Scalliwags Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff encourage and support children at this welcoming setting. They place a strong emphasis on ensuring children develop positive relationships with each other. For example, children play well together, helping their friends and sharing their toys. They enjoy feeding the 'Greedy Gorilla' when playing the game as a group. Staff are good role models. They praise and encourage children and celebrate their achievements. Children delight in thinking about how to make a hoop game harder when playing outside. Staff 'high five' children and clap when children persevere to do it. Staff support children well to keep themselves safe. They focus on supporting children's independence. For example, children went immediately to drink water, get their hats and put on their own sunglasses when getting ready to go outside.

Children benefit from a well-planned curriculum and environment. Staff use children's needs and next steps to provide a range of motivating activities. For example, children enjoyed dressing up and playing hairdressers based on their current interests. Staff promote children's positive attitudes to learning. They have high expectations for all children. Children demonstrate confidence when choosing their own snacks, getting their own cups and bowls and putting them away when they are finished. This supports children's developing independence.

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

• Leaders and managers have placed a strong focus on ensuring children are safe at the setting. They have implemented further safety measures, such as new locks on gates and doors. They make sure staff are deployed effectively outside to ensure all children are safe.
• Staff help all children to make good progress. They are good role models, encouraging children to communicate in a range of ways. For example, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) use picture cards to make their own choices about what they want. Staff promote children's speech and language well. They encourage children to use vocabulary, such as 'acceleration' when playing with cars.
• Parents talk highly of the support they receive themselves to help their children. They appreciate the regular opportunities they have to talk about the progress their children have made. They say they like the regular updates via the app. They appreciate the opportunities they have to come into the setting.
• Staff have successfully prioritised children's communication, mathematical knowledge and behaviour following the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff focus well on ensuring children have a wide variety of opportunities to develop their counting skills. For example, children thoroughly enjoy joining in with a wellington boot game, counting together to find out which one went the furthest.
• Staff promote a love of reading through their well-planned curriculum. They share books with children and encourage them to join in with action rhymes. Children remain engaged counting ducks when joining in with the '5 little ducks' song and talking about how many they had left. Staff patiently show children how to count using their fingers.
• Leaders and managers have good oversight of the setting and staff. They prioritise a range of opportunities for staff to develop their skills and knowledge. For example, they utilise staff from their neighbouring setting down the road to provide regular updates. Leaders and managers have effective links with the trustees. Staff report that they feel well supported by leaders and managers and enjoy their jobs.
• Staff form strong partnerships with external agencies. They have successfully accessed the local authority to support children with SEND. For example, staff now use picture cards to help children make choices. They have developed positive relationships with local schools. For example, children join in with a weekly forest school group at a nearby school. This supports children's wider experiences and transition to school.
• Staff have developed an attractive outside space. They focus on developing children's physical skills. Children delight in exploring a range of climbing equipment. Children remain engrossed as they explore the sand and water provision. However, staff do not always maximise the opportunities that children have to learn outside during the whole day. This impacts on those who prefer to learn outdoors.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve the timetable to ensure opportunities are maximised for those children who learn best outdoors.