Littlebourne Ladybirds Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in the care of dedicated and experienced staff. The pre-school is a hive of happy children, chatting and playing with their friends. Staff use routines to help children feel settled and secure. Children tell staff that they are looking forward to playing with their best friend. Leaders plan a well-sequenced curriculum that builds on what children know and can do. For example, staff take children on a nature walk to look for insects and plants. In the pre-school garden, children explore with magnifying glasses to look for ants. Staff help children to draw blossom and decorate butterfly pictures to take home. These experiences help children to explore and discuss what they have learned.

Staff design lunchtime as a social occasion when everyone sits together. Children get their own packed-lunch box and talk about the raspberries that they have for dessert. Staff encourage children to tidy up after themselves and wash up their own cups and plates. This helps children to develop their independence and do things for themselves. Generally, children's behaviour is good. Staff are quick to intervene when children have disagreements. They encourage them to share and explain why they should not take another child's toy.

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

• Children are exposed to mathematics from an early age. Staff weave numbers into activities and conversations. For instance, children count the number of carrots they have and the number of fingers they are holding up. Staff ask them to compare amounts to introduce more difficult concepts, such as quantity. This helps children to use mathematics with confidence in their play.
• Staff plan a range of exciting and imaginative activities following children's interests. For example, they build a tower from tyres so children can roll balls down a chute and race to the end to try and catch them in a basket. In the mud kitchen, staff provide children with real herbs to make a salad. However, due to the way the setting is organised, some children miss out on these experiences because they are taking part in small group sessions. This means that sometimes children do not access the full and varied curriculum on offer.
• Children have access to a wide range of outside spaces. Staff have created an exciting and enticing garden in which children can climb, dig and explore with their friends. They lift up logs to search for bugs. Children take walks in the local woodlands and visit a forest school area. These experiences help children to develop an awe and wonder for the natural world.
• Staff work hard to build effective relationships with parents. They come into the pre-school to talk to staff during drop-off and pick-up times. Staff discuss what children have been learning at pre-school, for example healthy food choices. Parents feed back that their children have been trying new fruit at home. These discussions help parents know how to support their children's learning further at home.
• Leaders spend additional funding to enhance the curriculum for children. For example, children take part in an animal handling experience, and a music teacher visits the pre-school each month. These experiences help children to develop their confidence and social skills.
• Staff use effective communication techniques with children. They engage children in conversation and are positive role models. However, on occasion, staff do not recognise when they can use interactions to extend children's understanding. This does not always provide children with the opportunity to further their communication and language skills.
• Staff make effective use of their observations of children. This helps them to recognise when children need more support. They help parents access other professionals, for example speech and language therapists. This ensures that children do not fall further behind and are ready for the next stage in their learning.
• Staff undertake good-quality professional development to enhance teaching. For example, after attending training, staff understand the importance of introducing daily tummy-time sessions. They encourage children to develop their core strength while they read stories to them. This helps children develop physically as well as promoting a love of books. Training that staff attend has a positive impact on children's learning experiences.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review and improve the organisation of some routines, such as group sessions, so that all children have access to the full and varied curriculum
• support staff to build on their interactions with children to help develop their communication and language skills further.