Patcham Village Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children of all ages enthusiastically take part in a broad and varied range of activities. These are successfully planned to reflect their interests and promote their learning. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), progress well.

The provider and staff team very successfully promote children's emotional well-being. Children who struggle to settle are treated with kindness and sensitivity. There is a strong focus on sharing and respect, and children take pride in the praise they receive for their many acts of kindness. This supports them to develop wonderful social skills that prepare them well for interacting with others as they move through their education and adult lives.

Children learn through exploration and discovery, indoors and out. They have great fun as they play in the garden. Staff thoughtfully select resources that help children to develop their physical control and coordination. Children practise balancing as they steer two-wheeled vehicles and negotiate a walkway created from planks. Staff recognise the value of building on children's interest in outdoor play to promote other areas for learning, such a literacy. For example, children sit together to look at books and, with the support of staff, they use chalks to make marks.

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

• The provider has clear and ambitious aims for the setting. These are evident in the effective organisation and commitment to ongoing improvement. Staff benefit from regular support and work well as a team. This creates an efficient and friendly environment where the primary focus is on respecting children as individuals and promoting their well-being.
• There is an interesting and challenging curriculum that is carefully sequenced to continually build on children's knowledge and skills. Staff communicate effectively to ensure that they all understand how best to interact with each child to help them reach their full potential. The provider and staff also work with other relevant professionals to support children with SEND. This helps to ensure that all children benefit from activities and experiences that are carefully tailored to reflect their unique care and learning needs.
• Overall, staff promote children's language well. They identify key vocabulary to introduce and effectively provide context to help children understand what words mean. With support, children develop the confidence to share their views and use their evolving language in their games. Staff speak to children as they play and ask a lot of relevant questions. They wait patiently for children's responses. However, there is some inconsistency in the support for children to develop their skills in holding back-and-forth conversations.
• Staff provide extremely good opportunities for children to engage in imaginative role play activities. They recognise the value of creating environments where children can play cooperatively with others while acting out their own ideas. Although the curriculum is strong overall, the opportunities for children to independently create expressive artwork are not quite as plentiful as those for other areas of learning. However, when art activities are planned, staff provide good encouragement for children to learn new skills, such as cutting, gluing and sticking.
• Staff promote children's good health through planned activities and consistent routines. They teach children personal care routines, such as washing their hands before eating. Children quickly learn to do this independently. Staff provide a range of healthy options, and children vote for the items they want to eat at snack time. This helps them to make healthy choices in relation to food. Staff also teach children about the importance of good oral hygiene.
• There are good arrangements to work in partnership with parents. Staff provide a friendly greeting when parents arrive to drop off their children. They use these times well to gather useful information to help them anticipate if a child is likely to need any extra support to settle. Parents also receive regular information about the progress their children are making through an interactive online system. Parents are very positive in their feedback about the provider and staff team.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance the curriculum for expressive art and design to offer children the same high-quality experiences provided for all other areas of learning
• support staff to more effectively promote children's conversational skills as part of their ongoing language development.