Queniborough Pre-School Partnership

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the pre-school with smiles on their faces. Staff warmly greet them at the door and take their hand to lead them into the main playroom. Children quickly find their friends and settle to an activity. They use their imagination well as they play with a doctor's medical kit. Children dress up as nurses and attend to the medical needs of a range of 'poorly' soft toys. They administer medication to their poorly patients to help them feel better. Children happily share and take turns with the equipment as they play together. Staff model language in relation to the medical equipment. The children copy language such as 'stethoscope' and 'syringe'.

Children are confident and independent learners. They eagerly throw beanbags and balls into the middle of a hoop. They are persistent when they find it difficult at first to aim the ball or beanbags into the target. Staff encourage and praise them for trying, rewarding their efforts. Staff support children to work together to join pieces of drainpipe into a track to roll balls down. When balls get stuck in the pipes, staff support the children to work out how to rearrange the drainpipes so that the balls can travel freely through them. Children cheer with delight as their balls roll out.

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

• The manager and staff have a clear curriculum intention to support children to develop the skills they will need for the next stage in their education. Staff use information from observations of children to plan for their individual next steps in development. They provide activities that help children build on what they already know and can do.
• The new manager has been proactive in addressing the weaknesses identified at the previous inspection. She has used feedback and support from the local authority, staff, parents and children to help inform plans for improvement. Staff say that they feel supported and valued in their role. However, the new system in place for monitoring staff teaching and the implementation of the curriculum are not yet embedded. As a result, staff's delivery of the curriculum is varied.
• Staff support children to use mathematical language in their play. Children are encouraged to count and talk about weight and capacity as they fill and empty containers with rice. They work together to solve problems as they join pieces of a train track together. Children use the language that they have learned as they talk about speed, comparing who has the fastest train and whose is the slowest. They discuss length as they talk about the size of their trains.
• Children are provided with lots of opportunities to be physically active in the pre-school garden. They balance carefully as they walk along a wooden beam and jump between wood logs and tyres. They learn to assess and take safe risks.
• Staff support children to learn about how exercise and a balanced diet help to keep them healthy.
• Staff work closely with parents and other professionals to put appropriate support in place for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Funding such as early years pupil premium is used effectively to benefit the children who receive it. Staff use the funding to provide extra-curricular sports activities. These activities help children develop physical skills, form friendships and manage their emotions.
• Parents speak very positively about the care that their children receive at the pre-school and the strong bonds that their children have with the staff. They comment that the staff ensure that they are kept informed about their children's day and they give them ideas about how they can help their children practise and develop new skills at home. However, staff do not encourage parents to share books with their children at home, to help children develop a love of reading.
• Overall, children behave well. They listen to and follow instructions, for example to shake out their fidgets and wiggles, and to turn on their 'listening ears' before listening to stories being read. Staff gently remind children of the pre-school rules when needed. However, staff do not give children clear explanations as to why sometimes their behaviour is not acceptable. Children are not developing an understanding of how their behaviour has an impact on others.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support, coach and mentor staff to help enhance the teaching of the curriculum to a consistently good level
• encourage and support parents to foster their children's love of books and stories
• support children to understand the impact that their behaviour has on others.