St Nicholas And St Faith Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The pre-school is a lively and fun place for children to attend. Children are happy and confident in the setting. The manager and staff ensure that children feel safe and secure in their relationships and in the learning environment. Children feel relaxed and comfortable. After saying goodbye to their parents and carers, children enter the pre-school positively and are eager to find their friends. They are curious learners and have free access to a wide variety of activities and toys, which they enjoy playing with. Children play together well. For example, they share toy fire engines and dolls and role play rescue scenarios. They are confident communicators and enjoy saying hello and talking about what they know and can do. Older children can name a variety of colours and are confident in counting to ten. They enjoy explaining how the recent snow and ice is frozen water, which will melt.

Children are kind to each other and guide one another to follow the daily routine. For example, older children encourage younger children to help tidy up at the end of play time. Younger children particularly enjoy small-group time, where they enjoy listening to the story, 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'.

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

• The manager and staff have created an ambitious curriculum and plan activities effectively. Staff know children's current skills and knowledge well. Children make good progress in their learning and development. Children engage in their play and enjoy small-group sessions to explore activities that are age-appropriate and targeted to their needs. However, the daily timetable means that individual moments of play or group sessions can sometimes be short. Staff do not consistently support children to develop deeper levels of knowledge and understanding by enabling them to extend their levels of concentration further.
• The manager and staff have high expectations for all children. They support children's personal development. Children are polite, kind and understand how their behaviour impacts on others. Staff support children to explore and express their emotions in a wide variety of ways. For example, staff have created a 'worry elephant' with which children can share their problems. Staff support children to see how they can explore and relieve that concern. However, staff do not always teach children to become increasingly independent, particularly in managing their personal needs, such as pouring drinks, collecting their lunch bags and covering their mouths when they cough.
• There is a strong emphasis on physical activity and healthy lifestyles. Children are physically active in their play, developing their physiological, cardiovascular and motor skills. For example, they enjoy several opportunities to engage in physical activities, such as kicking balls, dancing, balancing, climbing and rolling.
• They show good control and coordination in both large and small movements appropriate to their stage of development. Staff support children to take part in a 'mini movers' session in the morning. The pre-school follows a 'fun fit' programme to develop good coordination, and it is part of the county 'Healthy Movers' initiative.
• The manager has created a positive and happy working environment, and staff enjoy coming to work. Staff report that they are well supported in their role. The manager goes above and beyond to ensure that children attend a positive and caring learning environment and that staff are confident in their responsibilities.
• Parent relationships are positive, and parents highly recommend the nursery to others. Parents report that teachers from local schools say that children who have previously attended the pre-school have the knowledge and skills they need to benefit from what school has to offer when it is time to move on. Children take home backpacks that include activities to promote fitness habits at home. Additionally, children take home 'busy bags', which support children to develop their fine motor skills, such as threading and weaving. Families welcome and support these projects.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop opportunities for children to engage in activities for longer, to help them develop higher levels of concentration
• provide more opportunities to teach children to become increasingly independent, particularly in managing their personal needs.