The Butterfly Preschool Wimbledon

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive extremely eager to start their day at the pre-school. They are highly confident learners. Children of all ages learn about the wider world they live in, promoting an excellent understanding of others backgrounds. For example, during 'birthday walks', they learn about the concept of time, and how children can change each year they have been alive, as well as where their peers' families are from. Children also have great opportunities to use their home languages during activities, such as story time. They teach their peers different words and staff actively encourage all children to learn how to pronounce them. This further enhances children respecting each other's backgrounds and cultures.

All activities are tailored to meet children's individual needs. Children make significant progress given their starting points and the impact COVID-19 has had on their learning and development. They thoroughly enjoy learning the importance teeth cleaning. Children draw 'dirt' onto laminated teeth and use toothbrushes and paste to make them all clean again. They describe to staff the importance of making sure the brush covers all the tooth to get rid of the dirt. This greatly helps the children to learn about their own personal hygiene.

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

• All children have consistently high levels of respect for each other. They readily help and support each other. For example, when a child struggled to cut out a snowflake during an activity, a peer quickly steps in to help her cut out her design to make the pattern. Children's behaviour is excellent.
• The support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is exemplary. Staff meet regularly with parents and other agencies to ensure that children's individual needs are consistently being met. Realistic targets are set and staff provide high-quality teaching, enabling children to make significant and rapid progress given their starting points.
• Parents highly praise the work and support staff provide, from settling in through to the quality of teaching. Parents find that staff provide individualised help, through supporting anxious children starting at the pre-school and helping them to learn how to socialise and make friends.
• Leaders are highly ambitious and have a clear vision for the pre-school. This is shared with staff, who ensure that all children, especially those with SEND and those who speak English as an additional language, have full access to the curriculum they are entitled to.
• Staff make excellent use of communication tools to help support children who require extra help. They use simple sentences to enable children to learn new words in English. The most-able children continually use new words they have been taught. For example, they easily discuss a topic they have been learning regarding an author of a book. Children recall with ease what they have already been taught, for example the difference between an insect and an arachnid. All children are highly confident learners and are building secure foundations for their future learning.
• Staff work in close partnerships with local schools the children will attend. They share targets they are working towards and the new teachers come to the pre-school to observe the children at play. Staff support parents extremely well in finding schools that will be the best for the children to attend given their stages of learning and personalities. This greatly helps to support continuity of care and learning for the children.
• All children are highly skilled in using tools to develop their small muscle development. The younger children thoroughly enjoy learning how to pour water between small containers without spilling any. Older children use tweezers with exceptional skill to move beads around as they count.
• Leaders ensure that staff training has a positive impact on children's learning and development. Recent training has enabled staff to expertly tailor activities supporting children's language development, especially supporting those who speak English as an additional language.
• Each activity children choose is tailored to provide significant challenge to make them think about their actions, enabling children to progress exceptionally well.