Toybox Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy and settle quickly. The well-planned curriculum ensures they are inquisitive to find out what activities are available that day. Staff enable children to make decisions and choose if they wish to join adult-led activities. For example, half the children decide to go to the communal garden, where they gain an important sense of being part of their community. They recall what the plants need to be able to grow and enjoy filling their watering cans to give the roots water. Back at the pre-school, children are invited to look at the produce they picked, and all the children eagerly engage. Children extend their knowledge and vocabulary, learning the names of more unusual vegetables, such as chard and kale. Staff help children to describe the differences they notice and consider what might have made the holes in the leaves. Even the youngest children are fascinated.

Through effective teaching, children learn about cause and effect. For example, young children explore how far toy cars roll on a slope. Older children describe how the wind blows their hair and say that dry leaves are crunchy and that when they walk downhill, they speed up. Staff engage with children successfully to support their language development. They narrate children's actions, repeat mispronounced words and role model new vocabulary.

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

• Through good observations and monitoring of children's development, staff know the children well, what interests them and how to motivate their learning. Good teaching skills include demonstrating, explaining and giving children time to have a go at new skills and keep practising. For example, young children explore how tools can have an effect on dough; cutters, scissors and a plastic saw can all cut, but in different ways.
• Children have good opportunities to be active and engage in physical activities, indoors and outdoors. They enthusiastically join in with their morning music and movement, listening to instructions and gaining control and coordination. They excitedly march in a line to 'The Grand Old Duke of York' and display confidence on the climbing frame.
• Children behave well and have good attitudes to learning. Staff provide effective support for young children to manage their behaviour and to understand their feelings. Children have good relationships with the staff and each other.
• Staff enable children to become increasingly independent in their personal care. Children understand the importance of hygiene in their routines and activities. For example, they wash their hands before eating and wipe their sticky fingers before going to play. They have good discussions about their own health while bathing and brushing the teeth of dolls. Although staff keep children safe, they do not always use this as an opportunity to teach older children to consider and think about how to manage risks for themselves.
• The partnership with parents is strong. Parents confirm how well staff share information with them and work together to support children's care and development. Staff build good relationships with other settings that children attend, to work together to meet children's needs. However, they are not as proactive in finding out what other providers already know about children to help them plan even more effectively when children first start at the pre-school.
• The manager provides good support and professional development for staff. For example, the special educational needs coordinator is new to the role and is attending training with the deputy to support her. Staff work together well as a team. The management team use funding effectively, focusing on what will benefit the children the most. They are developing a sensory room for all the children to use, but with the high needs of some children in mind.
• The current committee is extremely supportive of the setting, wanting to ensure that the future of the pre-school is secure for the community. For example, they are seeking to purchase the lease of the building and are extensively fundraising to make major changes to the outside. This will enable children to freely access the area and be able to choose where they want to play and learn.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• deepen older children's understanding of possible risks and how to manage them for themselves
• extend the partnerships with other settings children attend when gaining information on children's starting points.