Treasure Chest Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy attending this small and friendly pre-school. They engage in a variety of activities that support their learning and development. Management and staff have high expectations of the children in their care. They take the time to get to know the children and their interests. This helps them to assess and plan activities that engage children and extend their learning. Children gain useful skills and make good progress in readiness for school.

Staff support children to behave well. Children demonstrate that they feel safe and secure. They develop respectful and trusting bonds with staff, who are kind, caring and patient. Children feel confident to approach staff for support and comfort. They listen and follow simple instructions, such as tidying up before circle time. Children learn to recognise their own and their friend's emotions. They are polite and considerate towards each other. For instance, children learn to share and take turns while they play a racing game with the toy cars.

Children independence and self-confidence are well supported. They learn to manage their own self-care. Older children dress themselves, while staff support the younger children. Children learn about the importance of cleanliness and hygiene, as they wash their hands, especially before snack.

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

• Children gain a good understanding of healthy eating and develop their independence. Staff provide children with healthy snacks. They encourage all children, including the youngest children, to cut their own fruits and vegetables. Children pour their own drinks, choosing between milk and water. Staff use these opportunities to discuss healthy eating with the children.
• Staff are aware of children's interests. For example, they observe that some children show interest in bugs. Staff use this to provide children with extra resources, such as digging tools, magnifying glasses and books, to extend and embed their learning further.
• Staff foster children's interest in books and stories, reading books to children throughout the day. They use various techniques when reading to children, such as facial expressions and voice intonation. Staff encourage children to anticipate and recall what will happen next. For instance, children build a 'stick house' after listening to 'The Gruffalo' and use puppets to act out the story. Children develop a love of books.
• Children develop early mathematical skills. Mathematical language is an integral part of the day-to-day conversation in the pre-school. Staff introduce positional language regularly to children. For example, staff introduce the phrase 'on top' as children add branches to the den roof. Children count spontaneously as they play. They learn to make connections between numbers and quantities as they match numbered keys to the number of dots on the corresponding locks.
• Overall, staff support children's communication and language skills well. They get down to children's level when speaking to them. Children benefit from rich back-and-forth conversations with staff. However, occasionally, some staff ask too many questions in quick succession and do not give children enough time to process and respond to questions asked of them.
• Parents comment that their children are happy in the pre-school. They say that they make good progress in their language and communication and develop their social skills. Parents feel confident to approach management and staff with any issues they might have. However, staff do not always exchange information with parents about their children's daily activities and achievements at home and in the pre-school. This does not support the parents and the staff to provide a consistent approach to children's learning and development.
• Staff well-being is important to the management team. Management takes steps to support team morale. This helps to ensure good teamwork and a positive learning environment for all children. Staff comment that they feel well supported. They are confident in approaching the management team with any issues they might have, both personal and professional.
• Staff support children's physical development well. Children have opportunities to run and ride scooters and bikes. Staff support children to take age-appropriate risks, such as carrying big branches around. Children develop their fine motor skills as they manipulate and manoeuvre keys successfully into the correct locks.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to recognise the importance of giving children the time they need to process and express their thoughts
• develop further the partnership working with parents so that parents and staff benefit from consistent opportunities for two-way discussions about the children.