Swan Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children behave well and are happy and settled. They concentrate and keep on trying during activities they enjoy. Children celebrate their own and other children's achievements. For example, they say 'I am getting good at this' when they successfully identify words that begin with the same letter. Children listen attentively to stories and join in with the parts they know, for example about 'The Three Little Pigs'. Children also enjoy looking at books independently in a cosy den.

Children learn about other cultures and beliefs. For instance, to celebrate Chinese New Year, they searched for lucky coins in shaving foam, made paper lanterns, listened to Chinese music and watched dragon dances on the internet. This helps children to appreciate diversity and accept people who are different from them.

There are high expectations for all children and they develop the skills they need for the future. Children have very good opportunities to develop core strength and pre-writing skills. For instance, they enjoy taking part in yoga activities. Children also enjoy using sponge rollers and paint to make patterns on a large piece of paper attached to a garden fence. They enjoy using their hands to make marks in shaving foam on tables and windows. Children often play imaginatively, for instance, in an outdoor mud kitchen and a role play hairdressers.

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

• The newly appointed manager works well with staff to evaluate and continually improve the curriculum and children's learning and development. Together, they have significantly increased the range of resources and activities available to children. As a result, children are very motivated to learn and are provided with an ambitious curriculum, both indoors and outdoors.
• The manager talks to staff about the learning objectives for activities and role models good practice. She has a clear vision of the intent for children's learning which she shares with staff and encourages them to use their own ideas to achieve this. Staff have a good understanding of how to support and extend children's learning.
• Staff encourage children to do things for themselves, for example to learn to put on their coats. Children confidently and independently choose activities and resources. However, staff have not considered ways to further develop children's independence, for example at mealtimes.
• Staff successfully extend children's communication and language development. They join in children's play, respond to their interests and explain the meaning of words, for instance when they talk about 'northern lights'. Staff also teach children to use Makaton sign language to help younger children communicate. Parents are happy that their children are also using this at home to communicate. However, staff do not encourage children who speak English as an additional language to use their home languages in their play, to extend their language development further.
• Staff consistently encourage children to express their feelings and emotions. They form very positive relationships with children, ask what makes them feel happy or sad and offer lots of cuddles and reassurance. Staff work very well with parents to meet children's individual emotional needs, to help them feel secure. For instance, they have introduced initiatives that successfully support children's communication with their parents who are deployed away from home in the Navy.
• Staff set clear expectations and boundaries with children and patiently explain that they must take turns, share the resources and use 'kind hands'.
• Staff have improved the opportunities for children to learn about number. For example, to celebrate Easter, they hid plastic eggs in wet sand and encouraged children to count the numbers they found. Children persisted at this activity for some time. Staff also support children to learn and sing number rhymes and to learn about number during story times.
• Managers work together well to support staff professional development. They have significantly improved the opportunities for staff to access training. All staff now have the opportunity to access online training that covers a variety of different subjects. Managers explain how the reduction in paperwork has enabled staff to engage more effectively with the children and extend their learning and development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider ways to support children to develop the confidence to use their home languages in their play
• coach and support staff to support children's independence further.