St Augustine's Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders and staff implement a broad curriculum that supports children's ages and stages of development. They are clear about what they want the children to learn and why. Leaders are proactive in working with external agencies to implement robust strategies to support children with speech and language delay. All children, including those who receive additional funding, make good progress from their starting points in learning.

Staff are very welcoming and gentle towards the children. They have formed trusting relationships with the children. Children have settled well. They feel safe and happy in the pre-school. Children are eager to attend pre-school, and choose an activity that interests them.

Staff maintain positive interactions with children, which helps to support their communication and language development. Most children sustain good levels of engagement during play and learning. For instance, they enthusiastically sing rhymes that they are familiar with and listen attentively to stories.

Staff set high expectations for children's behaviour. They teach children to be kind and remind them of the expected behaviour boundaries. In addition, staff offer lots of praise throughout the day, which helps to boost children's self-esteem. This approach builds successfully on children's confidence and independence.

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

• The manager and staff implement robust policies to help safeguard children's welfare. They have a suitable understanding of child protection, including the procedure to follow if they have any concerns about a child's welfare. Staff attend regular safeguarding training to help keep their knowledge up to date. The provider follows robust vetting procedures to ensure that staff are suitable to work with children.
• The manager and staff have a clear vision for the pre-school. They understand the need to deliver an ambitious curriculum to ensure all children develop the skills they need for starting school. They use additional funding well to support children who are falling behind to catch up. However, they have not considered how they can structure group-time activities more effectively to help meet the learning needs of children identified with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
• The manager and staff get to know the children and their families well. They gather detailed information from parents when children start at the pre-school to help them plan for their individual care and learning needs. This has a positive impact on children's personal development.
• Staff feel supported at the pre-school. The manager monitors staff's practice well. She has regular discussions with staff about their training needs and well-being, and supports them to manage their workload successfully. The team has regular meetings to reflect on what is working well and what areas would benefit from further improvement to help ensure better outcomes for children. However, on some occasions, especially during busy times, the manager does not deploy the staff well enough to support children's learning.
• Children display good levels of emotional development. Staff encourage children to share and take turns. Staff use effective explanations and distractions to help children learn to choose between right and wrong. This approach contributes positively to the way children behave.
• Partnerships with parents are effective. The manager and staff keep parents informed about children's care and learning. In addition, the staff team seeks and acts on the views of parents to help identify areas in which to drive improvements. Parents spoken to report that they feel their children are happy and have made progress since joining the pre-school.
• Children are active learners and enjoy outdoor learning. Children show their excitement while taking part in ball games and learning to spin with hoops. Staff plan a wide range of learning experiences to help children build on their curiosity and understanding of the world. For example, they examine insects and plant vegetables with the children. They ask children questions about these activities to help them remember what they have learned. This helps children to develop a secure knowledge and understanding of the natural world.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• organise group-time activities more effectively so that all children, particularly those identified with SEND, can access the curriculum successfully and make better progress
• review the deployment of staff, especially during busy times, to further support children's learning.