Tick Tock All Stars Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff enthusiastically welcome the children into the building when they arrive. They compliment children on how smart they look in their uniforms. The children look pleased and happy. Parents say that their children talk happily about what they have been doing when they get home.

Children enjoy trips with staff in the local community. They walk together safely to the local park, wearing high-visibility jackets. They hold hands with staff and each other. At the park, they take part in physical activities, such as working together to keep a ball up in the air as they jointly hold up a parachute. They develop both their motor skills and their social skills during this activity.

Staff encourage children to talk about how they are feeling. When children say that they feel happy, staff ask them why, and they say it is because they have been running around.

Children develop confidence in their own abilities and build independence skills. They serve themselves at the table at lunchtime and pour their own drink of water from a jug. When they have finished their meal, they know how to clear their own plate away.

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

• Managers have a clear vision of want they want children to learn. They aim to give children a positive sense of themselves and to develop their independence.
• Staff plan activities around a theme, for example 'amazing me'. This links to the manager's vision for the children and celebrates their diverse backgrounds and uniqueness. Children are encouraged to paint pictures of their faces on plates and can choose from a range of paints reflecting different skin tones. Sometimes, activities are not planned in a way that ensures that children have the necessary understanding and skills to be able to gain what is intended from them.
• Staff take time to get to know children when they first arrive at the pre-school. They observe what children like doing and what they already know and can do and consider what they need to learn next. They take into account how each child learns best. When a child seems to really enjoy the feel of squeezing play dough, staff notice this and decide that they will plan more messy play.
• Staff talk to the children often. However, sometimes, some children are not engaged in conversation as much as other children. These children do not have as much opportunity to extend their speaking skills and vocabulary as the more vocal children.
• Staff prepare the indoor and outside environments to enable children to choose from a range of different activities. Outside, children use chalk to draw their own face on a chalkboard. This helps them to develop skills in preparation for writing. Staff encourage children to draw eyes and praise them when they can point to their own features.
• Children make choices throughout the day. Staff ask the children in the morning what they would like for lunch that day, and a dish is agreed together from the suggestions the children make. Staff provide healthy snacks and meals that reflect the children's different cultural backgrounds. Children readily tuck into pasta, salads and fruit. Staff talk to the children about healthy foods and how to keep healthy. Staff also promote good hygiene habits with children. For example, they encourage children to blow their own nose and to wash their hands afterwards.
• Staff identify children with additional needs and provide them with tailored support. They give one-to-one attention to children who find it hard to sit during story time, giving them extra reassurance.
• Parents say that their children settle quickly into the pre-school and that they have noticed that their children have learned new skills, such as being able to recite the alphabet. Parents value the support that staff at the pre-school give them. They say that staff tell them about what their children have been doing during the day, and they can access photos of what their children have been doing on the online app used by the pre-school.
• Throughout the pre-school, staff celebrate the achievements that children make. Children are awarded stickers when they try hard. In pre-school, children take part in a graduation event at the end of the year. This helps the children to appreciate the value of learning and encourages a sense of ambition as they get ready to start school.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to plan activities that are sequenced to help children build their knowledge and skills in a step-by-step way
• ensure that staff engage all the children in conversation that extends their vocabulary and knowledge, and not just those children who have more advanced speaking skills.