Laleham Church Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are confident, happy and emotionally secure in this friendly pre-school. They receive a warm welcome from the caring staff team, which helps them to settle in quickly. Children have developed strong bonds with the kind and nurturing staff. Expectations for all children are high.

Children are enthusiastic learners in their play. They are curious and imaginative. Children make independent choices from the activities and resources. For example, they dress up in school uniform and pretend to be the teachers and students. They pretend to write, count and read stories to each other. This develops children's confidence for their transitions to the local schools.

Children have ample opportunities to develop their social skills and they display positive behaviours. For instance, older children work very well together building wooden bridges with planks outside. This reinforces their self-confidence and emotional well-being. Children behave well.

Children make good progress in their learning and development. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff quickly recognise when children may need extra support. They share their knowledge with parents so that they can support their children at home.

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

• The manager and staff understand the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on children's development. Overall, they have designed a well-sequenced curriculum with a particular focus on children's personal, social and emotional development. Staff know what the children are working towards and can speak about the progress that they have made in specific areas of learning. All children make good progress from their starting points.
• Staff interact and support children well, which enables children to enjoy their learning. However, at times, staff do not manage the organisation of whole-group activities effectively to meet children's learning needs. Sometimes children become disengaged and do not demonstrate good listening and attention. They fidget while they wait to be able to continue with their play.
• Staff support children's early literacy and communication. For example, they read stories to children about emotions using an expressive voice. Children recall their learning as they talk confidently about the names of emotions such as 'happy' and 'sad'. Older children recognise familiar letters and words and write with purpose. For example, they confidently write familiar words, such as their own name. Children develop good literacy skills, preparing them for later learning.
• Behaviour in the pre-school is good. Staff place a high priority on supporting children to be kind and build friendships. For example, children are encouraged to take turns as they share the toothbrushes in the dentist area. Staff provide children with lots of praise and warm smiles. This supports children's self-esteem.
• Children learn about a healthy lifestyle. They have daily opportunities to be outside in the fresh air and play with a wide range of resources. Staff talk to the children about the benefits of healthy foods. Furthermore, children are supported in developing their independence. For instance, children know to wash their hands before snack and put their coats on to play outside. This helps to support their good health and physical well-being.
• Staff support children with SEND very well. They monitor children's development closely and provide specific activities to support their development. Staff have developed good partnerships with a wide range of other professionals. These relationships help to close any gaps in learning for children who require additional support.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Staff work hard to get to know the family, which helps them to tailor children's care and learning to meet their individual needs. Parents comment on the excellent communication which they receive from the pre-school. They say that staff are 'nurturing' and 'amazing'.
• Staff receive regular supervision sessions from the manager and report that they are well supported. The manager observes and evaluates teaching practices to identify training needs. However, this is not fully embedded to support staff to make full use of opportunities in planned activities to extend the quality of teaching even further.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen peer observations to ensure they are more sharply focused on delivering planned activities even more effectively, to extend the quality of teaching even further
• review the organisation of whole-group activities, considering the needs and abilities of all children in the group, so that all are equally engaged and their learning is maximised.