Little Stars Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy attending this welcoming, supportive pre-school. Staff pay careful attention to understanding each child. For example, they use information from home visits to fully understand children's experiences and to offer initial activities that help children settle. Children arrive each day happy and ready to play and learn. They quickly build secure, trusting relationships with staff and reflect their positive attitudes. For example, children join in eagerly with a dance activity. They listen to instructions and readily persevere as they learn to jump and stamp in time to the music. Daily opportunities such as this support children in developing the skills needed when they start school.

Staff are good role models and children reflect this and show a mature approach as they share resources and are kind and caring towards one another. Fun activities, such as a 'spa day', offer children opportunities to discuss emotions and to learn relaxation techniques that aid them in managing their behaviour. Specific topics and ongoing discussions support children in understanding safety. For instance, children use role-play resources to help them understand road safety. Staff support children well in understanding healthy lifestyle practices. For example, children participate in cooking activities and visit local shops to buy fruit for snack time.

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

• Staff work very well as a team and demonstrate their enjoyment of their work. Their well-being is sensitively considered and they receive practical supervision, aiding them in reviewing and developing their practice.
• Staff fully understand the pre-school's practical curriculum. They respond confidently to children's requests and include their interests in the daily activities. Staff understand what children have learnt and offer them further play opportunities that build logically on this. They use additional funding effectively to further promote children's learning.
• The charity's trustees work closely with staff. They offer pertinent support and share information, for example, about services that families can access. This collaborative working benefits children and supports them in gaining the skills and knowledge that underpin their learning.
• Staff know children very well and identify their needs and any weaker areas of learning at the earliest opportunity. They swiftly offer additional support and involve external professionals whenever needed. This is a major strength and helps to ensure that children's needs are recognised and all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress.
• Children enjoy accessing books inside and outside. They show a growing enjoyment of reading, often referring to books, such as ones about the life cycle of frogs, as they play. Children develop favourite stories and use resources, such as tyres and static play equipment, to act these out.
• Staff support children well in developing their language and communication skills. They make good use of children's interests to introduce new vocabulary. Children enjoy playing with the role-play doctor's set and use words such as 'prescription' and 'pharmacy'. Small group work further promotes children's language skills and particularly supports children who speak English as an additional language. They make good progress in learning English and this is well balanced with opportunities to use their home languages.
• Children show respect for one another and staff support them well in understanding differences. For example, children share their family cultures, dressing up in traditional costumes, talking about the foods they eat and looking at maps.
• Staff interact well with children and usually build on their play and discussions. For example, children enjoy singing a song about frogs and then play with toy frogs in the water. However, on occasion, staff do not make the best use of opportunities to encourage children to think further, deepen their knowledge and promote their learning to the optimum.
• Staff work very well with parents, exchanging frequent information to fully understand children's current needs and interests. They support parents well in building on children's learning at home, for example, through regular workshops and discussions. Parents speak highly of staff and particularly note how well their children settle and the good progress they make.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to develop their teaching skills further to enable them to consistently extend each child's learning to the optimum.