Ripponden Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enter the setting keen and eager to learn. They are very independent and confidently settle into the familiar routines. Staff deployment is effective in ensuring children are safely supervised and have good levels of support.

Staff know the children well and have a good grasp of how best to support them and build on their knowledge. They recognise the importance of allowing children time to practise and hone their skills and apply their learning in different ways. This helps children to grow in confidence and ensures knowledge is embedded.

The curriculum is ambitious, and staff are skilled at providing good levels of challenge for all children. When children returned to the setting, following time off during the COVID-19 pandemic, staff completed assessments for all children. This allowed them to identify any specific areas of focus for learning and provide targeted support.

Children develop an early appreciation and love of books. Group story times capture the children's interest, and they show good recall at the end of stories. They confidently answer questions around events in the story and the order in which these happened. They talk about the various characters and explore their different emotional responses.

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

• The curriculum is well planned and sequenced. Staff incorporate the children's interests, around such things as bones, fossils and the solar system. This helps to ensure that learning is meaningful and enjoyable for children. Staff ensure key skills of focus are brought into learning experiences as identified in children's individual learning plans.
• Staff support children to gain an understanding of other's feelings and learn how their behaviour impacts on others. They learn about responsibility as they help to clear up after themselves and complete self-care tasks. This helps prepare them for their transitions to school.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are very well supported. Gaps in learning are quickly identified and discussed with parents. Funding is used to good effect to purchase specific resources that best support the children's individual learning needs. Staff are proactive in getting professionals on board to get children the help and support they need. This targeted approach helps to prevent gaps from widening.
• Staff engage in lots of dialogue with children and ask questions that challenge their thinking. Children are very keen to share their thoughts and ideas during larger group activities when learning about shape and number. However, they do not always remember to take turns to speak and to listen to others.
• Children learn more about the natural world during planting activities. They learn which fruits and vegetables grow above and below ground. Staff introduce them to new words and their meaning and support them to correctly pronounce more challenging words, such as 'nasturtiums'. This helps to build their vocabulary.
• Children enjoy a range of activities outdoors. They enjoy looking for snails and talk about the similarities and differences, comparing size and observing the different markings on the shells.
• Children set themselves challenges to build towers taller than themselves and predict how many more bricks they will need. They problem solve and discuss how they will continue to build the tower when it becomes taller than they can reach.
• Children enjoy a challenge and have good control and coordination, skilfully manoeuvring bikes around obstacles and down slopes. Staff support them in their progression from sit and ride toys to trikes, balance bikes and pedal bikes and teach them the skills they need.
• The staff team work effectively together and continually reflect on their practice. Leaders have a good oversight of the curriculum, to ensure it continues to challenge children and successfully builds on their knowledge and skills. Staff have regular opportunities to attend training and widen their knowledge, which helps to improve outcomes for children.
• Partnerships with parents are very effective and this collaborative approach helps build on children's knowledge and skills. Parents report how they can clearly see the rapid progress their children are making. They value the regular feedback they receive on their child's progress and how they can best support them at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the planning of large-group focused activities to ensure that all children have opportunities to contribute and be heard
• consider further ways to encourage children's speaking and listening skills during large-group activities.