Smiley Centre For Children

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy and eager to learn at this community-inspired pre-school. Families socialise in the communal café as children eagerly await the start of their day. Children are warmly greeted by enthusiastic adults who tell children about the exciting day ahead. Children quickly become engaged in a range of interesting activities that have been planned to meet their talents and interests. For example, they show deep enjoyment as they make their own superhero masks. They chat together excitedly about their favourite superheroes and the special powers they hold.

Children benefit from access to fresh air and physical play outdoors. They show increasing skills as they balance securely in rope swings, laughing together as they swing back and forth. Children remember to take care when swinging to avoid bumping into their friends. They develop a secure awareness of risk as they climb trees and balance on logs. Children show immense kindness to their peers. They show patience, tolerance and respect for others during their play. A bug hunt provides curiosity and wonder as children dig in the mud for worms. They remember that they must handle them with care and be kind to living things.

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

• Leaders have constructed a curriculum that supports children to make progress across the seven areas of learning. Staff have a good knowledge of the children and use this to plan activities that broaden and deepen their knowledge. For example, children use tweezers to pick up pom-poms, naming their colour and size. However, staff do not always plan well enough for them to achieve their intended outcome. For example, adults want children to learn about the parts of a flower but do not have enough knowledge to answer children's questions.
• Children are supported well to develop emotional well-being. For example, children name emotions such as 'happy' and 'frustrated' throughout the day. Children are developing confidence. Adults place a high priority on building children's self-esteem. For instance, they praise them for trying hard and celebrate children's achievements. Children share experiences with their peers and adults during group sessions. They express their wants, needs and feelings with growing confidence.
• Communication and language are a key priority in the setting. Adults use their skill and knowledge to provide environments that support children's growing vocabulary. Children enjoy listening to much-loved stories in the 'communication-friendly' den. They benefit from language-rich interactions as they engage in back-and-forth chat with adults. Leaders work with the local authority to assess children's communication and language development. They devise clear targets for children who may be at risk of falling behind. Children who speak English as an additional language are supported effectively to become proficient in the use of English.
• Children behave well. They understand expectations for behaviour and follow the 'Smiley rules'. Children show positive attitudes to learning. They spend prolonged periods of time at activities such as searching for bugs in the garden and making masks. The environments provide plenty of opportunities to solve problems and think critically. For example, they build bridges for cars, working out how high they need to be to enable the cars to pass through.
• Effective partnerships support children to make the best progress. Staff have developed excellent relationships with parents through a shared approach to children's learning. For example, staff carry out home visits to develop initial bonds with families. An ongoing, supportive and collaborative approach means that staff can personalise learning to meet children's individual needs. Leaders signpost parents to support groups in the church and organise information events, such as 'eating well for less'. Regular assessment identifies what children know and can do. However, leaders do not capture enough information about what children can do when they join the pre-school. This means that children's starting points are not used to inform teaching when they first join.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to develop their planning preparation, enabling them to extend children's learning effectively
• improve the identification of children's starting points in learning when they first join the setting.