Topsy Turvy Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The management team and staff provide children with a very inviting environment in which to play. They take care to ensure that this pack away pre-school offers children a welcoming space and exciting opportunities to learn. Children are greeted with genuine warmth and kindness by staff, who are happy to see them. Children demonstrate they are enthusiastic and eager to learn. They leave their parents with ease and become engrossed in activities that are offered. Staff provide children with a stimulating range of activities. For example, children enjoy making dinner in the large role-play area and delight as they show staff their work in the creative area. Staff support children with their early mathematical skills by naming shapes, predicting how many bricks will be needed to build a tower and counting during daily routines.

Staff share their expectations for positive behaviour with the children. Staff consistently praise them often for their good behaviour and achievements. Children help to tidy up, and staff role model positive behaviours well, such as reminding children of pre-school rules, for example using 'walking feet'.

Parents are happy with the care their children receive. They talk about the good progress their children have made, particularly in their social and language skills.

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

• The experienced managers are committed to constantly improving and providing good-quality care and education. Staff benefit from regular supervision sessions and guidance. The managers understand the importance of continuous professional development and encourage staff to access regular training to improve the quality of the pre-school further.
• Children enjoy group times as part of their daily routine. They sing about the days of the week and months of the year. The pre-school's curriculum is coherently planned and sequenced. It builds on what children know and can do. For example, during group time, children eagerly recall the facts they learned about planets in a recent topic about space.
• Relationships between staff and parents are strong. Parents state how pleased they are with the service they receive. They are complementary of the daily personal handovers they receive from staff. Staff keep parents up to date with their child's progress and actively encourage parents to support their children's learning at home. For example, parents receive regular newsletters outlining what children are learning and how they can support this further.
• There is a secure key-person approach across the pre-school. Children have built trusting relationships with those staff looking after them. Staff plan children's transitions on to schools well. Teachers are invited to visit the pre-school to meet the children. This helps children to feel safe and secure.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well. Staff with responsibility for supporting children with SEND are committed to collaborating with parents and other professionals to ensure that children receive targeted support.
• Staff present information clearly to children, promoting appropriate discussion about the subject matter being taught. For example, during group time, children discuss the shapes they can find in their homes. Children confidently say the door is a rectangle and the clock is a circle.
• On the whole, staff support the development of children's communication and language well. However, teaching strategies designed to support younger children, and those who speak English as an additional language, to communicate are not yet consistently implemented.
• Staff support children to learn about a healthy lifestyle. Children drink water and have healthy snacks. They access the outdoors each day to develop physical skills and support their well-being. Children are encouraged to be independent in managing their self-care. This helps children build confidence and independence.
• Children have opportunities to be creative. Older children concentrate as they engage in making pictures using different shapes. They use pencils and spread glue with skill. However, staff have not thought well enough about how they can plan opportunities for the younger children to express high levels of creativity and imagination through sensory activities.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• make better use of strategies to extend the communication and language skills of all children
• help staff to extend opportunities for younger children to develop greater levels of imagination, exploration and creativity.