Little Turtles Pre-School The Cornerstone U.R.C.

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff have a clear intent for what they want all children to learn during their time in the setting. They encourage children to use available resources to lead and extend their own play. For example, children use cardboard boxes as boats. Staff talk to children about different types of boats and introduce new language to children such as 'shore'. Children sing and do the actions to familiar boat themed songs. Children wait patiently for their turn on the 'boat'. They giggle in delight as the staff move the boxes around the room with them inside. Children copy and help their peers to move in the boxes. They are highly engaged in these interactions.

Staff understand how young children learn to communicate. They place an emphasis on language acquired through listening to stories and songs. Children listen to instructions given in songs to copy the actions. Children listen to stories and recite familiar sentences in stories and songs.

Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour and support them to follow the behavioural expectations of the setting. Children are learning how to share and take turns. Children are highly engaged in their play and demonstrate perseverance to complete tasks.

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

• Children demonstrate that staff have worked hard to embed the routine of snack time. Children show that they understand what is expected, and as a result children are extremely independent and able to serve themselves their snack. Children find their own name cards, pour their own drinks, serve themselves fruit and vegetables and wash up their plate and cup when they are finished. Children proudly demonstrate that they know what to do and show delight when praised for this achievement. Although snack time is a good experience for children, the preparation and clearing away of routine activities is not so effective. Staff are not always deployed in the most effective way to support children's needs and high levels of engagement.
• Staff demonstrate good knowledge about child development and their individual key children. They are able to identify children's strengths and any concerns they have about how children are learning. They confidently describe how they provide children with opportunities to build upon what they know and can do, to support all children to make good progress.
• Staff plan a curriculum that provides children with opportunities to explore new experiences. Children learn about the world around them. For example, they are learning about different textures and how these can be changed by mixing ingredients together such as when making dough.
• Staff engage children in a range of activities and experiences linked to the interests of the children. They interact well with children during their play. However, leaders recognise that continued support is required to raise the quality of staff interactions, to ensure good quality teaching is consistent across the whole team.
• The setting works in partnership with parents and other professionals to best support all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to make good progress. They use their excellent knowledge of the children and advice from professionals to set individualised targets for each child. These targets are implemented in the setting using a number of different strategies to meet the individual needs of the child. This carefully planned approach supports children with SEND to make good progress.
• Partnerships with parents are well established. Parents speak very highly of the setting. They state that communication between them and staff is effective, and they feel well informed about their child's learning. Parents praise staff for being inclusive and supporting all children to make good progress.
• Children demonstrate enjoyment in interacting with their peers and staff. They seek out others to share experiences and talk about things they have found. Children play with small-world people, engaging in imaginary play with each other. They talk about the characters and make up stories. Younger children copy their peers. They make noises and move the characters, mimicking what they see the older children do.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• embed good quality teaching so that it is consistent across the whole staff team
• review the organisation of the deployment of staff during routine activities to ensure engagement with children remains consistently strong.