St Marks Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders have created a curriculum that focuses on helping children to develop across the prime areas of learning. This helps children to gain good foundations for their future learning. Older children build on their hand-eye coordination as they use small hammers and nails to pin shapes together. Outside, younger children develop their strength and stability when riding bikes, running and jumping on the trampoline. Staff demonstrate to children how to use new tools, including pipettes and juicers. They introduce new vocabulary to children, including pinch and squeeze, expanding their emerging language skills. Staff provide opportunities for children to be independent. For example, they enjoy peeling carrots and fetching their own water for their mud pies. Children develop good early mathematics skills. They use chalks to draw shapes, saying, 'I have drawn a massive love heart.' Staff introduce new concepts to older children, such as halves and quarters when cutting fruits. Younger children use language such as more, and they begin to count from one to five. Children make good progress in their learning.

Children build positive relationships with staff, helping them to feel safe and secure. Staff have good expectations for children's behaviour and implement strategies, including golden rules. This helps children to understand what is expected of them. Staff support children with turn-taking, helping them to develop the skills they need to begin to manage their own conflicts. For example, staff use a visual 'now and next' board to support younger children as they wait for their turn on the swing. Staff and children explore the story 'The Colour Monster', helping children to learn more about their feelings. Children begin to recognise the faces on the colour monster props and say, 'It is a sad face.'

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

• Staff demonstrate good knowledge of children and their interests. They use this information to plan varied and exciting activities. For example, children play together in the sandpit and others enjoy completing puzzles. Although children have a range of activities to explore, staff do not always consider how to adapt these to support children's individual next steps in learning. Subsequently, this limits opportunities to extend children's learning.
• Staff gather relevant information from parents and complete regular observations to monitor children's development. This helps to create good starting points for children. Staff identify when children need support with their learning and implement targeted approaches. For example, staff use 'nurture stars' to support children's learning across specific areas. Leaders have formed links with outside professionals and other settings children attend. This supports good partnership working, providing continuity in children's learning.
• Children are good communicators. During circle times, children have back-and- forth discussions with staff and learn the sign of the week. They sing songs and say hello to their friends in French as they explore different languages. However, at times, group sessions can be too long with large numbers of children, resulting in some younger children losing focus.
• Children benefit from daily outdoor play and fresh air, supporting their physical well-being. Older children enjoy exploring vegetables in the mud kitchen, and younger children swing happily on the swing. However, occasionally, staff do not ensure the planning and sequencing of the curriculum meet the needs of younger children. This means that, at times, there is no clear focus on what staff want them to learn next.
• Leaders use additional funding to provide varied opportunities for children to interact with the local community. These include weekly visits from a sports coach, helping to progress children's physical development. Furthermore, weekly forest school sessions promote team working, resilience and exploration of nature. Children enjoy visits to the park and outings to the local pier. They develop a good understanding of the world around them.
• Leaders are dedicated and understand the importance of self-evaluation. They have used recent feedback from parents and staff to provide stay-and-play sessions, helping children to settle after the long summer break. Leaders target staff training to enhance the quality of practice. For instance, staff have attended training on 'visual prompts' and have implemented these within daily routines. This supports children's communication.
• Staff establish good relationships with parents from the outset. Parents report staff form caring relationships with children and they value the support they receive. For instance, staff share strategies to support parents with potty training. This provides consistency for children between home and the setting. Leaders invite parents on outings and provide opportunities for them to come into the setting. Parents comment on the progress their children have made, particularly with their social development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to develop their understanding of how to adapt activities, to target more precisely what children need to learn next
• review the organisation of group sessions, particularly for younger children, to ensure they fully benefit from the intended learning outcomes
• develop staff's understanding of how to plan and sequence the curriculum to meet the needs of younger children, to further support their learning and development.