Little Saints Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children eagerly arrive at the pre-school and demonstrate that they feel safe, happy and emotionally secure. They form close bonds with all staff, including their key person, and make friends with others. Children are enthusiastic learners and become quickly absorbed in their play.

Staff actively encourage children to develop their independence and sense of responsibility. Children behave well and learn the importance of being respectful to others, to share and take their turn. Children receive praise for their efforts and achievements. This develops their self-esteem and motivates them to continue to persevere at their chosen task. Children proudly share their chalk pictures and the marks they make on boards. They explain that the marks represent their 'mummy'. Older children can recognise and write their names.

Children thoroughly enjoy sorting shapes into groups. They talk about the number of sides and corners shapes have. Children enjoy the outside area. They have fun and laugh as they blow and chase bubbles. Children fully engage themselves in imaginary play. They make pretend pots of tea, before serving this to their friends.

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

• A welcoming and friendly atmosphere greets all children and their families. Partnerships with parents are good. During the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, the manager and staff have maintained effective ongoing telephone and online contact with the children and their families. They have recorded stories and suggested activity ideas. Consequently, children's return to the pre-school has been successful.
• The manager and the staff team provide good-quality care and learning experiences. They structure the curriculum to support and build on what the children know and can already do. The manager values everyone's contribution to the pre-school. There is a strong team spirit.
• Parents comment very positively about their children's experiences at the pre-school. They value the information that staff share about their children's learning. Parents admire staff's commitment to ensuring children achieve a good level of development. They comment on their children's good progress since attending pre-school and the sound contribution staff have made to this.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those in receipt of additional funding make good progress in their learning. There is a strong commitment to working with external agencies. Staff swiftly act on the advice given to them to provide purposeful activities to excel children's learning. For instance, staff build in activities involving steps and staircases to strengthen children's physical skills needed for balance.
• Staff monitor children's progress regularly, which means they address and close any gaps in learning quickly. Recent monitoring found a weakness in children's social skills, after time away from the nursery due to COVID-19. Staff skilfully led extra group songs and game times to further extend children's vocabulary and support their social interactions.
• Children follow daily routines with confidence and show good levels of independence. Young children feed themselves independently. Older children pour their own drinks and skilfully open their own lunch boxes. However, sometimes the organisation of group sessions, for example during snack and carpet times, means that younger children are not fully engaged as they wait for activities to begin and end.
• Staff promote children's interest in books and familiar stories. Children readily choose their own book and share with adults. Older children narrate stories as they look at the pictures. and younger children learn how to handle books appropriately.
• Children receive good support as they get ready to move on to the next stages in their lives and school. Staff share detailed reports with parents, meet teachers and support children in their school visits by attending their schools during settling-in sessions. This helps children feel very secure and ready for the next stage of their learning
• Staff speak of the support they receive from management and clearly enjoy their work. They are committed professionals who are passionate about supporting children to have the best possible start. However, managers do not always support staff well enough to make their workloads more manageable. Although staff attend some training, managers do not regularly monitor and supervise staff to further enhance professional development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to enhance the organisation of larger group activities, to help enrich younger children's learning opportunities further
• improve arrangements for the monitoring of staff to address development needs and workload, and to further enhance the already good quality of teaching.