Pied Piper Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy at the pre-school and demonstrate that they feel safe and secure through their positive attitudes towards learning. They quickly become engaged in their chosen activities on arrival and are motivated to make choices and remain busy throughout the day. Children show high levels of independence and imagination in their play. They particularly enjoy playing in the well-resourced area outdoors. Children develop their coordination as they work out how to successfully negotiate balancing beams without falling, using croquet mallets for balance. They are avid birdwatchers and create colourful bird feeders from apples, which they hang in the trees to attract the birds.

Staff act as positive role models to children, who respond well to staff's high expectations for their good behaviour. Children successfully learn to self-regulate their feelings and manage conflict well, such as using a sand timer to take turns with a popular resource. They play an active part in the well-organised morning register time, where they attentively follow the group rules, such as putting their hand up to alert staff when they want a turn to speak.

Staff plan a range of exciting activities that promote children's curiosity and interest in learning. Children readily join in. However, on occasions, staff do not make the most of the opportunities that arise to extend and challenge children's learning further.

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

• Staff assess children's progress accurately. Overall, they use their good knowledge of children's individual interests to plan effectively to help children to progress in all aspects of their learning. However, staff do not always identify when they need to adapt their teaching to help children deepen their understanding in areas of learning where their knowledge is less secure. Despite this, all children, including those in receipt of additional funding and children who speak English as an additional language, make good progress over time. They develop high levels of confidence, in readiness for their move to school.
• Children's communication and language skills are supported effectively. Children listen attentively as staff read stories in a highly expressive way which captures children's attention very successfully. Children remember well what they have been taught. For example, older children remember the different characters in favourite books and start to identify simple words in the story. Staff build on children's vocabulary well. For example, they introduce words such as 'kernel' and 'core' during an activity where children use apples and sunflower seeds to make a bird feeder.
• Children learn to enjoy a healthy and active lifestyle. They play an active part in community projects, such as donating food to the local food bank and learning about healthy food choices. Children develop their coordination skills and enjoy the outdoors. They enjoy yoga and safely climbing trees.
• Staff foster a nurturing atmosphere that is focused on building children's confidence and self-care skills, in readiness for school. Children learn about the needs of others in the wider community, such as through regular visitors to the pre-school. Children develop a positive awareness of their uniqueness and other people's differences. They are well supported to use good manners and are respectful of their environment.
• The committee maintains good oversight of staffing and operational matters in the pre-school. It supports staff effectively to manage their workload and well-being. The manager is a strong and capable leader. She monitors staff's performance well, overall, including through regular training, staff meetings and constructive feedback. The views of staff and parents are highly valued and there are regular opportunities for them to share their opinions and for these to be acted on.
• Partnerships with parents are effective and support children's well-being and learning successfully. For example, staff carry out home visits and use the information they gather to help new children settle quickly when they first start at the pre-school. Parents are signposted to resources to support children's continued learning at home, such as a local library initiative that links to the activities offered in the pre-school to support communication.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to make a clear link between the intent and delivery of planned activities so that children are fully challenged and engaged
• focus professional development on helping staff to adjust their teaching to consider children's different learning needs during activities so that staff correct children's misunderstandings and support their learning even further.