Orbital Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled and make good progress in this welcoming pre-school. Staff thoughtfully plan the environment to suit children's different needs and interests. For example, the recognisable, consistent 'home corner' resources help younger children to feel secure and comforted. Children react to the positive environment created by staff. They work well together, organising their play and concentrating on this. For instance, children organise a hopscotch game and work together to mark this out with chalks. They line up and take turns, challenging themselves further by adding cones to jump over.

Staff support children well in learning to understand their emotions and manage their behaviour. Children reflect this sensitive approach and are kind and caring. For example, older children show younger ones the toy bugs, passing them magnifying glasses and showing them how to use these. Staff supervise children well, offering explanations about safety so that children build a good understanding of this. For instance, younger children playing with the toy kitchen understand why it could be dangerous to place toys on top of the equipment. Children are gaining a practical appreciation of healthy practices. Visits from a dentist help children to understand how to clean their teeth properly and the importance of this.

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

• Staff have a good understanding of what children need to learn in order to make good progress. They assess children well and offer them a wide variety of activities that aid them in taking the next developmental step. The manager uses additional funding effectively to help children feel included and to support their development. She carefully monitors children's progress and supports staff in addressing any weaker areas in children's learning.
• Staff work well as a team and report that they feel well supported. They receive practical supervision that helps them to review and develop their practice, for example, through completing online training. They build good partnerships with other professionals. This particularly supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, helping to ensure that their needs are recognised and their care is consistent.
• Children demonstrate an enjoyment of books and reading. Staff encourage them to access a wide variety of books and help children to bring these to life. For instance, children read a favourite traditional story and then plant beans to see if they can grow a beanstalk. They use puppets and props to act out stories, remembering the words and characters.
• Staff support children well in developing their language and communication skills. They encourage children to participate in discussions, talking about topics that they know children are interested in. For example, children discuss holidays, eagerly recalling going on aeroplanes and being on the beach. When staff introduce new vocabulary, such as 'one way system', they check that children understand this and support them in using it in their play.
• Children learn to make decisions, compromise, state their views and respect those of others. For instance, older children talk about what game they are going to play, carefully listing these and considering each one. They learn to recognise and respect differences, for example, as they discuss their home lives and traditions.
• Parents praise staff and feel that they support children well in being ready for school. Staff communicate well with parents, helping them to understand what their children have been doing. They offer parents ideas on how to support their children's learning at home.
• Staff generally make use of opportunities to extend children's learning further as they play. For example, children playing with magnetic numbers are encouraged to arrange these and state the number they have created. However, staff do not consistently make good use of these opportunities to fully promote children's learning.
• Staff generally offer children support in developing their independence. However, on occasion, staff do things for children that they could do themselves, such as selecting their snack items and writing children's names on their work. This sometimes confuses children and does not promote their independence to the optimum.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to further extend children's play and make the most of all learning opportunities to fully promote children's learning
• enhance the opportunities that aid children in developing their independence.