King George V Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at this pre-school full of excitement. They take off their coats, hang them up and know where to go. Children form close relationships with their friends and staff. They learn to play harmoniously with each other. This is evident when children build a house for the dinosaur. Children take turns putting bricks on top of the walls to make them bigger, using their small-muscle skills. They discuss how the dinosaur will get out of the house and use their imagination well as they decide there will be a magic door. They make up magic words and help the dinosaur to jump out of the house.

Children eagerly rush to play outside and run about the spacious garden area safely. They use bats and balls and with the staff's support they learn to hit the balls over a net. Children relish playing in the woodland area, they climb and balance safely and hunt for worms. Children solve problems and enjoy playing in the sand. Staff support children to extend their sand play and use mathematical language. Children talk about filling and emptying the containers with sand saying, 'It's full, I've done it.' They count the sand cakes they make and dig using the toy digger.

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

• The manager and staff implement a curriculum which supports children's learning. Staff promote children's language skills well. They get down to children's level as they speak. They introduce new words, such as repel and retract, to explain how magnets work. They ask children questions to encourage them to think, and create places where children can chat to their friends, for instance the willow den.
• Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They use visual aids to help children to know what is happening to support their understanding. They work with outside agencies, such as the speech therapist, to support children's individual needs.
• Staff interact with children and get to know them well. They plan activities to enhance children's future learning. For example, children wave ribbons and use play dough to strengthen their arms and fingers to help them hold tools and eventually aid their writing skills. However, some parts of the daily routines are not organised as well as possible to fully support children's learning. For example, at snack, story and singing time, some of the children fidget, talk among themselves and become disengaged. As a result, not all children benefit from these group activities as well as others.
• Partnership with parents is a strength of the pre-school. Parents praise how the staff are coping with the pandemic and keeping their children safe. They comment on the wonderful videos and activities the staff sent them during lockdown to help the children continue to learn. Staff inform parents about children's learning. They talk to parents at drop off and collection times and provide parents with summaries of what their children are doing, so they can help them at home with their learning if they wish. To further extend children's experiences from home, staff provide a woodland area for children to dig and look for creatures to help extend their knowledge about nature.
• Staff help children to develop their independence. Children know to wash their hands before eating. They choose what fruit they wish to eat and use skewers safely to pick up the fruit to make fruit kebabs. They know to be careful not to use the pointed end of the skewer. This helps children to learn about taking risks for themselves.
• Staff promote children's positive behaviour. They encourage children to solve their disputes for themselves. This is evident as two children argue over the pots and pans in the role-play area. Staff watch and listen and as the argument becomes louder, they intervene. They get down to the children's level and encourage the children to share the toys. The children listen and go off and play together.
• The manager provides regular supervisions and encourages staff to attend training. For example, after attending the course 'How to improve sand play', staff introduced different items into this play, such as whisks and cake tins. This helps widen children's experiences and extends their exploratory skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the daily routine to maximise the learning for all children, paying particular attention to group activities.