Little Discoveries : Frome

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The warm and friendly staff greet the children with bright smiles and open arms. The children enter this engaging play environment feeling happy and eager to learn. They immerse themselves in their chosen activities. Staff work diligently to build strong relationships with the children, helping them feel safe and secure. They empower the children by consistently offering encouragement and praise. As a result, the children exhibit high levels of confidence and self-esteem.

Staff maintain clear expectations for the children's learning, focusing on strengthening their personal, social and emotional skills. They use emotional language with the children, encouraging discussions about feelings. They listen attentively and validate the children's emotions, helping them understand their feelings and manage them positively. Children develop robust social skills that help them in forming close friendships. Staff encourage the children to vote on which activities they wish to do. The children count the votes in each group to determine which activity is the most popular. Older children confidently resolve conflicts and problem-solve independently, without adult support. Staff enforce clear behavioural expectations and provide gentle reminders to reinforce the pre-school's golden rules, creating a calm and nurturing learning environment.

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

• All children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress from their starting points. The provider identifies children who may need extra support. They use additional funding to provide special resources and activities to support these children. For example, staff record English words onto electronic buttons with pictures. Children push these buttons and hear the word. This helps those children who are learning English as an additional language and children with speech delay. The staff work with parents and external agencies to ensure the best outcomes for all children.
• Staff enhance children's communication and language skills. They continuously ask the children open-ended questions to spark discussions. Staff encourage the children to share their thoughts and ideas. Older children show high levels of confidence when communicating in larger groups. Staff continuously repeat words back to the children, using the correct pronunciation. They teach children new words and their meanings, which extends children's vocabulary further.
• Children learn how to keep their body and teeth healthy. Every day at circle time, staff discuss oral health routines and why these are important. They talk about the impact that certain foods can have on their teeth and bodies. Staff help the children to be physically active. Children count how many star jumps they can do and march around the garden while singing songs. Staff encourage the children to feel how fast their heart rate is after exercise. This supports children's overall health and well-being.
• The enthusiastic staff team has begun implementing a new curriculum. Staff plan activities based on loose themes and the children's next stages of learning. Staff ensure children can access various materials and resources to extend their play and learning independently. However, staff do not always plan activities to stretch and challenge learning further, particularly for the oldest children. This means some children lose interest quickly.
• Parents praise the knowledgeable and passionate staff for their continued advice and support. They feel involved and well informed about their children's learning and progress. Parents receive regular communication regarding their children's learning and development. Staff provide a range of sessions and training opportunities for parents. This helps parents to extend their knowledge and provides ideas on how to support learning at home. Staff welcome parents into the pre-school for special events, such as Mother's Day breakfast.
• Overall, staff promote children's growing independence well. Older children serve themselves pre-cut snacks using tongs and use knives to spread butter on their crackers. Children tidy away the toys and are independent in their play. However, staff do not always support children's independence thoroughly, and routines are not implemented consistently, particularly for the younger children.
• The newly appointed management team is continuously reflecting and evaluating the provision. The team conducts regular meetings with staff and provides company training days. It gathers feedback from staff and parents to highlight any areas for development. Staff feel well supported and enjoy working at the pre-school. They receive a wide range of continuous professional development and feedback. This provides the staff with opportunities to extend their knowledge and enhance their practice. The management team is dedicated to supporting staff's well-being. The team provides staff with appreciation rewards and has well-being support plans in place. This creates a compassionate working environment where all staff feel valued.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• plan consistent challenges for the most able children to extend their learning to the highest possible level
• strengthen opportunities for children to further develop their independence and do things for themselves.