Ramsey Pre-school CIO

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff welcome children and families to the setting. Children are excited to attend and confidently enter and say goodbye to their parents. They find their own pegs and hang up their belongings, before eagerly choosing their first activity.

Staff prioritise children's well-being and provide opportunities that help develop children's confidence and self-esteem. Children thoroughly enjoy using the stage area outside to show off their singing and dancing skills. Staff extend this further by providing a range of instruments and tools for children to make music and explore sounds. Staff use praise and celebrate children's achievements. Their artwork is displayed within the setting, helping children to feel proud of themselves and share their efforts and successes.

Staff model expected behaviours and teach children good manners. This helps children to be kind and caring towards each other. When children are struggling to do something, their friends step in and offer help such as when trying to put on their own shoes. Children enjoy playing independently with their peers. They demonstrate their cooperation and good language skills as they share ideas between them and make up imaginative games.

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

• Staff plan opportunities throughout the day to support children's physical development. Outdoors, children enjoy riding balance bicycles, digging and using a range of equipment for throwing and building. Furthermore, staff provide pens and tools for writing and creating. Children enjoy painting, cutting and malleable play that strengthens their fine motor skills.
• Staff provide a vast range of opportunities for children to practice their speech and language skills, through reading, singing and conversation. Staff adapt their teaching well to suit children's ages and stage of development. For example, they provide clear, simple words for younger children and develop more complex sentences for the most able children. However, they do not always consider the impact background noise and distractions have on children's concentration and how this affects children's ability to hear speech sounds clearly.
• During children's play, staff position themselves well and join in, supporting their learning. For example, when children are building, staff help them to work together to create a large tower. This helps children to learn how to work as a team and communicate effectively with their peers.
• Staff know children exceptionally well. They are given training to extend their knowledge and practice to support children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Key persons confidently identify and support children's progress by using specific plans to target learning precisely. They work closely with other professionals to ensure children are provided with the best care and support available. This helps children to make good progress.
• The management team have very recently reviewed the communication they have with parents. They have implemented new methods of communication that encourage two-way conversations and promote parental involvement. For example, staff share with parents what their children have been learning each day and an improvement in parent partnerships has already been recognised.
• Staff teach children about a range of religious festivals such as Christmas and Chinese New Year. Children enjoy making related crafts and finding out information about these celebrations. However, staff do not consistently support children to learn about the similarities and differences between themselves and families to fully support their understanding of diversity and different ways of life.
• The management team are reflective of staff practice, identifying strengths within staffs teaching. Areas for improvement are discussed with staff and leaders action this and strive for improvement. The management team also carry out regular supervisions for staff that monitors their progress, provides support and opportunities to discuss professional development. Training opportunities are supported, and this helps staff to develop their knowledge of child development well.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff in recognising the impact background noise has on young children's communication and language development
• help staff to enhance opportunities that support children's understanding of cultures, families and ways of life beyond their own.