Sconce Hills Pre-School Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children receive a warm welcome from the staff team when they arrive at the playgroup. Staff know the children well and provide a range of activities that allow them to follow their interests. For example, staff know children like to play with cars so they support them to roll cars down ramps and measure how far they travel. Children understand the routines in the playgroup and follow them confidently. For instance, children wiggle their fingers and sing songs with staff when it is time to tidy away toys. Children receive praise and encouragement for doing this, to help promote their self-esteem.

Children enjoy spending time outside in the garden. Staff offer encouragement and model how to balance on a beam and climb on larger apparatus. Older children are supported to be safe when they access equipment, for example staff remind them where to place their feet. Staff teach children about the world around them and about nature, as they plant seeds and talk about how plants grow. Staff help older children to remember previous learning, such as the life cycle of plants. Children share their knowledge and tell their friends that the roots of a plant drink water. Children have opportunities to develop the muscles in their hands in preparation for early writing skills. For instance, younger children are given dough to squash and squeeze in their hands.

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

• The management team members are proactive in seeking support for children and families who need additional help. They work closely with parents and make timely referrals to other professionals. This helps to ensure that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive the support they need to progress in their development.
• Staff use additional funding effectively to meet children's individual needs. This includes providing support for parents to develop their knowledge of how to promote healthy eating to their children. Furthermore, children are offered a range of healthy foods and drinks to promote a nutritious diet.
• Overall, staff observe and assess children's learning well. However, staff do not consistently gather information about what children already know and can do and their interests when they first start. Consequently, staff are not always able to plan precisely for children's care and learning from the outset.
• Staff invite outside agencies into the playgroup to help broaden children's experiences. This includes inviting people to bring different animals, such as hedgehogs, tortoises and spiders, for children to hold and to learn about what they eat and their habitats.
• Staff offer children a range of exciting and interesting activities that they are keen to play with. However, sometimes, staff do not fully support children to maintain their focus and attention during their self-chosen play. Therefore, children flit from one activity to another and do not fully embed their learning.
• Staff are supported to build on their professional development. This includes increasing their knowledge of how to use sign language to support children's speaking skills and understanding of the words they use. Children copy staff when they say and use sign language for please, thank you and the names of different fruits at snack time.
• Children understand the 'playgroup promises' that staff implement to promote positive behaviour. These promises include using 'kind hands and feet', sharing, and using 'walking feet' and 'little voices'. Staff give children stickers to reward their positive behaviour, such as when they follow the playgroup promises.
• Staff help children to develop their imaginative play, such as through role play experiences. Children act out the experiences they see at home, such as knocking on a door and asking their friends for a cup of tea. When children hang clothes on a pretend washing line and struggle to make them fit, staff ask them questions to encourage them to solve problems. Children think and work out how to move the pegs to fit the dolls' clothes on the line.
• Parents are happy with the learning opportunities the playgroup offers their children. They attend the playgroup for family events and meetings with staff to share their children's learning. Staff provide books for children to take home, encouraging their parents to share these with them, helping to build on children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• gain further information about children's interests and what they already know and can do before they start attending to help plan for their care and learning more precisely.
• develop how staff use their interactions with children to help maintain children's focus and attention during their self-chosen play.