Tiny Toes Pre-School Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are very happy and enjoy strong attachments with all staff. They settle quickly on arrival. All children are kind to one another. They forge close friendships and work together on tasks. Pre-school children decide what they want to do and make a pathway out of wooden blocks. They help each other and say: 'Now this is easy'. This strengthens their relationships and makes them feel more secure.

Toddlers and pre-school children learn independence skills. They play with flour and large shells, dusting off the flour from the shells with small brushes, and this goes on the floor. They ask to clear up the flour. Staff direct them to where the dustpans and brushes are. They show the toddlers and pre-school children how to clean up the flour. Children feel proud of their efforts. This boosts their self-esteem.

There is an ambitious curriculum in place. Staff meet regularly to discuss children's development. They plan learning experiences for children based on their interests. Children are curious to learn about insects. Staff set up a rockery outside for children to explore. They find spiders and eagerly show their friends. Children broaden their knowledge and understanding of the natural world.

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

• Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) very effectively. They use visual timetables to help children know and understand what is happening now and what is coming next. Staff work closely with outside professionals and parents to help children achieve their next steps of development. All children with SEND make progress.
• Staff help pre-school children find solutions to problems. After the flour and shell-brushing activity, pre-school children say they have flour in their hair and on their clothes. Staff ask these children: 'What could you do to get it off?' Pre-school children decide they could go outside and 'wobble' to get it off.
• All children learn about numbers during play and at snack time. Toddlers practise posting shapes through a box, and staff count alongside them. This reinforces their knowledge of numbers. Pre-school children look at a menu during snack time. They look at the numbers on the menu and choose the corresponding pieces of fruit. Pre-school children begin to recognise the number digits.
• Toddlers love to sing and listen to storybooks. Staff encourage pre-school children to talk about what may happen next in a story. However, at times, staff do not use strategies to promote pre-school children's communication and language skills effectively. For example, during group activities, staff do not always give pre-school children enough time to respond to a question.
• Staff nurture all children's personal, social and emotional development. However, some pre-school children lack the confidence to engage in activities unless they have an adult with them. For example, some pre-school children will only remain on task making insects out of dough or digging soil outside while staff are with them. Staff do not always empower children to have the confidence to engage in sustained and meaningful play independently.
• Toddlers and pre-school children make good progress in their physical development. Toddlers go up a climbing frame, walk along crates and jump off. They build on their core strength. Pre-school children roll back and forth on large balls and improve their balancing skills.
• Staff prepare pre-school children for transitioning to school effectively. They provide school uniform clothing as part of the dressing-up options in the role-play area. Pre-school children choose to put school shirts and dresses on. They become familiar with school uniforms and feel excited about going to school.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Managers are proactive in seeking parent feedback. They send out questionnaires to help them reflect on their practice. Managers provide 'open mornings' for existing family members and prospective parents, where they can visit the setting. Parents are exceptionally happy. They highly value the regular updates on their children's learning and development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve staff communication and language strategies used with pre-school children, to develop their early communication skills more effectively
• strengthen pre-school children's confidence to engage in sustained and meaningful play independently, to better prepare them for future learning.