Little Chums Pre school

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children and their families are warmly welcomed at this friendly and caring setting. Staff spend time speaking with parents at the gate to ensure that children settle well. Children are cuddled and comforted by kind staff. This helps to support children's emotional well-being. Staff promote children's positive attitudes to learning. They use children's interests to plan an ambitious curriculum. For example, children showed great interest in finding out about different dinosaurs. Staff skilfully extended this by engaging children in looking at a dinosaur encyclopaedia to find out all about them. This encourages children's literacy skills well.

Staff promote children's good behaviour. They frequently praise children for being kind to their friends. Children help take off their friends backpacks when getting undressed and immediately go to help when a friend falls over and to check they are ok. Staff have high expectations for children. They very successfully support children's understanding of the wider world. For example, children immediately get ready for their forest-school adventures, excitedly talking about what they would do. Children are enthralled in investigating what happens when they mix different ingredients together. Staff extend their vocabulary, talking about 'chemical reactions' and naming different herbs and spices. This encourages children's knowledge of new words.

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

• Staff promote children's self-esteem and confidence successfully. They celebrate children's achievements and encourage them to be independent. For example, staff spend time patiently showing children how to open their own snacks at lunchtime, sharing in their delight when they do it themselves.
• Staff plan interesting and motivating experiences for children to learn about each other. They provide maps to support their understanding of the world and where people come from. Children have learned words for hello in different languages to support their friends to settle in.
• Staff promote children's positive well-being. They provide mirrors for children to use to identify what makes them special. Staff encourage all children to be proud of themselves. Staff promote learning about similarities and differences well. This supports children's understanding of others and positive self-image.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well. Staff ensure they use additional funding to meet individual needs. For example, staff provide additional sessions for families to provide continuity for children. All children make good progress from their starting points.
• Staff successfully prioritise gaps in language and communication effectively. Children enjoy joining in with rhymes and listening to stories. However, on occasion, staff do not recognise when some children would benefit from more encouragement to join in discussions to extend their speech.
• Leaders and managers are passionate, proactive and hardworking. They continually reflect on their practice to ensure they continue to provide quality care and education for families. They promote children's understanding of how to help others by helping stock the local community fridge and talking about food waste. This supports children's empathy and understanding skills well.
• Staff support each other well in their roles. Leaders and managers use staff's skills to support good practice. Staff value the daily opportunities they get to talk about children. They appreciate the focus on their own well-being. They say that working at the setting is like a family and that they love their jobs.
• Children benefit from a well-planned curriculum. Staff prioritise children's physical development. They encourage children to walk regularly, such as going to the local shops. Staff encourage children to learn how to keep their bodies healthy. For example, children excitedly talk about their heart rates after a walk to the forest and how exercise makes them 'agile'.
• Parents say that their children have made good progress in their confidence, independence, and social skills. They value the opportunities children get to go to forest school and to care for nature. They appreciate the support they get to help their children's learning at home. They talk of the friendly staff and how safe they feel their children are at the setting.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen opportunities to support staff to identify when children can be encouraged to speak, to further support their developing speech skills.