Trelowan Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children positively thrive in this warm and caring setting. They eagerly come in and settle quickly. The extremely effective key-person system ensures that children feel very safe, secure and confident. Children's behaviour is excellent as they know what to expect and what is expected of them. For example, they help each other to return dressing-up clothes to the rail when they finish playing.

Leaders and staff have very high expectations for all children. They have designed a rich and thoughtful curriculum to support this. Children eagerly engage with the stimulating and exciting activities inside and outdoors. They become deeply involved, trying new ideas and learning new skills. Children persevere when tasks are difficult, for example when creating patterns with building blocks. Staff plan activities that closely follow children's interests and build on what they know, so children make rapid and exceptional progress.

All children make excellent progress with their speech. Staff model new words when children play. Children learn to rhyme, and learn letter sounds through extremely well-delivered activities. They develop a love of books as staff read to them in an extremely engaging way. Children repeat familiar and favourite stories as they play. Staff expertly develop children's mathematical skills. They constantly highlight shape names and talk about how numbers change when a block is added during play.

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

• Leaders and staff work exceptionally well with parents. This ensures that they understand all children's care and learning needs. Leaders and staff develop an outstanding and ambitious curriculum with this knowledge. Staff work tirelessly to ensure all children make exceptional progress. Staff share children's achievements and next steps regularly with parents.
• Staff are highly skilled at developing children's early language and communication skills. Children communicate confidently and learn new words rapidly. Children readily engage in rhyming activities. They sing the 'silly soup' song and shout out the items that rhyme. Children take part in French lessons. This helps them to blossom in confidence. They proudly share French words and rhymes to everyone. Staff use every opportunity to embed mathematical language in children's play. Outside, children throw a large dice with shapes on. They match the shape to large chalk shapes on the floor. Children confidently shout out 'triangle', 'rectangle' and 'square'. Staff model hexagon and point out the number of sides.
• Children develop positive and healthy lifestyles at this setting. Staff make excellent use of the large outside garden, especially to develop children's physical skills. They practise yoga with the children every day. This promotes children's core strength and to helps them concentrate. Staff calmly support children to understand the importance of hygiene. Children wash their hands effectively as part of their routine. Staff consistently promote healthy eating. Children enjoy healthy snacks, such as strawberries and bananas.
• Leaders and staff have a deeply embedded shared ethos of respect and happiness. This ensures that children feel highly valued. Children are extremely confident and secure. This because there is highly effective key-person system, which ensures they receive the perfect care they need. Staff sensitively support children to become highly independent and persist at tasks. When exploring rice, children begin to learn to draw the letters from their name. They keep going until they succeed. Staff use praise very well to build the children's self-esteem. Children are clearly proud of their achievements.
• Leaders are aware of all children's abilities to ensure no child is left behind developmentally. They work in partnership with schools to identify areas where children perform less well later in education. A highly effective scheme to develop children's love of books and reading is in place. Children from the local school read to the pre-school children to inspire them. Staff creatively plan activities based on stories. Children develop a rich use of words and phrases through this and use them in their play. Leaders and staff go beyond what is necessary to support children with additional needs. They work closely with outside agencies to implement effective teaching for these children.