Roborough Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children confidently enter the pre-school where cheerful staff greet them warmly. Children have formed positive relationships with staff, who are friendly, passionate and enthusiastic. Staff talk to parents about how their children are on arrival to ensure that they can support them throughout the day. Children feel safe and secure.

Staff plan the curriculum to keep children engaged in learning. They help children to recall past events. For example, children name and remember parts of their body, such as their elbows, knees and feet. Staff extend their knowledge, encouraging children to find their ankles. Staff know what they want children to learn and help to support their next steps.

Children make good progress from their starting points. They behave well and learn how to solve problems with support from staff. For instance, children work out how many 'ramps' they will need to make from the wooden bricks for three people.

Leaders use funding effectively to ensure a high ratio of staff, so they can provide additional help for children who need it. Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well. They use clear, simple language, coupled with gestures and good eye contact to help children communicate.

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

• Staff help children to become independent. They encourage children to hang up their belongings and then self-register. Children begin to recognise their name. Once confident with this, staff change the font of their name, so they can recognise it in different formats.
• The environment is calm, where children are actively engaged in play. Staff help children to understand routines and changes of activities. For instance, to gain children's attention, staff gently shake a tambourine and say, 'One, two, three, look at me'. This encourages children to stop what they are doing and listen to what is being said. Children then confidently follow staff instructions.
• Children enjoy small-group times. They learn new songs and listen intently to stories that staff read. Staff talk to children about fiction and fact books, explaining the difference between them. However, some activities are too challenging for some children, particularly those with SEND. Although these children benefit from exposure to a wider vocabulary, such as through daily adult-led activities, staff teach them about letter sounds before they are developmentally ready. Some children do not fully understand.
• Staff engage in positive interactions with children. They encourage them to learn new vocabulary and help them to remember what words mean. For example, they ask children if 'wider' is 'closer together' or 'further apart'. They support children to work out the answer by using wooden bricks.
• Staff liaise with many other professionals in the community to receive additional support for children. They also provide local schools with information about children's development prior to them moving on. However, although staff have tried to share information with other early years settings that children attend, this is not consistent to provide a two-way approach to their learning.
• Parents speak highly of the pre-school. They comment on how staff go 'above and beyond', are 'loving with warm attitudes' and 'treat every family personally'. Parents comment on the good communication through the 'daily diaries' and the online system, where they receive information about children's learning. Staff enable children to take books home to share with their family to support their early reading skills.
• Staff embrace children's uniqueness. They have created a display board where they showcase children's achievements. They use positive phrases to describe children, such as 'Excellent Explorers', 'Proud Performers', 'Compassionate Citizens' and 'Dynamic Designers'. Children have high levels of self-esteem and confidence.
• Children learn how to make predictions. As children play with toy cars, staff ask them whether the car will move faster going up the ramp or down it. Children make their prediction and then test their theory out.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• adapt the curriculum during small-group times, with a particular focus on children's early reading and writing skills, to meet children's individual stages of development to help build on what they already know and can do.
• strengthen the communication with other settings children attend to provide a consistent approach to their learning.