Little People Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children form close bonds with staff. They are eager to see them when they arrive and are greeted warmly. Staff show genuine pleasure in seeing the children and chat with them happily. Staff know children well and children benefit from the clear intentions staff outline based on each child's development needs. Children's confidence grows very effectively in the caring environment that the friendly staff provide. Children take on challenges and build their physical skills readily. They excitedly use ride-on toys and equipment outside. They enjoy ball play and practise their skills with bean bags, throwing and aiming these through hoops and into boxes. Staff make the games fun and offer lots of encouragement and praise. Children of all ages do well and are proud of their achievements.

Children enjoy making marks in interesting age-appropriate ways, developing their creative skills and dexterity well in readiness for early writing. They enjoy using toy animals to print with paint. Painting sticks are popular, children enjoy the vivid colours and discuss these with staff. Outside, they use chalks on the paving, drawing lines and different shapes. Younger children relish painting with water, exploring the different properties and effects they can create.

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

• The manager leads her staff team well, and they enjoy working at the pre-school. Staff communicate with each other, they ensure that they support children appropriately and keep their well-being high. They show dedication to the children and families that attend the pre-school, and effectively support children with a complex range of needs.
• Staff very patiently help children to manage their emotions and begin to understand the needs of others. Staff plan their support carefully, consistently offering children opportunities to develop their social skills. Older children build close friendships and play cooperatively together. Younger children learn to share and take turns with toys. This includes children that require particularly perceptive intervention and additional support.
• The manager links with key persons to outline children's learning needs and share regular assessments with parents. They all work together to support children. The manager has undertaken training to help children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). She works in a timely way with parents and outside professionals to get children the help they need. She liaises with local teachers to support children's move on to school. Children make good progress, including two-year-olds in receipt of funding. Children with SEND are closely supported to reach their potential.
• Staff support children to develop their maths skills. For example, children play games with dice, carefully counting the dots to work out the number. They use positional language in bean-bag games and talk about size as they play with dough, breaking this into small and large pieces.
• The manager leads the evaluation of practice. There have been considerable adjustments since the last inspection with a temporary change of venue and move to a newly-built building. The manager continues to outline areas for development, and is receiving support to enhance the set-up of the new pre-school environment. Staff make changes to activities after lunch to offer new experiences to children. They introduce new activities through the morning to follow children's interests. However, at times staff miss opportunities to adapt the environment to maintain children's engagement, enable them to independently follow their interests, and develop their learning as much as possible.
• Staff support children's communication closely, including those that speak more than one language. Staff work to develop their support further through training. They use additional assessment tools and undertake training in early signing to help children communicate, particularly those that have some difficulties in this area. Staff lead beneficial group times with stories and singing sessions and develop children's listening and attention well.
• Children develop their independence, helping to tidy the toys in readiness for lunch time. Staff have changed their routines due to the COVID-19 pandemic and their move to different premises. At lunchtime staff encourage children to do things for themselves, such as opening their food packets with the 'pinch- and-pull' technique. However, they do not ensure they fully foster children's sense of responsibility and their understanding of healthy choices.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• adapt activities and the environment more readily, to maintain children's engagement, enable them to independently follow their interests and extend their learning as much as possible
• extend the support for children to develop their sense of responsibility and their understanding of healthy choices and lifestyles.