' and for 'two minutes'.
• Staff actively promote positive behaviour and help children to understand what is expected of them. For instance, during the group circle time, staff remind children to show 'good looking' when they read them a story. Staff use reward charts and stickers to praise children's toileting efforts when they learn this new skill.
• Children develop skills for future learning, such as furthering their listening abilities and language structure. For example, when staff play alongside children, they give them time to think and answer the questions they ask them. However, during some small-group times, when several three- and four-year-old children start to talk at the same time, staff do not encourage them to take turns in conversations and to listen to others' views.
• During some daily routines, such as when it is time to tidy toys away, staff do not always focus their attention on supporting children. This results in some children wandering around the room with no purpose.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's interactions with three- and four-year-old children during small-group times, to enable children to take turns in conversations and to listen to the views of others
• support staff to refine the organisation of some daily routines so that children remain purposefully engaged in activities.