The Village Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enter pre-school with enthusiasm and confidently choose what they wish to play with. They have strong relationships with staff, who talk to them in a friendly and calm manner. Children behave well and play together, building friendships. For example, they take turns as they solve the problem of how to fix the train track. Children discuss which track piece to put down next and wait for their turn to push the train along. They play safely outside and know not to go through the doors without an adult. Children negotiate the space as they throw and kick balls with good control.

Children have a positive attitude to their learning and are highly eager to join in with activities. They scream with delight as they play with the parachute, and lift it higher and higher like the wind is blowing it up. Children bend down low to use it to pretend to fish in the sea. This helps to strengthen their shoulders and arms, and develops their physical skills. Children listen attentively as staff capture their attention and motivate them well by reading stories with great animation. Staff bring the characters to life, which supports the children to take interest in the story. Children repeat phrases from the book about a witch on a broom and learn the meaning of new words, such as 'bog' and 'reeds'.

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

• Managers demonstrate a good capacity to improve. For example, since the last inspection, they have made changes to the way they communicate with parents. Staff now keep parents up to date about their child's learning. They share information about their child's achievements and what they are learning next, so that parents can help them at home with their learning. Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents comment that staff are 'caring and kind' and know their child well.
• Staff support children's early communication and language skills. They get down to younger children's level and consistently model clear language when talking to them. Staff use sign language to help children with special educational needs and/or disabilities to be able to communicate. Older children relish having the opportunity to talk about their interests. They hold conversations and talk about the characters from their favourite film. This helps to broadens children's speaking skills.
• Staff find out about the experiences children have at home. From this information, they create opportunities to broaden children's knowledge. For example, staff learn that few children have the opportunity to take part in gardening activities, so they make a wormery with them. This helps the children to learn about worms and how to care for creatures.
• Staff foster children's independence and self-care skills well. They encourage children to do things for themselves. Staff help younger children learn how to put their coats on, and praise older children as they zip them up. Children know why they need to wash their hands, saying 'it's to get rid of the germs'. They learn how to peel oranges at snack time and to open their own lunch boxes. This helps their future learning and readiness for school.
• Managers support staff through regular supervision meetings and discuss their training needs to improve their practice. For example, after completing a course on positive behaviour, staff now introduce more activities outside to help boisterous boys engage more in their learning. The introduction of the mud kitchen helps staff to support these children to use their small muscle skills as they play with sticks in the mud, and encourage them to write.
• Staff consider children's interests and prior learning as they interact with them during play and support their desire to learn. However, some staff are less clear on what skills and knowledge they want children to gain through the activities the children choose.
• Staff support children to enhance their mathematical language. For example, they encourage children to talk about the heart shapes they make out of play dough and how tall they can build their houses. Staff help children to decide whether to make the train track shorter or longer. However, they do not always fully support or make use of opportunities that arise from children's play to encourage them to count or use numbers.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to implement the curriculum learning intentions, so they are clear what skills and knowledge they want children to gain
• provide children with more support to count and use numbers during their play.