St Andrews Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children flourish and thrive at this very welcoming and friendly setting. Staff interact warmly with them and are very kind and caring. They know the children well. Staff are very supportive and encouraging of children. Children are happy and extremely confident, showing high levels of self-esteem.

There is an ambitious curriculum that successfully challenges children to make the best possible progress across all areas of learning. The focus of leaders and staff on developing children's independence, resilience and self-esteem successfully prepares children for future learning, including moving on to school. Staff provide very good opportunities for children to carry out tasks for themselves, to keep trying and to be socially confident in different situations. There is a happy buzz across the playrooms as children immerse themselves in various learning opportunities.

Staff have high expectations for all children and promote these well through their positive interactions and guidance. Children behave really well. They are kind, considerate and play nicely with others. They seek each other and staff out in play, particularly in games, where they take turns and share. Staff are very positive role models, and children follow their lead, showing friendly behaviour towards familiar people and visitors.

The setting works very well with parents to ensure they work together to meet the children's needs. Parents report very positively on the excellent communication with staff and how well they are involved in their children's learning.

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

• There is strong leadership that ensures continued improvements to practice. This has led staff to provide targeted 'bucket time' for specific children to help them focus and concentrate for increasing amounts of time. Children make good and, in some areas, excellent progress in their learning and development based on their starting points. Staff extend learning consistently so that all children benefit greatly from their interactions.
• Children learn to solve problems. For example, outdoors, when some guttering moves, preventing the balls from rolling into the pit, children look to see what is wrong and correct it, handling the awkward pipes themselves to continue with their experiments. During a game, when three children pick a different game each they would like to play, the member of staff tells them, 'There are three games, what can we do so everyone is happy?' A four-year-old tells her, 'We can take it in turns to play all the games.'
• Children understand the familiar routines and expectations from staff, which results in happy, active children, who have a positive attitude to learning. Sometimes, however, not all large-group times work as well as they could to ensure that children focus more and benefit fully from the learning opportunities.
• Staff's strong focus on children's communication and language results in children who competently use language to express themselves and share the rules of games. For example, a four-year-old explains to the others how to play snakes and ladders, pointing to the different parts of the board and what to expect if they land on a particular square.
• Staff make very good use of books to extend the children's learning. For example, a member of staff shares a book with a small group of children who are playing with toy construction vehicles in the sand. She introduces new language well, giving them context to the new vocabulary. Children look at the pictures and listen intently, relating her descriptions to what they are playing with. They learn about pistons, levers, and scoops and how they work. They move their toy excavators to scoop up sand and remain focused and engaged for long periods.
• Children develop extremely strong personal and social skills that enable them to play very well with others. They learn to label and recognise a wide range of different emotions. For example, a three-year-old goes up to a member of staff when she pretends to be sad, hugging and telling her, 'It's ok'.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make excellent progress from their starting points. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) and key persons work very well with other professionals and parents to ensure that gaps close quickly. As such, children are continuously supported to gain new skills at the setting and at home. Targeted support means children flourish and benefit fully from their experiences.
• Children are physically capable and confidently take risks. Staff encourage them to do so without using limiting language. For example, a four-year-old carefully and slowly climbs up two steps on a stool. They very proudly tell staff, 'I did it, look at me, look how tall I am.'

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• make better use of group times, to encourage children to focus more and fully benefit from the learning opportunities.