Whitchurch Pre-School CIO

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children feel very happy, safe and secure at this charming setting. Staff know children well and have very positive and nurturing relationships with them all. Each child is treated as an individual, and the inclusive setting carefully supports children to develop their confidence, resilience and independence. All staff track children's progress and assign next steps in their learning. These are shared with parents to support children in their learning at home.

The curriculum focuses on teaching children about the environment as well as catering for children's interests. The setting is predominately based outside with a forest school approach. This enables children to learn about the world around them through engaging in practical, hands-on experiences. For example, children learn how to plant and grow fruit, vegetables and flowers. They also use the campfire to cook food daily. Staff have very high expectations of children. Children are highly engaged in their learning and are beautifully behaved. All children make good progress in their learning and development.

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

• The setting engages very effectively with the local community to provide the children with meaningful learning experiences. For example, children go on walks in the village to the church and to visit animals. This helps them to learn about religion and gain an understanding of animals. Furthermore, members of the community visit the setting to share stories and sing songs with the children.
• The manager is visionary in her leadership and her aspirations for the staff. All staff work together harmoniously, sharing the same values in their practice. Staff report high levels of well-being at the setting. There is a positive and caring atmosphere among the staff and children.
• Children have plentiful opportunities to develop their physical skills. Children walk in the locality daily. In the garden and the park, children have the opportunity to develop their climbing and balancing skills. Furthermore, children are also taught to carry, transport and lift items when working in the garden.
• The setting supports the children to develop their independence skills and encourages them to make their own choice about what it is they would like to play with. For example, the children can freely access the 'snack shop', whereby they select the food they would like to eat. They then prepare the food and clean up after themselves when they have finished.
• Staff skilfully use everyday routines and opportunities to teach children how to count and learn mathematical concepts. For example, children learn to count when lining up, singing songs and sharing stories. When staff interact with children, they discuss concepts such as size and use words like 'enormous' and talk about different shapes.
• The majority of staff interact well with children, asking questions, modelling language and introducing children to new vocabulary such as 'bill' when talking about birds. However, some members of staff engage in more instructional language with children as opposed to quality back-and-forth interactions. As a result, children do not make as much progress in their communication and language skills as they could.
• Parents speak very positively of the setting. They report that they are well informed of their child's progress and next steps in learning. The setting provides parents with frequent updates on their child's learning via an online platform. Parents say their children are happy and learning well, and they would recommend the setting.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop the quality of staff interactions to help children build their communication and language skills even further.