WASP @ St. Marks

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at pre-school keen to learn. They are greeted enthusiastically by warm and nurturing staff. Children follow well-established routines to start their day, such as finding their name cards to sign in. Children who are a little unsure on arrival are sensitively encouraged to settle quickly and take part. They are encouraged to follow their interests and, as a result, engage in a wide range of activities for long periods of time. They shriek with delight as they make imaginary ice cream and pretend to be doctors, demonstrating wonderful imaginative skills.

Children have strong bonds with staff, who constantly praise and celebrate their success. For example, when children proudly show they can write their family member's names, staff clap their hands in delight. In turn, children frequently praise themselves, each other and staff during their play.

Children are taught to develop a strong sense of self. For instance, during creative play, children look in mirrors, talk about their features and paint self-portraits. Children are supported to appreciate people's differences, be polite, caring and respectful to each other and visitors. Children have lovely manners and behave well.

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

• The manager and staff are passionate in their shared vision to support children to be happy learners who are school ready. The curriculum intent for children's learning is shared with and well understood by staff. As a result, planning for children's learning is effective, and they make good progress.
• Support for children's communication is a real strength. Staff support children to think before replying to questions, and they provide a range of opportunities for children to learn and use new words, such as through stories and songs. As a result, children are making good progress in their language development.
• Children have meaningful opportunities to practise their mathematical skills. For example, at snack time, staff support children to count how many pieces of fruit they would like to eat. Children learn that numbers represent quantity, and they enjoy using mathematical language during their play. Children develop strong knowledge of number and other mathematical concepts.
• Staff support children to be physically active. Children use a range of skills as they enjoy chasing bubbles, climbing, balancing and using scooters in the outdoor area. This has a positive impact on children's physical development.
• Overall, staff provide some good opportunities for children to develop their independence. For example, they help to tidy up after themselves. However, children are not always given time to complete tasks that they are able to do for themselves. This means that children do not have a consistent opportunity to meet their own needs when they move on to school.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified swiftly. Staff seek advice and training from the local authority and other agencies, such as speech and language therapy, to provide intervention and support. This helps to ensure children with SEND make progress in their learning and development.
• Staff are effective at teaching children about healthy lifestyles. For instance, staff act as good role models, as they eat their own healthy lunches with the children. They talk about their healthy choices and why food that has fallen on the floor is unhygienic. Children's understanding of health and hygiene is established and developing well.
• Parents and carers are extremely complimentary about the progress their children make from their starting points. They describe the pre-school as 'a calming, supportive and friendly environment, where children have fun.' Staff use parent feedback to make positive changes to the pre-school. For instance, settling-in days are extended to accommodate children who have had no contact with others due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Children benefit from strong partnerships between parents and the pre-school.
• The manager is passionate and dedicated to her role. However, monitoring and self evaluation sometimes lack rigour. Consequently, sometimes, leaders do not address areas for development in a timely way, to achieve their ambition and raise the quality of practice to the very highest levels.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• extend opportunities for children to consistently develop and practise their independence skills
• strengthen monitoring and evaluation of practice to identify and drive improvements in a timely manner.