Shelswell and Fringford Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy their time at playgroup. Staff place a strong focus on building children's personal, social and emotional well-being. Children benefit from the trusting and respectful relationships they develop with staff and their friends. Younger children, and those who are new, settle happily as staff offer a warm welcome to them. This helps children to feel safe, confident and well cared for.

Staff identify children's specific needs early on and provide targeted support. They seek help from outside professionals readily, where necessary, and this contributes well to supporting children's further development. In addition, good arrangements are in place to support children who speak English as an additional language.

Children explore a variety of sensory materials to help develop their sense of curiosity. For example, children use scoops, spoons and tongs to explore coloured rice as they transfer it into a range of different-sized containers. Children mould dough with their hands, competently use paint brushes and make marks with large pencils. This helps them to build the muscles they need in preparation for early writing. Children learn about a range of different cultures and celebrations. For example, children dress up in a range of traditional Chinese costumes, explore food with chopsticks and look at books and maps with Chinese print.

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

• The manager is very experienced and dedicated to her role. She leads her established team well and ensures their knowledge remains up to date. Staff work together to get to know children and their families in depth. This has advantages for helping to keep children safe and for staff to build on their learning.
• Staff have a good understanding of their curriculum and how children learn. They plan a rich and varied selection of well-organised activities to encourage children to explore and build on what they already know. This helps children to make good progress.
• The manager regularly observes staff practice and provides feedback on their strengths and areas they can improve. Staff benefit from regular supervision meetings. They receive targeted support and training to help raise the quality of their practice and skills. For example, all staff have undertaken training on children's self-regulation, which has had a positive impact. Staff feel their well-being is supported effectively.
• Literacy development is promoted well at the playgroup. Children have access to a wealth of books, print and mark-making equipment. Staff read to children throughout the day and encourage them to discuss the stories they hear. However, large group story times are not always organised well enough. They are sometimes too long for some children and the group size is too large. Consequently, some children lose interest and become distracted.
• A strong key-person system is in place. Staff understand the importance of this role in helping children build attachments and feel safe and secure.
• Children confidently self-select resources and join in with activities organised by staff. However, the deployment of staff is not fully effective and on occasions, staff leave adult-led activities to support minor tussles and reinforce their good behaviour expectations. This can leave children, who would benefit from staff's interaction, unsupported in the adult-led activities.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents leave glowing testimonials praising the stable staff team. They feel supported with how to help their children at home and receive regular updates about their children's learning.
• Children go on outings in the local community that are linked to the curriculum. For example, they visit the neighbouring school to see hatched chicks and visit the local church to see, and hear, the bells ring. In addition, the playgroup supports, and is supported by, local community projects, such as the community hygiene bank and the local baby bank. For example, a range of hygiene products are donated to the playgroup for their use. This helps children to develop an understanding of their community and the wider world.
• Overall, children behave well in the playgroup. Staff are good role models and teach children the rules and expectations of playgroup. For example, children are reminded to use 'indoor voices', and when children struggle to share, staff support children to resolve minor conflicts with the use of timers and turn taking.
• Staff work together to use any extra funding to nurture the interests of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and help them to reach the next steps in their development. For example, staff provide one-to-one support, tailored staff training and further resources.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the organisation of large group story times to help all children remain engaged in purposeful learning
• review and improve the deployment of staff during adult-led activities.