Weaverham Little Bears Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children happily enter the pre-school. The atmosphere is calm as children show their eagerness to explore the activities on offer. Children show they feel safe as they enthusiastically greet staff and happily talk to each other as they play. Children share their experiences. They enthusiastically point out their photographs displayed on the walls. This helps children to feel safe and secure. Children are confident to greet the inspector. They are keen to show how they attempt to write their names. Children mostly behave well. They demonstrate positive attitudes towards their learning and to each other.

Staff have high expectations of children. They promote children's physical development well. They help children to create obstacle courses, and children have great fun moving in a variety of ways. Children show good coordination and strength as they climb over equipment and crawl through tunnels. They manage this remarkably well. For example, children help their friends to climb up ladders and cheer for each other as they participate in races. Children are very supportive. They help each other to attempt to create a cake in the mud kitchen. Children's laughter fills the air as they pour water into mud using jugs and funnels. They show determination and keep on trying to master the difficult skill. Children are developing skills and attitudes required for when they start school.

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

• Leaders have clear aspirations for the setting. They aim for all children to achieve their very best. Self-evaluation is accurate and includes the views of parents and staff through questionnaires and discussions. Parents express how they appreciate the nurturing approach of the staff. They describe how this approach has been instrumental in ensuring that their children are happy to attend. Parents receive ideas on how to extend children's learning at home. This benefits children as there is a consistent approach to their learning.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported. Procedures for early identification help to ensure that children receive additional support at the earliest opportunity. Staff work hard to provide inclusive care and education for children with SEND. This helps children to make good progress from their individual starting points and prepares them for future learning.
• Staff provide children with an ambitious curriculum that builds on what they know and can do. They use their good knowledge of child development to plan activities that keep children motivated to learn. Children enjoy creating models from play dough. They develop their mathematical language as they discuss the objects they create. Children discuss measurements as they describe the size and weight of their models. This means that children learn about mathematical concepts through fun activities.
• Overall, children's behaviour is good. They play with their friends and are learning about turn taking and the importance of sharing resources. However, occasionally, staff do not have a consistent approach to help children to understand their feelings and manage their emotions effectively. This means that children do not always consider how their behaviour effects others.
• Children develop some independence skills. For example, they carefully pour their own drinks at snack time and select resources to play with. However, on occasions, the organisation of daily routines does not maximise children's developing independence. This is because staff are deployed to complete tasks that children are more than capable of doing, such as tidying up toys and opening packed lunch boxes. At these times, children sit and wait. They become disengaged and sometimes disruptive. This does not consistently support children's learning and independence.
• Children learn about the community in which they live. They learn how to grow vegetables and tend to animals through a visit from a local farmer and their animals. The manager arranges for emergency services to visit the pre-school. Children explain how they learned about how the police help in the local community. As a result, children develop a deep respect for those who help them.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to consistently support children in understanding how their behaviour effects others and how to regulate their feelings and emotions
• review the organisation of some daily routines, to ensure that opportunities are consistently given to develop children's learning and independence.