Lydiard Millicent Pre-school

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children excitedly arrive at the welcoming pre-school, where staff greet the children with a happy smile, clearly pleased to see them. Children easily separate from their parents, eager to see their friends and explore the pre-school.

Staff know the children very well and use this knowledge to provide a range of activities that are engaging and stimulating, both indoors and outdoors. Staff understand how important it is that children have good communication and language skills. They provide many opportunities for children to learn new words and gain the skills needed for later reading and writing. Books are an important part of the environment. Children can be seen enjoying books, both on their own and with a warm and interested adult, throughout the day. For example, children enthusiastically join in with their story ideas as they look through wordless books with adults, learning new vocabulary such as 'dazzling'. Children are eager to learn and are making good progress.

Children's behaviour is excellent. Staff intervene if minor disputes arise, supporting children to understand how they are making others feel and helping them to find ways they can resolve the dispute. For example, when young children want to play with the cars in the same space where others are building, staff support them by showing them their actions are starting to upset other children. They support children to find a new place to play. Staff are excellent role models.

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

• Leadership and management are very strong. The leaders are very ambitious and strive to deliver high-quality care and education. They evaluate the setting and make changes where needed to meet the needs of the current children. Staff comment on how supportive management is. Staff are encouraged to stay up to date with current practices by completing regular courses and having professional discussions in staff meetings. There is a low staff turnover at the pre-school.
• Partnership with parents is very strong. Parents comment favourably about the pre-school. They appreciate the way the pre-school works with them, assisting them to have access to and support from outside professionals, to help children reach their potential. Communication with parents is good, with regular messages and parent meetings. Parents know how their children are developing and what they can work on with them at home.
• The children are very friendly, caring and independent. They have strong bonds with their key person. They show high levels of respect for each other and support each other's learning. For example, when children are balancing their way across the tyres on the obstacle course, they rush to hold hands to give others support to cross.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are generally supported well. Staff work with children in small groups to help them make the best possible progress, although sometimes, in large groups, these children can get a bit lost and are not as engaged in learning. While staff learn some words from home to support children who speak English as an additional language, this, and children's culture, could be further embedded in the everyday learning at pre-school.
• Children have opportunities to learn about science and nature. They do a science experience each Friday and watch the results throughout the week. For example, they put vegetable tops in water and watch to see if they grow. They have caterpillars and watch with interest as they grow and change, learning about their life cycle.
• Children are highly motivated to learn and are eager to join in with the interesting activities offered. Staff refer to children's past learning experiences and interests to make learning enjoyable and meaningful, so children are motivated to participate. For example, children and staff discuss how the indentations in the concrete look like dinosaur footprints. This leads to an ongoing topic on dinosaurs. Over the days and weeks, children talk of spotting dinosaurs peering through the holes in the fence. The staff ensure they have books on dinosaurs readily available. They keep children's interests alive by providing different provocations, such as dinosaur eggs 'appearing' in the sand, and speculating how they arrived there. The children are excited by this topic and eagerly show the inspector the 'dinosaur footprints'.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide support to all children to help them engage in learning and feel valued, to help children make even more progress.