Writtle Green Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are warmly welcomed into the setting by the staff and separate from their parents and carers with ease. Staff are kind, caring and attentive to children's needs. This helps children to develop strong and trusting relationships with staff. Children are happy, settled and clearly enjoy being at the pre-school. As they play and engage with activities, they giggle and laugh as they naturally chat to staff and each other.

Staff have a high expectation for all children. They provide a stimulating environment that reflects children's interests, promotes their curiosity and builds on their knowledge and skills. Children are keen to join in with activities and are positive, independent learners. They make up their own games and confidently select different resources to help them extend their play. Staff encourage and support children to practise new skills and take safe risks. For example, they model techniques and teach children how to balance and climb safely as they walk across planks and scale the climbing wall.

Children play well together. They learn to share and show respect to staff and each other. For example, children ask politely to take a turn with the resources. Children show good imagination as they play. For example, in the outside mud kitchen, they mix natural resources together and say they are making 'perfume potions', inviting staff to smell their creations.

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

• The dedicated leadership team has an ambitious vision. It is committed to providing high-quality care and education for all children. Staff have a clear intent for children's learning and ensure that the curriculum is based on what they know about the children attending. This means children benefit from a well-thought-out and ambitious curriculum that builds on what they already know and can do.
• Staff know children well. Strategies are in place to target support for any gaps in children's learning and to engage with other professionals when required. This has a positive impact on outcomes for children and helps to ensure that all children make the best possible progress in relation to their individual starting points.
• Children hear a wide variety of language as staff engage them in conversations throughout the day. Staff identify key words to teach children and spontaneously introduce new words as they play. Children enjoy daily singing activities. They sing with great enthusiasm and join in with the actions. As a result, children are good communicators.
• Staff provide a range of interesting activities and experiences that children are eager to participate in. They engage with children to extend their play and support their learning. Staff demonstrate good teaching practice. However, on occasion, staff do not always challenge and extend children's learning as far as possible to help them make the most progress.
• Staff support children to become independent. For example, at snack time, children learn to cut fruit and pour their own drinks. Staff support children to learn about healthy eating. For example, staff tell children that milk is good for their bones. Children develop healthy hygiene practices. For example, they know they must wash their hands before mealtimes.
• Staff support children to develop a love of books and reading. Children thoroughly enjoy sitting outside on the wooden toadstools for story time activities. They remain engaged and listen intently as staff read with good expression to capture their interest. Children confidently select their own books and sit in the outside reading den pretending to read stories to each other.
• Partnerships with parents are extremely positive. Staff place a high priority on getting to know each child and family well to understand their needs. They offer parents a wealth of advice and guidance, including information about local support services. Parents praise the information they receive about their children's development, both verbally and via the online platform. They say that staff 'go above and beyond' and are 'extremely supportive, kind and compassionate'.
• Teamwork is effective. Staff advise they are happy and feel supported in their roles. This creates a positive atmosphere throughout the pre-school. Staff regularly share feedback to help identify how activities can be adapted and improved. However, although staff engage with mandatory training, the provider does not routinely encourage staff to engage with highly focused professional development opportunities to help improve their practice and drive the quality of teaching even higher.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the quality of staff interactions with children to help them consistently challenge and extend children's learning even further
• ensure that staff routinely engage with highly focused professional development opportunities to help improve their practice and drive the quality of teaching even higher.