Potters Cross Pre-School Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children demonstrate that they feel happy and safe in this warm and welcoming setting. Staff place a high focus on supporting children's personal, social and emotional development. This allows them to build warm, strong and supportive relationships with staff and their peers. Children enjoy playing with their friends. They laugh and giggle together as they engage in a messy play activity. They discuss what they should do next and follow each other's ideas. Learning is fun and enjoyable.

The learning environment has been carefully considered to cover all areas of learning. Children enjoy a variety of role-play experiences, pretending to be doctors and dinosaurs. They enjoy the free-flow access to experience learning outdoors. Children explore mathematical concepts and language as they compare the weight and size of different objects. They use different methods to support their learning, using digital and traditional weighing scales. They talk about 'half' and 'whole'. They explore what it looks like physically as children cut an apple and compare the differences.

Staff model good behaviour. Children learn to share and take turns. Staff encourage children to consider how their actions may make others feel. This helps to de-escalate some situations. Staff also teach children rules to keep them safe.

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

• The setting has developed a strong and sequenced curriculum that aims to build on what children already know and can do. Staff use children's interests to plan learning experiences. As a result, children confidently lead their own play, choosing where and what they want to play. Children demonstrate a positive attitude to learning.
• Staff have a strong ethos for the setting. They want children to develop a strong sense of community. Learning is consistently linked to children's own experiences at home and in their local village. The setting is committed to supporting children to develop a meaningful understanding of how different cultures and religions are valued and celebrated. This promotes a respectful and inclusive mindset.
• Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is good. Staff work closely with parents and other professionals involved in children's care. Learning plans are swiftly implemented and reviewed in a timely manner. This ensures that all children make good progress from their starting points.
• Staff communicate well with each other during planned activities. This leads to high levels of engagement during these times. However, some routine transitions, such as when the children prepare for morning snack, are not well organised. This results in children having to wait for long periods with no clear learning intention. This leads to a disruptive environment where children become unsettled and disengaged.
• Staff make good use of observation and assessment to monitor children's learning and development. Gaps in learning are swiftly identified, and staff plan learning experiences to support children's development. However, due to staff deployment, identified strategies to support learning are not always applied consistently to enable children to make the best possible progress.
• Relationships with parents are a key strength of this setting. Parents describe the setting as a warm and nurturing environment where children are supported to grow. They value being included in their children's learning journey. For example, they are given tasks to complete with their children at home. Parents are valued as partners in their children's education.
• The dedicated and committed leadership team has high aspirations for the setting. They identify where improvements are needed and work towards making the setting the best that it can be for children and their families. Staff are supported with training and receive feedback on their practice to ensure good outcomes for children. Staff report high levels of well-being, which contribute to a positive learning environment.
• Staff support children's communication and language development well during activities. They provide and ongoing dialogue as they narrate children's play. They pose open-ended questions to children that encourage children to use their spoken language. Younger children enjoy singing along to familiar nursery rhymes. This means that children are continually developing their communication and language skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the organisation of routine transitions to better support children so they do not become restless and disengaged
• review the deployment of staff to provide more-consistent support for children to enable them to make the best possible progress in their learning and development.