Town Street Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in the exceptionally warm and welcoming environment that the manager and staff provide for them. Children display high levels of confidence and self-esteem and demonstrate that they feel safe and secure in staff's care. They come into the setting excited and eager to participate in the wide range of activities planned for them. Children and families forge excellent relationships with the kind, caring and nurturing manager and staff, who have an in-depth understanding of their individual needs. The manager and staff focus on gathering detailed information about children's interests and specific needs, which they use to shape children's experiences at playgroup.

Children benefit from the rich learning experiences and ambitious curriculum that the staff and manager plan for them. Children immerse themselves completely in activities led by adults and show high levels of curiosity during independent play. For example, children excitedly create and perform theatre productions with their peers. Children purchase tickets at the theatre kiosk, where they use their excellent mathematical skills to work out how much their tickets cost. Staff are on hand to support younger children who are developing their number recognition. Staff skilfully support older children to complete simple addition and subtraction equations. Children are making excellent progress and are very well prepared for their eventual move to school.

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

• Children develop extensive skills and knowledge across all seven areas of learning. The manager and staff gather detailed information about each child from their starting points and know them extremely well. They use their detailed knowledge of each child to provide an ambitious curriculum that is targeted to their individual needs. Staff skilfully break down each skill that they want children to learn into small steps. They differentiate these steps according to each child's stage of learning. This helps to build on each child's knowledge over time until they achieve their goal.
• Staff support children to develop a love of reading. They provide books that cover the different topics that children are learning about, to extend their knowledge and skills. Children read familiar books independently and use the pictures to retell stories. During group reading times, children listen intently to staff as they read with enthusiasm. Staff emphasise key words that the characters use in the book and encourage children to consider what they are saying and why. This helps to broaden children's vocabulary and challenges their thinking.
• Children develop a deep understanding of their feelings and emotions. For example, they read stories with staff and talk about the different emotions that the characters are feeling. Staff extend their learning well during creative activities, where they explore the similarities and differences between people. They talk about how they are feeling and encourage children to compare a range of feelings and emotions during small-group activities. Children demonstrate a strong awareness of their emotions and express these well.
• Partnership working with parents is remarkable. The manager and staff have daily conversations with parents about their child's progress. They meet regularly with parents to discuss their child's development and include them in making decisions about what their child learns next. The manager provides parents' meetings, where they discuss effective strategies that can help to support their child's development at home. The manager shares a weekly newsletter, which has links to online resources that parents can use with their child at home. Children also have access to an extensive learning library, where they can choose different activities and stories to take home.
• The playgroup is highly inclusive. The manager and staff work closely with local schools to identify effective ways to prepare children for their move to school. They work collaboratively with external professionals to ensure that there is early intervention for children who require additional support. This helps to ensure that all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, receive the targeted support that they need in their learning.
• The manager provides staff with excellent opportunities to access support, coaching and training for their continued professional development. For example, staff complete their own research and undertake further training to maintain their very high standards and quality of teaching. They share what they have learned with the rest of the staff team during staff meetings and training days.