Little Bears Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in this highly welcoming and nurturing pre-school. All children are fully included and benefit greatly from the impressive care and education. Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make excellent progress. Children repeat and consolidate what they have learned through the captivating play opportunities. They reach their full potential, as staff follow children's interests and consistently extend all areas of learning. For example, children are fascinated to watch a large pet snail. They know they need to wash their hands before and after they hold it, so that germs are not passed on. They compare what it eats to their own healthy snack, and consider the shape of the shell. When younger children ask if it will become a butterfly, staff find a book for them to check. Children take turns as they retell the 'Hungry Caterpillar' story and learn about butterflies. They count and match pretend food to the caterpillar's food in the story.

Children demonstrate exemplary behaviour and enthusiasm for learning; they show that they feel safe and secure. Staff expertly organise routines, such as snack time, to allow the maximum time for children to develop their ideas and build thinking skills as they play. Children show exceptionally high levels of concentration and continual motivation. For example, with occasional encouragement from staff, children persevere until they complete challenging jigsaw puzzles. They discuss the finished pictures, learn new vocabulary, and make links to a story they read earlier.

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

• Partnership with parents and other professionals is particularly effective. Managers and staff get to know families extremely well and provide ongoing support. For example, the pre-school has additional staffing, in order to ensure all children access the opportunities for learning. Parents are encouraged to volunteer in the pre-school and to develop their own skills through training. Additional funding is used to provide specific resources, such as books, needed for parents to help their children learn at home. Disadvantaged children make impressive strides in their learning and development.
• The knowledgeable provider demonstrates immense passion and ambition. She shares her clear vision, and ensures all areas of staff practice are consistent and of high quality. The well-being and confidence of children, parents, and staff, is especially important. During the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, the provider and manager used training opportunities to increase their knowledge of mental health issues. Managers and staff continually learn from each other and work exceptionally well together as a highly motivated team. They continuously reflect on their practice and make thoughtful changes to meet the needs of each child.
• Staff focus strongly on supporting children to develop their own individual character. They listen carefully to children and value their opinions highly. Children are expertly encouraged to talk about and express their emotions. The key-person system is used extremely effectively to provide individual education plans and continuity of care for the children of the highest quality.
• Staff consistently use hand signing and picture clues extremely well to help ensure all children can communicate well. They frequently use enjoyable songs, rhymes and stories to help children further develop their speech and literacy skills. Children learn from staff's clear speech and the repetition of sounds. For example, younger children laugh with delight as they 'roar like a dinosaur' in a simple action song. Older children learn about rhyming words as they act out the story of the 'Gingerbread Man'.
• Staff use their expert knowledge of how children learn. The skilful staff instinctively know when to support and when to leave children to follow their own ideas. They involve children in making choices and changes to their activities to help learning develop further. For instance, children are captivated by finding different ways to transport water from one tray to another, using guttering. Staff extend children's thinking by asking timely questions. Even the youngest children solve their own complex problems and learn concepts, such as fast and slow, more and less.
• Children develop an excellent understanding about the world around them. For example, staff set up extensive, exciting forest school activities in the nearby woodland. In the pre-school, they find pictures of a diverse range of people and talk about differences and features they have in common. Children quickly develop a strong sense of belonging to the group; they play together harmoniously.