Southern Cross Pre-school

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children show that they feel happy and safe at the pre-school by exploring the environment with confidence. For example, they ask adults for help with tape and scissors as they construct with large cardboard boxes. Children demonstrate some understanding of the rules of the pre-school. For example, when talking about the rule 'to be helpful', one child explains how he helps his friend by supporting him to put his shoes on.

Children's independence is promoted at every opportunity. For example, staff use strategies, such as visual instructions, that children follow to help them wash their hands ready for snack. Children are encouraged to use tools, such as tongs, to serve themselves, and they excitedly read the displayed numbers to guide them on how many pieces of fruit to choose.

Children develop their literacy and mathematical skills during outdoor activities. For example, they complete bug hunts, learning to record how many of each bug they find. Children delight in finding caterpillar eggs on plants. They recognise these and happily talk about the 'Hungry Caterpillar' story that they are familiar with. This shows that children are able to link their previous learning to activities within the environment.

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

• The manager understands the community she serves very well. Parents speak highly of the pre-school and say that their whole family feel supported as well as their child. Parents praise how flexible the pre-school has been during the settling process. This has a positive impact on their child's personal, social and emotional development, as well as the parents' own anxieties following the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Staff understand and know the children well. Staff carefully build on children's interests to meet their needs and promote their development in a stimulating way. For example, messy-play experiences with foods, such as baked beans and porridge, has had a positive effect on the children who are eager to explore with their hands.
• The manager works well with outside agencies. This means that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported to do well. Staff understand strategies to use with their key children to support their language and help them to regulate their emotions.
• Children are well prepared for their next stage of learning. This is because the manager works well with local schools. For instance, the manager has regular meetings with the teachers to ensure that the children are equipped with the skills and knowledge they need when they get to school. The manager has adapted the curriculum based on these discussions.
• The manager sequences the curriculum in a logical way to help children build on their skills and increase their confidence. For example, staff adapt the environment to provide a bigger space for children to build their large-muscle skills. They provide appropriate challenge by encouraging children to first develop their confidence climbing on low-level equipment before trying more challenging options. This supports the development of children's physical skills well.
• Overall, staff support children to understand expectations of behaviour at all times. However, on occasion, some staff give inconsistent messages about what children are expected to do, which can sometimes leave children confused.
• The manager has adapted the pre-school routine to provide more flexibility to minimise interruptions to children's learning. However, there is further work to do on this. There are still times when learning time is lost due to transitions between activities taking too long, which impacts on children's engagement.
• The manager carefully plans trips and visitors to expand children's cultural understanding of the world beyond the pre-school. For instance, children regularly visit a retirement home, a local farm, local parks and a garden centre. The staff then use these experiences to support the children's development further. For example, the children buy seeds from the garden centre and learn about how plants grow.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to implement consistent expectations for behaviour to help children understand the rules
• organise planned transitions between activities more effectively, to help minimise interruptions to children's learning.