St John's Church Pre-School Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children and their families receive a warm welcome from the caring and friendly staff at this setting. Children show enthusiasm for learning as they choose what they'd like to play with from the wide range of interesting activities staff have carefully planned and prepared. Younger children show their developing physical skills as they use different tools to make their own play dough creations. Older children are encouraged to persevere as they move tyres around the garden and attempt to push them up the small slide. Staff praise children's efforts and achievements. This helps build children's confidence and resilience.

Children behave well. They listen to staff and follow instructions. Children demonstrate they understand the setting's routines and boundaries. For example, they happily help tidy the toys away when they hear the tidy bell. Staff encourage and support children to play cooperatively with their peers. They teach children how to share and take turns. This helps build children's social skills. Children are learning how to make friends with their peers. For instance, children ask others to join their play. They hold hands with each other and say, 'Come on, you can come and play with us.'

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

• The leadership team has created a curriculum that is clearly sequenced and is designed to give children the skills and knowledge they need ready for school. Staff plan effectively to embed their curriculum. They provide children with a wide range of learning opportunities and activities across all areas of learning. For example, older children spend a long-time watering strawberry plants in the setting's 'growing garden.' Younger children pretend to make food for staff and each other in the home corner. These activities encourage children to build positive attitudes towards their learning and helps develop children's focus and concentration.
• Staff know children well. They observe children in their play and use a range of assessment tools to plan children's next steps. Staff swiftly identify any gaps in children's development and put additional support in place to help children move forward with their learning. Provision for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is good. Staff work with parents and professionals to make sure support is tailored to meet children's needs. This inclusive approach helps all children make progress from their starting points.
• Staff interactions with children are positive and caring. Children go to staff for help and support and proudly show staff their achievements. For instance, older children tell staff 'I think I can push this tyre up the slide.' Staff respond with encouragement and say 'I'm sure you can. Show me.' However, at times staff are busy with routine tasks and cannot always respond to the emotional needs of younger children and children who are new to the setting. This means sometimes children become upset and are unsettled.
• There is a strong focus on promoting children's independence. Staff provide opportunities and support for children to learn and practice the skills they need to be able to independently manage their self-care. For example, young children wipe their noses and place tissues in the bin without support. Older children learn about good dental hygiene. Staff explain why children need to clean their teeth and give children opportunities to practice cleaning their teeth every day. These experiences help teach children the importance of healthy lifestyles.
• Staff use small group activities to help develop children's language and communication. These carefully planned activities help raise confidence levels for children who are quieter or less confident in a larger group. Teaching during these small group sessions is of a high quality. Staff expertly use a range of teaching strategies to engage, motivate and challenge children during these activities. For example, staff model language, repeat key words and phrases, and help children use the correct pronunciation for difficult vocabulary. However, staff do not consistently show these high levels of teaching during children's free play. This means children's learning is not always fully extended.
• Parents speak highly about the care and education their children receive at the setting. They talk about the progress their children are making. Parents appreciate the support staff give them, especially in developing children's healthy teeth cleaning habits.
• The leadership team understand the importance of continually enhancing staff's practice. Training is targeted to have the biggest impact on children. Staff use knowledge from recent language and communication training to develop children's listening and attention skills. Children demonstrate they are able to focus and listen for extended periods of time during story and song time. This gives children a strong foundation ready for school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff deployment to ensure staff can fully support the emotional needs of younger children and children who are new to the setting to help these children feel safe and secure
• ensure staff's teaching during child-initiated activities is consistently of a high quality to fully extend children's learning.