The Cabin

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff warmly welcome children and their families at this happy and family focused pre-school. Children separate from their parents and carers with confidence. They form positive relationships and have strong attachments with staff who know them well. Staff's friendly and nurturing interactions help children to feel safe and secure and supports their emotional well-being.

The manager and staff work hard to create a fun and interesting environment for children to freely explore. Staff support children to build upon what they already know and can do and have high expectations for their progress. Children are highly motivated and eager to join in the wide range of activities on offer. For example, children learn about life cycles. They show their curiosity as they study tadpoles with magnifying glasses in the outside pond. This helps all children to make good progress.

Children behave well. Staff have high expectations of their behaviour and support children to understand about emotions and being kind to their friends. Children know and understand what is expected of them. For example, during group times, children know that they need to sit on their coloured dots and listen to staff. Children respond well to staff's gentle guidance to be kind to their friends and to use their good manners.

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

• Staff develop children's mathematical skills as part of their curriculum. They weave mathematical concepts through children's play and during routines. For instance, children learn about mathematical concepts, such as 'more' and 'less than' as they count out tokens. Older children confidently count to 20 before they look for their friends in a game of hide and seek. This supports children to develop a positive attitude to mathematics.
• The manager is dedicated, ambitious and passionate. She prioritises staff's well-being. Staff say that they are very happy in their work and feel well supported. They comment on the open-door policy and the regular well-being meetings the manager provides. Staff attend regular training and take part in professional development opportunities. However, systems are not yet fully embedded to observe and review staff's teaching practice. This means that staff do not always benefit from constructive feedback on how to improve even further.
• Communication and language is promoted well for all children at the pre-school. Staff provide an environment that is rich in varied language. They introduce children to new words. For instance, older children learn words, such as 'bicarbonate' during baking activities. Staff take time to teach children what new words mean in the contexts of the activity and encourage children to repeat the words. Children are given time to respond to questions, and their responses are valued by staff.
• Staff promote healthy lifestyles. They work hard with parents to provide children with healthy packed lunches, such as sharing information on nutritious foods. Children know to drink fresh water when they feel thirsty. Staff support children to be independent and learn how to do things for themselves. For example, they select their own resources and activities throughout the day. In addition, children use the toilet and wash their hands independently from a young age.
• Partnership with parents is a key strength of the pre-school. Staff value the positive relationships they have built with parents. They collect detailed information about children and their families before they start. Parents explain how much they appreciate the regular communication, which includes daily conversations, monthly newsletters and an online app. Parents are invited into the pre-school to participate in well-planned stay-and-play sessions. Staff provide home-link activity ideas for parents and children to enjoy at home. This helps to provide a continued approach to children's learning.
• Children are learning how to keep themselves safe. For example, staff organise the pretend road outdoors to reinforce children's knowledge of road safety. Children confidently tell visitors how they need to sit down on the skateboard so that they do not fall and hurt their heads. However, the curriculum does not yet include teaching children how to use the internet or digital technology. This limits the experiences for children to gain an understanding of how to keep themselves safe when using this media.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• extend the monitoring of staff's practice to identify areas for improvement and raise the quality of the pre-school to even higher levels
• consider how to support children's growing awareness of how to safely use digital technology and the internet.