St John's URC Preschool Group

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Familiar staff greet children warmly as they arrive. Children settle quickly and happily into the routine of the day. They demonstrate secure social skills. For example, they share resources willingly and engage with each other, laughing and chattering. Staff skilfully help the children to understand and develop their turn-taking skills. They praise children for being patient and for good listening. Children behave very well and show kindness to their friends and staff. Staff remind them of the behavioural rules of the group and activities throughout the day to help them understand what is expected. Children demonstrate that they feel safe and secure.

Children benefit from the inviting and well-organised learning environment, which supports them to be fully engaged in meaningful play. Staff have high expectations for children and adapt their approach to build on what children know and can do. For example, they ask questions to help children to think, such as when younger children complete a puzzle. This encourages children to explore and problem-solve. Children develop positive attitudes to learning. They are very busy and engrossed in their play. For example, they use scissors to cut shapes and use sticky tape to hold them together to make their own handbag.

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

• Staff know the children well. They have a secure understanding of where children are in their development. Staff plan appropriate next steps in children's learning. They use children's interests to plan activities that excite and motivate them. This helps children to gain an eagerness to learn from an early age. All children make good progress from their starting points.
• Although children learn to be independent, there are times when this is not consistently supported. For example, staff prepare children's snacks and pour their milk, not offering the opportunity for them to have a go and extend their self-help skills.
• Children learn to understand the rules of the pre-school. Staff provide consistently clear expectations to children. For example, they remind children what to do at the start of each activity, such as 'good sitting', and 'good listening'.
• Staff are positive role models. They teach children about being tolerant and respectful. Children willingly share the toys and resources as they play and follow simple instructions well. Staff praise children for their good listening, achievements and kindness, raising their confidence and self-esteem effectively.
• Staff support children's communication and language development very well. Staff ask questions that encourage children to think and communicate. For example, staff discuss the handbag designs the children make. They sing with the children, listen to them well and respond with words. Staff add words to younger children's actions and sounds and repeat what they say clearly so children hear the correct pronunciation. As a result, children make good progress in their language skills.
• Staff provide different opportunities that promote children's physical development effectively. Children ride around the indoor area on ride-on toys and move about with good body coordination. The outdoor play area has a good supply of equipment, which supports the children's large and small muscle development effectively. However, snacks provided are not thought out carefully to help promote children's healthy eating as well as possible. For example, staff explain that children are given a biscuit every day.
• Children learn to count in a range of ways. Older children use different mathematical concepts to work out what will happen when they take away or add groups of pasta. They learn about shapes as they draw and cut shapes out for their handbags, such as squares and circles.
• Staff support children's early literacy skills well. For example, children sound out letters in their name and older children write their name competently.
• Parents speak fondly about the staff. They comment on how well staff get to know their children and meet their individual needs. Parents are given regular updates about their children's progress. Staff provide them with ideas for how they can further extend their children's learning at home.
• The staff have regular supervisions with the manager and attend staff team meetings. However, opportunities to support staff training to enhance their knowledge and skills and benefit children's learning further need to be improved.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• use opportunities as they arise to enhance children's independence
• review snack time to help children understand healthy choices
• develop staff's continuous professional development to further enhance the quality of teaching and children's learning.