Little Lambs Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

When children arrive, the caring staff give them a unique and warm welcome. Staff develop strong bonds with children. Children show that they feel safe and secure as they quickly settle and engage in the exciting activities on offer. Staff know children well and create a friendly environment, where children happily learn and play. Children play independently and with their friends with staff joining in to help embed their learning. Staff promote interesting discussions among children. For example, they initiate conversations about healthy food choices at snack time. Children develop confidence in speaking and use language to describe what they are doing and ask questions as they play.

Staff place emphasis on children doing as much for themselves as possible. Children are supported to spread butter on their crackers and pour themselves a drink from a small jug. Older children are taught to hold the banister as they safely walk down the stairs. This supports children's growing independence. Overall, children behave well and respond to staff's instructions. Staff are kind and warm in their approach. They provide children with plenty of praise for their achievements, which builds children's confidence and self-esteem.

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

• Staff plan around children's emerging interests and have a clear understanding of what they can do and what they need to do next. Staff create an indoor environment that gives children access to a broad range of play and learning opportunities that motivates them to learn. However, planning for outdoor learning is not as embedded. As a result, some children are not as motivated to explore or engage in outdoor learning opportunities aimed at supporting their development.
• Children generally behave well and build positive relationships with their peers. Older children share jigsaw puzzles together and talk to each other about what they can see. However, on occasion, when children display unwanted behaviour, staff do not consistently support them to understand the possible consequences. For example, when children get frustrated and hit out or throw toys, staff say, 'kind hands' but they do not always talk to children about the impact their actions may have on others.
• Staff plan a variety of activities for children to develop their hand muscle strength. These activities help children practise the skills needed for early writing. Children work with staff, engrossed in stretching and squeezing dough. Children concentrate as staff teach them to thread pasta onto string to further develop their fine motor skills.
• Communication and language is a focus at the pre-school. Staff spend a lot of time talking with children about their play and adding vocabulary to extend children's language. Staff also lead targeted small-group sessions to help close gaps in children's development.
• Staff swiftly identify when children need further support for their learning or development. They work in close partnership with parents and other professionals. This helps staff to develop strategies to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff and leaders regularly review the plans in place for supporting children to achieve their targets. This ensures that children with SEND continue to make good progress.
• Leaders are reflective of practice, and the provision is receptive to advice and ideas. Staff training is targeted to enhance the quality of practice and education and to make sure that staff have the appropriate skills to support children with SEND. Staff feel valued in their roles, and children benefit from the continuous drive to raise standards.
• Overall, partnerships with parents are strong. Staff share information with parents daily, through an online app and verbally during drop off and pick up times. Staff carefully monitor children's progress and share observations with parents through the app. Some parents find this method of communication useful to keep up to date with their child's learning and development. However, staff do not take steps to check that the information they share has been understood, for example, by parents who speak English as an additional language. This does not fully support continuity between home and pre-school for all children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to plan more effectively for activities outdoors to better support children's engagement and development
• strengthen staff's understanding of how to support behaviour more effectively so children are able to learn how their behaviour impacts others
• enhance communication with parents so that information about children's progress is shared effectively with each family.