Applecroft Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents

This provision is good • The inspiring manager leads dedicated and highly committed staff, who work very well together. They regularly reflect on their practice and identify areas for improvement.

Staff undertake training to help enhance their good teaching skills and practice to higher levels. • Staff promote children's communication and language skills well and are aware when children need extra support, such as when they speak English as an additional language. Staff use simple signing when they speak to groups of children and the use of a visual timetable helps children to become familiar with the daily routine.

• Children are excited on days when it is their turn to... be a helper. They help to prepare snack and clear away utensils. Other children enthusiastically look for litter in the outside area and know how to safely dispose of it using grippers.

• Staff develop positive partnerships with parents and talk to them each day about their children's achievements. They invite parents to more in-depth discussions, such as at parents' evening. Parents speak positively about the staff and feel their children make good progress that prepares them well for moving on to school.

• Staff gather useful information from parents on what children can already do when they first start to attend the pre-school. However, they do not always use this information quickly enough to identify children's starting points in learning from the outset. • Systems for monitoring and comparing the progress different groups of children make, including those in receipt of funded early education, are not fully developed.