The Little Bo Peep Pre-School and The Fun Club

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children receive a well-sequenced curriculum that is focused on ensuring that they have the right skills and knowledge to be ready for their transition to school. Younger children have a gentle introduction to the routines and expectations of the pre-school in the nurture room, before moving on to the pre-school itself. Staff plan a wide range of activities and adapt them to meet children's individual needs and next steps for learning. The outdoor forest school area has been developed based on children's interests, with children fully involved in creating the resources and activities that are provided there. As a result, children are particularly purposeful and engaged in their play and learning in this area. They work together and use their imagination to build a rocket-propelled racing car out of different pieces of timber and then scream with delight as they imagine taking part in a race. Staff generally support children well to develop their own ideas, recall their previous learning and extend their vocabulary.

Well-trained and knowledgeable staff know all children well and are responsive to their needs. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive excellent support. Children are happy, confident and settled. Staff work hard to ensure that children who are less confident are involved and have a voice in group activities.

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

• Leaders plan the curriculum around the key milestones for children in the age range cared for by the setting, and staff are able to feed into this with what they know about the children. This ensures that the curriculum is child-centred and caters to each child's individual needs.
• Staff foster good relationships with the children and have kind and supportive interactions with them. They engage children in discussion about what they are doing and learning and about things that interest them. In these discussions, they model language well and help children to expand their understanding of the world. For example, children discuss buying apples from a supermarket, and staff get them to think about where apples really come from. However, on occasion, opportunities to extend activities to enable maximum learning are missed.
• The forest school is an excellent learning environment that is really focused on following children's interests and helping them to see their ideas through to fruition. For example, children's interest in building a fairy house leads staff to help them to build it and produce decorations to go inside it. Other activities, such as the water wall, are also based on the children's initiative. Consequently, children are really inspired by what is on offer, and staff support them expertly in getting the most out of sessions there.
• Children are well prepared for their transition to school as the curriculum is very focused on this. The provider involves schools in the process, with teachers coming to the setting to meet the children, and staff providing tailored information to help them get to know each child. Overall, children are encouraged to develop skills and independence. However, opportunities for children to do things for themselves during snack and mealtimes are limited.
• Staff know the children very well, and this extends beyond just each child's key person. Staff know exactly what each child's needs are and contribute to planning to address them. The setting is also very inclusive, with leaders and staff committed to supporting and integrating any child, even if it means changing the setting's normal practices to accommodate a particular need.
• Support for children with SEND is very good. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) is proactive in identifying issues at the earliest stage and initiating processes for obtaining external support when needed. They also create plans for the children to meet their specific needs, weaving in actions from external specialists when relevant. The SENCo engages with parents to gain their approval to seek specialist support, which also promotes effective partnership working.
• The provider has good partnerships with other agencies. They work effectively with the local authority and health services with regard to specialist support for children with SEND and with children's services when there is a concern about a child.
• Parents and carers speak very highly about the setting. They report how well staff support children's individual needs, and they appreciate the information they are given about children's learning and how to extend this learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance the organisation of snack and mealtimes to ensure children have appropriate support and opportunities to develop their independence
• evaluate staff practice to ensure that opportunities to extend children's learning from activities and interactions with staff are consistently maximised.