Park Hall Forest School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children demonstrate good knowledge and skills. Young children are curious and ask lots of questions. They build on their ability to play alongside others and then construct their play within a group. Older children learn about respect for others, and they can recognise their own name. They develop their understanding of words and use of vocabulary, such as the word 'camouflage'. Children learn skills over time that are transferable. They learn the skill of grasping a clamp screw to tighten it and hold mark-making implements, such as a stick or pen. Children understand mathematical concepts, such as the quantity and weight of stones. They use equipment, such as scales, to reinforce their understanding of weight. Physical development is at the heart of this setting's approach to learning through risk benefits. Children are highly skilled in their physical development. They safely clamber, climb and manoeuvre through the environments.

Staff foster children's self-regulation and resilience. Children are curious and their concentration develops well over time. For example, young children learn to join whole-group activities. Children show a real enjoyment of learning. For instance, they delight in hammering nails into wood and then removing them using a hammer.

Relationships between staff, children and families at the setting are mutually respectful. Children develop a secure base with their key person through the settling-in arrangements and then go on to explore with confidence, checking back in with their key person when needed.

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

• The leader has designed an ambitious curriculum with a strong focus on children's personal, social and emotional development. The curriculum is ambitious for all, including children affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff deliver the curriculum through the forest school ethos. The ethos is used to help to either build on children's outdoor learning experiences from home, or provide children with the opportunity to gain experience of learning outside.
• The quality of the education provided through teaching is at least good. The leader is an excellent role model to other staff. Less experienced staff receive supervision to develop their teaching. There is opportunity to use supervision and monitoring further to help to raise the standard of all staff's teaching to an even higher level.
• Staff are skilful in their promotion of children's communication and language skills. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, staff have refocused teaching to help children to acquire a range of different vocabulary and to understand that some words have the same or similar meanings. This is because staff have identified that children's experiences through COVID-19 have limited their opportunity to hear language from a range of different people.
• Staff skilfully share stories with children. This helps them to understand how a story is constructed. Staff ignite children's imagination and help children to think about how a story might end. Staff also introduce a range of different concepts through storytelling, such as how to be a good citizen and to respect the view of the majority. This helps to promote and develop children's understanding of modern British values.
• Staff know children's needs very well. They plan a curriculum that helps to close gaps in children's knowledge and helps them to become secure in their learning prior to starting school. Children with SEND, first, learn to listen, and then apply their learning to the concept of following rules in woodwork.
• Partnership with children's families is a key strength in this setting. Staff give an insight, to all those who are important in a child's life, into what it is like for a child to attend this setting. In addition to this, family members receive regular updates on the knowledge and skills children develop over time. Where there are concerns about children's progress, staff, parents and other professionals work together to support these.
• The leader carefully considers how good care practices can be promoted in the forest school setting. Through the focus on self-regulation, staff encourage children to consider how to look after their bodies, such as having enough food to give them fuel to stay active.
• Staff promote equality and diversity. They do this through children talking about differences in their own families compared to others and through staff modelling non-gender stereotypes.
• The leader evaluates the setting well. There is scope to continue to develop this through the monitoring systems in place to help to address minor inconsistencies in practice. The leader ensures staff's workload is manageable and their well-being is positive.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• utilise the monitoring systems in place to refine practice further by addressing minor variations and to build on the already good quality of teaching.