Little Chums Pre School East Grinstead

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at pre-school and have the individual support they need to separate from their parent or carer. This enables all children to settle happily and promptly and to focus on their play and learning. There is a clear family ethos throughout the setting and children develop good relationships with each other and readily involve each other in their play. For example, one child encouraged his friends to join him in the sand pit and suggested that they took off their socks and placed them into their boots for safe keeping. They could then be heard chattering and agreeing who was going to cover their feet with the sand.

Children develop a love of books and stories. They enjoy being read to and sharing what is happening, and also make stories of their own. Children access an environment that staff plan successfully to help ensure that all children make the best possible progress. Children shown genuine concern for each other. For example, an older child observed a long branch where the end was near to a child's hair. Without any fuss, he moved the branch safely away, showing his clearly learned knowledge of risk assessing.

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

• The pre-school leader has a clear intent for the curriculum and has made well-targeted improvements to how they plan for children's development. All staff know what children need to learn next and weave this seamlessly into each interaction with children. They make the most of all learning experiences and extend children's play successfully due to their skill and knowledge of each child.
• Children spent the majority of their time thoroughly enjoying the garden and wider forest areas. They gain good large muscle development, for example as they balance on beams in the garden and walk up the steep hills in the forest. Children learn to be very resilient. If they accidentally trip, even the youngest children get back to their feet, dust themselves off and move on.
• Children develop good communication and language skills. For example, a staff member introduced new words, such as 'atom' and 'chemical reaction', during a scientific experiment. As the children had not heard these before, she repeated them to enable children to hear them again to support their knowledge.
• Children behave well overall. However, staff do not consistently give them clear explanations as to why they must follow certain rules. This means that children do not understand the consequences for their actions, and they do not always follow the instruction.
• There are clear systems in place for supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff work closely with parents to ensure that they involve other professionals, and guide parents to help and support. They make effective use of funding and understand when this can be applied for to support each child in the most appropriate ways.
• Children who speak more than one language receive good levels of support and staff learn key words in their home language. However, staff do not purposefully explore and plan ways in which they can further embrace the heritage and cultural backgrounds of children attending. This does not always fully support all children's awareness of similarities and differences in their community and the wider world.
• Children are confident to ask for help with tasks and to request resources. For example, they ask for help with putting on their shoes and receive effective support to achieve this independently. Children fully understand where to store their belongings, and use the pegs to add their pictures to the washing line for safe keeping.
• Partnerships with parents are very good. There are very clear lines of communication and parents value the clear daily feedback they receive as well as the information shared online. There was clear communication with parents during the COVID-19 pandemic. This included the sharing of activities ideas to enable parents to support children's learning at home.
• Staff receive effective support from the owner, manager and each other. There is a clear team ethos which enables all staff, including those who are undertaking training, to have a good sense of well-being. Staff have consistent opportunities to identify further training to enhance their professional development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consistently provide children with clear explanations are to why they need to follow instructions and guidance from staff, to build on their understanding of consequences
• increase staff's understanding of how to embrace children's cultural backgrounds and how to plan more effectively for this.