Marsh Gibbon Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive and receive exemplary care and education at this welcoming pre-school. Dedicated staff demonstrate close and meaningful relationships with children. As children arrive, they are warmly greeted by staff and engage in conversations about the day ahead. Children confidently self-register and independently put away their belongings.

Staff create an inspiring curriculum which staff implement to the highest standards. They provide children with engaging activities which encourage them to think for themselves. For instance, when children are exploring with ice blocks and tools, they explain to staff that moving the tray into the sun will help the ice melt faster. Staff support children's communication and language development extremely well. The pre-school day is built around books, songs and rhymes. The enjoyment of reading, rhymes and storytelling is a prominent feature of pre-school life. For example, staff recite short poems daily with children. Children enthuse as they recall the popcorn poem and join in as they recite, 'popcorn, popcorn sizzling in the pan'. Adults are quick to build on children's interests and curiosity. They expertly and sensitively add to and reinforce new vocabulary.

Staff are excellent role models who promote turn-taking and sharing and teach children the importance of respect for resources and each other. Their amazing moments are shared on the 'proud cloud' display, to recognise children's positive actions and achievements. Children are proud of their own and their friends' accomplishments. They cheerily applaud and celebrate together.

Early intervention ensures that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, (SEND), or children in receipt of additional funding, have the targeted support that they need from the very start. Staff quickly work to identify what children's needs are and make adaptations in the environment.

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

• The manager is very experienced and dedicated to her role. She is supported by a committee who share her superb vision for the pre-school. The manager has a profound commitment to continuous reflection and works tirelessly with her staff and a range of professionals, with children being at the heart of everything she does. She strives to develop her own knowledge with an infectious desire to continually reflect with her staff to improve practice and support her team and children. This has significant advantages for helping to keep children safe and for staff to build on their learning.
• Children behave superbly. They follow instructions with ease and support their peers with understanding rules, such as sharing and hanging up their own coats on their pegs. During snack, children concentrate well to butter their crackers and pour their own drinks. Staff promote friendly conversations among each group. Children receive praise for excellent manners at the table and each child politely asks to leave the table at the end of snack.
• Staff understand and implement the high-quality, well-planned and carefully thought-out curriculum incredibly well and this has a great impact on the children and their learning and development. Children are curious, inquisitive and highly motivated learners.
• Partnerships with parents are incredible. Highly effective communication supports these relationships very well. Parents value the resource packs they can borrow to support children's varying developmental stages. Staff organise mornings where parents can share opinions and ideas, for example, to discuss children's transition to school. The pre-school's excellent practice has been used as a model by early years educators locally. Staff create activities for home-based learning. Parents speak of the practical and emotional support they have received from the manager and her staff, not just for their children, but as a whole family. For example, parents and key workers attend parenting courses together.
• Support for children with SEND is outstanding. The special educational needs coordinator is highly proactive in listening to concerns. She goes over and above to secure timely interventions and target support for individual children at the earliest opportunity. Working alongside families and professionals, she aims for all children to have the same opportunities. This contributes to the rapid and substantial progress that all children make over short periods.
• There are excellent arrangements in place to support children's emotional well-being. For example, there is an area where children can find images, mirrors and pictures on arrival each day, to help them to express their emotions and feelings. In addition, children have access to the 'regulation station.' Here, staff provide a range of activities to support children to understand how to work through their emotions and to give them time to calm down and relax, such as breathing techniques.
• The manager provides staff with an extensive range of rich training opportunities. Through regular observations, supervisions and discussions, the manager supports staff to identify an area of interest or curiosity. She then provides staff with the opportunity to enhance their knowledge and skills. Staff speak highly of the training opportunities available to them and feel highly supported and respected in their roles by their dedicated manager.
• The pre-school is a highly valued part of the community. Staff provide a wealth of opportunities for children to meet a range of people and talk about similarities and differences in the world. Children frequently visit a range of local attractions in the community to take part in activities that enthuse and inspire them.