Seamer Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are extremely happy, settled and confident due to the caring and attentive approach from staff. They do well in this vibrant pre-school and make rapid progress in all areas of learning. The key-person system is highly effective. Staff plan activities with optimal challenge to ensure that children are highly motivated to learn. For example, staff skilfully identify children who would benefit from additional support in their speech and language development. These children take part in small-group sessions, where staff pay extremely careful attention to children's communication and understanding. Children constantly initiate and extend activities for themselves. For example, after identifying how toy dinosaurs make footprints in sand, children move on to making patterns in paint. Children use their creativity to design and make pictures with paints and collage materials.

Children are excellent risk assessors and show great control in a range of situations. For example, children carefully navigate their bicycles and scooters around the road signs outside. Children explore healthy lifestyles through a number of innovative activities. They explore the impact of physical exercise on their bodies as they take part in gymnastics classes. Staff ensure children know about the importance of warming up before exercising. Children learn the importance of good oral health through discussions and planned activities.

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

• Staff are extremely experienced and are very well qualified with some staff holding early years professional status. Staff's interactions and teaching techniques are exemplary and show their excellent understanding of how to truly engage and capture all children's interests. Staff challenge children with questions that can lead to a variety of responses. They also give puzzled replies and encourage children to make suggestions to help them think more critically during activities.
• Staff plan a wide range of activities to build effectively on children's learning. They ensure that every child is able to gain as much as possible from each activity. For example, children practise their literacy skills as they identify their own names and listen to stories. Other children develop their numeracy skills as they count and measure the sizes of objects. They also discuss the lengths of 'dinosaur' bones that they find when they dig in the sand.
• Children's progress is subject to precise monitoring. This helps to ensure specific programmes of support can be immediately put into place, including for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The pre-school has recently introduced a new system for planning children's next steps in development. Staff are entirely in tune with this new method, which means that children make very rapid progress.
• Parents speak with admiration of staff and in very high regard of the wonderful opportunities experienced by their children at this inspiring pre-school. First-class partnerships with parents are a natural part of everyday practice. Staff plan events that involve parents in children's learning and development. For example, they organise 'stay and play' sessions. Parents receive a wealth of information about the pre-school and their children's progress.
• The manager and supervisor use their experience to skilfully evaluate the quality of the pre-school. They are passionate, driven and show a complete dedication to providing the highest quality care and education for all children.
• Professional development of the staff team is sharply focused and helps to maintain the exceptional quality of teaching already in place. Managers celebrate staff's specific skills and identify their individual training needs. This significantly contributes to staff being confident and secure in their knowledge of how to best support and encourage each child.
• Children's behaviour is impeccable. Staff are excellent role models and positively promote children's good behaviour through the high amount of praise they offer. Children learn to share and wait for their turn. Staff help them to express their own emotions and to begin to understand how others feel.