Puddleducks Pre-School Mulbarton

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children settle quickly on arrival at this warm and welcoming community playgroup. They swiftly engage in the wide range of activities that staff provide. Children are pleased to see their friends and the nurturing staff. They demonstrate that they feel safe and secure as they cuddle with staff in the book corner and share stories. Children learn good manners and kind behaviours. Staff teach children to understand the simple routines and to remember to say please and thank you. Children learn to enjoy each other's company and play together happily. Children who are still learning how to play cooperatively receive sensitive support as they learn to share resources and take turns.

Children develop into confident communicators. Staff speak clearly to children and listen carefully to their opinions. There is a happy hum of children chatting with their friends and the staff throughout the day. Children grow in confidence to express their ideas and opinions. Where children are slower to develop, staff work with families and, where appropriate, other professionals to ensure children receive the help they need to progress. Staff gather detailed information about children's interests and development before they start. They use this, and their ongoing assessments, to ensure that every child makes sustained progress.

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

• Since the last inspection, leaders and managers have improved their understanding of the roles and responsibilities of trustees. They have taken appropriate advice from their local authority and have adopted a more robust record-keeping system to track the progress of all required trustee suitability checks. Staff are a close and supportive team. They report high levels of well-being.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents mention the kind and nurturing staff. They praise the support that they receive with teaching their children skills, such as potty training. Parents value the time staff take, through effective settling-in processes, to get to know their children as individuals. They comment how their children develop in confidence and are well prepared for school.
• Staff teach children mathematical language and concepts as they play. For instance, children measure quantities when they pour their milk. They count and discuss whether they need more or less fruit on their plates at snack time. Children develop a secure understanding of important mathematical skills that prepare them for later learning.
• Children have daily access to creative and construction activities. Staff play alongside children. They introduce new vocabulary. Staff encourage children to reflect on their progress and refine their ideas. Children learn that they can return to activities if they have not finished by the time they are ready to move on to something else. Their self-esteem develops as they see their work displayed.
• Staff are kind and attentive to children. However, the deployment of staff means that they do not always see when a child might need additional support. For example, staff are sometimes positioned with their backs to most of the children or become focused solely on one activity. Consequently, there are times when staff do not provide effective support, when children are bored or disengaged. This disrupts children's learning and development.
• Children develop excellent physical skills, they develop their large muscles as they climb and balance in the lovely garden. Children enjoy dancing and using drumsticks to beat out rhythms. They grow seasonal fruit and vegetables, which they help to prepare for snack time. They are developing confidence in their physical skills and knowledge about where their food comes from.
• Leaders and managers have implemented supervision and monitoring systems to review the quality of teaching. However, these have not yet resulted in teaching being of a consistently high level. Staff sometimes miss opportunities to build on children's interests and extend their knowledge. For example, when children show interest in the changes to their bodies after exercising quickly, staff do not recognise this as a teaching opportunity. They do not help children to think about why this might happen. This limits children's exposure to deeper levels of knowledge and understanding.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• deploy staff effectively to consistently meet the needs of all of the children throughout the day, including those who need additional support to engage in activities
• develop further the supervision and mentoring of staff, so that leaders and managers pinpoint and implement strategies that consistently raise the quality of teaching and learning.