Playdays Preschool @ St Georges

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff greet children and their parents enthusiastically at the door to the pre-school. Children hang up their coats and put their lunch boxes on a trolley before putting their picture up to show they are here. The routines in place support children to feel confident to leave their parents and quickly start engaging in play with their friends. Interactions between staff and all children, particularly those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are warm and caring. Staff bend down to get to their level and make eye contact with them when talking, which supports their developing communication skills.

Children behave well and want to help the adults to do jobs in the pre-school. They proudly talk about the good choices they make and how this makes them feel. Staff plan a balanced curriculum, which puts children's interests at the heart. The manager and staff help children to develop the physical skills they have recognised that children need to develop. They provide a wide range of equipment, including a climbing frame, indoors and out. Staff talk them through how to move over the top safely, making sure they position their feet on the holds as they make their way down.

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

• Staff encourage children to develop a love of books and read stories enthusiastically to them. For example, when reading 'The Gruffalo' with a group of children, staff give children character toys to help them to engage fully in the story. Staff make sure they give children lots of opportunities to speak. For example, they pause when reading stories and children excitedly finish the missing words.
• Children's communication skills are promoted well, overall. Staff use strategies including signing and actual objects to help children to indicate their needs alongside speech. Children enjoy joining in with songs and rhymes with staff before they go home for lunch. However, sometimes, staff do not wait to make sure children are listening before giving instructions. This impacts on children developing a full understanding of what they need, to be ready to go home.
• The manager puts strategies in place to ensure all children with SEND receive the support they need. Suggestions for how adults can help individual children are on display. A booklet is available for staff working with children who speak English as an additional language, which has key words and how to pronounce them, alongside visual representations to help children to communicate.
• Staff plan activities based on children's interests. However, at times, they do not always have a strong enough understanding of what they want children to learn and how this can support their ongoing progress.
• Staff help children to be healthy. There is a focus on oral health and children are helped to clean their teeth with their own toothbrushes. At lunchtime, staff start a conversation with children about what they will have for lunch and talk about healthy and unhealthy foods.
• Partnerships with parents are highly valued in the pre-school. There are a wide range of resources available for children to take home to support their learning at home. This includes bikes, scooters, books and home learning bags on themes, including healthy eating and scissor control. Parents report that staff keep them updated with how their children are progressing. They value the support staff give to them as parents as well as to their child. They feel that the staff are 'really approachable'. Systems are in place to support children as they move on from the pre-school to the next stage of education.
• The pre-school is managed well. The manager and staff work closely with staff from the local authority and other professionals to ensure that the needs of the children are a high priority. The manager regularly monitors staff practice and checks in on their well-being. Staff report that they are happy working here. They say that the manager is supportive and they can talk about how they are feeling and what is going on in their lives outside of the pre-school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop further the good behaviour management strategies staff use to ensure they wait for children to listen before giving instructions
• support staff to consider the impact on learning of an activity rather than focusing solely on what they are doing.