Lilliput Pre-School Iver

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the setting with great excitement and are warmly greeted by friendly staff. On entry to the pre-school, they place their belongings in the right places. Children swiftly choose from a wide variety of interesting activities, showing a true sense of belonging. Staff form meaningful bonds with children. Key persons get to know their key children well and successfully communicate their needs to each member of staff. This helps the team support children appropriately.

There is a clear focus on promoting children's communication and language, emotional and social skills. Children show great confidence as they talk to staff and their friends. Activities organised are frequently tailored to children's interests, such as an airport role-play set up for those recently back from holiday. This helps children learn appropriate language, such as naming items they select for the trip. Another hands-on activity related to 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears', is popular amongst children. They use different sized bowls, spoons and character masks to retell the story with adult support. Staff supervise children effectively as they experience these spontaneous opportunities.

Overall, staff manage children's behaviour well. A successful approach they practise includes establishing key routines. This is illustrated when children of all ages wait patiently in a line to wash their hands, move calmly to the dining room and sit in their social groups for mealtimes. Children value these times and proudly talk with their friends and staff about their home experiences.

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

• The dedicated leaders have worked hard to improve the quality of provision since the last inspection. Along with staff, they have revised the curriculum and reconsidered the knowledge and skills children need to achieve in preparation for their eventual move to school. For example, staff have been trained on developing the skills children need to acquire before they move onto learning phonics later on. This includes, learning to differentiate between different sounds they hear in the local environment. Staff complete a range of training, to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, such as those who display speech delay. They recognise the positive impact this has on their own practice.
• The well-sequenced and ambitious curriculum builds on children's existing levels of development. Key persons track their children's ongoing progress. This information is shared with the wider staff team. In this way, staff are empowered to adapt their interactions with individual children, to enable them to successfully gain new knowledge that is relevant to them. This is particularly the case when developing children's language and listening skills. All staff enthusiastically share books and sing songs with children on an individual or group basis. Children recall new words and phrases and apply these effectively in context. They are supported to make links to previous learning. Children make good progress across the provision.
• Staff skilfully motivate children to explore, investigate and expand their learning. This is particularly successful indoors. However, the outdoor area is organised in a way that does not always promote children's sustained focus. At times, children indecisively move from one activity to another, without engaging in a meaningful way. For example, children attracted to the play house, go in but soon come out, as there is not much for them to do. During other times in the garden, staff spend more time supervising children as there are too many resources, making the space limited. This is evident when children sit on tricycles, unable to move them far enough. This shows that children's continued levels of engagement and learning are not as good as inside the setting.
• Effective key person arrangements ensure that children feel secure and receive personalised support, enabling them to confidently participate in activities and develop a commitment to learning. Children generally behave well. Staff keep a watchful eye on children as they play together and are quick to intervene if there are minor squabbles. However, staff's management of behaviour is not always consistent, which can lead to children receiving mixed messages. Not all staff support children to recognise their own and other's emotions, or equip them with more effective ways to resolve conflict for themselves.
• Parents are extremely complimentary about the setting. They praise the detailed communication from staff about their child's day. Parents value opportunities to talk to their child's key person. They comment on how well staff support them to be consistent when encouraging children to manage their self-care needs at home. Leaders provide effective support for families who may have challenges. They work tirelessly to ensure all children receive good experiences.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to deliver an even more effective and well-organised curriculum outdoors that strengthens children's engagement and learning
• target staff development on providing greater support for children to understand their emotions and enable older children to learn to resolve conflict by themselves.