Little Bears Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff enthusiastically ensure that children enjoy their time in this friendly and inclusive pre-school. They are cared for and nurtured by staff, who provide a positive start in a stimulating and inviting environment. Staff support children to feel safe in their surroundings. Children form close bonds with the caring staff and are comfortable seeking out staff and asking for support when necessary. They confidently follow the daily routines and chat freely with staff and their friends about events they can recall.

Children enjoy exploring a wide range of activities, both indoors and outdoors. Staff plan experiences to build on children's learning and understanding, which helps to support children's positive attitudes to learning. For example, children take risks as they explore a range of climbing apparatus and obstacles in the garden, and they are extremely proud as they skilfully balance along planks and tyres.

Staff help children to learn to share and take turns. They provide consistent praise for children's efforts and kindness, acting as positive role models. Children behave well. They receive consistent boundaries from staff, which helps them to understand the expectations for their behaviour. Children help to put resources away when they have finished playing, and they help staff to set the table at snack time. They develop their independence, as they are supported to pour their own drinks and serve their own fruit.

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

• Some committee members have not provided Ofsted with the required information to check their suitability. However, the committee members have completed Disclosure and Barring Service checks and have no contact with children at the pre-school. In addition, they are not involved in any sensitive information or decision making. This means there is no impact on children's welfare.
• Staff know the children and families well, including what interests the children have. Staff encourage children to share experiences they enjoy at home and use this to inform the planned activities. Staff have in the past provided children with a range of learning opportunities outside of pre-school. However, since the COVID-19 pandemic, these activities have yet to be reintroduced. Although staff understand the importance of enhancing children's experiences of the local and wider community, this is not fully effective to support their understanding of the world.
• Staff understand the importance of supporting children's language and communication skills. They plan a wide range of activities for all children based on the skills and knowledge they want them to learn next. However, methods of team coaching and mentoring are not yet robust enough to improve staff practice. At times, staff deliver activities to support children with what they have planned for them to learn. On occasion, they do not fully consider more opportunities to develop children's wider skills, such as making predictions and offering their own ideas.
• Children learn the importance of following a healthy diet and lifestyle. They follow good hygiene routines and enjoy trying different fruit and vegetables at snack time. They have good opportunities to be physically active and develop a wide range of physical skills, including fine motor skills. Children are adept at using various tools, developing their small-muscle movements as they do. For instance, they demonstrate their curiosity and concentration as they arrange small, colourful pegs onto a board, making patterns and identifying sequences. This supports children's muscle strength for early writing skills, as well as their mathematical development.
• Leaders have a clear vision for the pre-school. Staff morale is good. The manager supports staff's well-being and conducts regular appraisals and supervision sessions with all staff. This helps to identify additional training opportunities. For example, recent training supporting the language lead has helped staff to successfully weave language-rich opportunities into all areas of the curriculum.
• There are good partnerships with the local schools and parents. Staff gather detailed information about children's individual needs and preferences. Parents and carers explain that staff communicate with them about all aspects of children's care and education, including how they can help to develop their learning further at home. Parents say that their children love attending and build close relationships with staff.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider must:

• ensure the required procedures are followed to supply Ofsted with the information necessary to check the suitability of all committee members. (by 4 October 2023)

The provider should:

• build on the already good practice to enhance methods of coaching and mentoring for staff, to focus on recognising the most of learning opportunities during activities and further raise the quality of teaching
• enhance children's experiences of the local and wider community to support their understanding of the world.