Leek Westwood Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children develop warm and trusting relationships with their key person and staff. As a result, children are happy and settled in this welcoming and friendly pre-school. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make good progress from their starting points. Staff are caring and attentive to the individual needs of the children, and they give cuddles and gentle words of reassurance if children become upset.

Children are confident and develop good social skills. They form friendships and happily play together for long periods of time. Children have lots of fun using their imagination as they play in the beach-themed role play. They enthusiastically dress up in a variety of outfits and inflatable arm bands, pretending to swim in the sea. Children use their fine motor skills, as they eagerly scoop flour into containers and tell the inspector they have made her a strawberry-flavoured ice cream.

Children have enjoyable opportunities to learn about the natural world. They help to plant and harvest vegetables and enjoy the responsibility of carrying out tasks. For example, children carefully fill watering cans to water the plants. Older children learn about the life cycle of insects. After many weeks of caring for caterpillars, they display their excitement when they see that the caterpillars have turned into butterflies. Children learn new words to support their growing vocabulary, such as 'antennae' and 'symmetry'.

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

• The manager is enthusiastic and ambitious. She plans a broad and well-sequenced educational programme, centred around children's individual interests and what it is they need to learn next. The manager ensures good relationships are made with other professionals involved in the care of children with SEND to ensure they receive tailored support for their individual needs.
• The members of the committee are actively involved in the running of the pre-school. The committee chair has a good understanding of her role and responsibilities, and effectively supports the manager in her role.
• The manager strives for continuous improvement. She regularly reflects with the staff team about the setting and the learning experiences they provide for children. Staff benefit from professional development opportunities and regular supervisions. Staff morale is high. They say they enjoy their role and feel supported by the manager.
• Children benefit from daily opportunities to play in the well-resourced outdoor area. They develop good physical skills as they run with confidence and balance on tyres. The manager has recently improved the outdoor area to provide more learning opportunities, such as an outdoor classroom for those children who prefer to learn outdoors. However, there is scope to provide more opportunities during outdoor play for older and more able children to develop their good physical skills even further.
• Staff use effective interactions to help children in their communication and language development. They ask open questions giving children time to think and respond and extend the flow of conversation.
• Children of all ages take part in group singing and story times. Staff who work with the youngest children provide visual prompts, such as a song bag with toys to represent the different rhymes, which helps to encourage children's participation. However, staff have not fully considered how they can successfully capture children's interest and enthusiasm during story times, to further develop a love of books and support their early literacy skills.
• Staff provide opportunities for children to develop an awareness of the diverse world in which they live in. They learn about different festivals and celebrations from other cultures through activities and conversations. Children take part in outings in the community, such as visits to the local residential care home where they join in activities that mark special events, such as Harvest and Christmas.
• Relationships with parents are strong. Staff keep parents informed on the progress their children make and the care they receive. Feedback from parents is highly complementary. They say their children thoroughly enjoy their time at the pre-school.
• The manager has established strong links with teaching staff from the adjoining primary school. They work in close partnership to ensure a seamless approach in supporting smooth transitions to the next stage of children's education.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's skills in supporting younger children to listen to and engage in group story times, to further promote their early literacy skills
• enhance the outdoor physical play opportunities available, so that the older and most able children are provided with an even higher level of physical challenge.