Roundabouts Pre-School Partnership

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children make good progress in their learning from their individual starting points and gain the skills they need to prepare them for school. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Children's good progress can be attributed to the support they receive from the friendly staff team. All children show that they are settled, happy, and enjoy their play and learning experiences.

Children learn to play cooperatively and older children happily involve younger children in their play. All children are well behaved. They learn to take turns, follow instructions from staff well and also gain independence. For example, they know the sound of a tambourine is an advance warning for tidy-up time. When the tune 'Whistle while we work' plays, they join in singing and get busy with tidying away activities. Children work together. For example, children hold open the swing-top bin while others tip the sand they have collected from a dustpan.

Children develop their language and early writing skills. Children learning English as an additional language quickly increase their vocabulary and understanding of English. Staff know children's home languages. A world map display with buttons children can press to hear their home languages is used effectively to show that children's home languages are valued. Staff provide sensitive support for children who find verbal communication more difficult, and they are highly responsive to their non-verbal communication.

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

• The new management has embraced the challenge of taking over ownership of the pre-school. Together with the staff team they have created an inviting play environment and they make good use of the main play room, role-play area, outdoor area and new sensory room to promote children's all-round learning and development.
• Management has a good oversight of the effectiveness of the curriculum. It works closely with staff to assess children's progress and identify gaps in their learning.
• Although staff know instinctively when to play an active role in children's play and when to allow them to explore freely, there are times when quieter children do not benefit from high-quality interactions and the learning potential of activities they choose are not maximised.
• Staff provide extra support for children with SEND, seeking outside professional support and funding as appropriate. The introduction of Daisy, their support dog in training, has excited the children. She provides a calming influence, particularly for children who find it difficult to communicate their needs.
• Staff use children's interests to enhance the curriculum and adapt activities to respond to children's ideas and learning opportunities that arise. For example, after making pretend smoothies, ingredients were sourced and children enjoyed a group activity making real smoothies to drink at snack time. Staff used the activity effectively to introduce mathematical concepts and understanding of the world. Children learned about halves and quarters as they cut fruit, and how the ingredients changed from solids to liquids when blended.
• Children benefit from time spent in the garden. They develop their small and large muscles as they balance, run and propel themselves on balance bikes. They use their imaginations. For example, they find a hosepipe and become firefighters working together to fight put out fires. They practise their early writing skills at the chalk board. Staff talk to children about shapes, letter sounds, and the formation of letters and numerals.
• Staff are positive role models and make use of all opportunities to demonstrate good manners. They foster children's self-esteem very well. They praise children highly for their achievements, such as trying new things and being helpful.
• Staff promote children's communication and language and mathematical development well. They instinctively weave new vocabulary and many mathematical ideas into conversations. They actively encourage children to recognise numerals. For example, staff call out different numbers and children run excitedly to the correct numerals displayed outdoors. Children enjoy looking at books with staff and listening to stories. However, there is less opportunity for children to look at books independently and learn to handle them carefully.
• Staff have strong partnerships with parents. They work closely with parents to help children to settle and to promote their ongoing learning and development. They routinely share information about children's experiences and progress, and parents value the various lines of communication. Parents are invited to stay- and-play sessions, and events, such as the children's graduation ceremony.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• monitor staff practice more closely to ensure that all children benefit from high-quality interactions that maximise their learning
• create more opportunities for children to enjoy books independently and learn to handle them carefully.