Rainbows Pre-School Ltd Fair

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children model exceptional behaviour as they collaborate closely with friends. This is apparent when they make pretend 'potions' and 'flower soup' in the mud kitchen. Children are very highly motivated to develop their own play as they decide what type of ingredients will make their dish extra tasty. Staff provide good support for children to build on their vocabulary skills. They encourage children to describe the smell and feel of herbs before they add the fragrant leaves to their mixture. Children link up with friends to engage in physical play. They carefully add water to create deep muddy puddles and enthusiastically jump up and down to see who can create the biggest splash.

Children confidently enter the pre-school without parents. On arrival, they gravitate towards their own key person. The secure attachment with this special adult helps them feel safe. Staff have a good grasp of children's unique interests. They plan challenging activities and support every child to make good progress in their learning. Staff help children develop good mathematic skills. They do this when they organise board games. Children show extremely high levels of respect for staff and listen very carefully to the rules of the game. Staff encourage children to count the dots on the dice aloud before they move their game piece to the desired location.

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

• Partnerships between staff and parents are good. Staff talk to parents about changes to children's routines, offer them advice about good nutrition and share observations of children's play. However, staff do not consistently communicate information about children's next steps in learning. Some parents are not sure what staff are working on with children. This makes it more difficult for parents to build on new learning with children at home.
• Staff access training that is most relevant for the children they support. Recently, staff attended a course which focused on teaching children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They shared what they learned with colleagues. This included ideas about how to support children's good communication skills. The management team continues to build on the portfolio of courses available to staff. This helps motivate staff to concentrate on their professional development.
• The management team works with staff to precisely target additional funding and meet children's learning needs. For instance, they purchase role-play equipment. Staff use the lifelike resources to provoke conversations with children and develop their speech and language skills. They also introduce simple wind-up toys to ignite children's interest in technology. Children laugh loudly as they experiment with mechanical toys.
• In the summer term staff hold productive conversations with teachers at local schools. They share information about children who are moving to school, including details of children's care needs, daily routines and developmental progress. This is so teachers are able to fully support children to adapt to the new environment when the time comes.
• Staff are intuitive, they intervene in children's conversations when they know it will be most beneficial for learning. This is evident when children talk about ice creams they eat at the seaside. Staff help build on this conversation and encourage children to discuss other countries they go to on holiday. Children enrich the conversation further as they talk about extended family, where they live and how often they visit them. Children are delighted to engage with friends as they discuss differences between their families.
• During the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, meetings between the manager and individual staff became slightly less formal. However, the manager frequently checks on staff well-being. She makes sure that they feel free to voice any concerns or to seek help in their job role. The pre-school has a strong staff team who work very well together.
• Staff understand the learning and care needs of all children they look after. They tailor a curriculum which encompasses all seven areas of learning and helps children learn a range of skills. Children socialise exceptionally well and they show brilliant determination as they attempt new tasks. Children develop good communication skills and they enjoy sharing their opinions. They are well prepared for the next stage in their education.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen good partnerships with parents, to further include parents in their children's learning at home and in the pre-school.