Little Sunflowers Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, confident and comfortable in this pre-school. Staff support them very well to establish firm friendships and become a part of the pre-school community. Children are exceptionally well settled and display a strong sense of belonging. Staff encourage children to make decisions and choices, and give clear boundaries of the pre-school rules. As a result, children's behaviour is excellent. They demonstrate social skills, readily share, take turns and actively help other children. Their manners are exemplary. This fosters a cooperative and respectful atmosphere.

Children are eager learners and have a positive attitude towards their learning. They show high levels of motivation and eagerness to engage in the good range of activities available to them. They demonstrate a genuine enthusiasm and excitement for learning. Staff are fully committed and dedicated to fostering children's independence and emotional security. This significantly contributes to children's readiness for their next stage of learning, particularly as they prepare for school.

Leaders and staff prioritise children's good health and physical development. Children enjoy healthy, balanced meals and snacks throughout the day. Mealtimes are a very social time where children and staff enjoy talking to each other. Children develop their physical skills as they tackle an obstacle course, balancing on crates and jumping onto the mat. They make big arm movements as they paint the large piece of paper using brushes.

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

• Leaders successfully implement a coherent and child-centred curriculum. There are clear aims for a play-based experience that are securely embedded across the provision. Staff demonstrate a secure understanding of their responsibilities to support children's progress. They make sure that they acknowledge and value children's interests while offering achievable and relevant next steps.
• Leaders and staff work very effectively together as a close-knit team. They share a deep commitment to the children in their care and place their best interests at the heart of everything they do. They create an interesting, exciting and enjoyable learning environment. However, children do not always have enough opportunity to explore their creativity and critical thinking at a higher level during open-ended and natural play.
• Leaders provide very good support for staff development. They make sure that staff have opportunities to enhance their skills and knowledge, keeping them up to date with current early years best practice. There is an open-door policy so that staff can talk about any issues whenever they need to. This supports their well-being effectively.
• Children's independence and personal, social and emotional development are fostered extremely well. Leaders and staff excel at ensuring that children's emotional security is of high priority. They provide sensitive and emotionally aware support. This enables children to make clear choices, articulate their feelings and self-regulate effectively. This robust foundation ensures that children are well prepared for their transition to school.
• Leaders and staff at this pre-school provide lots of opportunities for children to develop their individual talents and character. Celebratory events, such as the graduation ceremony, acknowledge children's achievements and foster a sense of pride and accomplishment. Staff ensure that children are actively involved in the community, which helps them to understand the world around them.
• Staff know the children very well. They tailor adult-led activities to support individual targets for each child. Staff extend children's learning as they add extra challenges to these planned activities. For example, during a mathematics task, children carefully thread small hoops onto uncooked spaghetti strands. Children count them, then staff challenge them to add one, two or three more.
• Staff value the importance of children's communication and language development. Screening programmes are used to highlight any concerns promptly. Staff engage children in meaningful conversations and children enjoy a wide range of stories, songs and rhymes.
• Leaders and staff maintain strong parent partnerships. Parents say that they are very happy with the opportunities that their children have. They appreciate the way that staff encourage friendships and independence. Parents are kept well informed about their child's development and are actively involved in supporting their child's learning at home.
• Staff provide sensitive support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They identify any developmental gaps in children's learning through regular assessments. Early intervention is effective in helping children to make rapid progress.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop staff's knowledge of how to provide more opportunities for children to explore their creativity further and encourage high-level critical thinking in open-ended and natural play.