Victoria Road Pre-school

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are excited to come to this warm and caring pre-school. They are greeted by nurturing staff, who know them well. Children demonstrate that they feel happy and safe as they separate with ease from their parents and carers. Staff provide a range of exciting learning experiences indoors and outdoors. They provide children with real items to touch and smell, such as a small Christmas tree. This develops children's senses and promotes a conversation between the staff and children. Staff use these opportunities to introduce new words such as 'spikey'. This develops children's vocabulary.

Children behave very well in this pre-school and understand the routines well. Staff encourage children to be independent from the outset. For example, young children begin to fetch their coats ready for outside play and skilfully flip them over their head to put on. Older children wash their hands independently before they serve themselves snack. This helps prepare children for school.

The manager and staff have created an effective learning environment. Children have access to a good-quality curriculum which focus on children's social and emotional development. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are planned for effectively based around their interests and engagement. This helps children to develop a good attitude to learning.

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

• Staff develop children's speech and vocabulary. They use children's favourites stories to broaden their growing vocabulary. Staff use simple sentences and gestures to support children's understanding. This helps all children to develop their speech over time. However, sometimes staff overwhelm children as they ask several questions in quick succession and do not offer them time to think and respond.
• Staff are dedicated to meeting children's individual needs. They swiftly identify any children who will benefit from additional support. Staff use other advice from professionals to develop plans that are specific to the needs of the children. This helps staff to deepen their knowledge and support children's individual needs.
• Overall, staff plan a wide range of experiences to broaden children's learning and knowledge. Children explore brussel sprouts, carrots, and potatoes. Staff use these opportunities to encourage children to count and weigh the different sized vegetables. This supports children's early maths skills through their spontaneous play. However, staff do not consistently ensure planned activities meet each child's individual learning needs. As a result, on occasion some children struggle to join in and become disengaged.
• Staff teach children how to keep themselves safe. For example, they gently remind children to walk when moving between the garden area and indoors. Furthermore, staff use children's imaginative play to teach them about the importance of wearing a seat belt in a car.
• Staff promote children's health well. They monitor children's packed lunches and snacks. Staff provide guidance for parents to help them understand what makes a healthy packed lunch. Children wash their hands before they eat and are encouraged to develop healthy eating habits, such as having their savoury food first at lunchtime. They know that fruit and vegetables are healthy foods, and they grow these in the garden. They have ample opportunities to exercise, both indoors and outdoors, which promotes their good health and well-being.
• Staff focus on teaching children how to understand and manage their own feelings. They talk to children about how they feel and use stories and daily yoga sessions to help children understand their different emotions.
• Partnership with parents is strong. The manager and staff work hard to get to know the children and their families from the outset. This helps them develop trusting relationships. Parents comment that the pre-school is the best in their experience and about how 'amazing' the staff are. They say their children are eager to attend. Parents state that their children have progressed in their learning since attending.
• Staff say that they feel supported and valued by the management team. They attend supervision meetings with the manager. This helps them to reflect on their practice and identify professional development opportunities. For example, staff complete training courses to develop their understanding of how to identify and support children if they have speech delay.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the planning of activities, so that teaching is successfully adapted to maximise the learning opportunities for every child
• support staff to more consistently give children enough time to think and respond during conversations, to help further develop children's thinking skills.