Ryandale Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in the care of staff who are deeply committed to supporting their learning and well-being. Staff's warmth, energy and enthusiasm in their role contribute to the atmosphere of positivity, and they instil children with confidence and self-worth. Children are keen, curious learners who become absorbed in activities. Staff consistently praise children's efforts. They help them to celebrate their achievements, for instance, by recording and sharing photos of children at work and their creations in special books and albums. This helps children to remember and strengthen their learning, and they are very proud of what they can do.

The curriculum is dynamic and responsive to the needs of the children attending. For example, leaders and staff have worked carefully to ensure that learning plans remain highly effective following a recent increase in the number of younger children attending. Staff are skilled educators who know precisely what they want children to learn and the most effective ways to teach them, taking account of children's learning preferences and interests. This contributes to the strong and consistent progress that all children make in their early education. Staff support them to use their new skills in different ways, for example, by using numbers and letters across a wide range of activities. This gives depth to children's learning and helps to provide them with a firm foundation for when they move on to school.

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

• Incisive evaluation has a direct impact on children's outcomes. For example, children's progress in mathematics accelerated considerably when staff prioritised this, following assessments that showed slightly lower achievements. Precise plans for professional development contribute significantly to the quality of education. For example, following some training, staff have introduced new activities during circle time, which have led to improvements in children's listening skills.
• There is a wide range of ways for parents to contribute to children's early learning. For example, an 'enrichment passport' records children's activities, both at home and in the playgroup. Parents welcome the challenge to give children experiences that staff would find difficult to provide, such as using public transport and visiting the beach. This shared approach between parents and staff helps to ensure that children benefit from rich experiences and learn more about the world around them.
• Staff plan the environment and focused activities meticulously to maximise children's learning. For example, they model and teach key vocabulary intended to help children to learn and practise specific speech sounds needed to build words and sentences. Songs and stories are chosen carefully and play a significant role in daily routines and activities. Children develop a love of reading. They are articulate and confident talkers.
• The quality of education is consistently high. Staff use their excellent knowledge of child development to skilfully adapt their teaching to match children's needs. Each activity has a clear aim, reflecting what staff know children can already do and need to learn or practise. For example, during an activity to observe and draw flowers, staff support two-year-old children to explore flowers and make patterns and marks with petals in a tray. Older children learn about the structure of flowers and draw accurate representations of them.
• Children behave remarkably well and play together harmoniously. Staff help children to understand their emotions, for example, by using simple cards and toys to teach them to recognise and to talk about how they are feeling. This helps to ease children's frustrations, and they learn to consider others and to negotiate with their friends. For example, two children work out a way to take turns when they both need the same tools to make 'soup' in the outdoor play kitchen.
• Staff teach children to be independent. Children enjoy responsibility and eagerly help others. For example, they proudly fasten their own coat and then offer to help staff to fasten theirs. They are remarkably self-sufficient and resilient in their learning. For example, two-year-old children, who are learning to use cutlery, try hard to safely cut vegetables with age-appropriate tools in the play kitchen. Once shown an effective technique by a member of staff, they show delight when they successfully cut up their beans.