Little Gems

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children show that they feel safe and secure. They eagerly enter the pre-school, where they are greeted by warm and friendly staff. Leaders and staff place a strong focus on children's emotional well-being. They recognise the importance of children building secure attachments with their key person. Therefore, they have implemented home visits to enable them to meet with children and their families before they start attending. This enables staff to gather information about children's individual needs and foster attachments from the outset.

Leaders and managers have recognised the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on children's development, particularly in relation to speech and language. They have implemented small-group activities, such as stories and singing, to help to develop children's listening, attention and speaking skills. Children eagerly join in with action songs and rhymes, and they listen with interest to stories, naming the dinosaurs and predicting what might happen next.

Children have a positive attitude to learning. Staff have high expectations of what children can achieve. Overall, they provide a good range of resources to support children's learning across all areas of the curriculum. Children successfully develop the knowledge and skills they need for the next stage of learning. For example, they complete tasks independently, have two-way conversations with adults and work cooperatively with other children.

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

• Staff are in tune with individual children's capabilities. They observe and assess children to identify emerging gaps and plan for their next steps. They work effectively with parents and other professionals to put specific targets in place. This helps to ensure that all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make good progress from their starting points. Additional funding is spent effectively to support the individual needs of children. For example, staff have attended training to help them to support children with SEND more effectively.
• Overall, staff provide learning experiences that are enjoyable for children. Children revel in new experiences and concentrate well. For instance, they mix flour and water to make dough. However, when planning activities, staff do not always precisely consider what individual children need to learn next to extend their existing knowledge and skills further.
• Partnerships with parents are effective. Staff ensure that parents are kept well informed about their children's development and activities. Parents report that they appreciate the positive feedback and comment that their children have made rapid progress since attending the pre-school.
• Overall, staff provide a variety of activities for children to develop their literacy skills. They offer a good selection of books and use these to stimulate children's interest in reading. Children enjoy listening to stories. They snuggle up to staff and read their favourite stories together. However, there are fewer opportunities for children to practise their early writing skills. For example, mark-making resources are not easily accessible indoors and are of poor quality outdoors.
• Staff provide good opportunities for children to develop mathematical skills. For example, as they read to children, they encourage them to identify which sized bowls belong to the family of bears. Children recognise that the large bowl belongs to daddy and the small bowl belongs to baby bear. Staff help children to work out that the medium-sized bowl belongs to mummy bear. Children develop good critical-thinking skills.
• Children have good opportunities to be physically active and enjoy the time they spend outdoors. They quickly become engaged in activities. For instance, they help friends to build a balance beam and add steppingstones. Staff use effective teaching, such as showing children how to balance along the beam. Children copy staff and quickly develop new skills as they stretch out their arms to help them to balance.
• Children behave well. Staff act as positive role models and set clear rules and boundaries. For instance, children are reminded to use kind hands and share and take turns. Children quickly respond to instructions from staff, such as when asked to tidy the toys away. They work together as team and swiftly clear the toys away in preparation for the next activity.
• Leaders monitor the quality of the provision effectively to identify and make continuous improvements. This includes providing a programme of training for staff. Leaders recognise the importance of monitoring staff's emotional well-being. Regular supervisions enable them to check on staff welfare, ensuring they feel happy and valued.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• refine planning for adult-led activities so that the learning intent and delivery are best matched to the age and stage of development of the children
• enhance children's opportunities to practise mark making and develop their early writing skills.