West Hill Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled at the pre-school. They enjoy the broad range of learning experiences and benefit from a wide, well-planned curriculum. Children confidently choose to play indoors and outside, developing good physical skills and engaging in activities that ignite their curiosity. Children are excited to explore. Whether they are pretending to sell produce in the farm shop or sharing books and stories, they play well together.

Children behave well. They share and take turns without disagreements and have a good understanding of expectations. Children practise developing their small-muscle skills in preparation for early writing and starting school. They engage excitedly in conversation with staff, building on their vocabulary.

Communication has remained good between parents and staff throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This has helped children to feel safe and secure. Staff have kept parents updated through social media. They have organised scavenger hunts and set challenges, including activities such as yoga, stories and dancing. Although children are still dropped off at the door, staff greet each family individually and share information with parents so that they feel involved in their child's learning.

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

• Staff know the children well. They find out what children already know and can do, and provide a wide variety of educational experiences based on their interests. Staff interact well with the children and allow them plenty of time to think, express their ideas and solve problems.
• Children thoroughly enjoy role-play and acting out scenarios. Outside, children become 'police officers'. They use pencils and paper to write notes and enjoy working well together to build a kennel from bricks for the 'police dogs'.
• Staff are good role models and interact in a kind and sensitive way with the children. As a result, children follow staff's lead. Their behaviour is good. Children understand that they need to share and take turns.
• Children use their imagination well as they pretend to talk on the telephone. They weigh real fruit and vegetables on the weighing scales in the farm shop. Outside, children practise their balancing skills as they step from one log to the next. They thoroughly enjoyed making potions with 'magic' water.
• Most children follow instructions successfully as they form a circle for group time. More-confident children call out the answers when staff ask questions and demonstrate their good knowledge. However, sometimes, staff do not equally encourage the quieter, less-confident children to participate. Some activities are too lengthy to maintain children's interest. Consequently, some children lose concentration and look for something else to do.
• Staff recognise the importance of good partnership working and the impact this has on children's learning. They liaise with parents effectively to build strong partnerships. Parents appreciate the good communication from staff. They recognise the positive impact that the staff have had on their children's confidence. There are effective procedures to liaise with other settings children attend. However, not all staff are clear on how to implement these.
• Leaders and managers provide strong leadership for the staff team. They provide coaching for staff to identify training needs and celebrate achievements. Staff are encouraged to explore their interests and provided with specific training to support them in their role. For instance, staff complete forest school training, providing them with ideas to help build children's resilience, well-being and social skills, as well as broadening children's knowledge of the world.
• Children follow good hygiene routines and learn the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. They enjoy a social time as they have snack together. Children develop good independence skills as they spread butter onto crackers, pour their drinks for themselves and choose from a range of food.
• Leaders and managers use self-evaluation effectively to bring about change. They are proactive in seeking early help for children when needed. They liaise effectively with parents and external agencies involved in children's lives to ensure they receive the help required.
• Due to unforeseen circumstances, the provider failed to notify Ofsted of changes to the nominated individual within the required timescales. However, this was quickly rectified and there is no impact on the children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• extend staff practices to encourage the quieter, less-confident children more in group activities to motivate their learning more effectively
• ensure all staff are clear about procedures for sharing information with other settings, to ensure a consistent approach for children's learning and development.