St Aidans Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff create a warm, welcoming environment where children rush in excitedly to greet the staff. They settle quickly to find something that interests them. They are motivated and engaged in their learning throughout the session. Children are proud of the praise they receive for their efforts and achievements. They enjoy their learning. Children respond quickly when staff raise their hands to gain their attention. They are used to listening to adults and heeding what they say. They also learn to raise their hands to join in with group discussions. For example, they take turns to recount the rules for safe play, such as 'kind mouths', 'helping hands' and 'listening ears' to the rest of the group. Children follow the rules throughout the session. This promotes a harmonious learning environment. This aspect of the curriculum is particularly successful.

Children benefit considerably from the trusting relationships that staff forge with parents and the effective links with external support agencies. Staff sensitively address children's additional learning and welfare needs. Several parents say they welcome the support they receive for their individual circumstances. Staff know the children very well. They know which children need extra support for their confidence and who needs more help with physical skills. This approach enables children to access the curriculum regardless of their ability or personal traits.

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

• Strong leaders sensitively support a consistent staff who are motivated in their work. Staff support each other well to be as effective as they can be. Leaders have managed a period of useful reflection. They also welcome support from local authority advisors. This has resulted in meaningful improvements to the curriculum since the last inspection. Importantly, leaders recognise where further changes to the provision could be needed as the provision evolves.
• Staff carefully plan an interesting curriculum that sparks children's interest. They are clear about the support that some children might need to access this. This means that all children engage enthusiastically in the learning opportunities. For example, children who need support at group time are sensitively encouraged to choose a 'song spoon'. They beam with pride at the thanks they receive for choosing 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star'.
• Staff use books, stories and songs effectively to promote children's language and understanding. Key staff are skilled storytellers. Children join in enthusiastically with well-known songs and familiar phrases in books and stories. Staff help children to think about how the characters in stories and songs might be feeling. Children often use the new vocabulary they are learning, and the storylines, in their play. For example, they talk about the 'squid', 'turtles' and 'dolphins' in the ocean and that they have caught 'Tiddler' in their fishing net.
• Staff help children to understand mathematical concepts. This means that children count very well. They excitedly count how many star jumps they can do. They predict how many spacemen will be left as they join in with a favourite number rhyme. They learn to check that there are no more than four children at the play-dough table. Staff support more able children to recognise numerals to 20 as part of a fishing game.
• Staff help children to talk about what they have discovered. They use open-ended questions to encourage children to talk about the colours they have mixed or how the ice feels. Overall, this works very well. However, at times, staff use a lot of questions in succession. Some children find this a little overwhelming, and the natural flow of conversation is lost. This does not fully promote children's conversational skills.
• Children follow meaningful routines that promote their good health and hygiene. They learn to attend to their own personal hygiene needs. They capably wash and dry their hands before lunch. They also pour their own water and are reminded to have a drink before active play. However, staff do not always help children to learn why they need to wash their hands or keep their brains and bodies hydrated. This does not fully promote children's understanding of a healthy lifestyle.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• further improve children's conversational skills
• support children to gain an even deeper understanding of their own health and welfare.