St. Joseph's RC Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and safe and settle quickly at pre-school. They form positive relationships with their key person and other staff. Staff show genuine care for children's well-being. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), build trusting relationships with staff. Consequently, they approach staff freely for cuddles. Children follow an age-appropriate and progressive curriculum. The environment enables them to lead their play. For example, children find boxes to build a train, and staff challenge them to make the track.

Children develop positive attitudes to learning, and the skilled staff have high expectations of them. Children take part in a range of interesting activities. For instance, the youngest children enjoy splashing in puddles as staff model new vocabulary to describe the noise of the water. Older children count the pieces of fruit they have for snack and point to the correct numeral to represent the number they have counted.

Children behave well and understand the rules that they need to follow. Staff recognise things that trigger children's behaviour and use distraction techniques effectively. As a result, children are engaged in play and cooperate with each other.

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

• Staff follow children's interests to capture their attention when planning activities. They organise the environment to enable children to follow their ideas. For example, older children discuss with staff the ingredients needed to make a mud pie. Staff record their recipe with numbers and pictures, enabling children to see how information can be recorded. Staff encourage children to recognise the numbers in the recipe and count how many shovels of soil and water they need to make mud for their pie. Staff successfully build on what children know and can do. However, some staff do not provide enough challenge during children's self-chosen play. Therefore, at times children do not make the progress they could.
• The manager and staff team have created a well-sequenced curriculum. For example, children enthusiastically make marks with chunky crayons and draw pictures on dry wipe boards in readiness for developing writing skills. However, on occasions, staff do not think carefully enough about how they plan adult-led activities to keep all children engaged in their learning. As a result, not all children maintain focus during these activities.
• Staff provide high levels of support for children with SEND and communicate well with other professionals. They invite agencies into the setting to support children and share ideas with parents to promote consistency in approaches used to enable children to make good progress.
• Children show a passion for books and stories. They are captivated by the expressions and actions staff use while they tell traditional and familiar stories. Children join in, recalling new words they have heard. Staff support them to follow the story using visual storylines. Children remember which house the wolf manages to blow down. Children with SEND are well supported to participate as all children sign key vocabulary in the story in this inclusive pre-school.
• Children develop excellent levels of independence. When they first arrive at pre-school, they are supported to find their photograph and name on their peg, so they can independently hang up their coat. Children make choices about what food they would like for their lunch and serve themselves. They put on their aprons before painting and place wet paintings on the drying rack when finished.
• Children's physical development is promoted very well. They have daily opportunities to play outside whenever they choose. Children develop their large muscles as they peddle tricycles around the playground, manoeuvring around their friends and obstacles. Staff support young children to challenge themselves as they balance on beams and throw balls through a net.
• The manager works closely with staff and regularly meets with them to identify and put in place support and training. For example, the team have reflected on the environment and their teaching styles after training regarding how children learn about mathematics.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to recognise how to provide more challenge and extend children's knowledge and learning further
• use what is known about children's abilities to plan adult-led activities more precisely in order to maintain all children's engagement.