St Josephs Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children eagerly meet staff at the school gate, ready to begin their day. Together, they walk to their pre-school building and calmly follow a range of familiar routines as the morning evolves. Pre-school staff focus on preparing children for school and aim to develop their resilience, social and communication skills. They have high expectations for children's educational outcomes. During the morning, staff motivate children to participate in large-group activities such as singing and action rhymes on the adjoining school field. They also encourage children to listen attentively during extended stories, or 'show and tell' on the carpet.

During their self-chosen activities, children happily play alongside each other. They construct with play dough, dress up in the role-play corner and build train tracks with their friends. Outside, staff support children to develop strength as they learn to climb the ladder and reach the slide. They provide children with praise as they reach the top which motivates them to have another turn. Children enjoy digging in the sand, building with bricks, or exploring in the mud kitchen. When it is time to tidy, children work together to follow the instructions. Some children even remind nearby friends that 'it is tidy-up time' before sitting together for a story.

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

• The lead practitioner provides an ambitious and challenging curriculum for all children, with the aim of supporting the oldest children to be ready for the next phase of education. As part of this, staff provide regular phonics sessions to prepare children for early reading. Children enjoy the sessions and share messages from home where they discuss the sound of the week. However, staff do not always model the correct pronunciation of letter sounds to encourage children's later ability to use sounds confidently for reading and writing.
• Children are well behaved within the pre-school. Staff play regular games to encourage children to develop the skills of sharing and turn-taking within a small group. Children display some of these skills independently as they play among their friends.
• Children learn to be hygienic and take care of their own personal needs. At times, they come to tell staff they have a runny nose and search for tissues to clean this. Children remember what they learn about washing hands before mealtimes and apply this when they use the bathroom by themselves during the day.
• Staff present an array of language-rich opportunities to develop children's communication. For example, they sing songs with repetitive words as children line up, provide frequent story times, and use visual images to sequence events of the day to support children in understanding what is coming next. However, staff do not always allow children enough time to pause and communicate their own thoughts, or to respond effectively with words and sentences during adult-led activities. This leads children to remain quiet when staff ask questions, or just point when asked to choose a favourite story.
• The lead practitioner makes effective use of the additional funding she receives for some children in the setting. She involves parents in discussions about ways to support children's needs through interventions or purchasing additional resources. Where appropriate, the lead practitioner seeks further advice from external agencies for those children who require it.
• Parents feel well supported by the setting. They are happy with the communication they receive, including how staff share next steps and targets for individual children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• further improve opportunities for children to develop their spoken language by ensuring they are given sufficient time to respond to questions, and are supported to engage in extended interactions with their friends and adults
• strengthen the knowledge of staff when teaching phonics to older children so that letter sounds are pronounced correctly and provide a solid basis for language development.