Morley Under 5's Pre-school

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff create very strong attachments with children. Children settle with ease as they know who their key person is. Children confidently explore the pre-school, returning to their key person when they need reassurance or emotional support. The voice of the child is at the heart of this provision. Staff care deeply about the children and ensure their voices are listened to. Staff actively seek out children's viewpoints and preferences and respect these, accommodating them whenever possible. This has a profound impact on children's behaviour. Children are calm, kind and considerate and behave impeccably. They are extremely happy and secure in the pre-school.

There is a strong focus on promoting children's independence and confidence. Children choose what they would like to eat for dinner and care for their own personal hygiene needs. They choose which toys they want to play with and enthusiastically join in with group times. Staff gather information from parents and carry out incredibly detailed assessments of children's learning and development when they start at the pre-school. This enables them to quickly identify any gaps in children's learning and plan effectively to meet their needs. This helps to ensures that all children, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, make excellent progress with their learning and development.

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

• Teaching is exceptional and staff support and extend children's learning incredibly well. Children connect their previous knowledge to solve problems. For example, staff help children to remember different nursery rhyme characters by giving clues, such as 'they have a woolly jumper', or 'they fell off a wall'. Staff explain to children how to vote for their preferred story using tokens. They count the tokens and help children understand when one book has received more. This helps children understand the fundamentals of democracy.
• Support for children's developing communication and language is outstanding. Staff provide engaging group times to help children learn to listen and pay attention. They meaningfully teach children early phonic sounds. Children quickly learn what sound their name begins with and identify other key sounds they hear. Staff help children to pronounce more difficult sounds and words, like spoon and disinfectant. Children make excellent progress with their language development.
• Staff use every possible opportunity to embed learning. During snack, they help children recall the story 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' by providing foods based on what the caterpillar eats. They help children understand concepts, such as 'more or less'. Staff ensure they adapt their teaching to meet children's individual needs. For example, they extend older children's knowledge of sustainability, discussing where paper comes from and the need to limit the impact on trees. This develops children's environmental awareness.
• Teamwork is a key strength of the pre-school. Excellent communication between staff ensures that children's development and learning are continually monitored and supported and that children are kept safe. Staff forge strong relationships with other settings and schools to share information that support children's transitions. Children develop the skills and knowledge they need for the next stage in their education in abundance.
• Parents comment on the exceptional support their children have received, particularly children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They truly appreciate how confident their children become and how thoroughly prepared for school they are. Many parents join the committee to 'give back' to the staff that have helped them so much. Staff and committee members plan outings to local farms and museums. This builds a strong community spirit in the pre-school. It also develops children's understanding of the world around them and builds their confidence and social skills.
• Leaders are passionate about providing the best early years care and education. Leaders and committee members work collaboratively to continually improve the pre-school. Leaders carry out incisive and supportive observations and supervision meetings with staff. They encourage staff to continually identify learning opportunities and improve their teaching skills. Staff comment that their health and well-being are very well supported by managers and a low staff turnover in the pre-school reflects this.