Radcliffe On Trent Pre-School Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff are welcoming, greet children with smiles and continue to create a positive and happy environment throughout the day. This supports children's well-being and sense of belonging, which is seen very clearly through children's enjoyment of being at pre-school. Staff have a clear and ambitious curriculum for all children to develop the skills, knowledge and dispositions they need for their future learning. Staff place a strong focus on helping children develop into curious and independent learners. They create an appealing learning environment that children thoroughly enjoy exploring.

Children benefit from a variety of activities, which motivate them to play and learn. Toddlers relish opportunities to be creative. They experiment with play dough, adding rosemary and herbs from the pre-school garden. Children gain good listening and attention skills. Children ready for the move to school talk about pictures they have made and who they are going to show them to when they take them home. They use a variety of mark-making tools to write their name on their pictures. Children are highly independent. For instance, they confidently change their shoes for wellington boots when they wish to play in the mud kitchen. Children recognise when they are thirsty and are able to pour drinks and help themselves to different foods for snack, such as hummus and breadsticks.

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

• Staff plan the curriculum to ensure that it considers individual children's interests. They have a good knowledge of all children's learning and development needs. Staff work closely as a team, observing children throughout the day to assess what they need to learn next. Staff have regular meetings, where they share ideas for exciting activities to develop children's learning. However, staff's knowledge of some aspects of the curriculum intent is not always clear about the skills and knowledge they want children to gain from all experiences.
• When staff read stories to children, they use different tones of voice and use resources to support children's understanding. For example, children use pretend telescopes to look for 'sharks' as staff read stories. However, during some planned activities, staff do not always manage to maintain children's interest and engagement. For example, staff ask children to sit for long periods of time, and some lose interest.
• The staff team uses children's initial visits to the setting to promote their emotional well-being. For example, they offer children and their parents settling-in sessions. These enable children to get to know staff and the environment before they attend for longer sessions. Staff use the opportunity to gather information from parents about children's likes and dislikes so that they can provide continuity in children's care. They encourage parents to share what they know about children's skills and knowledge so that they can form a baseline of children's abilities.
• Children respond positively to praise from staff, and some children replicate this modelled behaviour in their own play. They say 'please' and 'thank you' to their friends as they work together to build towers of bricks. However, some children are not given the full support they need to understand how to manage their feelings and share appropriately during play. Therefore, at times, some children take resources from others without asking.
• Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities well. They work with other professionals and have targeted plans in place to meet children's individual needs. This includes helping them to develop their communication and language skills. For example, staff spend time talking to children about their play.
• Children have daily opportunities to be outside in the fresh air and play with a wide range of resources. This helps to support their good health and physical well-being. Children enjoy opportunities to run, climb and explore. They learn how to stay safe. For example, they learn how to pedal tricycles away from other children and how to hold and use tools, such as scissors, safely.
• The management team is passionate about maintaining a well-established team and puts great emphasis on staff's well-being. Managers carefully consider the needs of children when planning training for all staff. For example, staff undertake training to help them support children who need additional help.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• build on staff's knowledge of the curriculum intent so that they are clear about what skills and knowledge they want children to gain from experiences
• strengthen staff's understanding of how to make greater use of planned group activities to help maintain children's interest and engagement
• provide children with further support in managing their feelings and behaviour so that they can share resources and resolve conflicts during their chosen play.