Young Explorers - Goring

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are excited when they arrive at this vibrant pre-school. They are warmly greeted by staff who help them to settle immediately. Staff encourage children to become independent from a very early age. Children put away their own belongings and confidently access toys and resources. Staff praise them for 'having a go' and trying hard. Children who use knives to cut up their own fruit beam with delight and exclaim 'look I did it!'. Staff are attentive to children's emotional needs. They build warm and loving bonds with children. This gives children a firm foundation for learning and helps them to feel safe and secure.

Staff are strong and positive role models for the children. They model kindness and respect and have worked hard to create a calm learning environment for the children. This approach positively impacts children's attitudes to learning, to each other and to the resources. Children demonstrate high levels of concentration and engagement in their learning. They anticipate a day of excitement and challenges. Consequently, children are focused and demonstrate good behaviour. They are kind to their friends and respectful towards the staff. All children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make significant progress from their starting points.

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

• A key strength of the pre-school is staff's knowledge of children's development. Children are supported in all areas of learning through a large range of stimulating and exciting activities. Staff gather important details about the children's lives and routines. They ask parents to provide information, such as children's existing knowledge and current interests. This helps staff to plan meaningful and challenging activities which motivate children to learn.
• Leaders are dedicated to their roles and consistently offer a high level of education and care to all children. They place a strong emphasis on supporting the well-being of their staff team. Staff mention that they feel valued and listened to and feel privileged to work at the pre-school. They have continuous opportunities for professional development. This positively impacts on the quality of the learning experiences for the children in their care.
• Staff skilfully support children's literacy development, for example through interactive story time activities. They use large group times to involve children in singing and discussions. Children become excited and are eager to contribute. They show a clear joy when they engage in stories, remembering what they have previously learned. These large group times are rich in learning for all children. However, at times staff interrupt group activities and take children away from learning they are immersed in for routine tasks, such as handwashing before lunch. Consequently, children's overall engagement and enjoyment is disrupted, and children do not consistently fully benefit from the learning experiences on offer.
• Staff place a strong emphasis on supporting children's communication skills and emerging vocabulary. All children participate and listen attentively. Songs, stories, and puppets are an integral part of everyday activities. Children, including children with communication and language delays, enjoy singing along to familiar songs and rhymes. They make rapid progress in their confidence in speaking in the presence of others.
• Staff work in close partnerships with parents who provide extremely positive feedback on their children's high standard of education and care. Leaders engage with other professionals, such as speech and language therapists and early years advisors. This helps children to receive targeted and timely support. However, leaders have not yet put arrangements in place to share information with the other settings that children attend in order to build an effective partnership with them. This does not always fully support the consistency and continuity of care with other settings.
• Staff successfully help children to develop an awareness of leading a healthy lifestyle through diet and exercise. They provide an abundance of opportunities to be physically active both indoors and outside. Children enjoy their walks around the community and trips to the nearby beach. Staff invite visitors into the pre-school, such as local teachers and the librarian from the local library. Consequently, children engage in new experiences and develop an understanding of the community in which they live.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to manage the changes in routines more effectively to make sure that children do not miss out on rich learning opportunities
• establish partnerships with other early years settings children attend to help staff plan for children's care and learning more precisely.