Testwood Baptist Church Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are safe and happy in this friendly and welcoming setting. They form positive relationships with the warm, caring and attentive staff. Staff provide comfort, such as cuddles, to children who need more reassurance. This helps children to feel safe and secure. The manager and staff plan the learning environment well. This motivates children to play, explore and make new discoveries. For example, children enthusiastically take part in a group activity, learning about different plants and the seasons.

Staff help children to develop a healthy lifestyle. Children are given regular opportunities for physical activity in the outdoor areas. For instance, children enjoy climbing up the climbing frame and choosing which way they will climb or slide down. This supports children's physical development.

Staff promote good manners, and children routinely say please and thank you. Children know what is expected of them and follow routines well. For example, they understand when it is time to tidy up and help each other to put the toys away. Staff regularly praise children's efforts and achievements. This helps to raise their self-esteem and develop their confidence to try new experiences. For instance, children ask staff and their friends to help them when learning how to balance on the balance beam. Children make positive friendships; they play well together and learn how to behave well.

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

• Staff support children's communication and language development well. For instance, they read stories and sing nursery rhymes with the children. Staff listen to the children and use lots of repetition to support their speaking. For example, they repeat words that children do not pronounce clearly, so they can hear them correctly. Staff take the time to get to know some words in children's home language and use these to aid communication. This supports children who speak English as an additional language.
• The manager and staff have an effective understanding of how to keep children safe. For instance, they know the signs and symptoms of abuse and know how to make a referral about a child or an adult. The provider has not met the requirement to notify Ofsted of a change to the individuals who make up the committee. Following discussion, the provider now understands their responsibility and this did not impact on the safety of the children or the running of the setting. Ofsted does not intend to take any action on this occasion.
• The manager has a clear understanding of the setting's curriculum intent. However, staff are not clear about what the setting's curriculum is. As part of their curriculum, the manager recognises the importance of children being supported to become independent with their self-help skills, such as putting on their coat. However, staff do not support the children to develop their self-help skills consistently. For example, there is an expectation that staff will teach children to put on their coats as part of the focus on promoting independence, but this is not implemented consistently by staff. This has led to inconsistencies in the way the curriculum is implemented and does not support children to become independent.
• Staff skilfully support children's emerging understanding of mathematics. For instance, children enjoy collecting water to pour, fill and measure into different containers in the mud kitchen. Staff encourage the children to follow 'recipes' to create 'mud pies' and 'mud cakes'. For example, they discuss with the children about what ingredients go into a cake. Children are supported to learn to count. For instance, children count with staff as they add decorations to their 'mud cakes'.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified swiftly, and focused support plans are put into place. Additional funding is used well. For example, the provider purchased story sacks, which are used to support and encourage children's engagement and their concentration skills. Staff work well with other professionals to support children's learning and development. Parents speak highly about the setting, and they praise the staff for the wonderful learning opportunities that children have. However, the manager does not always share information readily enough, to keep parents fully apprised of the support that is in place for their children. This does not further enhance partnership working between the setting and parents to support children's individual needs.
• The committee and manager ensure that staff are well supported through supervisions and well-being meetings. Staff have access to a range of training, which includes mandatory training, such as safeguarding and first aid. They shared that since the committee has become more involved, they feel even more supported.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide additional support for individual staff to have a more secure understanding of how to implement the intended curriculum
• ensure staff provide children with opportunities to develop their independence and self-help skills
• enhance the arrangements to share information with all parents, especially for children with SEND.