The Learning Tree Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children at this pre-school are happy and feel safe in the care of the attentive staff. They are greeted with smiles and encouragement as they arrive. They walk with excitement into the welcoming and stimulating learning environment. Children behave well and immediately engage in activities of their choice. Children form lovely friendships and immerse themselves in imaginative play. They explore porcelain cups and saucers as they pretend they are at a tea party. Children laugh and smile as they talk to each other about what they would like to eat and drink.

The enthusiastic staff have high expectations for all children. Children at this pre-school make excellent progress in their speech and language development because staff make very good use of assessment. Staff quickly identify the individual needs of children and facilitate intervention groups that target specific areas for development. Children benefit from smaller group times, where they can practise their listening and attention skills and develop their confidence to speak in smaller groups. Children's physical development is well supported by the range of activities available to them. They confidently move around on a variety of ride-on toys that are appropriate to their level of development. Children learn to climb on climbing frames safely and plan how to get back down.

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

• Managers and staff plan a curriculum that uses books as a foundation for learning. They use assessment well and follow children's interests to plan stories that cover the seven areas of learning. Children develop a love of books and read along with staff through repetition of familiar stories. They listen intently as staff read with them and become actively involved with the use of props and opportunities to act out the story. Children develop their vocabulary and comprehension through vibrant, interactive story times.
• Children learn how to live healthy lifestyles. They grow a variety of vegetables that they use to explore and eat when fully grown. Children eat a variety of healthy well-balanced foods at mealtimes. Parents take part in the teaching of healthy living by sharing fresh fruit each week with the pre-school. Children eat breadsticks, pears and apples at snack time and engage in conversation with staff and their friends.
• Staff provide activities that encourage a progression of skills. For instance, children enjoy mark making linked to their favourite stories. Some children choose to colour in pictures of characters from the story. Other children move on to drawing their own pictures and writing about what they have drawn. Outside, children explore growth by planting beans independently. However, at times, staff do not always maximise every interaction with children during activities to challenge their thinking even further.
• Children at this pre-school are confident and independent learners. They benefit from opportunities to build on their self-care skills. All children practise undressing and putting sports clothes on for weekly physical exercise sessions. At lunchtime, children walk to school together with staff. They enter the hall, collect their own trays and cutlery and make choices about what they would like to eat. Children carry their own food to the table and feed themselves using cutlery. These high expectations for children support their independence and provide them with the necessary skills required for their transition to school.
• Staff encourage parents to be active partners in their children's learning. They ask parents to share their children's early experiences and development before they attend. Staff share appropriate strategies that parents can use at home to support their children's development. They also share stories that parents can use to enhance their children's speech and vocabulary at home. Parents speak very highly of the staff team and the progress that their children make.
• Staff at the pre-school comment that they are very well supported by the manager. They feel that they are listened to and that their well-being is prioritised. Staff benefit from accessing a range of additional training. Through supervision, staff identify specific areas that they would like to develop further with the support of the manager.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• continue to build on staff's already good teaching to challenge children's thinking during activities even further through the highest quality interactions.