Theydon Bois Preschool Group

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive and flourish in this excellent pre-school. They are very happy and their confidence soars. Staff are extremely sensitive to children's emotional needs and this helps children to settle quickly. Staff provide children with individual nurturing care and support for their needs. Children's behaviour is excellent. Staff set gentle but firm boundaries for children's behaviour. This is reassuring for children and they quickly learn about the staff's expectations of them.

All children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make exceptionally good progress in their learning. They progress rapidly from their starting points. Staff are swift to identify any gaps in children's learning and provide one-to-one support when children need additional help. Parents say they are highly delighted with the progress their children make, particularly with their speech and language and confidence.

Staff ensure that learning is fun for the children. They are led by children's choices and change activities according to children's interests and preferences. Children are extremely curious and love to explore their environment. They flock to activities when staff prepare science experiments for them to observe. For example, they watch in awe as they see a model of a volcano begin to emit steam. Staff cleverly extend children's learning by asking them questions about where they might have seen steam before. This encourages children's thinking skills and recall.

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

• Staff know that children learn best when their well-being is cared for. They teach children to recognise their feelings. They help them to relax with breathing exercises to keep themselves calm. Staff understand that children focus on activities that they find attractive and interesting. Children learn about mathematics when staff number parking spaces for their cars. They learn about volume and capacity when staff ask them how many cups of water it will take to fill a trough in the car wash they have constructed.
• Children revel in their activities. They make pretend ice-cream cones with coloured dough. Staff question them about the flavours and colours they are using. Children's knowledge of colours is impressive, for example they know what 'cyan' is. Children are very inquisitive. They want to know and learn about the objects around them. Staff offer a 'curiosity box' with an item inside, such as a starfish, to enhance children's learning. Children enjoy discussing what they saw at the seaside and they fling their arms wide to describe the size of a stingray.
• Children are remarkable talkers and they have the confidence to speak to visitors. Staff offer children lots of activities that encourage them to think and solve problems. For example, children eagerly explore ice blocks that staff have prepared containing small toys. They talk about how they could make the ice melt and extract the toys. Children discuss together how they could do this, showing superb skills of sharing and cooperation. They ask staff for tools, such as hammers and chisels. Children concentrate hard on their task until they have freed all the toys and cheer each other as they succeed.
• Children develop their independence from a young age. They learn to sit still at snack time and lunchtime and peel their own fruit. Children pour their own drinks and wash their hands before eating. They know how to dispose of their peelings and keep everything tidy. Staff teach children how to tidy away the resources at the end of each session. Children are eager to engage and interact energetically with staff when they read them a story. Staff read with an enthusiasm that brings the story to life for the children.
• Children thoroughly enjoy spending time outdoors. They plant vegetables and herbs and search for bugs in the bug hotel they built themselves. Staff take children to a local allotment where they learn more about planting and see chickens and wild deer. Staff take children on outings where they learn about their local environment and the diversity of people and places. Children are exceedingly physically active. They run around in the nearby fields and enjoy sports days. Staff set up obstacle courses for them to manoeuvre their scooters around toy traffic cones.
• Staff set up innovative outdoor activities to help children to learn more about the world. Children pretend they are in a pirate ship looking at a map of the world and deciding where they will sail. They learn about shapes as they use their fingers and hands to make marks in a tray of salt. Children are imaginative and draw the shape of the ship's sail in the salt. Staff ensure that children sit still and listen to the safety warnings they give so that children learn how to manage risks safely.
• Parents say that the pre-school is the best place for their children. They praise the staff for their dedication and say they are inspiring. Parents comment that they really like reading about the progress their children make in their communication books. They say that their children thoroughly enjoy sharing the home learning packs with their families.
• Staff work extremely effectively and happily as a team. They observe each other's practice and make suggestions for improvements. Leaders and staff evaluate everything they do and meet to discuss ways to continually improve the environment for children. All staff undertake regular training and share any useful ideas with their colleagues. Leaders carry out staff supervision sessions regularly and monitor staff practice constantly.