Rainbow Kidz Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the pre-school happy. They are met at the secure entrance by caring staff who greet them with a smile and a cuddle. Children leave their parents or carers with ease. They display a strong sense of belonging and positive attitudes to learning. Children learn to take responsibility for their belongings. Staff remind them to hang their coat on their peg and to put their lunch box on the table. Children move confidently around the room to explore the environment. They play cooperatively together and invite staff to join their play.

Children form secure relationships with staff who know them well. They make good progress in their learning and development because staff plan a wide range of play activities around their current interests and learning styles. For example, children express their creativity as they use paint, brushes, and sponges to create pictures. Young children extend their own learning. Staff encourage them to use their hands to explore the texture of paint. Young children enthusiastically make marks on paper with their hands. Staff offer them lots of praise for their achievements. Children behave well. They know what staff expect from them because they talk about the pre-school rules as they sit together on the carpet. Staff effectively support children's emotional well-being. Children take turns to tell staff how they are feeling today.

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

• The provider is also the manager of this welcoming pre-school. She strives to deliver high quality care and education to all. The manager works with her staff each day. This helps her to monitor the quality of their teaching and children's learning. The manager is reflective. She knows what the pre-school does well and identifies some areas for further development. The manager joins her staff to attend some training to further their knowledge and skills. However, the manager is yet to target professional development opportunities to raise the quality of their teaching to the highest level.
• Staff tailor settling-in sessions to meet children and families' individual needs. This helps children to be ready for the move from home to the pre-school. Staff seek some information from parents when children first begin to attend, such as care needs and routines. However, staff are yet to gather enough information about what children already know and can do at home to help them plan precisely for children's learning from the outset.
• Staff make regular assessments of what children know and can do. This helps them to plan what children need to learn next and to close any gaps in their learning. However, staff are yet to consistently share this information with parents to help them continue and extend children's learning at home.
• Partnerships with other professionals and parents are established. Staff take time to speak to parents at drop off and collection times about their children's day. Parents and carers are very happy with the care and education children receive. They speak positively about the caring manager and the kind staff. Parents value the lovely relationships that staff build with their children. They comment on how happy their children are to attend and the wide range of play activities staff provide for them.
• Staff support children to develop their critical thinking skills. They sit alongside children to encourage them to find their own way of doing things and work out solutions to problems. For example, children work out that the best way to stop the blocks falling down is to push them further into the window ledge. Staff engage children in meaningful conversations. They introduce language, such as 'wedge' to describe what they do.
• Children learn the importance of good hygiene practice. Staff remind them to wash their hands at regular intervals throughout the day. Older children are beginning to manage their self-care. Staff support children to be independent. They encourage them to pour their own drinks and to butter their crumpets at snack time.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• target professional development opportunities even more closely to focus on raising the quality of teaching to the highest level
• seek more information from parents about children's prior learning to help staff plan more precisely for their learning from the outset
• build on the already good partnerships with parents to share more information about children's learning at pre-school and help them to continue and extend at home.