Parkview Community Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children confidently enter the playgroup and are keen to explore, play and learn. They play cooperatively with each other and communicate effectively. Children enjoy playing memory games with staff, taking turns and showing they enjoy being in the staff's attentive care. Children are busy and self-motivated. They show positive attitudes to their play and learning.

Children are curious and explore with enthusiasm. They enjoy using toothbrushes and toothpaste to clean a dinosaur's teeth, laughing as they play. Staff support children to talk about what they know, encouraging them to be confident communicators. Children show they are proud of their achievements, beaming with delight, for instance as they successfully manage to cut up vegetables. They benefit from warm praise, which supports their self-esteem well.

Children demonstrate they feel safe and secure with the staff. They approach them to share books, snuggling in as they listen to stories. Children develop strong friendships with each other, and staff. Children make choices about what to play with and where to play. Staff support their independence and encourage them to try and manage tasks themselves. This supports their self-confidence well.

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

• The manager has a clear curriculum in place for children at the playgroup. She and her staff team aim to ensure children are ready to move on to the next stage in their education. Children learn to develop their social skills, to be confident and independent and to enjoy their learning.
• Staff understand how children learn and how they can support them in the playgroup. For instance, staff know that children are motivated to play and learn by using their interests. Children enjoy playing with cars, making marks in paint and role playing in the mud kitchen. They are eager to explore everything staff provide in the stimulating learning environment.
• Children have many opportunities to practise their physical skills. They challenge themselves to balance on rocking blocks and stretch up high to paint and peg up ropes on trees. Staff promote children's good health, such as by teaching them about handwashing before eating. They are learning about developing healthy and active lifestyles.
• Staff offer children good support for their developing communication skills. They repeat back what children say and introduce new words as children explore. For example, staff teach children the names of flowers and introduce them to different types of sandwiches and baguettes. Staff are positive role models for spoken word.
• Staff plan meaningful activities for children to help them build on what they already know. For instance, after making 'soup' in the mud kitchen, staff plan to make edible soup through cooking activities. This helps children to make links between their play and the real world.
• Staff play alongside children, getting down to their level and responding positively to their lead. Occasionally, however, this is not the same for all children. At times, the quieter children do not fully benefit from the same level of interaction and teaching from staff. This limits their purposeful play.
• Staff have opportunities, such as through training, to develop their skills, knowledge and practice. The manager however, through discussion with the inspector, recognises that occasionally staff do not fully build on children's learning to the very highest levels.
• Positive partnerships with parents and external professionals help ensure high levels of continuity for children's care and learning. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities in particular benefit from this joined-up approach.
• Parents report very positively about how staff take time to get to know their children. They comment that staff provide effective communication on a daily basis. This helps them to feel part of their children's learning at playgroup.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to recognise and engage the quieter and more independent children in even more purposeful play and learning
• consider further opportunities and support for staff to raise the quality of their teaching to a consistently higher level.