St Mary's Pre-school Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Every child is valued and treated as an individual in this wonderfully welcoming and nurturing setting. Staff forge strong relationships with children and their families. They have in-depth knowledge and understanding of children's interests and specific needs, which they use to shape learning. Children make choices about how they will learn from an exceptionally well-resourced environment. Staff expertly scaffold children's learning through high-quality interactions. They seize every opportunity to extend children's learning. As a result, children make excellent progress. Children are, without exception, confident and happy. They remain highly engaged throughout the day. Children are consistently polite and respectful. Mealtimes are wonderfully social occasions. Children enjoy chatting to each other and staff as they sit together. Children's personal, social and emotional development is extremely well supported.

The whole environment is exceptionally well planned and resourced. Toys and equipment are easy for children to access and move around, enabling them to investigate and explore. Children benefit enormously from the wonderful environment and resources in the fabulous outdoor play area. They display incredibly high levels of engagement as they play outside. Children particularly enjoy climbing and balancing in different ways. For example, they skilfully balance as they step across the stepping stones and join staff as they throw and catch balls with each other. Younger children enjoy moving in different ways to familiar action songs. Children's physical development is exceptionally well supported.

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

• The manager and the staff team have worked exceptionally hard to design an ambitious and well-sequenced curriculum that focuses on language and mathematics development. Children learn through play activities and are expertly supported by experienced staff. Staff are knowledgeable about children's starting points and current interests. They know what to teach and skilfully scaffold learning through play and daily routines. Staff model being learners. For example, when joining children who are looking at books about shapes, staff say, 'I wonder where we can find some of these shapes in our hall.' As a result, children make progress and are well prepared for the next stage of learning.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive excellent support. The experienced special educational needs coordinator and key persons work closely with parents and other professionals to develop individual intervention and support plans to further enhance children's learning and development. Any additional funding received for disadvantaged children is spent extremely well, following discussions with parents to ensure the support is targeted. Consequently, children receive the help they need to make progress.
• Children's speech and language are very well developed across every age group. Staff introduce new words, such as 'orthodontist', as children explore different oral hygiene resources. Children use their extensive language as they describe that the castle they are building has 'turrets'. Children actively revisit stories and favourite books, both independently and with staff, and can recall them with great joy. Younger children snuggle up with staff as they look at familiar books and sing songs.
• Children have a positive attitude towards their learning. They benefit from a wealth of exciting opportunities and experiences. For example, children excitedly help each other to finish the game as they play together in order to look at the book to build a rainbow. Children behave exceptionally well. Staff are wonderful role models. Children learn about sharing and taking turns and are caring and considerate. They are kind and respectful to others as they begin to understand how they and their friends feel.
• The manager is extremely knowledgeable about early years education. She has a clear passion for delivering high-quality care and education for all children. She is wholly committed to professional development and training for all staff. Staff continually strive to improve their professional knowledge and practice. They benefit from regular training and professional development opportunities. These are sharply focused on enabling staff to implement the curriculum consistently well, thereby further improving the outcomes for children. Staff report consistently high levels of support for their well-being.
• Parents are exceptionally happy with the high-quality levels of care and education their children receive. Staff ensure that parents are an integral part of their children's learning. They provide parents with an abundance of information and support, such as guidance on vaccinations and keeping children safe online. Parents are extremely appreciative of all the support and information they receive from staff. This strong partnership means that there is a continuity of approach, which helps children to make excellent progress.