Little Willows Pre-School Warwickshire CIO

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children flourish at this nurturing setting. Staff interactions with children are of a high quality. They engage children in activities and move their learning forward. Children display positive attitudes and are eager to join in with the planned experiences, which are based on their interests. Children show excitement when building towers with large light up blocks or using magnifying glasses to find bugs in the soil. Staff support children's emotional and physical well-being. For example, when children become upset because they are learning to share, staff offer strategies, such as sand timers, to help them understand and wait for their turn. Staff teach children about healthy lifestyles and support parents to provide children with healthy lunch box options.

Staff follow a well-sequenced curriculum, with clear expectations of what they would want a typical child to achieve by the time they leave each age group. Staff identify next steps in children's learning together as a whole staff team. This allows support to be given to new practitioners, as well as using the strengths of all staff members' experiences and expertise, to provide experiences that move children forward in their learning.

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

• Staff focus on the prime areas of learning for both age groups. There are opportunities for children to develop important physical skills through repetition. Staff use specific approaches to promote communication and language development. For example, there are visual cues in the cloakroom and the bathroom to remind children of what they need to do. Staff use signs and get down to the children's level when interacting with them. They use assessments to monitor the progress that children make in their communication, and there are books in all areas of the environment to further support children's communication and vocabulary through stories.
• Staff teach children essential knowledge in mathematics. Children love to join in with number games and rhymes. However, sometimes, staff do not recognise the need to consolidate children's understanding of numbers up to 10 before they introduce larger numbers.
• Leaders and staff offer children broad and varied experiences, such as forest school learning, going to the library and creative learning based on the Reggio
• Emelia approach. This gives children opportunities to think creatively and critically. Staff are aware of children's previous experiences and add to their overall learning to build on what they already know and can do.
• Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is excellent, and this is a strength of the setting. Staff have a detailed understanding of what children need to learn next and what their specific targets are. Regular meetings with families ensure that all information is shared and referrals to external agencies are made at the earliest opportunity. There is a separate sensory room, where children can spend time if they are not ready to access small-group learning or need time to regulate. Children with SEND make accelerated progress.
• Parents are extremely happy with the care and education that their children receive. They comment on how effective communication is, the support staff offer with toilet training, the information sharing and the encouragement for children with additional needs. They also share that staff go above and beyond for the children in their care. As a result, staff build supportive relationships with families.
• Leaders work closely with the staff team to develop an effective overview of the setting's strengths and areas for improvement. Leaders have plans to continue to build on staff's knowledge and invest in their professional growth. Staff receive a thorough induction and know that leaders' doors are always open for support.
• There is a small forest school learning area where children explore the bug hotels and 'bake' in the mud kitchen. All children wear a full waterproof suit so they can fully embrace the natural learning on offer. Children visit a local woodland area every week, where they follow a specific program of skills, working up to using an open fire. Children are taught how to stay safe, and staff continuously monitor risks.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to recognise when to consolidate children's understanding of smaller numbers before moving them on.