Little Poppets Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff help children to flourish and feel safe at the pre-school. Friendly managers and staff greet parents and children as they enter. The children are eager, and they show their excitement to start the day. As children self-register their attendance, they each receive a warm individual greeting from staff. Children show their developing confidence. For example, staff provide opportunities for children to 'show and tell' to their friends about an object of interest that they bring from home. Children demonstrate they are learning to communicate in a reassuring environment.

Overall, managers plan a curriculum that is ambitious and enables children to follow their interests. The pre-school supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities well. Staff work well in partnership with parents and external agencies. The managers focus on school readiness and forge meaningful links with local schools. This supports consistency in the support that children receive in their education. Managers spend early years pupil premium appropriately. Children benefit from sports sessions with a sports specialist. This promotes the development of their large-muscle movements, supporting a healthier lifestyle. Generally, children behave well. They play nicely with their friends and demonstrate kindness. The children line up patiently to wash their hands, and then, with encouragement, they wait for a seat at the snack table.

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

• The children demonstrate early engagement with reading. Staff provide a good range of quality reading books. The children engage well with stories, rhymes and songs. Children enjoy selecting books and respond positively to adults' storytelling and interactions. They are developing a keen interest in literacy.
• Overall, the curriculum is sequenced effectively to support children's learning. But managers do not carefully promote and plan for some key skills that older children need to develop. For example, the older children's curriculum is not developing their independent skills further in preparation for the next step in their education.
• The key-person system is effective. Staff build warm and nurturing relationships with the children. Staff know all the children well. Children enjoy snuggling up with staff as they listen to stories. Staff work closely with parents, and this supports children's emotional health and well-being. Children form secure, trusting relationships with familiar adults who understand their individual needs.
• Staff observe and assess children's motor skills and plan children's next steps in physical development effectively. Children enjoy developing their small- and large-motor skills. For example, some children empty and fill containers in the water tray and others use instruments to express themselves musically. Some children make straight and circular marks as they paint. Children receive encouragement and have access to good resources to develop their physical skills further.
• Staff very often praise children's positive behaviour. At times, children need extra support to manage their behaviour, for example, when they are running around in the hall. At these times, some staff do not intervene or explain to children the setting's expectations for children's behaviour. This means that children are not consistently learning to self-regulate and fully understand the consequences of their actions.
• The managers value staff and support their well-being. However, they do not fully consider ways to help staff enhance their teaching skills and practise to a consistently high level. For example, the managers do not use the current arrangements for staff supervision sessions fully to identify staff's strengths and areas of development.
• Staff promote children's health. Children bring their own lunches, and staff work hard with parents to encourage healthy foods. The managers provide healthy snacks, which include an assortment of fruits. Children learn about the importance of maintaining their health and taking care of their bodies.
• Partnership with parents is effective. Parents comment that staff are approachable, and parents value this. Parents praise staff for the quality of the daily updates they provide about their children's development. Parents comment on how children have become more confident since attending the pre-school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen teaching practice to develop staff's understanding of the key independent skills for older children
• help staff to support children's understanding of behavioural expectations and boundaries to further promote children's self-regulation
• promote staff's skills and knowledge further by establishing effective coaching, training and mentoring strategies.