St Georges Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The dedicated and knowledgeable staff work tirelessly to create a wonderful and safe environment where children flourish. Every child receives an inspirational and innovative curriculum that provides them with the exact skills they need to become successful learners. The manager's intent for every child to receive a rich and ambitious set of experiences is fully understood by all staff. They want all children to aspire to be the best they can be. Children are highly motivated, curious and happy.

Children form incredibly strong bonds with the nurturing staff, who know them exceptionally well. Staff work seamlessly with parents, other professionals and other settings that children attend, to provide a curriculum that is specifically tailored to the needs of every child. Those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities benefit from superb teaching to support their learning and development. Before children leave for school, they develop confidence, knowledge and skills to support a life-long love of learning.

Staff focus on developing children's social and personal skills to help them form solid friendships, successfully work alongside others and improve their independence skills. They demonstrate insight and thoughtfulness when they respect children's individual wishes. Children reflect this in their harmonious play, which is kind, gentle and sympathetic to the needs of their friends.

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

• Staff sequence the ambitious curriculum exceptionally well. They closely observe what children know, and assess the skills and knowledge they will need in the future. Staff instantly adapt the curriculum to boost the learning potential of every activity. They work closely with parents from the outset to plan meaningful activities that wholly support children's cultural and lived experiences.
• Staff welcome and celebrate children's uniqueness, interests and talents. Children play a big part in the planning process and are highly engaged in the day's activities. For example, children learn to recognise numbers when they call their parents using the telephone. This develops their sense of ownership and a desire to learn.
• Staff support children's communication and language skills extremely well. They quickly notice any delay in children's speaking or understanding. Using additional funding, they work closely with other professionals to provide children with an excellent standard of support. This provides children with exactly the right help at the right time, and closes any gaps in their learning and development.
• Staff subtly model how to approach tasks and sequence skills. They talk about 'process not product' when they allow children time to persevere and practise tasks. Children greatly enjoy developing new skills, such as when they pretend to cut hair during role play, mix the powder paints, or build using real screws, bolts, nails and wood. Their behaviour, patience and engagement are excellent. They demonstrate exceptional focus, concentration and interest.
• The manager constantly reviews how she can best support children's love of stories. Books are placed across the pre-school, and children listen to, and engage with, beautiful storytelling by staff. To boost learning further, staff lend books to parents to read with their children at home. Parents note how children 'read' the pictures as well as some words, and increase their vocabulary. This provides children with the resources they need to support their future learning, such as when they go to school.
• Staff help to improve children's large physical skills by gradually increasing their access to more challenging resources. For instance, children competently ride two-wheel bicycles, having first learned to balance and manoeuvre trikes and balance-bikes. With the addition of slopes and paths, they continue to increase the challenge as children expertly steer around each other. Other activities, such as making patterns in foam, picking up tiny beads with tweezers and mixing 'potions', increase children's fine motor skills, dexterity and hand-eye coordination.
• Staff skilfully support children's health, resilience, and awareness of their community and the world. Children talk about living a healthy lifestyle while they grow, harvest, prepare and eat fruits and vegetables. They enjoy special days with friends, such as eating a meal together during the Lunar New Year. Parents and other professionals regularly visit to read stories to them in their home language or to share their experiences, such as the jobs they do. Children start to gain empathy and an appreciation of their local community and one another.
• The manager ensures that all staff receive the support they need to maintain their well-being, alongside their excellent teaching. She nurtures and cherishes the individual talents of all staff, giving everyone opportunities to develop their strengths and learn from one another. In turn, staff demonstrate excellent teaching strategies to support all children.