Little Friends Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and confident, and feel secure in their relationships with staff. They are eager to explore, experiment and be imaginative. Children embrace the language-rich environment and talk to their peers with confidence. They ask questions, are curious and enjoy the opportunity to share their learning with staff. Children eagerly talk about what they are doing and make links in their learning. For example, children making a bed for the farm animals talk about the animals sleeping and needing to keep warm, and ask for everyone to be quiet. Children work together with the support of staff to manage their own behaviour. They follow their own interests and have freedom to explore in a safe environment.

Children explore the outdoors with energy and enthusiasm. They show high levels of engagement in creative activities. Children enjoy being in the outdoor area, which is well-resourced and engaging. There is a wide range of opportunities for messy play, including digging mud, mixing herbs and planting seeds. Children experiment with combining sand and water, practising, adapting and exploring effects of change. Children's development is enhanced by enjoyable learning and a positive atmosphere. They make good levels of progress in relation to their starting points. Staff encourage and support children to succeed.

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

• The management team supports a strong ethos within the pre-school. Staff's well-being is recognised as important, and the team feel valued in their roles. They have individual training plans and leaders encourage them to extend their qualifications. Staff have regular in-house training courses and share their new learning with the team. Children benefit from staff being good role models.
• The support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is good. Children have individual learning plans and are supported by knowledgeable staff. The special educational needs coordinator works closely with professionals who visit the pre-school to support children's needs and the practice of staff. Children make good progress from their starting points and develop skills for future learning potential.
• Partnership with parents is a strength of the pre-school. Staff and parents communicate together effectively to support continuity of children's care and learning. The staff share information about children's learning and how parents can further support their children at home. Parents are happy with the care their children receive and the relationships they have with staff.
• Children benefit from a well-resourced learning environment. However, the organisation of resources does not always make it easy for children to choose, so that they can extend their play.
• Staff encourage children to be independent in washing hands and getting ready for outdoor play. However, staff do not make the most of every opportunity to enable children to develop their independence even further. For example, the milk jugs are too large for children to manage pouring their own drinks.
• Children have lots of opportunities to practise mark making and writing through role play. This helps children develop early writing skills. For example, a small group of children playing at a 'doctor's surgery' use paper and pencils to write prescriptions for each other. Staff model how writing is used for a purpose. They understand how to extend children's learning through asking questions during play.
• Children enjoy a rich curriculum with wider experiences and opportunities to enhance their learning. Staff carefully plan an activity from children's interests at home to extend and encourage further curiosity. Children squeal with delight, observing as their volcanoes overflow with bubbly lava. They ask to repeat the activity again and again. Staff follow children's lead, exposing children to new words to widen their vocabulary. These well-planned activities provide exciting, unique learning experiences.
• Children make good progress in relation to their starting points. They develop good levels of self-confidence and an enjoyment of learning. Children gain the key skills they need to be ready for school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• offer more challenge for children to encourage them to do as much as possible for themselves and help them to be highly independent
• review the organisation of the indoor environment to enable children to extend their play and learning further.