Westbere Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are warmly welcomed into the pre-school by staff who are friendly and caring. Most children separate confidently from their parents or carers. The few children who are a little unsure are given extra support and cuddles. This is effective in building these children's confidence to say goodbye and enter pre-school happily. Children have freedom to choose from a range of exciting, varied and accessible learning opportunities. They enjoy exploring activities inside and outside, which capture their attention and interest. For example, children play imaginatively when feeding and dressing the dolls before putting them to bed.

Children behave typically for their age. They understand the simple rules in place to keep them safe. They listen well to staff, cooperating with routines such as tidy-up times and sitting for welcome time, stories or singing. Staff recognise that since the COVID-19 pandemic, some children need a little more support as they learn to share and take turns. This support is offered calmly and consistently by the patient staff, and as a result, children have built good friendships and enjoy playing games together.

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

• Staff promote children's love of reading. Children ask for their favourite stories, as staff read enthusiastically and make reading stories fun and enjoyable. Children retell stories to their friends, using expressions and repetitive phrases from stories, such as 'Little pig, little pig, let me come in.'
• Children enjoy playing with malleable materials, such as play dough. This helps develop their fine motor skills and hand muscles in preparation for early writing. For example, children draw pictures and create signs using a variety of writing tools. These are displayed around the pre-school to support understanding of the rules and routines.
• Mathematics is embedded throughout everyday routines. Staff teach and extend children's mathematical knowledge through counting and introducing new language. Children count how many children are at the play-dough table and measure how tall they are, saying, 'I am taller than you.'
• Children sit and enjoy a range of activities together. For example, they explore paint as they print, create patterns and mix colours together. Children display high levels of engagement at these times. However, on occasion, staff are not deployed flexibly enough to enable children to follow their changing interests, such as in creative play. At these times, this impacts on children's ability to choose where they want to learn.
• Staff identify and support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities extremely well. They establish links with other professionals to help provide further support, for example in relation to the development of children's speech and language skills.
• Settling-in sessions are tailor-made for each child and their family. Staff plan visits carefully to support children to make good progress from the start. Well-established key-person relationships mean all children feel happy and secure. Children confidently call staff by name and love to share their adventures from home. Staff build strong and trusting relationships with families. Parents report that they are very happy with the care their children receive. Parents state that their children have 'come on leaps and bounds and significantly grown in confidence' since starting at the pre-school.
• Staff feel well supported and are happy in their roles. However, opportunities for professional development are limited and are not fully effective in developing the knowledge of new staff in particular.
• Children understand how to keep themselves healthy and the importance of a good diet. They learn about good dental hygiene and how the food we eat affects our teeth. Children learn how plants grow, and they enjoy cooking with the vegetables they have grown. For example, children grew potatoes in the garden and then used their chopping and cooking skills to make chips.
• Staff provide regular opportunities for children to explore their local community. Children benefit from visits to the local wild animal park, the local church and the telephone box library. This helps to support children's knowledge and understanding of the world around them.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• deploy staff more flexibly to encourage children to have consistent opportunities to explore their own interests in learning
• use opportunities to share best practice to further support and coach new staff and help them develop their knowledge and skills.