Warley Preschool Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide a calm, nurturing and stimulating learning environment. They cheerfully greet children and families as they arrive at the pre-school. Children enter the pre-school happily and eager to play. They give letters to the inspector and say, 'This is for you.' Children feel confident and secure in the knowledge that staff will keep them safe.

The manager and staff value and celebrate the uniqueness, ethnicity and religion of children and their families. Staff teach children about the special faiths and religions that families have. They help children to understand, and be respectful of, their friends' beliefs. Children develop their understanding of the differences between themselves and other people. Staff teach children to be caring. They encourage children to carry out acts of kindness. Children help to spread happiness in the community when they give flowers to local people. Children are very well behaved. Staff encourage them to take turns, be thoughtful and caring. Children spontaneously ask their friends, 'Are you okay?' Children thrive in this pre-school.

Overall, staff have high expectations of what children can achieve. They encourage children's independent choices. Children choose different-shaped boxes and use tape to fasten them together to make 'robots'. Children are motivated and concentrate well for long periods. Staff provide plenty of unhurried time for children to develop their creative ideas.

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

• The manager and staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities extremely well. They are swift to intervene when children are not progressing as expected. Staff work closely with a wide range of other professionals. They use shared strategies to promote children's development. The manager uses additional funding effectively. She provides children with one- to-one adult support and special resources to support children with complex needs. Children have positive outcomes.
• Staff focus strongly on supporting children's communication and language skills. They use early intervention groups to support children's listening skills and extend their vocabulary. Staff use stories and discussions to introduce new words, such as 'sea anemone', 'blueberries' and 'bristle worm'. They reinforce children's language, using the correct pronunciation. Children develop a wide vocabulary and speak confidently, using well-constructed sentences.
• Overall, the manager supports staff well. She observes their practice, provides a range of training and supports them during staff meetings to help develop their teaching. However, staff do not consistently engage with children. For example, some staff type their observations on electronic devices while children sit next to them. As a result, during these times, children do not receive the support they need to develop new skills and competencies in learning.
• Parents speak highly of the pre-school. They describe it as 'very welcoming', 'helpful' and 'supportive'. Parents are kept informed about their children's learning through daily discussions with staff, newsletters, an app and summaries of development. Parents feel that they are supported and given ideas and strategies to help their children to learn at home. Staff signpost parents and carers when additional help is needed. They also provide a 'give and take' food bank for families.
• Children are highly motivated and active. They delight in challenging their physical skills on the obstacle course that staff create. Children show strength and coordination of their bodies. They stride over wooden circles, step through ladders and balance on wobble boards. Children take suitable risks as they climb on structures to observe the birds. Staff encourage children to be active and develop healthy lifestyles. They promote healthy eating and have received an award for helping to reduce the amount of sugar that children eat.
• The manager and staff are clear about what they want children to learn. They use themes to help them plan broad learning experiences. Recently, these include Arctic animals, pets, birds and sea creatures. Children display strong memory recall skills. They describe the animals that have visited the pre-school. Children remember that Poppy the dog came to the pre-school. They excitedly talk about how Poppy ate the dog biscuits in the pet shop they had made. Children are well prepared for school. Staff work effectively with teachers to support children's smooth move to school.
• Staff provide a wide range of additional activities each week to help enrich all children's experiences. These include visits to the library to borrow books, cooking club activities, forest school activities and music-and-movement sessions. Children thoroughly enjoy these activities and extend their knowledge.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• ensure that all staff's interactions are consistently effective and fully engage children in learning to further develop their skills and competencies.