Little Angels Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are extremely happy, content and confident. They clearly demonstrate their enjoyment as they engage in the activities provided. Children show impressive levels of concentration and perseverance as they master and consolidate their skills. For example, they try to open and close an umbrella independently following the sensitive instructions and encouragement given by staff. Children are warmly praised for their efforts and achievements, which helps to develop their self-assurance and raise their self-esteem.

Staff have high expectations of children, in particular their behaviour. Children benefit from calm, clear and consistent messages. They understand that a sand timer indicates the end of their turn and skilfully use these in their play as they develop their self-regulation skills and understanding.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, staff recognised the importance of maintaining relationships with children to ensure their emotional security and overall well-being. They thoughtfully recorded special videos for children where they read their favourite stories and shared activity ideas and games. This had an instrumental impact on children's smooth transitions back into the pre-school. Furthermore, staff have carefully focused their recent teaching on supporting children's communication skills and social interactions. As a result, children are becoming skilful and confident communicators. They play collaboratively together in this extremely warm, welcoming and nurturing environment.

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

• Overall, children benefit from a broad, balanced and interesting curriculum. Staff gather pertinent information in close collaboration with parents about children's likes and interests and use this to inform planning. Leaders confidently articulate what it is that they want children to learn during their time at the pre-school. However, not all staff fully understand the knowledge and skills that children need to learn from the range of activities provided and how they contribute to children's learning and development.
• Staff know the children extremely well and talk about them with an abundance of affection. They playfully interact with children and are enthusiastic in their approach. This captures children's interests and engages them purposefully in their learning. However, occasionally, staff do not make the most of spontaneous opportunities to challenge and extend children's understanding even further.
• Children thoroughly enjoy spending time outdoors. They plant flowers, fill containers in the mud kitchen and create sandcastles. Children use transport toys soaked in water to make tracks on the ground, testing out their ideas. They balance on beams and use magnifying glasses to explore and investigate. These exciting activities help children to make good progress in their learning and develop essential skills for the future.
• Excellent consideration is given to children's emotional well-being. Staff have created safe, quiet and cosy spaces that children can retreat to if they need time to relax and calm themselves. Staff encourage mindfulness as they model how to 'smell the flowers' and 'blow out the candles'. These breathing exercises provide children with the strategies they need to help them to regulate their feelings and emotions. Regular discussions about how children are feeling help them to develop empathy for others. For example, staff ask children what makes them happy and why they think their friend is sad.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive highly tailored support. Knowledgeable and passionate staff provide carefully considered, personalised support that is regularly reviewed and continuously shared with parents. Furthermore, robust partnership working with other professionals helps to ensure that children truly excel from their starting points.
• Partnerships with parents are extremely strong. Parents speak very highly of the pre-school. They form trusting relationships with staff, who are very supportive and listen and help them wherever possible. Parents affectionately describe how much progress their children have made since attending and attribute this to the relentless efforts of the devoted staff team.
• Leaders are passionate and committed in their determination to provide high-quality care and education. They successfully lead a very dedicated team of staff who continuously support and encourage each other. Staff benefit from regular and purposeful supervision meetings. They engage in reflective practice and attend a wealth of training that has a hugely positive impact on outcomes for children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• build on staff's knowledge of the curriculum intent so that they are clear on what knowledge and skills they want children to gain from all experiences
• strengthen staff's ability to successfully extend and challenge children's learning and understanding during child-led play.