Tots Teachers Preschool 2

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children happily arrive at the pre-school and receive a warm welcome from the friendly staff. Children separate from their parents with ease. They enter confidently and hang up their coat and bags. Children wash their hands independently and talk about the need for soap 'to kill bugs and germs'. Everyone sits down on the carpet together to say 'good morning' to their friends and sing a 'hello' song. This helps children to feel valued and secure.

Staff have high expectations for all children. They design an environment and plan activities that build on what children already know and can do. For example, to follow children's interests, a tool bench outside is being used as a garage to fix the ride-on cars. This provides opportunities to develop children's fine and gross motor skills. Children are well behaved as they interact with each other and the staff.

Children enjoy a daily carpet time where they explore a letter of the week. For example, children are learning the sound 'm' through singing, games and art. During play, when children spot the letter 'm', they spontaneously sing the song of the week. The carefully planned curriculum has a positive impact on children's learning.

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

• Staff focus on developing children's independence. Children select and serve their own snack, carefully pouring milk into their cereals and water into cups. They discuss why water is good for our bodies and children explain that 'water helps wake up our brains'.
• Children demonstrate kind behaviour and support each other. For example, when someone struggles to put their coat on, another child shows them how they need to stand next to the hood to flip the coat over their heads. This helps develop their problem-solving skills and resilience.
• Staff create an environment that supports children's language development. They engage in meaningful conversations with children. However, at times, staff ask too many questions in quick succession. This does not always provide children with time to think and communicate their own thoughts and ideas.
• Children focus well on the activities they are doing. Their behaviour is good. Staff quickly intervene when children need extra support. For example, when a child throws a toy, a member of staff explains why this could be dangerous. They gently encourage them to pick it up.
• Children enjoy exploring a range of activities set out for them. For example, they show high levels of engagement mixing shaving foam, corn flour and hair gel. Children who dislike textures play with sensory bags so they can still enjoy the experience. They talk about how the mixture feels. Staff introduce new words like 'gloopy' and 'sticky' to help expand children's vocabulary.
• Staff provide opportunities to learn about cultural celebrations. However, they do not always support children to explore their own home languages, cultural experiences and special occasions. This does not support them so well in understanding their own uniqueness.
• Children learn about the world around them. For example, they visit local parks, shops and the library. They enjoy learning about people who help us during a visit to the fire station. They discuss how firefighters keep us safe and practise putting out chalk fires with squirty water bottles.
• Parents state that they find staff friendly and approachable. They are happy with the setting. They especially like the photos that show their children playing and out on trips. Parents feed back that their children talk about what they have learned at home. For example, when out shopping, a child exclaims, 'look, S is for snake' when they see letters in the supermarket.
• Staff feel valued. There is a culture of learning from each other through observation and supervisions. Support for apprentices is exceptional. The manager ensures that they have the time, guidance and opportunities they need to fulfil the commitments of their course and become skilled practitioners. This helps ensure that all staff can provide the best possible outcomes for children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's skills in supporting children to communicate their own thoughts and ideas and develop their language further
• enhance the curriculum to provide even more opportunities for children to share their home experiences and learn to value different people and communities.