St Andrews Pre-School Higham Hill

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily at this pre-school. They are greeted by friendly staff and are confident to leave their parents at the door to join in a range of activities with their friends. Children recreate experiences from home in the role-play area. For example, they look after poorly toy animals and use the equipment in the first-aid box to check their blood pressure. Children enjoy accessing all areas of learning indoors and outside.

Relationships are warm. Staff know their key children well and plan learning opportunities to support children's interests and next steps in development. Staff provide additional activities for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They work closely with external professionals, where necessary, to ensure that they are able to meet all children's needs.

Children behave well. They are polite towards their friends. Staff encourage them to take turns and talk about how they are feeling. For example, there is some negotiation about who is going to be at the front of the line to get ready for lunch. However, once they start to sing 'The wheels on the bus', the children join in and giggle as they move around the hall singing the song together.

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

• Leaders and staff plan a curriculum that supports all children to make good progress from their starting points. They provide children with opportunities to practise skills to help them to be ready to start school. Staff put together photos of the different schools that children will attend, to further develop their confidence to move onto the next stage of their learning.
• Children are taught how to make choices to look after their health, and they talk about what foods are healthy while they are having a tea party. Staff encourage children to be physically active. For example, they practise their climbing and balancing skills across the large blocks that have been set up for them. Generally, staff encourage children's independence skills but, on some occasions, they do things for children that they could do for themselves. For example, staff pour children's drinks at snack time or wipe children's noses without giving them the opportunity to do this for themselves.
• Although children are confident to access their own learning and use the resources provided creatively, on occasion, staff do not make it clear to children the expectations of their behaviour, such as tidying up before they leave an activity.
• Early reading and writing skills are encouraged throughout the setting. For example, staff provide relevant factual books in play spaces around the room and clipboards indoors and outside to encourage mark making. Children enjoy reading books on their own and with staff, dancing together as they read the 'Animal Boogie' book.
• Children's mathematical understanding is developed throughout everyday activities. Staff support them to count the fruit that they take and talk about the shapes and colours of the different fruit and cups. While playing with blocks, children use mathematical language, such as 'hexagon' and 'octagon'. They hold up the correct number of fingers as they correctly say how many sides these shapes have.
• Staff feel that leaders are approachable and caring. They attend a range of training to further develop their practice. Leaders ensure that all staff benefit from this learning through sharing this information at regular staff meetings. The committee members are supported to ensure that they are able to effectively carry out their role in leading the pre-school.
• Partnerships with parents are strong and they feel well informed about how their child is getting on. They comment on the progress that they have noticed since their child started attending the pre-school. Parents of children with SEND feel that their child's needs are well supported. Support is given to parents for how they can enhance their children's learning and experiences in the home. Parents enjoy the opportunity to join their children on trips within the community, such as to a local park for their 'Grow Wild' sessions to explore the natural environment.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• implement strategies to further develop children's independence and self-care skills
• ensure that staff have consistently high expectations of children's behaviour and that they communicate these expectations to children.