Secret Garden

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and eager to arrive at this warm and welcoming pre-school. Children develop strong bonds and have positive relationships with staff. Those who are new to the pre-school separate easily from their parents. Staff ensure that children feel safe and secure from the moment they settle in. This helps them to become confident learners. Children are supported to be independent from a young age. They are beginning to recognise their name as they hang up their coats and bags on their labelled coat peg.

Children have positive attitudes to learning and engage in activities for prolonged periods. The staff's calm and caring nature supports children to understand what is expected. Children behave well. They develop strong friendships as they find a quiet area to share books together. Children relish playing outside. They benefit from opportunities to learn about nature and respect for living things. Children talk about the weather, saying, 'Rain helps the trees grow.' Children giggle and laugh with their friends as they splash and jump in the puddles. Their physical development is well supported. They enjoy riding the wheeled resources and tricycles and running through the musical maze. They show care and consideration for each other. Children learn to share resources fairly and take turns. They learn about their own identity and cultural diversity around them, which helps them to feel special and unique.

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

• Leaders are passionate about outdoor learning. They provide children with a safe environment where they can enjoy themselves and learn new life skills. Thorough self-evaluation includes the views of children, parents and staff. This helps the setting to continue to improve the outside learning experience even further.
• Staff plan a progressive educational programme. They regularly observe children and make accurate assessments of their learning and development to ensure that learning is secure before moving them on to the next stage. This helps children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, to make good progress. Staff work closely with parents and other professionals and ensure that children receive timely support.
• Children benefit from plenty of fresh air and physical exercise in the garden. They make their own choices about play and are supported by the staff. For example, toddlers smile and laugh with each other as they fill cups with sand and water, empty them into the puddle and use brushes to sweep. Children enjoy regular sessions of tennis, football, yoga and music.
• Children use their imagination during role play. For example, during the inspection, they invited the inspector into their den for a tea party and shared cupcakes they had made with red food colouring and water. They told the inspector how the red water looks purple when they use a blue spoon.
• Staff support children's communication skills effectively. They use songs and rhymes to develop children's understanding of common words and language patterns. They speak slowly and clearly to children, repeating words and modelling sentences so that they hear the correct way to say them. Children who speak English as an additional language are encouraged to speak their home language.
• Staff place a strong emphasis on expanding children's emotional vocabulary from a young age. Staff support children to express how they are feeling, either with words or by using visual picture cards.
• Staff help children to adopt healthy lifestyles. For example, children know that they need to wash their hands before eating. They enjoy healthy meals and socialise well with their friends.
• Staff provide a stimulating learning environment for children of all ages. They provide quiet spaces for children to listen to stories or for specific teaching, such as small-group activities. Occasionally, staff do not make the best use of opportunities to promote children's concentration and engagement during focused group activities. For example, children lost interest in the baking activity as they were waiting too long to join in with weighing the ingredients.
• Staff receive effective support and supervision, which helps them to continually improve their practice. Training is focused and shared with the team to ensure that all staff benefit. Managers work hard to promote staff well-being.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Staff keep parents fully informed about their children's learning and development, including through daily chats and an online app. Parents speak highly of the very good care their children receive from the approachable and helpful staff team.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• further support staff to plan group activities fully to make the best use of opportunities to support all children's concentration and engagement.