Lawns Pre-school

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The manager and staff provide a happy and safe environment for children. They get to know the children well and build positive relationships with their parents and carers. This promotes a shared approach to children's care and learning, which helps children to settle and feel secure. Children are confident and relaxed as they explore the activities and follow the daily routines. Staff are positive role models and teach children kindness and respect for others. This supports children to develop friendships and to play cooperatively together.

Staff use children's interests to help them plan the learning experiences. Therefore, children learn through activities that spark their interest and curiosity. For example, staff identify that children are interested in finding bugs in the garden. They plan a range of linked experiences, to help extend children's knowledge across the curriculum. Children broaden their vocabularies as they join in with stories and sing songs about insects. They explore moving like caterpillars and create imaginative collages of butterflies and snails.

The manager and staff want all children to achieve highly. They monitor their progress closely and ensure that they receive targeted support with their learning where needed. Additional funding is used effectively, to further enhance children's learning experiences. This helps all children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, to make good progress.

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

• The manager and staff have a clear intent for the curriculum, based upon what they know about the children attending. For example, they recognise that some children are not making the expected progress with their language development. Therefore, throughout all activities there is a strong focus on promoting children's speaking and listening skills. Staff also provide specialised group activities for children who need more help. This supports all children to become confident and effective communicators.
• Staff respond quickly to children's emerging interests and skilfully use these opportunities to extend children's learning. For instance, staff notice children playing with magnetic tiles and challenge them to build a tall tower or to create a garage for toy cars. They encourage children and celebrate their achievements. This helps to motivate children and fosters positive attitudes to learning.
• Children learn and play in a positive and supportive environment. Staff praise children for good behavioural choices, such as sharing. This helps to raise children's confidence and self-esteem. However, during some parts of the day, such as circle time, staff do not clearly explain how they want children to behave. Therefore, some children are not sure what is expected of them and interrupt other children's learning.
• Staff provide a welcoming and inclusive environment. They teach children about other people and ways of life, such as by taking them on local outings and celebrating multicultural festivals together. Staff ensure that the activities reflect the backgrounds and cultures of the children attending. This helps children to explore and understand their similarities and differences.
• In general, staff promote healthy lifestyles for children effectively. For instance, they teach children about good oral hygiene and supervise them as they brush their teeth after snack time. However, staff do not always plan well enough to help children understand the benefits of making healthy food choices.
• The manager evaluates the provision well and has clear plans to develop their practice further. She knows the staff well and ensures that they receive good support for their personal well-being and professional development. Staff say that they feel valued and speak enthusiastically about their professional goals, such as learning more about children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They describe how mandatory training helps them to protect children from harm.
• Parents comment on the friendly and welcoming staff and say that their children love attending the pre-school. They describe the attentive care provided, which reassures them that their children are safe and happy. Parents appreciate the detailed feedback they receive on their children's experiences at the pre-school. They say that their children make good progress, particularly with their language and social skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to provide more consistent guidance for children's behaviour, particularly during group activities, so that all children understand what is expected of them
• further develop the curriculum relating to healthy lifestyles, to help children understand the importance of making healthy food choices.