Langmoor Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children demonstrate secure attachments with staff. They confidently leave parents at the door and settle quickly. Children readily engage in the variety of activities on offer. For example, children embrace outdoor play. They confidently run, ride scooters and climb a small climbing frame. Staff provide extra challenge and show children how to roll and spin hula hoops. Children laugh as they run after them. This helps children develop their muscle strength and coordination skills. Children know how to keep themselves safe. They remember that they need to put on sun cream when they play outside as the sun may burn their skin. Children are learning to be independent. They wash their own hands, wipe their own noses and help tidy away toys.

Children are confident communicators. For example, children pretend they are at a drive-through restaurant. Their social skills are developing as they decide who will be the customers and who will take the orders. Children organise themselves well as they line up in their toy cars to make an order. They listen carefully to what their friends want and then busy themselves preparing the pretend food. Children are learning to play cooperatively and are developing friendships.

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

• Managers and staff strive to achieve an inclusive environment. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive effective support. For example, staff work closely with other agencies such as speech and language therapists. As a result, children make good progress from their starting points.
• Staff support children's speaking and listening skills well. They ask children questions and prompt them to suggest ideas. For example, staff draw a spiral and children excitedly say that it looks like a 'snail ball'. Staff ask if they mean a snail shell. Staff extend this further and talk about the pattern on the shell. This encourages children's growing conversational skills and helps children learn the correct words for things.
• Staff provide opportunities for children to develop their small-muscle skills. For example, children concentrate as they carefully punch holes into paper. Staff show children how to attach a paperclip. Children say, 'Wow! How did you do that?' They remember what staff have told them and try themselves. Children make marks as they pretend to write a prescription for their dolls who are sick. This supports children to develop the muscles they need for early writing.
• Overall, large group-activities support children to learn. During registration, children use good recall skills as they remember what they learned the previous day. Pre-school children listen well as staff explain what activities are on offer. However, sometimes, these activities can be too long. This causes younger children to disengage.
• Staff support children to behave. Children are encouraged to share, listen to each other and take care of resources. Staff are good role models who show children how to be kind to others. For example, pre-school children are helped to be mindful of younger children. To this end, they do not get upset when younger children want to interrupt their games. Instead, they give them time to engage. Children are learning to be respectful of others.
• Staff plan activities to encourage all areas of children's learning and development. However, at times, children's learning could be extended further. Staff do not provide enough challenge for the more able children. They do too much for children rather than encouraging them to do things for themselves, for example to unwrap their own drinking straws and find their own jackets. In addition, staff do not model how to use scissors correctly. This means children give up and tear the paper instead.
• Staff provide healthy snacks and fresh drinking water for children. They use snack time to help children understand the benefits of eating well. For example, children confidently tell staff that fizzy drinks and sugar are bad for their teeth.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• make better use of the opportunities to extend children's learning during activities and daily routines
• review the implementation of group times to ensure all children remain focused.