St Anne's Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy attending this warm, friendly and caring pre-school. They build strong relationships with nurturing staff who place children's emotional security and uniqueness as central to everything they do. Children relish opportunities to access the outdoor space, where they engage in a variety of physical activities. They expertly ride bikes and show impressive balancing skills as they negotiate a complex obstacle course.

Children take part in a wide range of motivating activities that support their ongoing good progress. They eagerly take part in a group rhyme time activity where they copy the actions and sing along in time to the music. Staff encourage children's creativity and help them follow their own ideas. Children make colourful jewellery designs on card. They carefully cut out the shapes and proudly show off their creations to their friends.

Children manage their own feelings and behaviour well. They treat their friends with kindness and show a good regard to following the group rules. For example, when several children want to use a popular resource, they manage taking turns with a sand timer to avoid any disagreements.

Children develop positive attitudes to learning. They remain engaged at activities for long periods of time and show a keenness to learn new things. Staff promote children's critical thinking skills well. They use well-placed questions to deepen children's thinking, so when children come across a problem, they have a way of working out the answer for themselves.

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

• Staff use their accurate assessments of children's learning to set out a clear plan of what they want children to learn. They frequently check children's understanding and introduce new ideas when children show they are ready. Children make strong progress from their differing starting points, particularly children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. All children quickly become confident in their own abilities and achieve well.
• Staff support children's communication and language skills as a priority. They pronounce words clearly and introduce new vocabulary, with visual prompts where necessary, to help children make links in their learning. However, staff do not focus as precisely on promoting children's listening skills or providing opportunities for less confident children to communicate their ideas.
• The manager is a capable, ambitious and reflective leader, who leads her staff team well. She accurately identifies priorities for children's learning and ensures effective support for staff to support their personal effectiveness. Staff comment positively on workload and morale. They use ongoing training to good effect. For example, staff have started to use Makaton signing to support children's early communication.
• The trustees have effective oversight. They ensure clear lines of accountability for any safeguarding matters, which supports a continued commitment to keeping children safe as a priority. Staff benefit from a range of professional development opportunities, including mentoring and opportunities to work towards recognised qualifications. They work closely with school leaders and teachers to further their knowledge of subject areas. For example, staff have introduced an early rhyme and reading programme which supports children's love of stories and song time. This very successfully supports a shared approach to promoting expectations in readiness for children's move to the next stage in their education.
• Staff effectively support children to make friends, keep safe and live healthy lives. They are on hand if a child needs a cuddle and to offer regular praise and encouragement to build children's belief in themselves. Children learn that their opinions matter as they are invited to vote between two colour choices as they make play dough. They learn about important festivals through their attendance at assemblies in the on-site school and when parents come to talk to them about family celebrations, such as Eid. However, there are less opportunities for children to access resources that are representative of their culture and heritage.
• Staff place a strong focus on supporting children's emotional well-being. Children respond well to a predictable and well-thought-out daily routine. Staff provide consistent direction and sensitive role modelling, which helps children know what is expected of them throughout the day. Children develop high levels of independence. They take responsibility for keeping the play areas tidy or sorting rubbish into recycling bins without staff prompting.
• Staff have strong relationships with parents. Parents speak very positively about the good progress children have made, particularly in confidence and independence. They feel included in pre-school life and enjoy the ideas that staff give them to support children's learning at home. Parents relish opportunities to talk through children's weekly achievements as a family as they review photos together in an online app. Effective working partnerships with the on-site school are also established. Children enjoy weekly visits to the school library and join in with school events, where they see their older siblings.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the curriculum for supporting children's acquisition of language, with a focus on supporting children's listening skills and building children's confidence to communicate
• reflect the culture and diversity of the children attending the pre-school in the resources and activities provided to help children make connections between their own and others' heritage.