Lickey End Preschool and Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Good settling in sessions help children to be ready for the move from home to the pre-school. They arrive happy and eager to begin their play. Children form secure relationships with the caring staff team who know them well. They make good progress in their learning and development because staff plan an ambitious curriculum inspired by children's current interests and learning needs.

Staff provide children with a wide range of high-quality toys and resources. Children skilfully use tools to mould and cut dough. This helps them to gain strength in their hands in readiness for early writing. Children develop hand-to-eye coordination as they carefully thread pasta shapes onto dried spaghetti. Children behave well. They know what staff expect from them and demonstrate a good understanding of the pre-school's golden rules. Children repeat these to staff and their friends during group activities. Children display good hygiene practice and wash their hands at regular intervals throughout the day. They decide when to have snack and help themselves to fruit and drinks. Staff sit alongside children to offer support and engage them in thoughtful conversations. For example, they talk about their family and the activities they do at home. Children learn to make democratic decisions. For example, staff remind them to vote for their favourite story book.

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

• The dedicated manager has a secure knowledge and understanding of how children learn and develop. She does her best to deliver high quality care and education to all children at all times. The manager works alongside her staff team each day. This helps her to monitor staffs practice and identify areas for further development. While staff have some opportunities to attend training to improve their knowledge and skills, the manager is yet to precisely target professional development opportunities to raise the quality of teaching to an outstanding level.
• Staff plan a good balance of child-initiated and adult-led play activities to support children's learning both indoors and outdoors. They make regular assessments of what children know and can do and use this information to plan their next steps in learning. Staff ensure this information is shared with parents to help them continue and enhance learning at home.
• Staff swiftly identify children who are not at their expected levels of development. They work closely with parents and other professionals to develop individual support plans to help them close any gaps in their learning and to make the best possible progress. The manager ensures any additional funding the pre-school receives is used to fully support children's individual needs.
• Children have daily opportunities to develop their physical skills and play outside in the fresh air. Staff help children to create their own obstacle course and encourage them to balance and use their bodies in various ways to navigate their way across it safely.
• Children interact positively with their friends during imaginary play in the construction area. They work as a team and discuss the resources they need to build a house. Staff remind children to wear helmets and ear defenders to keep themselves safe. Although staff provide children with some opportunities to learn about personal safety, they are yet to offer a wide enough range of experiences to help children gain an effective understanding of when they might be at risk when using the internet and digital technology.
• Staff collaborate with other professionals to support children to improve their communication and language skills, boost their memory and build cultural connections. For example, children attend weekly French lessons, where they learn to sing, count, and engage in play activities in the French language. Children focus and thoroughly enjoy these sessions. They confidently count and sing in both French and English. Parents report that children applied this learning on a recent holiday in France.
• Relationships with parents and other providers are well-established. Staff regularly share information with them to promote a consistent and complementary approach to children's learning. Parents are highly complimentary about the service the pre-school provides. They state their children are very happy to attend and that the staff are wonderful and keep them well-informed about their children's progress and care needs.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• target staffs' professional development opportunities more closely to raise the quality of teaching to the highest level
• provide further learning experiences for children to develop their understanding of risks, including when using the internet and digital technology