Sticky Fingers Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children become happy and highly confident learners at this stimulating and nurturing pre-school. They warmly welcome the inspector and show an interest in who they are and why they are visiting their pre-school. Staff support and encourage children to take part in termly performances for their parents. They enjoy regular outings to new places. As a result, children's confidence soars. This is expressed through their ability to communicate and build relationships with others.

Children thoroughly enjoy exploring the well-planned and resourced learning environment. The pre-school classroom stimulates children's minds and they become engrossed in their play. Children freely access the areas of learning across the pre-school. For instance, they choose to practise their mark-making skills in the well-resourced creative area. Staff help children to hold their pencil correctly. They support children to draw shapes and letters. Children write with a purpose. For example, they make signs to tell their friends to stay away from the birds' nests they have made. These meaningful experiences support children to make good progress with their early literacy skills.

Children are joined by staff as they play imaginatively. Staff allow children to lead their play. They gently guide and support children at appropriate moments. This ensures that children's play and ideas are valued, which in turn motivates them to stay engaged as they play and explore.

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

• Leaders and staff plan purposeful play opportunities based on the skills and knowledge that they want children to learn next. They place a strong focus on stories and promoting children's love of reading. Staff use puppets and props to bring stories to life. Children act out and repeat familiar lines from their favourite stories. They join in with regular singing sessions and explore musical instruments. This helps children to grow their listening and communication skills.
• Staff encourage children to express their thoughts, feelings and requests to each other. As a result, children play well together. They learn to share and take turns and their behaviour is good.
• Staff talk to children and parents about the expectations for healthy lunchboxes. This supports children to begin to understand about foods that are good for them and foods that are not. The pre-school manager has responded to the high rates of dental issues in the area by encouraging children to brush their teeth after they have eaten their lunch. Consequently, children hear and understand regular messages about how to stay healthy.
• Children receive regular opportunities to learn about diversity. For example, they explore Islamic artefacts, such as a prayer mat and a Ramadan calendar. This helps children to understand and learn about faiths and cultures that may be different to their own.
• Parents and carers are invited into the setting for 'play days'. Staff use these opportunities support parents to find out more about their children's experiences in the pre-school. Parents receive an information sheet to help them to know more about their children's learning in the pre-school. This, in turn, supports parents to extend these experiences and children's learning at home.
• The dedicated manager has high ambitions for the pre-school. She regularly meets with the pre-school governing body to put together action plans to continue to develop and improve the learning environment. Staff attend regular training and take part in professional development opportunities. The manager has high expectations for staff's practice. However, the methods used to monitor the effectiveness of training, and the skills and knowledge of staff, are not used consistently enough by the manager to identify further areas for development.
• The knowledgeable special educational needs co-ordinator (SENCo) works closely with parents and makes appropriate referrals to make sure that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive the right support. She puts in place small-group activities to provide targeted support for children. This ensures that all children make good progress towards their learning goals.
• Staff use additional funding to provide new experiences for children. For example, they take children for trips on the bus or to the local market to buy food for snack time. This promotes children's communication skills, as staff talk to them about their experiences.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the monitoring of staff's practice and knowledge, to identify further areas for improvement and raise the quality of the pre-school to even higher levels.