Little Holly Hedgehog Pre-school

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children flourish at this inspirational pre-school. They are extremely happy, independent and confident. Staff build excellent relationships with children and their families very quickly. They know children incredibly well and know what they need. Staff excel in providing rich and stimulating learning opportunities that complement and enrich children's learning skills. Leaders intelligently use additional funding to give all children valuable experiences beyond what they experience at home. This leads to children's talents being brought to the forefront, such as mastering intricate moves from a dance teacher when dancing to 'Bollywood' music. Children display a truly great sense of belonging, including those who have recently joined the pre-school.

Staff use extremely playful and meaningful interactions with children. They initiate and participate in exciting narratives for their play, such as a restaurant scenario. Staff's impressive teaching skills provide children with the knowledge and skills to create and extend their own role play completely independently. Children of all ages are seen expertly negotiating and devising solutions together to challenging and imaginary problems that they have created. For example, while waiting for the 'chef' to prepare the food, they are offered a drink by the 'waiter'. This shows that children are totally engrossed and highly motivated to learn.

Children's behaviour is exceptional and highly considerate. Staff work diligently with children to display impeccable manners, high levels of respect for all and excellent learning attitudes. Older children regulate their emotions remarkably well, such as when expressing their thoughts and feelings or using very effective strategies that the staff have taught them, such as independently going to the reading tent and looking at books to relax.

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

• The pre-school manager acts with integrity to ensure all children have full access to education. She regularly goes the extra mile for families who may need additional support. The pre-school manager has designed a well-targeted curriculum specifically designed to meet children's individual needs. Staff use highly effective strategies, often ones they have learned in their training, to provide tailored support and interventions. They work exceedingly well with external professionals and parents to ensure that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make as equally strong progress as their peers.
• Children receive an unlimited range of real-life opportunities that are thoughtfully organised by the pre-school manager and staff. These have led to children showing a great passion for increasing their knowledge and skills further. For instance, the pre-school manager has arranged for a library bus to visit regularly. All children have their own library card and learn how to use a library. This activity complements children's enthusiasm for books when listening to stories read by staff.
• Staff provide excellent opportunities for children to fully learn about the diverse community in which they live. They regularly invite visitors from their community to speak with the children and talk about the work they do. For example, following a visit from the dentist, children demonstrate new knowledge about caring for their teeth. This also develops children's impressive social skills when they learn to greet new people and behave in a courteous manner.
• Children have access to personalised resources that reflect children's lives and cultures. For instance, staff make resources such as 'talking books' in several of the home languages spoken by children and their families. Children choose these incredible books with great eagerness, press the sound buttons and practise the words, such as 'book' in Polish. Those who speak these languages enthusiastically help other children who have not heard them before to practise the correct pronunciation. In this way, children from these cultures feel incredibly valued and extremely proud of their own language.
• The highly motivated and deeply focused staff engage in high-quality interactions as they skilfully guide children's learning. As a result, children are consistently engrossed and focused. For example, during an activity about St. George, children demonstrate how they use their prior knowledge and skills to develop their love of learning, such as when they ask questions to seek more information. They competently use their critical thinking skills to formulate ideas and solve problems.
• Children develop excellent physical skills. This is excellently sequenced to give children opportunities to practise and become proficient. For instance, they show very high levels of confidence as they climb and balance with impressive control on wooden structures. They confidently overcome challenges, independently showing their strong abilities in developing resilience. In addition, staff teach children how to use pedals on tricycles to go forwards and backwards. Children skilfully use this technique with incredible coordination.
• Parent partnership with the staff is commendable. Staff work seamlessly with parents and actively involve them every step of the way. They extend parent's understanding of how young children learn best by getting them involved in training sessions, such as sharing effective ways to support children's early reading skills. Parents highly value invitations from the pre-school manager and staff to attend the setting and engage in the activities with their children. They feel that staff are experts who they turn to with any issue they may have.