The Playbox, St Johns Methodist Church Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the nursery excited to join in with a planned activities week. Some children choose to have their faces painted and others wear fancy-dress animal ears and tails to join in with the day's theme. Children delight to see that adults are wearing animal ears too. They develop strong bonds with their key person and demonstrate that they feel emotionally secure. They eagerly greet their friends with a little wave as they arrive. Children are enthusiastic learners who readily lead their own play. They settle quickly into their chosen activities, chatting with their friends as they play.

Children are becoming independent learners. They look at the picture timeline to see what they will be eating at snack time. Children are learning to recognise their own name and register their name card for snack. They learn to manage their self-care needs, such as hanging up their coats and washing their hands. This supports their readiness for the next stage in their learning, such as starting school.

Children's good behaviour is supported as staff offer clear and consistent reminders. They know what is expected of them and respond well. For example, children listen to staff, follow their instructions and understand the daily routines. They help to tidy up without hesitation before lining up for the next activity.

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

• The members of the management team and committee have worked hard to address the actions set at the last inspection. There are now clear roles and responsibilities to ensure the effective running of the nursery. Furthermore, staff researched wider safeguarding issues such as witchcraft and county lines, and they shared this with their colleagues. This has helped to deepen their knowledge on how to protect children from harm.
• Children have many opportunities to practise their hand control. They learn to use a variety of tools such as pens, sticky tape and scissors. Staff provide praise and encouragement, boosting children's self-esteem. However, staff do not notice when children cannot hold scissors and other tools correctly, to enable them to achieve their chosen task. For instance, children hold scissors upside down and cut towards themselves. This means that children do not learn to use tools effectively.
• Staff think carefully about the needs of the children who attend the nursery. They pay particular attention to developing the children's physical skills. Children have the opportunity to develop their large-muscle skills on the indoor stepping stones. Staff support children to take and manage risks as they learn to jump between the stepping stones.
• Staff are particularly skilled at using songs and music to support children's communication, language and understanding of rhythm. They play the piano as they sing with the children. Later, the children excitedly join in with a visitor who plays the guitar as they sing a familiar song. They hold their friends' hands as they jump and dance, remembering the words and actions well.
• Children's speech is supported by staff who introduce new words to them, placing them in the correct context. For example, they introduce words such as 'nocturnal', 'gracefully' and 'stalking'. Staff explain the meaning of new words and repeatedly use them to help the children hear them again. Staff engage children in conversations during activities. However, on occasion, some staff are overenthusiastic and answer the questions they have asked the children. This means that children are not given enough time to think and respond to the questions they have been asked.
• Leaders and staff have high expectations for all children to achieve. They plan meaningful activities to engage the children. They use children's interests to plan experiences that build on their knowledge. For example, when children talk about going to the zoo, they create their own zoo in small-world play. This helps children to remain motivated learners.
• Visitors regularly come into the nursery to speak to the children about their jobs. Children confidently interact with visitors, asking them questions and telling them about their experiences. Children have the opportunity to learn about living things when they have a visit from 'Leo' and 'Shelley', the tortoises. These visits help to provide children with rich experiences.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to make the most of teachable moments to help children learn to use equipment correctly
• strengthen staff practice to develop their questioning techniques to further extend children's thinking skills and allow them time to respond.