Newlands Early Years Centre Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children delight in the warm and enthusiastic welcome they receive from staff. They enter the pre-school with broad smiles, showing excitement to start their day. They confidently explore the room, finding activities that interest them. Staff help children develop effective independence skills and a firm sense of belonging. For example, children enjoy the responsibility of finding their named stars on arrival and choosing their own peg to place their belongings on.

Children benefit from a curriculum that is thoughtfully planned by staff that know them well. Their interests are considered and carefully woven into planned learning experiences. For example, children demonstrate a love for pirates. They excitedly join staff in pirate role-play games with treasure maps and coins, and enjoy making pirate-related crafts.

Children behave well. They are clear of what is expected of them and how to complete regular routines correctly. For instance, children walk calmly when moving between activities inside. They know to line up with their hats at the ready when they want to play outside on sunny days. Children receive consistent support to help them make positive behaviour choices during their play. They benefit from the staff modelling these behaviours, such as turn-taking, and sharing tools and resources when making creations with play dough.

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

• The passionate manager is hands-on in practice. She shares her ambitious vision for the pre-school with the dedicated team, who put the children and their families at the heart of all they do. Staff provide carefully thought-out lending libraries for families to use at home. These provide a variety of resources. This includes those that further support toilet training or help prepare for children's transition to school.
• Children's language development is supported effectively. Staff listen to children attentively when playing alongside them. They skilfully add in new words to their game and explore these with the children. For example, when children attempt to pour play dough from a jug, staff suggest that it is probably too 'dense' to pour.
• Children develop a strong sense of autonomy. When ready, they use the toilets independently and wash their own hands at appropriate times. Staff provide children with tongs and spoons for them to self-serve the healthy snacks on offer and children are expected to clear their own plates when finished. Children also help to make play dough from scratch at the start of the session.
• Staff support children's emotional well-being effectively. They help children to understand their emotions and to regulate their behaviour. Staff use stories and puppets to explore emotions and model how to best resolve situations. For instance, staff model taking big breaths when feeling upset. They ask children to think about whether they are physically hurt, upset, or shocked before helping them to take steps to resolve any problems.
• Children behave with kindness and care. Staff promote this well, providing gentle reminders when required. For example, when children play with toy spiders, staff suggest that some children might feel scared. Consequently, children considerately take the spiders to a different area, saying, 'it's ok, they have crawled away!'
• Overall, staff plan an ambitious curriculum that sparks children's curiosity. For instance, children share information about an Albanian summer festival and make bracelets. However, at times, staff do not fully maximise opportunities for the most able children to extend and deepen their learning. Although children thoroughly enjoy activities, on occasion, learning experiences do not build well enough on their existing knowledge and skills to help them progress even further. For example, when children explore water play outside, staff allow children to rehearse known skills rather than utilise opportunities to stretch children's thinking skills further.
• Leaders demonstrate a dedicated attitude to further improvement. Staff report workloads being manageable and that a wide range of training opportunities are offered. Staff enjoy working at the pre-school and feel very well supported and appreciated.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress. Staff form good relationships with outside agencies, such as speech therapists, which helps support children's progress effectively. Managers ensure additional funding is used to good effect to allow children to benefit from a wide range of learning experiences. This includes baking, dancing and football sessions.
• Staff form strong, trusting relationships with families. Parents speak highly of the care their children receive at the pre-school. They say that their children are incredibly happy at the setting. Parents report that their children's confidence has 'excelled' at the pre-school and their children cannot wait to attend their next session.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to build more consistently on what individual children already know and can do, to further extend all children's learning, including those who are the most able.