Willaston Pre-school

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders and staff create a calm and nurturing environment where children feel safe, secure and valued. Staff take time to greet children personally as they arrive and gather relevant information from parents to ensure that children's needs are understood and met from the outset. Children settle quickly and show they have positive relationships with staff. Children are supported to become independent and confident. For example, children confidently hang up their belongings on named pegs and excitedly join in play with their friends. Children have a strong sense of belonging at the nursery.

Leaders implement a well-planned curriculum that builds on what children already know and can do. Staff gather accurate information about children's starting points before they join the nursery. They spend time observing children to carry out early assessments and identify appropriate next steps in learning. In addition, leaders and staff provide timely and targeted support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They work effectively with external agencies to ensure children are fully included and make good progress from their individual starting points.

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

• Staff support children to develop early mathematical skills across the nursery. They incorporate counting into daily routines and use number songs and rhymes. As a result, children begin to use mathematical language in their play, counting with increasing confidence and showing a developing awareness of shapes, size and position.
• Staff promote healthy lifestyles effectively. Children benefit from daily access to outdoor play and regularly engage in physical activities such as dance and yoga, which support their physical development and overall well-being. They are provided with a range of healthy, nutritious meals and snacks, and fresh drinking water is always available. Children develop a secure understanding of the importance of regular exercise and healthy eating habits.
• Parents speak highly of the nursery, praising the excellent communication and the home-from-home environment. They value how approachable and friendly leaders and staff are. They share children's development regularly using an online platform and at daily handover. This helps parents to feel involved and informed.
• The committee plays an active and supportive role in the nursery. It works closely with the staff team and has clearly defined roles to support leaders. For example, committee members and leaders have an action plan to drive ongoing improvements in the playgroup to ensure that children have the best outcomes possible. Furthermore, staff receive regular supervision to monitor and reflect on progress. Training opportunities are actively encouraged to help staff build on their skills to meet the needs of the children.
• Overall, staff support children's communication and language development well. They consistently narrate children's play and introduce new vocabulary, such as 'float' during balloon games. Most children are confident communicators. However, while staff make efforts to learn some key words from children's home languages, they have not yet developed effective strategies to fully support children with English as an additional language in expressing their needs and developing their speech and language skills.
• Children have free access to a learning environment that offers a variety of experiences. For example, staff link real-life events to children's learning, such as a recent visit from the local fire service. Children discuss things like the colour of smoke and why it is important to crawl close to the floor to breathe safely. However, some activities, such as large group sessions, are not always well matched to all children's development and understanding. At these times, some children lose interest and do not fully benefit from the learning.
• Overall, staff promote positive behaviour and children generally behave well. For example, children show kindness, play well together and share resources. However, during transitions, such as preparing to go outdoors or mealtimes, some children display unwanted behaviours. At these times, staff do not always set clear expectations or explain how children's behaviour affects others.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide children with English as additional language with even more opportunities to be able to communicate their wants and needs to fully promote their emerging speech and language skills
• strengthen the planning of group times to ensure individual learning needs are met and to support children to maintain higher levels of engagement
• further develop behaviour management strategies to support children to understand the impact of any unwanted behaviour and how their behaviour may impact on others.