Little Legend Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff create a calm and welcoming environment that helps children settle quickly on arrival. They greet children warmly, offer comfort when needed, and provide consistent routines that help even the youngest children feel secure. Staff remain close by during transitions and offer physical and verbal reassurance, enabling children to build strong attachments and develop confidence in their surroundings.

Leaders design a curriculum that places communication and emotional development at its core. Staff model language purposefully throughout the day, using stories, songs and everyday interactions to build vocabulary. They talk to children about what they can see, feel and do, helping them to develop their understanding. Staff support toddlers with repetition and sensory experiences, while older children join in conversations, express their views and recall recent experiences. Staff successfully support children's confidence and language skills.

Staff promote positive behaviour and set clear expectations that children understand and follow. They model respectful language and offer gentle reminders to support turn-taking and cooperation. Staff notice when children become unsettled and respond calmly, gently guiding children through social situations with patience and care. Children show they feel understood and supported as they learn to regulate their emotions and interact positively with others. They gain a wide range of skills in readiness for school.

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

• Leaders use self-evaluation effectively. They identify priorities, such as strengthening children's communication and supporting parental involvement in learning. Leaders monitor teaching and learning through regular observations, staff discussions and progress reviews. They use this information to highlight strengths and identify areas that need further support.
• Leaders ensure staff access targeted training to build expertise linked to the setting's priorities. They also support staff to gain early years qualifications over time through apprenticeships, mentoring and links with other settings. These opportunities help staff strengthen their understanding of child development.
• Leaders respond promptly when they identify children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They work closely with key persons to monitor progress, set clear targets and adjust support based on children's developmental profiles. Staff use visual aids, small-group work and one-to-one support to help children access the curriculum. Leaders maintain regular contact with families and work in partnership with external professionals where needed.
• Leaders and staff build trusting relationships with families. They provide daily feedback, hold regular meetings to share children's next steps and offer practical guidance on areas such as toileting, communication and early literacy. Parents feel well informed and speak positively about the care and support their children receive.
• Staff use assessment to identify children's starting points and monitor progress. They use tools, such as the progress check for two-year-old children and assessments, to highlight areas for support, particularly in communication and language. Staff plan next steps and work with parents to implement targeted strategies. However, assessment is not used precisely enough to shape daily teaching for younger children. Some activities are not specifically aligned with what individual children need to learn next. This reduces the impact of teaching on learning.
• Staff plan a welcoming and engaging environment at the start of the day, with a suitable range of resources that capture children's interests. Children settle quickly and begin exploring sand, construction and role play. However, staff clear these resources away soon after arrival, reducing children's access to continuous play opportunities that reflect the seven areas of learning. Planning for the learning environment does not yet fully support children's engagement and choice across the day, particularly for the younger children.
• Staff promote physical development through daily routines and access to both indoor and outdoor spaces. Children use the large soft-play area to crawl, climb, roll and balance at their own pace, supporting gross motor development and body awareness. Staff encourage movement games, such as hide and seek, and talk to children about how exercise affects their bodies. Children develop coordination, control and confidence through regular physical activity.
• Staff plan activities that help children talk about themselves and others. During a drawing task, children describe their friends' features using words such as 'curly' and 'straight', building on earlier discussions about similarities and differences. These conversations help children begin to understand and value what makes people unique.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance staff's use of assessment of progress to increase the alignment between planning, teaching and learning priorities for the younger children
• review and extend staff's planning for the learning environment to enable children to have greater choice of learning experiences across the seven areas.