Magic Moments Pre-school

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily and settle quickly. Staff are attentive and provide comfort, particularly to new children who require extra support. Children interact confidently with staff and peers. They work together and express their ideas. For example, children create an obstacle course, using a range of large crates and tyres. This helps to promote their physical development.

Children, including those with special educational needs and or disabilities, now benefit from good curriculum opportunities. They engage in a range of activities and experiences, such as water play. Staff introduce new words and language as children discover the water moving through the tubes and funnels into bowls on the ground. This helps to extend children's communication and language development.

Children independently access books indoors and outdoors. Staff read stories to children and they listen intently. Children behave well. They learn to share and take turns through consistent messages from key staff, and they are beginning to self-regulate. For example, older children take themselves away from an activity when it does not appear to go how they want it to. Children are motivated. They are keen to learn and spend long periods at their chosen activities. Children demonstrate that they feel safe.

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

• The manager has taken a range of positive steps to address the weaknesses identified at the last inspection. For example, rigid routines have been removed. Staff are more flexible in their approach to group activities. This allows children to become deeply engaged in activities and improves children's daily care and education.
• Children learn about the habitats of creatures and wildlife. They study worms and learn about the life cycles of caterpillars, with great interest. Children and staff spend time looking at the creatures. Staff engage in discussions with children and introduce mathematical words and language, such as 'long' and 'short'. They support children to respect the creatures by explaining that they must be careful and gentle when they handle these.
• Staff promote children's personal, social and emotional development. They praise children for their efforts, for example by telling children that they are 'so clever' as they complete tasks. However, on occasions, staff do not adapt their teaching to provide further challenge for the most able children.
• Staff have strong partnerships with parents and other providers. Parents speak positively about their children's key person and welcome the information staff share about children's progress and achievements. Parents comment on and appreciate how difficult it has been for staff throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. They feel happy with the changes made since the last inspection and say that their children are settled. Additionally, the manager and key staff build connections with local schools. They welcome teachers into the pre-school to meet children who are moving on to school. This has a positive impact on the transitions children make to school.
• Staff speak positively about the support they receive from the manager and how opportunities for ongoing training promote their professional development. However, the manager's regular supervision and coaching provide less focus on monitoring staff performance, which does not help to raise the quality of teaching to the highest level.
• Staff support children to learn about good health and hygiene. They provide healthy snacks and encourage regular handwashing. Staff help children to develop further awareness through role-play activities and experiences. For example, children dress up and use toy medical kits as staff talk to them about being healthy. During discussions, staff help older children to learn about the impact of exercise on their hearts and health. Staff promote children's safety. They supervise children effectively and carry out regular risk assessments to ensure that they remain safe.
• Staff regularly reflect on their practice and policies. They observe their key children and assess their progress and achievements each term, taking into account children's starting points. This helps them to identify gaps in children's learning. However, the information obtained from assessment is not used as effectively as possible to identify the most accurate next steps for individual children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop the use of supervision, support and coaching to monitor staff performance and help to consistently raise the quality of teaching to the highest level
• use information from assessments more effectively to monitor the learning and progress being made by individual children, and to identify more accurate next steps in learning
• adapt teaching to provide further challenge for the most able children.