Little Stones Pre-School Aldwick

Inclusion: Strong standard

Leaders and staff demonstrate an unwavering commitment to inclusion. Detailed observations, developmental tracking and close partnership working with parents and carers ensure they recognise children's individual needs promptly. Staff are advocates for children. They work persistently with families and professionals to secure appropriate support. They implement carefully tailored individual plans and closely monitor children's progress, adapting support as their needs change. Highly effective partnerships strengthen provision for disadvantaged children, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face barriers to learning. Staff work closely with health visitors to undertake integrated reviews and make joint referrals with families to specialist services. Secure relationships with speech and language therapists enable staff to access advice and support, including visits to the setting, while children await referrals. This coordinated approach also helps families secure educational, health and care plans, where needed, before children start school. Targeted training, including autism training, has deepened staff's understanding and enhanced individualised support for children undergoing assessment. Leaders use funding, such as early years pupil premium funding, purposefully to broaden children's experiences and increase their access to learning experiences. This includes additional sessions, tailored to children's individual circumstances and needs. Children who speak English as an additional language receive thoughtful, personalised support. Staff learn reassuring words in children's home languages and use translation tools and visual aids to strengthen understanding. Cooking activities celebrate different cultures and provide meaningful opportunities for children to explore and value the diversity of their community.

Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard

Staff plan an ambitious, well-sequenced curriculum that builds on children's existing knowledge and prepares them for their next stage of learning. They spend time getting to know children well and use their understanding of their individual interests and developmental needs to plan engaging experiences. Teaching is responsive. Staff carefully extend children's learning through discussion and exploration as they engage in their play. Staff adapt activities for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those facing barriers to learning. This enables them to participate fully. Thoughtfully chosen resources, such as sensory boxes, help children to regulate their emotions and develop their language through exploration and interaction. Staff nurture children's curiosity and encourage them to investigate how things work. For example, children discover that turning a handle powers a torch, which supports their developing understanding of cause and effect.

Staff skilfully connect different areas of learning through children's interests. For example, during a bug hunt, children build on their early literacy skills as they discuss insects pictured on their chart. Children build on their relationships as they excitedly dig in the soil, look beneath logs and describe what they find with their friends. This builds on the muscles in their back, arms and hands, and supports their language and communication skills. Staff encourage children to consider similarities and differences, such as whether insects have wings and can fly. They value children's ideas about where to search next and prompt them to recall earlier discoveries. This helps them build on what they already know.

Mathematical learning is meaningfully woven into children's play. Children compare the size of the bugs they find and use words such as 'smaller' and 'bigger'. Staff extend this understanding as children measure and build on their understanding of written numerals. Younger children begin to explore number. They count the legs on spiders and use expressions, such as 'one more'. Staff introduce magnifying glasses to support close observation. Their thoughtful questions help deepen children's understanding of the natural world.

Achievement: Strong standard

Children make consistent, secure progress across all areas of learning and development. They develop independence from an early age and demonstrate an increasing understanding of how to care for themselves. For example, those children new to the setting show high levels of perseverance as they practice using an open cup. Children are confident, assertive and considerate of others. They readily share musical instruments with their friends and exchange them at the end of each song. As they march around the hall, they patiently take turns to lead and demonstrate cooperation and respect for one another. Children communicate confidently and use their growing vocabulary to share ideas. They show curiosity and delight in investigating the wider world. For example, they describe how snails move slowly and beetles and spiders move faster. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, disadvantaged children and those facing barriers to learning, develop the skills they need for their next stage of education. Their growing independence, confidence, communication and cooperation prepare them well for the move on to school.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Staff form close relationships with children and balance clear expectations with a deep understanding of individual needs. Thoughtful, responsive interactions nurture children's confidence and a positive attitude to their learning. Staff adapt their approach so that all children can participate confidently in daily experiences. For example, they use communication boards to support the participation of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), those facing barriers to learning and those learning English as an additional language. This gives them encouragement to build relationships and engage in activities alongside their peers. Staff help children make connections with their own experiences. For example, as children create houses from play dough, staff encourage them to talk about who lives at home and recall family photographs shared the previous week. These conversations strengthen children's sense of belonging and support developing friendships.

Staff establish routines with warmth and flexibility. For instance, when it is time to tidy away, they show respect for children's feelings and allow them to keep their finished creations and return to their play later. This supports children to manage their emotions as they move between activities. Visual aids help children understand familiar routines and anticipate what happens next. During circle time, staff sensitively encourage children who are new to the setting, have SEND, or face barriers to learning to join when they are ready. This gives children time to build confidence and experience group routines positively. Regular communication with parents and carers to reinforce the importance of attendance helps to support continuity in these experiences. This helps children to strengthen relationships, become familiar with expectations and participate with increasing confidence.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard

Staff consistently give thoughtful attention to children's welfare and wellbeing. Tailored settling-in sessions help children build confidence and manage their emotions as they become familiar with the setting. Staff encourage children to express themselves as they settle into routines and activities. For example, as children draw different facial expressions on chalkboards, staff extend conversations to help them recognise and talk about their own emotions. Staff weave healthy lifestyles purposefully throughout the curriculum. They carefully adapt the environment, including providing appropriately sized chairs, so that younger children can participate comfortably.

Staff know children's individual needs extremely well and respond sensitively to their changing needs. They recognise changes in behaviour that may indicate hunger and offer food earlier when needed. Flexible snack arrangements allow children to return to the table, where staff ensure they have something to eat and drink. This attentive approach is particularly valuable for disadvantaged children. Leaders extend their work effectively through purposeful partnerships with parents and carers, and health professionals. Staff share guidance on healthy packed lunches and take account of families' cultural backgrounds and dietary preferences. Referrals to health visitors, including subsequent home visits, enable families to access additional support, if needed.

Oral health is particularly responsive to an identified local need. Children explore dental care, such as through imaginative play, taking on the role of dentists and brushing dinosaur teeth. Oral-hygiene activities and packs to take home connect children's learning with family routines. Staff ensure that learning about physical wellbeing is joyful. Through role play with stethoscopes, children explore how their hearts beat faster after running. Staff use these experiences to explain the benefits of exercise in ways that children can understand.

Leadership and governance: Strong standard

Leaders demonstrate a highly reflective approach and a commitment to improving children's experiences. They understand the needs of families in the local community and use this knowledge to guide improvements and outcomes for children. For example, enhancements to the outdoor garden have widened opportunities for physical play and exploration, particularly for children who have limited access to outdoor spaces at home. A clothes and book bank provides practical support for families and helps children access books beyond the setting.

Leaders place a high priority on staff welfare and professional development. Regular supervision gives staff opportunities to discuss their wellbeing, reflect on practice and identify support needs. Targeted training in positive interactions has strengthened staff's confidence in communicating with children and supporting their behaviour sensitively. This contributes to the warm, responsive relationships children experience throughout the setting.

Secure partnerships with the local school underpin carefully planned transitions. Repeated visits and detailed meetings help families and receiving staff to develop a shared understanding of children's strengths, needs and support arrangements. Close links with the school's specialist hubs promote continuity for children requiring additional provision, including those who may subsequently move to specialist settings. Parents and carers are extremely positive about the care and support their children receive. They describe how staff help their children develop confidence with eating and make progress in speech and language. Parents also share examples of children recalling and using what they have learned at home. This demonstrates how experiences at the setting extend beyond the pre-school day.