Ruxley Lane Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are firmly at the heart of this inspirational setting. The experienced and nurturing staff give children a warm welcome as they arrive. The curriculum helps to provide activities to ensure that curiosity is fostered in children of all ages and abilities. Children investigate and explore as they develop a range of skills. For example, children show high levels of curiosity as they explore how to make a volcano. They develop their small muscles and coordination as they create their volcano and then watch in wonder as they experiment with various ingredients to make it erupt. Children form positive and trusting relationships with staff and each other. Staff recognise the importance of helping children to adopt healthy lifestyle choices with regards to oral hygiene and being physically active. Children are immersed in language and songs. The dedicated staff teach children signs to help encourage communication from a very early age. As children grow, they become aware of their emotions through the array of resources, including books and activities, staff purposefully introduce to them. Staff have the highest expectations of children's behaviour. They use consistent and effective strategies to help promote positive behaviour. This helps to promote children's self-esteem and confidence. During group activities, children learn to listen and take turns when speaking. All children develop an extremely positive attitude to learning, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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

• Children make excellent progress in their learning and development. The highly knowledgeable managers and staff, who are passionate about what they do, demonstrate a firm understanding of the curriculum intent. They give careful consideration to the sequencing of the curriculum. Staff provide ample opportunity for children to revisit learning and build on their skills consistently over time.
• The managers are highly reflective and accurately evaluate all aspects of the provision. They ensure that all staff have the highest aspirations for children. Staff are fully supported to further their careers and professional development through robust supervision, mentoring and training opportunities.
• All children, including children with SEND and children who speak English as an additional language, make excellent progress. Staff ensure individual needs are integral in children's day-to-day experiences in the nursery. Regular assessments of what children know enable the dedicated staff to focus precisely on aspects of learning that follow a clear sequence. This helps to promote new achievements.
• Children demonstrate high levels of independence. Staff carefully guide children to solve problems and meet challenges. For example, at snack times, children use knives and forks competently to cut up fruit and serve themselves with staff supervision.
• Children enjoy an extensive range of experiences. For example, they visit the local parks and shops to help buy ingredients for baking. The nursery has visitors to the nursery, such as guide dogs and paramedics. These experiences help to shape children's understanding of the community in which they live.
• Partnerships with parents are exceptional. Parents praise the staff highly for their excellent care. The staff strive to build strong bonds and provide support for parents in a variety of ways. For example, parents can access home learning library bags that help them share stories with their children at home. Parents are extremely pleased with how well staff know their children and they comment on the exceptional progress they make.
• Staff are extremely diligent in keeping children safe. They complete daily robust checks, indoors and outdoors, to reduce the risk of hazards. The managers carry out comprehensive checks on staff as part of the recruitment process to help protect children from harm.