Meltham Community Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled in this friendly pre-school. They confidently move around the setting, making choices about what they want to do. Children enjoy spending time with staff, and relationships are positive. Staff are responsive to children's needs. They ensure that children feel safe, secure and listened to. When children seek out comfort, staff are quick to respond. They offer affection by way of a reassuring word, a smile and a hug.

Leaders have developed a curriculum with a strong focus on preparing children for the next stage of their education. This includes supporting children with their language skills. Staff also want children to be confident, independent, make choices and be respectful and kind to others. Children play board games to develop their turn-taking skills. They build independence, such as by washing their own hands and serving their own snack. Children are gently reminded to be kind to each other and can recall the pre-school's rules.

Children develop lovely relationships with each other and enjoy playful moments together. They show curiosity about what other children are doing and join in. For instance, staff encourage children to test out their ideas. Children work together to use large magnets to find magnetic items, such as paper clips and jar lids. In the garden, children's cheerful voices ring out as they engage in fun activities, such as a game of skittles. Children enthusiastically call out to each other as they pedal away on their bicycles. They giggle joyfully as other children chase them.

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

• Staff regularly assess children's development. This helps them to promptly identify any gaps or delays in children's learning. Staff act quickly to put in place targeted interventions to support children's needs. They make timely referrals and work with parents and other professionals to ensure that support for children is effective. This helps children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to make good progress in relation to their starting points in development.
• A well-embedded key-person system means that staff know the children well. Staff consider children's interests and stages of development when planning next steps to support their learning. However, sometimes they do not plan activities, such as group times, to consistently take account of what children need to learn next to help them make maximum progress.
• Parents are complimentary when speaking about the pre-school. They are happy with the regular information that they receive from staff about their children's learning and development. Parents recognise the progress that their children have made while attending the setting. They speak fondly of the friendly staff team and highly recommend the pre-school to friends and family.
• Staff feel well supported by management. Leaders hold regular team meetings, and all staff have supervision meetings. A mentor system for less-experienced staff and frequent training opportunities facilitate a culture of continuous professional development. This ensures that the pre-school continues to provide a good-quality service.
• Staff weave opportunities for children to learn mathematical concepts into their play and daily routines. For example, staff encourage children to count stairs as they walk down them. They learn concepts such as 'more' and 'less', as they count how many items they have left on the plates as they eat their lunch. This helps to build children's mathematical understanding over time.
• Staff promote children's communication and language skills well. Staff introduce children to new words such as 'aubergine', 'magnetic' and 'straighteners'. Staff work with parents to build up a collection of key words in children's home languages to use in the pre-school. This supports children who speak English as an additional language. Staff use single words and repeat them clearly for children who may need more support with their speaking skills. Children become confident communicators with the support that they receive.
• Children have lots of opportunities to practise their physical skills. Children climb and jump, pedal bicycles around the garden, negotiate the space and avoid obstacles. They manipulate small tools, such as pencils, while drawing, hold chalks to write their names outside on the ground and squeeze tweezers to pick up grains of rice. This helps children to develop the muscle strength and manual dexterity needed for future success.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• plan activities more precisely, particularly group times, to take account of what all children need to learn next.