St Christopher's Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The manager and her team have warm and caring relationships with the children attending the playgroup. Children quickly settle into play and activities as they arrive in the morning. They confidently leave their parents at the door. Children know where resources are kept. Staff plan and set out a variety of interesting and engaging activities that link to children's interests. Children choose freely to play with their friends and get involved in some planned adult-led sessions to learn specific skills. For example, children draw pirate faces to develop their hand-to-eye coordination and practise concentration. Children show great pencil skills when writing their names on their pictures.

Key persons know individual children well. They regularly observe and assess what children can do and use this to form next steps to build on children's progress. Key persons share this information frequently with parents. Parents comment on the skills that their children develop, such as improved speech and being more confident. They say that their children arrive happy and eager to play. There is good collaborative working, where staff, professionals and parents come together and share their knowledge and experience to promote the development of children attending the playgroup. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported.

Children very much enjoy singing. They spontaneously share nursery rhymes together. Children enjoy listening to and singing songs full of rhyme, rhythm and repetition as they sing 'Old MacDonald had a farm'. This is helping to boost children's language, communication skills and knowledge of sounds and words.

Children behave well and they know about sharing and kindness. Staff have high expectations and provide positive feedback. Children know the rules of the setting and they know who to go to for comfort and support. Staff model friendship skills and encourage children to make friends. Children hold hands and choose to play together, taking turns, negotiating and developing social skills.

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

• Children immerse themselves in pretend play. They use the home resources for elaborate role play, and pretend to watch television while laying on the sofa. They have extended conversations with their dolls and soft toys, and feed them milk from the bottle. Young children communicate with their toys, playing alone using sounds, words and facial expressions, showing that they are learning key communication skills.
• The committee and the manager care for staff well. Staff have a day off a week to support their well-being. The manager and the committee support staff's professional development by identifying staff training needs using a variety of methods, including supervision and appraisal. However, a system of observation and feedback on staff practice is not yet in place for individual professional knowledge to support children's quality learning experiences. Staff are active in accessing training to update their skills to meet the needs of the children who they care for. For example, signing training has led to all staff using signs during rolling snack time to support young children's communication.
• Children hold a book correctly, adeptly turn the pages, and pretend to read, displaying many of the first skills in becoming readers. They know that stories progress as they turn the pages, and that each book has a beginning, middle and end. They understand that books contain stories, and they find out that stories are fun and interesting as they learn about others.
• Staff link very well with other settings that children attend. They have meetings with parents and settings to develop consistent support for children. Staff understand the importance of working together to create positive experiences to strengthen practice to meet children's individual needs.
• Children learn healthy hygiene routines. They independently use the wash stations in the hall to clean their hands when they need to. They turn the tap on and off with skill and they dry their hands carefully.
• Children take risks and make choices. In the outdoor area, children set out crates and balance beams in different ways and show how they can carefully walk along with balance and coordination.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve the system of observation and feedback to progress the professional development of staff to support quality learning experiences for children.