Little Cherubs Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children develop close relationships with staff and settle quickly in their care. They arrive excited, keen to show staff creations they have made for them at home. Children confidently explore the environment staff provide and invite their friends to join their play. They enjoy developing their hand muscles as they mould play dough into different shapes. Children learn the names of different shapes, such as rectangles and share ideas with staff about what their shapes could be. They imitate staff by commenting on what they are doing, such as 'squeeze' and 'push'. Children exclaim they are making 'a gingerbread man' and use phrases they know from familiar stories. They giggle as they pretend to be a fox chasing the gingerbread man. Children discuss what they remember about the story with staff, including when the fox eats the gingerbread man it goes 'gobble gobble'.

Staff praise children for behaving well and using good manners as they help to carefully cut cucumber up for snack time. They listen to staff's instructions and make sure to share the food fairly between each other. Children take responsibility for their own care routines. They wash their hands before snack time and wipe their own noses when staff prompt them. Children remain highly focused and demonstrate their growing perseverance while practising using scissors independently. With staff's support, they learn how to keep themselves safe when using and carrying scissors.

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

• The manager has developed the safeguarding procedures since the last inspection. She now monitor staff's understanding of child protection and ensures they have the knowledge to keep children safe. The manager has clear processes in place to identify and provide staff the support they need to be able to effectively implement the curriculum. She ensures staff know, and actively improve any identified professional development targets.
• Staff play alongside children to assess what they already know and can do. They identify what children need to learn next and share ideas on how to best support these next steps in learning with the rest of the staffing team. All staff know the children well, including their personalities and experiences they have outside of the pre-school.
• Staff liaise effectively with a variety of other professionals to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They adapt the learning opportunities they offer to ensure all children can access them and enjoy learning. Staff place great importance on identifying strategies that help children to learn and share these with parents and carers.
• Staff plan activities based on children's current interests and focus on the skills and knowledge individual children need to progress. They encourage children to develop their imagination in the pretend kitchen area. They ask children to make a drink for them and suggest they blow the cup of tea to cool it down. However, occasionally, staff do not give children time to think and answer questions or work out solutions for themselves. Therefore, some children do not make the most progress possible.
• Overall, staff help children develop some of their communication skills through interactions. They repeat key words and phrases for children as they play with a tray of cornflour outside. Staff encourage children to copy different sounds and words and help them to pronounce words correctly. However, at times, staff do not notice when some children may need further interaction to get the most learning from their chosen play.
• Staff support children to share and negotiate resources. They help them to consider how other children might feel, and support them to express their emotions using words.
• Staff encourage children to sit politely and wait for their friends to be ready for snack time. After children finish their snack, staff expect and support some children to empty their plate and place it in the sink. However, staff are not consistent in their approach to support all children to do this.
• Parents comment they feel included in all aspects of their child's care and learning. They explain staff communicate with them daily about what children are enjoying and how they can support them further at home. Parents say staff help their children develop their confidence and make sure they are ready for school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to provide further help for all children who need it to learn the most they can during play
• develop staff's understanding of how to effectively provide children with clear and consistent expectations
• develop further the use of questions when interacting with children, allowing children more time to think and solve problems independently.