Sunny Days Preschool Broadstone

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children feel happy and safe in this warm and nurturing environment. They form close relationships with staff and are keen to explore the wide range of activities available to them. Staff and managers have high expectations for children. They aim for every child to become confident, independent and a good communicator by the time they leave the setting. Staff use sign language and simple spoken prompts to help children understand the daily routines. Children's positive responses show they know what to expect and feel secure in their surroundings.

The curriculum is securely based on all areas of learning. Children enjoy being outdoors, where they have many opportunities to be active and to explore. They spend time building with large blocks and are careful to stack the blocks on top of each other. Staff use these opportunities to introduce mathematics to children. Together, they count how many blocks they have and talk about 'short' and 'tall'. Children respond positively as staff give them praise. Children gain good physical skills. They learn to balance on wheeled toys, navigating around their peers as they race against each other. Staff play simple ball games with children to develop their coordination skills. Children explore different textures, such as sand and water, which they use with toy animals to create imaginary farm scenes. Children use pencils and crayons of different colours to draw pictures and talk about what they have drawn. Older children are confident with handling tools, such as scissors, with care and caution. All children develop good skills in preparation for school.

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

• Children develop their independence and sense of responsibility well. They help to tidy away toys. They persevere to change into their outdoor clothes and confidently wash their own plates and cups. Staff empower them to manage the tasks on their own, and children listen to the staff's well-placed tips, which makes their confidence grow. Children do well and are proud of their achievements.
• Staff are good role models, encouraging children to use manners, be polite and to talk about how they feel. Staff sensitively introduce and reinforce taking turns and sharing, using and modelling simple language, saying, 'Your turn. My turn,' as well as utilising sand timers. Children quickly become familiar with sharing, as they know their turn will come.
• Staff regularly assess children's abilities and plan activities which respond to children's immediate interests. They combine this with activities that introduce children to new information and experiences. However, at times, staff do not always tailor their interactions to ensure that children benefit as fully as possible from the intended learning. For example, younger children are interested in the play dough created with different scents and textures. Staff promote words such as 'squish' and 'pull', but do not extend interactions to deepen the children's knowledge and understanding about the textures and smells.
• Staff support children's personal, social and emotional needs. For example, they encourage quieter or younger children to join in with a large creative activity, prompting questions of what they are going to make so they join in with ease. This positively impacts children's learning and confidence. Key persons know their children well and know what they want these children to learn next. However, when the assigned key person is absent, some remaining staff have not been provided with sufficient information to fully understand the children's next steps of learning. Therefore, some children disengage quickly and move around different activities.
• The provider manages the performance of staff well through a programme of regular supervision. She monitors staff practice to identify professional development opportunities to bring about improvements in teaching. For example, staff have completed a training course in 'continuous provision'. This has improved how they use everyday resources, such as sand and water, to engage the children in more meaningful learning.
• Reading stories is embedded as part of the daily routine for children of all ages. Children readily ask staff to read to them. They enjoy stories in small groups and sitting together as a large group. Staff encourage children to take part in stories, mimicking the noises a 'monster' would make. Staff promote new topics of conversation such as oral hygiene through discussions of the monster's teeth. Older children readily recall key words from the story and events such as brushing their own teeth in the morning. Younger children listen with interest to the staff member and older children within the group.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents welcome the information that staff share about their children's learning and development. Furthermore, they explain how staff have supported them to manage their children's behaviour at home through the sharing of resources and strategies. Parents are complimentary about the setting and would recommend the setting to new parents.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop staff's interactions with children so that they consistently adapt activities to meet children's needs and extend their learning
• ensure all staff know children's individual next steps for learning to consistently give children the individual support they need to achieve.