Little Aston Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff know all children well, including their likes, dislikes and unique qualities. They use this knowledge to meet each child's needs effectively, resulting in their positive behaviour. For example, children who sometimes find group singing overwhelming are given gentle guidance and support, helping them to gradually build the confidence to join in. When children struggle to hold the 'walking rope' or keep up physically, staff hold their hand, promoting a strong sense of security.

Interactions with staff boost children's happiness and motivation to learn, leading to sustained engagement throughout the day. For example, while waiting for their peers to finish their snack, staff encourage children to look at a book, supporting their ongoing learning. An ambitious curriculum is provided for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, with funding carefully allocated to ensure they have access to the same experiences as their peers. This promotes their inclusion.

Staff actively promote children's independence by encouraging self-care skills, such as handwashing, nose cleaning, toileting and feeding themselves. This helps children to develop a sense of responsibility. Staff prioritise children's health and well-being. For example, children hold onto a 'walking rope' when going to the garden, ensuring safe transitions. Staff ensure that children wear hats outdoors, check whether they are wearing sun lotion and remind them to stay hydrated. These actions promote sun safety and overall health awareness.

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

• Leaders demonstrate a strong commitment to responsive, inclusive and reflective practice, directly supporting positive outcomes for both children and staff. For instance, they monitor staff's well-being, ensuring they are well-equipped to meet the diverse needs of all children. Staff feel positive about the training they receive and appreciate being part of a 'close-knit team' where professional conversations are encouraged.
• Parents and carers highly appreciate the targeted support their children receive. They praise the effective communication between staff and families, which keeps them well-informed and engaged in their children's progress.
• Parents highlight how hard staff work in partnership with schools and other professionals. For example, staff share relevant information with receiving schools. For children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, they have begun sending photos home of the new school environment. This promotes familiarity and supports a smoother transition to school.
• Staff focus on helping children to develop the key skills needed for school readiness. This includes everyday tasks, such as taking off their shoes and building fine motor skills, enabling them to hold a pencil and begin writing their name. Children benefit from the guidance of a qualified teacher. Parents share positive feedback about this support.
• Staff implement a comprehensive communication and language curriculum using sign, visual aids and communication boards. Children are supported to point to familiar pictures to express their needs and feelings. Staff introduce new vocabulary in meaningful contexts and encourage children to copy both spoken and signed language. This strengthens children's communication skills.
• Children understand and follow daily routines well. For example, they self-register their attendance, know to put their sun hats away when coming indoors and help to tidy up. Staff reinforce children's understanding by using visual aids and verbal cues, such as telling them they can have 'one more turn before tidying up'. As a result, when the tidy-up song plays, children respond promptly.
• Staff demonstrate enthusiasm and dedication to teaching. However, there are variations in practice that may affect children's ability to fully absorb and retain key knowledge. For example, some staff provide a lot of information at once, while others do not always identify opportunities to extend children's learning.
• Staff complete progress checks at age two to monitor children's development. However, they do not always find out when health checks take place to align their reports with these visits or encourage parents to share completed checks with health visitors. Addressing this would ensure continuity when supporting children's development.
• Staff address local issues such as childhood obesity by encouraging healthy eating and physical activity. For instance, children bring fruit from home to share with their peers, promoting nutritious choices. Staff lead discussions and activities on oral health and encourage both indoor and outdoor physical play.
• Following safer recruitment training, leaders reflected on and strengthened their recruitment procedures by introducing additional steps to ensure more thorough suitability checks. These changes enhance safeguarding and support staff development more effectively.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• continue to reflect on the quality of teaching to ensure consistently strong practice, which enables children to learn and retain key information over time
• find out when progress checks at age two are taking place and encourage parents to share the completed check with relevant professionals.