Sturry Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are eager to enter the setting in the morning and settle in swiftly. They are self-motivated and excited to explore. Staff build close bonds with children and take the time to really know and understand them. This helps children to feel safe and secure. Children enjoy free access to both the indoor and outdoor areas and thoroughly enjoy exploring both environments. For example, children delight in using a range of art materials to support their creativity. They jump with excitement as they learn to cross the wobbly bridge in the garden and navigate bikes and ride-on cars with their friends.

Leaders and staff have clear aims and aspirations for all children through a well-balanced curriculum. They place an emphasis on developing children's physical, communication and social skills. This successfully supports children to be confident and happy. Children thrive in this highly inclusive environment, where they are all supported to communicate their needs and wishes and are listened to.

Staff are engaging and provide a range of activities to spark children's curiosity. Children are consistently busily engaged and are well supported to build focus and concentration skills. They enjoy taking part in a variety of activities, including small-group times, to target learning according to their different ages and stages of development. Children quickly begin to be able to listen and take part. They learn the fundamental skills for moving on to school and have a love of learning.

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

• Leaders are passionate and dedicated to the role they play in shaping young children's lives. This enthusiasm is shared by all staff, who report feeling listened to and empowered to contribute their own ideas. Staff receive effective training and coaching and are provided with regular opportunities for continued professional development. This helps staff's practice to be consistently good to support positive outcomes for all children.
• Staff carefully assess and monitor children's progress. This allows them to quickly identify any emerging areas where children require additional support. Staff plan the curriculum to address each child's individual needs. This helps to ensure that learning is targeted to support every child to make good progress from their starting points, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders use additional funding effectively to support all children to receive the same experiences and to close any gaps in learning.
• Staff support children's emerging language well. For example, during daily story time, young children relish in listening to and copying animal noises to help them predict the next page. Older children concentrate intently as they explore the feel of different shapes, learning about how many 'sides' and 'corners' they have.
• In addition, staff use a range of ways to support children who struggle with communication. For example, staff identify and use key words for certain activities. They use visual cues to help children to express choices and use simple sign language.
• There are consistent arrangements to support children to remember the rules and boundaries. They help children recall rules, such as 'good listening' and 'good looking', when learning. Staff remind children of sharing and taking turns. Children listen well and respond to staff. This helps to create a positive atmosphere where children treat each other with respect and kindness.
• Children are given lots of opportunities to be independent. Staff are patient and gently encourage children to try things for themselves and praise them to build their self-esteem. Staff use music to signal different times of the day. This supports children to understand the routines and be keen to independently follow them. For example, older children take pride in showing the younger ones how to tidy resources away. Children exclaim 'I did it' when learning to safely get out and put away resources for tapping nails into wood.
• Overall, healthy eating is promoted by staff. They provide a range of fruit, vegetables and crackers for snack and talk about healthy foods during role-play games. Staff provide parents with useful information around healthy eating. However, less focus is placed on ensuring that children do not have sugary drinks at nursery. This does not fully promote children's oral health.
• Relationships between parents, staff and leaders are a real strength. A well-established key-person system enables staff to gather information about a child before they start. This supports children to build strong attachments and quickly settle into nursery life. Key staff ensure that families are regularly kept up to date with their child's progress. Parents are offered resources and ideas to support their child's development further at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the arrangements to promote children's oral health.