Platform 3 Pre-School Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and safe at this caring, friendly pre-school. New children settle quickly and form good relationships with staff and each other. Staff gently guide them as they become familiar with the new routines. Although parents cannot come into the pre-school as before, due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, staff work hard to keep them informed. They spend time talking to parents at the gate each day. They made sure they kept in touch during periods when children could not attend. This has helped ensure children experience a consistent approach to their learning and care.

Children behave well. They learn to wait patiently for their turn to have their snack and to sit and listen attentively at story time. They grow in confidence and quickly develop their self-care skills. Children independently collect their own cup and plate at snack time. They know they need a tissue to blow their nose and go to wash their hands afterwards without prompting.

Staff have high expectations for all children's learning. Children benefit from a wide variety of experiences both indoors and outside that suit their individual needs. Children who prefer to learn outside spend time sharing books and painting, as well as practising their physical skills on wheeled toys or in the sandpit. Staff make sure they all understand the needs of any children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and know about the strategies in place to support them. They adapt their approach where needed, such as using pictures to explain the routine or to enable children to make choices about their snack. This helps include all children and ensures they progress well.

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

• The new manager has worked hard to make changes and improvements that have helped raise the quality of the provision for all children. She monitors staff performance closely, such as by meeting staff regularly and observing their practice. She ensures they have access to appropriate training and support. Staff make good use of training opportunities to offer new and exciting experiences for children. For instance, they plan to start children's yoga sessions.
• Staff observe children and get to know them well. They accurately identify the next steps for children's learning and support them to achieve these. For example, children begin to show an interest in books when staff present stories in an engaging and exciting way. However, at times, staff do not place enough emphasis on the knowledge and skills they want children to learn when they plan activities. This means that some activities do not build successfully enough on children's skills and knowledge to challenge them or to help them to make the best possible progress.
• Children become confident communicators. Staff support their language skills effectively. They use visual aids, such as picture cards, to help all children, including those with SEND or those who are learning English as an additional language, communicate and express themselves. They encourage children to join in conversations during snack time and practise new words. Children begin to confidently ask questions at circle time and tell staff about their ideas.
• Staff engage with children as they play. Children enjoy making them 'tea and cereal' in the home corner and talking about what they had for breakfast at home. Staff join in with children's games and ask them questions to encourage learning. Sometimes, however, staff are too quick to give children the answer or step in and help them, rather than giving them time to think things through or attempt tasks for themselves.
• Children get along together well. They learn about each other's lives and families and bring in photographs to display on the wall. Staff think carefully about how they can broaden children's experiences and add to what they do at home. For instance, they make sure children without a garden have lots of learning opportunities outside.
• Parents speak positively about the pre-school. They comment on the caring staff team and how well their child has settled in. Parents say staff keep them well-informed through daily discussions and their child's online learning journal. Staff regularly make suggestions for how parents can continue children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to focus more precisely on what they want children to learn from activities, to ensure they build consistently on children's knowledge and skills and help them make even better progress
• develop staff's skills in supporting children to think things through, solve problems and do tasks for themselves, to further extend children's learning.