Sparkles Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and secure. They arrive for the morning session and rush inside. Practitioners speak fondly of children. Children develop strong bonds with their key persons and look to them for reassurance. Children are well behaved and play together well. Older children make up their own games. For example, they take turns throwing balls into tyres in the garden. Children quickly make friends. Younger children choose to play alongside each other. They giggle excitedly as they enjoy games of peekaboo together. Older children seek out their friends as they arrive in the mornings and enjoy chatting over lunch.

Children make good progress across the seven areas of learning. Practitioners have focused on supporting children's social and language development following the COVID-19 pandemic. Children express their creativity freely. They take glitter and resources from the art area and use them to create patterns in the sand. Older children confidently explain mathematical concepts. For example, they line up blueberries from their lunch boxes in order of size and say, 'This one is big, but this one is even bigger.' Children are growing in independence. Practitioners understand when to offer help and when to stand back and allow children to achieve tasks for themselves.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen partnerships with other settings, to identify children's starting points more accurately and to further enhance the planning for their individual needs
• enable children to move comfortably from one area to another in the garden
• ensure that the organisation of the environment consistently inspires awe and wonder for all children.