Pedmore Pre-School & Pedmore Activity Club

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive at this welcoming, inclusive pre-school. They quickly settle and begin to enjoy the exciting environment. Children display high levels of concentration and engagement. They delight in storytelling, listening to stories daily and taking books home. They use their experiences to tell their own stories by drawing pictures and talking about what they have drawn. Children particularly enjoy the wonderful forest school area, where they explore and investigate, experiencing seasonal changes and playing outdoors in all weathers. They are skilfully supported by the knowledgeable staff team, who are always nearby to offer help and to add new learning.

Individuality is celebrated. Children are encouraged to share lots of information about themselves and their families and they are eager to do so. For example, they chat about their cousins arriving from abroad, performances that they are practising for and new babies in their family. Children show pride as they confidently communicate, and their friends listen to them with genuine interest. Children make lots of friends here.

Children build warm and trusting relationships with the adults who care for them. Staff relish the company of the children and they are respectful, warm and supportive in their responses to them. In turn, children are friendly and polite and their behaviour is impeccable.

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

• Staff are experienced and well qualified. They have an excellent knowledge of early years practice. They demonstrate a deep understanding of what each child needs to learn next and they skilfully build on children's previous experiences. Staff provide a remarkably ambitious curriculum with many opportunities for children to develop and succeed. Children are motivated, happy and engrossed in their learning. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) achieve highly.
• Managers place great emphasis on communication and language. They recognise that COVID-19 has affected the starting points of some children and have identified high-quality training in this area of the curriculum. Positive strategies learned from the training are now embedded in staff practice and the atmosphere is lively with animated conversation. Children are exceptionally well supported in their language development and they have made impressive progress.
• Staff are experts in supporting children's writing. They provide resources for children to practise their emerging skills in all areas of the environment. Children enjoy lying on their tummies to write on large pieces of paper, they attempt to write their names on their work. They 'write' invitations to a doll's picnic and then give these to adults to invite them into their play. Writing opportunities are rich and purposeful; children are becoming confident writers.
• Managers and staff are exceptionally good at supporting children who have SEND. They work closely with parents and external agencies to precisely plan for each child's needs. Staff skilfully support individual children throughout the day to enable them to access the curriculum to their highest level. Parents praise staff for their patience and kindness; they say that their children have become more comfortable, not only at pre-school but also at home and out in the wider community.
• The management team is strong and highly effective. They hold the highest expectations of staff and children and have a very clear vision for future developments of the pre-school.
• Parents are overwhelmingly positive in their feedback about the setting. They say that the pre-school is like a family. They appreciate the regular communications, including the online system where they share news from home. They value the information given about the early years curriculum and say that they now understand children's early learning better. Parents report that their children 'absolutely love coming here'.
• Transition into school is managed extremely well. Staff ensure that children regularly visit the school playground, sports field and hall to familiarise themselves with the school environment. In addition, where children are not moving to the adjacent school, staff arrange visits to the schools where the children will attend. Children are very well prepared for their next stage of education.