South Cerney Pre-School Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children happily arrive and settle quickly at the pre-school. They have positive relationships with staff and clearly have attachments with their key workers. Younger children benefit from being in a smaller group with familiar adults. Staff are nurturing and caring and prioritise children's well-being, which helps children to feel safe and secure.

Staff plan their curriculum based on children's interests. Children have access to both indoor and outdoor environments, including a wild nature learning area. Children confidently explore their surroundings and independently choose what they would like to do.

Children have formed good friendships with their peers. All children are polite and behave well. Staff provide children with opportunities to play games, and children enjoy sharing and taking turns. Older children support younger children, for example, when it is their turn, they help them to count the spots on the dice. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those in receipt of additional funding, make good progress.

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

• Staff are passionate about the pre-school. They express how much they enjoy coming to work and being with the children. The pre-school has strong links with the local community, and children have opportunities to be involved in local events.
• The manager has a clear vision for the pre-school. She ensures that staff deliver a broad curriculum that covers all areas of learning. However, because planning is based on children's interests, children are not always provided with enough challenge to build on what they already know and can do. This means that some children's play becomes repetitive.
• Staff support children's communication and language skills well. Children have daily opportunities to read stories, sing songs and learn a range of vocabulary, including mathematical language. Staff track children's progress and help to prepare them for the transition to the next stage in their education. Staff work closely with the local school to prepare children for when they start.
• Staff establish positive partnerships with families. They have daily communication with parents and share how parents can support their child's learning at home. Staff hold a parents' evening where they share children's learning journeys and talk about the progress children are making. Parents all share very positive feedback about the pre-school.
• The pre-school is inclusive. The special educational needs coordinator supports staff and families to ensure that children's individual needs are identified early.
• She makes appropriate referrals to relevant professionals so that children get the right help at the right time.
• Children understand the expectations of them and follow routines well. During snack time, they wait patiently and have opportunities to develop good independent skills. Children learn about the importance of hygienic practices and healthy lifestyles.
• There is a strong partnership between the manager and the chair of the committee, which supports the continued success of the pre-school. The chair of the committee understands her role and responsibilities and has a good knowledge of the early years foundation stage curriculum. They both have a good understanding of the strengths of the pre-school and the areas for development.
• Staff feel valued and well supported by the leadership team. Staff have plenty of opportunities to attend training and enhance their own professional development. However, there are not regular opportunities for staff to reflect on their knowledge and understanding from these courses, and how this raises the quality of their practice is not monitored.
• Safer recruitment processes are in place. Staff know the procedures to follow if they have concerns about a child's welfare or well-being. They feel confident with the whistle-blowing procedures if they have concerns about staff conduct.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• explore ways to provide sufficient challenge to children, particularly during spontaneous free play, to build on what children already know and can do
• monitor even more closely the impact of staff's professional development, to raise the overall quality further.