New Millside Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy coming to this creative and well-set-out pre-school. Staff warmly welcome children and it is evident that they cannot wait to start the day playing with their friends and the many resources and activities on offer. The pre-school is a hive of learning for children. They are completely engrossed in the activities, and they learn through play. For example, they bake 'cakes' in the outside mud kitchen, using mud and twigs to complete their creations and express their creativity. Children thrive with rich experiences that help them to learn about the world around them. For example, the pre-school has seasonal visits from baby rabbits, and children observe duckling eggs as they hatch. These experiences help to support children's concentration skills and they learn a new range of vocabulary. Staff react swiftly to support children with special educational needs and or/disabilities while simultaneously keeping them engaged with their learning. Leaders ask the children each week what they would like to learn the following week. For example, children would like to find out more about jungle animals and their characteristics. Activities include older children learning about literacy by writing the animal names. Younger children learn by connecting dots to form the letter the animal names start with, such as 'L' for lion. This helps them with their fine motor skills and pencil grip. Children are respectful of each other and await their turn. Staff are also hands-on when it comes to resolving small conflicts. As a result, children follow the respectful behaviour modelled by staff and are consistently kind and helpful to each other.

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

• Children are extremely confident, self-assured and highly motivated to learn. They make individual choices in their play and continually extend their own learning with the many activities and resources on offer. As a result, children concentrate exceptionally well on their chosen activities. Children become fully absorbed as they explore and investigate the enjoyable experiences staff provide. For example, during outdoor play, children use bikes, ride-on toys, and a see-saw as a make-shift petrol station. The children count aloud, using pretend money.
• Staff work extremely well together. They provide impressive commitment, dedication and support during children's play. For example, after snack time, children go to the cosy book corner where a member of staff reads them a story, chosen by the children, as they cuddle up to her and listen. Subsequently, children develop secure emotional attachments with staff, who are excellent role models for children.
• The highly reflective leadership and staff teams regularly monitor the quality of the provision and their practice. Management encourage staff to complete additional training courses. For example, leaders observed that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative effect on some children's emotional well-being. As a result, staff attended early years COVID-19 recovery training and set up focus groups to help children to settle back in after the restrictions started to ease.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are superbly supported. Early intervention is a key strength of the pre-school. Leaders and staff carry out robust observations and assessments of children's learning and promptly identify any emerging concerns. They work extremely closely with other professionals and provide targeted support plans at the earliest opportunity, such as speech and language intervention and referrals to the relevant authorities.
• Snack time is an incredibly sociable experience. Staff and children chat and their relationships are harmonious. Children demonstrate skilled independence by pouring their own milk at the table while chatting happily about which fruit they have in their snack pot that day. Staff use this opportunity to educate children about healthy food in their snack pot. For example, staff explain that raisins are dried grapes.
• Children's behaviour is exemplary. The use of very well-established routines, combined with the excellent layout of equipment, helps to promote even the youngest children's independence and self-esteem to the highest level. For example, young children courageously climb the indoor climbing frame while older children are immersed printing their own names with stamps on the phonics table.
• The pre-school offers children indoor and outdoor activities from the start to the end of the session with an abundance of activities which staff have set up for them. Children can make their own choices and are offered meaningful activities to further enhance their learning, such as phonics sessions or free-flow play outside with car ramps made out old drainage pipes.