Play And Learn Preschool - Mead Vale

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enter the pre-school keen and eager to learn. They are very independent and confidently settle into familiar routines. This helps children to feel secure and settled and understand what will happen next. The manager and staff know all the children exceptionally well. They confidently know how to support all children to build on what they already know. Staff carefully plan and provide a wide range of learning opportunities for children. The spaces they provide for children's play have been extremely well considered. This ignites children's interests and provides them with invitations to discover and explore. Children remain engaged in their play with curiosity and wonder. For example, children bake a cake, wash and dry the dishes and then sing happy birthday to friends in the home corner.

Children's behaviour is exemplary. They are kind and show superb respect to their friends. They praise each other for 'doing a great job', and they remind each other when and how to wash their hands. Children proudly show visitors their hearts of recognition stuck on their 'kindness tree'.

Friendships grow in the quiet area, and staff also use this area to promote a love for books and stories. The children listen attentively to each other as they carefully turn the pages to tell a story. Staff make excellent use of different strategies to make books memorable. For example, staff helped children to make their own adventure picture book, 'We Went to the Shops'. Here, children excitedly reminisce on their adventures to the shops or to post a letter. This helps children understand how they can become authors of their own stories.

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

• The enthusiastic manager is an outstanding leader and role model for her team. She is highly skilled and passionate, with high expectations for children and staff. This includes ensuring staff continually develop their knowledge and skills. She ensures that there are regular and meaningful supervision sessions with all staff. She works closely with the staff to plan and implement an ambitious curriculum. This helps to promote inclusive care and enriches the experiences for all children. All staff comment that they feel extremely valued and supported by the manager. This contributes to the friendly and warm atmosphere felt throughout the pre-school.
• Staff support children to make good progress as they learn through their play. They sit alongside children during their play or at mealtimes and engage in conversations. This gives staff plenty of opportunities to observe and assess children's progress. However, occasionally, quieter children are not as well engaged as their confident friends. This means these children do not always have the opportunity to extend their learning skills.
• Children who receive additional funding are well supported. The manager makes sure that she uses funds to extend children's learning opportunities. For example, she provides resources that enhance children's physical sensory experiences. This helps prepare them to build on skills and knowledge for their future learning.
• Staff place a high emphasis on supporting children's communication and language skills. They introduce new vocabulary as children play, and they use repetition to reinforce learning. However, on occasion, staff ask too many questions or respond too quickly. This prevents children from having time to reflect and compose their answers by themselves.
• Staff provide children with plenty of opportunities to develop their physical skills. Children confidently climb, slide and balance as they shimmy along a tunnel. Children comfortably learn how to use scissors to practise their cutting skills. They also join in enthusiastically when staff teach them yoga. Children remember to breathe in through their noses and out through their mouths.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language receive high-quality intervention. They benefit from working in small groups and focused one-to-one sessions. The dedicated special educational needs coordinator works effectively with parents and other professionals. She supports colleagues and parents with her knowledge that she is constantly updating. This helps parents and staff to support children to catch up in their learning and encourage development in specific areas.
• Partnership with parents is a key strength of the pre-school. Parents speak with enthusiasm about the exceptional support they receive from the pre-school. They comment that the manager and staff know their children well and go above and beyond for them. Parents feel they are extremely well informed and included in their child's learning. They especially like the home lending library and having opportunities to share stories.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consistently give children the time they need to respond to questions, so that they have time to reflect and compose their answers
• provide more opportunities for the quieter children who are developing their confidence to interact conversationally with others.