Mangotsfield Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

All children positively thrive in this warm and stimulating pre-school. Staff are extremely caring and knowledgeable, and they meet all children's needs exceptionally well. Children explore and learn at their own pace as staff expertly offer support and challenge. All children, especially those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make excellent progress, as there is an incredibly ambitious and well-planned curriculum. For example, as children make paper caterpillars to understand change, older children learn that paper contains molecules that can expand when wet, while younger children learn that paper changes when you add water to it. Staff expertly differentiate for each child according to their stage of development. They model new words for explaining the meaning, and they ask children to repeat what they have learned.

Children feel extremely safe and secure. They behave exceptionally well and independently follow the well-planned routine. Staff are very consistent, so children know what to expect and when. Children are very confident and have a can-do attitude. They stay focused at activities for long periods of time as staff expertly offer challenge and help children to succeed. For example, older children transport water from one container to another through a system of guttering they have created. They help younger children to join in and give them scoops to collect water. They stay focused at this activity for a long time. Staff ask how they could make water travel further and faster, to challenge their thinking.

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

• Children develop excellent communication and language skills. Staff have a sharp focus to help children become confident communicators. They model new words well and use open-ended, thought-provoking questions at every opportunity. These support children to extend their thinking and learning as they play. Children develop a good understanding of rhyme as staff thread songs and rhymes throughout the routine. For example, children sing a 'sit-down' rhyme as they gather for circle time. Children develop a love of books as staff expertly share stories throughout the day, encouraging children to recall and talk about what is happening.
• Children gain a deep level of understanding of mathematics. They use language for shape and size as they play, and they learn number symbols and quantities as they count out things they need for their play. Older children learn to use 'plus', 'minus' and 'equals' as they work out simple sums, and they consider how numbers change when they add or take away items. Younger children explore numbers one, two and three as they play with ducks in the water.
• Children learn about the world as they explore insects in the wild garden. They watch newts emerge from the pond and a fox family playing on a nearby field.
• They help to grow fruit and collect it to eat for snack. They learn about the importance of eating these foods to keep their bodies healthy and strong. Children have lots of space to run freely and climb. They climb up the bank and seek shelter from the sun under the trees.
• Children feel valued and respected and have strong bonds with their key person. Children from a range of complex backgrounds with different needs are exceptionally well supported to feel secure and express their feelings. Staff help children to learn about their emotions. As a result, children look after each other and work collaboratively to get jobs done, such as during tidy-up time.
• Staff work exceptionally well with the local school and other outside agencies. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) ensures all children with SEND make excellent progress. She engages with outside agencies effectively to ensure children with SEND have all the support they need to succeed. She works with parents and the SENCo from the next setting children are moving on to, to ensure these children have a smooth and effective transition. She professionally shares strategies and targets, so they continue to make progress.
• Partnerships with parents are extremely effective. Parents feel their children are highly valued and supported. Staff expertly share children's learning and next steps regularly with parents. They share highly effective learning packs for parents to use at home to support children's development and learning.
• The manager is incredibly reflective and ambitious for all children. She goes above and beyond what is expected to ensure all children thrive and are ready for the next stage in life. She inspires her team to be the best it can be. She offers ongoing support for staff's well-being, and inspiration to develop their practice. She constantly finds ways to improve the pre-school to meet each child's needs.