St Andrews Pre-School & Jammie Dodgers ASC

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff greet children with big smiles and a warm welcome as they arrive. Children settle quickly and enjoy playing with staff. They have a good attitude to learning. During group activities, staff plan and teach children the skills they need to learn to make progress. Older children sit and follow instructions, responding to questions challenging their understanding of language. Younger children joyfully join in with staff who sing familiar songs, such as 'Sleeping Bunnies'. Children giggle as staff use their inventive suggestions to change the lyrics and adapt their actions for 'Tall Giraffes'. These activities help children explore patterns in language and help prepare them for future learning.

Staff support children's emotional well-being by working closely with parents. Staff and managers encourage parents to take a proactive role in helping their children feel secure at the setting and supporting them with their children's learning at home.

Children learn the skills and develop the understanding to respect one another. When they have disagreements, staff support them using strategies to help them take turns and wait. Children use sand timers and, with support from staff, talk to one another to negotiate their differences successfully.

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

• Leaders have established an ambitious curriculum designed to meet the needs of all children who attend. It incorporates what they do to ensure children are emotionally safe and ready to learn by working effectively with parents. The management team has designed a language-rich curriculum that aims to give children time to become immersed in learning, particularly when learning about different countries and cultures. For instance, while learning about Fiji, children experience foods, wear flower garlands and learn about traditions such as specially woven mats made to celebrate the birth of newborn babies. This helps children from all cultures and backgrounds feel valued and unique.
• Leaders evaluate the quality of teaching and learning accurately. They identify what is going well and what needs to improve. The management team supports staff through training, feedback and modelling good-quality teaching, particularly during targeting interventions. For instance, staff support children's next steps through daily targeted support. This helps children, particularly older children, learn to recognise the sounds within words that will help them be ready when they start school. However, the leadership team's plans for improvement are not yet fully embedded. Occasionally, some staff do not consistently support children's learning during their chosen play activities, so children cannot fully benefit from the skills and knowledge in the leaders' curriculum.
• The leadership team is ambitious about the achievement of all children, particularly those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff identify children's needs quickly, and staff assessments are accurate. They use this information to work closely with outside agencies and deliver interventions for children so that they consolidate the skills and knowledge they need to make progress. Children with SEND are closing gaps in their learning.
• Leaders have high expectations of children's behaviour. Staff support children to have a good attitude towards their play and learning. They use visual timetables to tell children what is happening next and help them prepare for upcoming activities. However, staff do not consistently manage some routines and transitions well, particularly for younger children. For instance, when staff prepare young children for story time or outdoor activities, the environment is often loud, leading to some children being unable to hear staff instructions and becoming distracted while waiting too long. While leaders have plans to improve this, these are not yet fully embedded.
• Staff and managers have established good partnerships with parents. They have designed a process of supporting children, particularly babies, to aid their transitions into the setting. Initially, parents attend with their children, play alongside them and observe how staff interact with their children. Parents gradually withdraw as children become more confident, leading to well-settled and secure children. Staff provide home learning activities to support parental engagement, such as encouraging children and families to access and share books from the setting's lending libraries while young children are encouraged to find different sounds in their environment.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff interactions during children's chosen play activities so that children consistently learn and practise the skills and knowledge in the leaders' curriculum
• further support staff to consistently adapt routines and the environment to meet children's needs, particularly for younger children during transitions between activities, so they can hear, concentrate and be ready to learn.