Tiny Treasures Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The dedicated leadership team and staff are passionate about providing a pre-school environment where all children can thrive and grow. They focus on ensuring children feel safe and content, ready to become confident and inquisitive learners. Staff create a home-from-home atmosphere, where children often cuddle up on comfortable sofas to chat with their friends and staff. Staff have warm and positive relationships with children. Children often run to staff, who greet them with open arms. Babies snuggle into staff's shoulders and enjoy cuddles.

Staff have embedded the 'golden rules' well and have a routine for children that stays consistent throughout the pre-school. Even young babies show they understand these routines and follow them well, such as being supported to understand transitions between activities. Children know the rules for expected behaviour and help to remind their friends of these.

Staff have high expectations for all children. They use regular assessment to effectively plan activities that will engage and interest the children. Staff are playful and enthusiastic in their interactions with children and often immerse themselves in their play with them. Children often squeal with excitement, and delight in the new resources staff provide. Staff are good at promoting and celebrating children's achievements. Children beam with pride as staff take photos of their work to share at home. Staff ensure they support every child to make progress from their starting points. They identify any gaps in learning and provide small, achievable targets to work towards closing the gap. Children demonstrate that they are confident, independent and focused learners.

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

• Leaders and staff have a clear, shared vision of what they want children to learn at each stage of their development. They understand that children have different needs and they provide high-quality, inclusive care and education to all. Staff are good at adapting the environment to encourage children to take part in activities that cover all areas of the curriculum. For example, children who are reluctant to use pencils enjoy using clipboards for mark making in the construction area.
• Staff plan many interesting adult-led activities for children. They interact well with children and explain the resources and how to use them. However, at times, staff are unsure of the precise learning intent for an activity. This means that, on occasion, the activity can lack challenge and extension of learning.
• Staff place an importance on developing children's communication and language skills. Children are immersed in an environment full of stories, singing, role play and conversations. Older children often use the well-developed home area, where they engage in many conversations with staff about make-up, spa treatments and making dinner. Staff support children very well with the use of visuals and signing to help those who are less able to communicate. All children use signing so that they can understand and support their friends.
• Staff expertly support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders ensure that all staff have the knowledge and understanding to support children with effective and sensitive care. They engage particularly well with other agencies involved and use the expert knowledge to enhance the care they offer. Funding is used well to enhance the environment to enable children to achieve at their own ability and to feel settled and secure.
• Staff know children well and provide activities based around their interests to captivate and engage them. Children focus and concentrate well. They often persevere at an activity for a long period of time. For example, older children delicately thread flowers in cardboard to make pictures. They ask to make more, enjoying the activity and feeling proud of their creations. Babies carefully put spaghetti in a colander and clap each other for doing well.
• Many different techniques are used by staff to support children's emotional well-being. Staff are intuitive to children's emotional needs and respond quickly to support children to regulate their own emotions. They talk about their feelings, offer cuddles of reassurance, spaces to play, and use resources to bring the children back to a state of positive well-being.
• The manager is very supportive of her staff. She is good at helping them to identify further training to improve their skills and outcomes for children. Leaders work well together to create a close team who all support each other. Staff feel happy to be at work and are ready and able to provide the best care and education they can to children.
• The manager maintains good relationships with parents. She ensures they know what their children are learning and how they can provide a continuity of care together. The manager often talks with parents and listens to them, providing advice and support. Parents report feeling part of a 'family' and are confident that their children are safe, well cared for and making good progress.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the planning of adult-led activities to more precisely identify what children need to learn next, so children are consistently challenged in their learning.