Neatishead and Barton Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive at this warm and welcoming community pre-school. Staff are very kind and nurturing. They know the children and their families well, and use this knowledge to ensure that children feel safe and secure. Staff implement simple but flexible routines and consistently model expected behaviours. Consequently, children settle quickly and learn to be friendly, kind and considerate.

Staff provide many opportunities for children to experience the awe and wonder of the world around them. For instance, children help to care for an orphaned robin chick. Staff take these opportunities to teach children how to care for birds, what they eat and how they develop from chicks to adult birds. Staff naturally use these opportunities to introduce new words, such as 'fledglings', which the children delight in incorporating into their wider conversations.

Children are eager to engage with the wide variety of opportunities that staff provide. They become deeply involved in their self-directed play, cooperating happily with their friends. Staff provide sensitive and nurturing support for children as they learn new skills. They assess children's development regularly and ensure that all children, including those who may be slower to develop, make good progress in their learning.

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

• The ambitious new manager has a very clear understanding of the strengths and areas for development of the pre-school. She actively seeks input from others, such as her dedicated staff team, the local authority and her knowledgeable committee chair, to inform her improvement plans. She has implemented a new curriculum that embraces the unique nature of the setting. The curriculum focuses on staff consistently building on what children already know and making the most of all planned and spontaneous learning opportunities.
• Staff support children to learn to love books, stories and rhymes. Staff read with an enthusiasm that engages children. Staff help children to notice pictures and predict what comes next. Children frequently bring books to staff and snuggle up for stories. Staff use 'Makaton' sign language and visual cues to enhance young children's developing communication skills. Children learn to be determined and effective communicators.
• Parents comment that their children enjoy attending the pre-school. They value the dedicated staff and the close bonds they build with the children. The new manager has introduced developments, such as an electronic communication system, that have further improved parents' understanding of their children's time in the pre-school. However, ways to more effectively inform parents about how they can support their children's learning at home have not yet been fully implemented.
• Staff plan carefully for children to experience the wider aspects of their community and the world around them. They invite local people and parents to come and share their lives and skills with the children. For example, they have recently had visits from a local fisherman who shared with them some of the things he would catch. They learn how to be responsible citizens as staff teach them about recycling and develop their hand muscles as they use tweezers to recycle 'rubbish' from a marine activity.
• Children have regular access to the well-planned outside area. They develop their physical skills as they learn to balance on beams and how to cooperate as they build with pretend bricks. Children have opportunities to use the wider resources of the on-site primary school, which also prepares children for future transitions into school. They learn good self-care skills as they take themselves to the toilet and remember to wash their hands independently. They happily help staff to tidy away toys as part of their daily routine and develop into friendly and helpful members of the pre-school community.
• Although the new manager has developed a clear and ambitious curriculum, staff have not yet fully embedded the new ways of working. For instance, sometimes staff do not explore what children already know, and answer their own questions too quickly. Consequently, staff miss opportunities to build on children's prior knowledge.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• embed effective strategies to fully engage parents in their children's learning at home
• provide further coaching and support for staff to consistently deliver the new curriculum intentions.