Intake Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children demonstrate that they feel safe as they frequently laugh and play with confidence and independence. All staff caring for children are calm, relaxed and friendly. Children form close relationships with their key person and other staff. Staff have high expectations for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language. Children demonstrate high levels of curiosity and concentration. They confidently explore and investigate different ways to move cars on the construction blocks. All children make good progress across the seven areas of learning.

Children behave well. Older children spend time looking after their younger friends. Staff offer a diverse and inclusive setting. Children learn about the wider world around them and develop consideration for others who are different from themselves. They thoroughly enjoy visits from Jack the Pirate and his treasure map to help them learn about different countries and cultures.

Children have plentiful opportunities to develop their large-muscle skills and engage in energetic play. For example, they enjoy playing on the well-organised play equipment outside. Older children thoroughly enjoy trying out obstacle courses they have designed. Younger children happily explore the chalk, water and sand.

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

• Children benefit from a challenging curriculum through a balance of planned and spontaneous play. Staff are responsive to children's emerging and immediate interests. They have a good understanding of how children learn. Staff deliver a rich and varied range of activities and experiences that enthuse and ignite children's passion for learning.
• Staff observe and assess children's learning. They carefully monitor the progress that children make. Staff use the information to develop targeted learning programmes to address any gaps in children's development. This helps all children, including those in receipt of extra funding, to achieve the next steps in their learning.
• The manager and staff invest time and effort developing positive relationships with parents and carers. Communication with home is good and a number of different methods are used to share information. Children benefit from a comprehensive, joined-up approach to their care and learning. For example, written communication and detailed discussions are used to share updates and information. Parents have used the lockdown bags provided by the pre-school to continue children's learning at home during the recent COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Parents and carers share positive views about the pre-school.
• Staff provide a stimulating environment and children acquire key skills in preparation for the next stage in their development. However, children are not always supported to extend their mathematical counting skills during play.
• Staff support children's early communication and language skills. They consistently model clear language when talking to the children. Staff use words and pictures and sing familiar nursery rhymes with the children to encourage their speech and vocabulary. Children relish expressing their thoughts during blanket games. This helps to promote children's self-esteem and broaden their vocabulary. However, on occasions, staff do not give children enough time to extend their thinking skills when asking them questions.
• Children are beginning to learn about the importance of healthy lifestyles. They learn about good hygiene practices, such as washing their hands before eating. Children sit together and feed themselves. They choose their own snack and competently use knives to cut their bananas. Staff chat to them about the importance of eating fruit.
• The manager cares for the well-being of her staff and conducts regular supervision meetings to discuss their workload. There are plans in place to appoint a staff well-being coach. The manager provides ongoing support to help develop staff practice further. Staff meet regularly to share their ideas and views and are encouraged to make decisions. They complete mandatory training and access a wide range of professional development opportunities. The manager seeks the views of parents, children and staff. This helps to identify effective targets and drive forward ongoing improvements that benefit the children attending.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• give children more time to think about and respond to questions to help build their early language and thinking skills further
• make better use of spontaneous opportunities to support children's early mathematical skills to help them to count and recognise numbers during play.