College Road Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision requires improvement Children generally play well together. However, at times, the learning environment is chaotic; this is due to an inconsistent approach to supporting children to understand what is expected of them. In addition, staff do not fully extend ways to engage children in purposeful play.

This means children lose interest and become distracted easily. On arrival, children are greeted warmly by friendly staff who help them settle and encourage them to seek out activities. Children are encouraged to be independent as the staff let them choose what toys they want to play with.

This helps children to feel safe and settled.Children hav...e access to age-appropriate resources and activities that offer a range of learning intentions. For example, children make their own faces using a range of resources.

Staff encourage them to observe the differences in themselves and others, such as eye and hair colour. This helps children to understand and respect differences between people. Staff know the children well and understand what they need to learn next.

However, they are not consistent with their approach to implementing this in their teaching. Nonetheless, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well to make progress.

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

Children benefit from a range of resources to develop their physical skills.

Staff supervise children when they use different equipment, such as the climbing frame. However, Staff do not consider when children would benefit from more interaction to extend their learning.Staff support children to develop their communication and language skills through adult-led and free-flow activities.

However, this is not consistent throughout the day. For instance, staff do not recognise when they should join activities to extend children's vocabulary and role model social interactions. This impacts children's development of communication and social skills, as they quickly lose focus and become disinterested.

The manager has an understanding of good-quality education and practice. However, this is not yet implemented well enough. Some staff are unclear about how to support children's learning effectively.

For example, children's literacy skills are not promoted well. Staff do not encourage children to independently explore books or use songs and rhymes in their play.Children have the opportunity to develop their early mathematics skills.

Staff use mathematical language alongside children's play to help promote their understanding. For example, staff model language, such as 'long' and 'short', while children cut different coloured wool in a creative activity.Children with SEND progress well.

The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) works closely with the local authority to support children consistently and devise individual plans. Staff provide daily one-to-one support to support the children's next steps.Parents make positive comments about close partnerships with staff and how these support children's confidence and self-esteem.

They are regularly provided with written information about their child and how they can support their learning at home. This helps to provide a consistent approach to children's learning.Children generally behave well.

They interact well with staff and peers. During busy times, however, children do not follow the routine well, and the environment becomes noisy and chaotic. This is because the boundaries are not implemented consistently, and the children are not always taught how to follow them.

The manager takes effective steps to support children's transition to school. Communication is made with local schools, and information is shared to make the move as smooth as possible. This provides positive experiences when children move on to the next stage in their journey.

The manager is enthusiastic and hands-on. She is reflective and looks for ways to improve the setting. She has correctly identified that support and training are required for less experienced staff.

However, this is not yet embedded effectively and consistently to provide a good quality of education for children.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff are aware that they need to keep children safe and protect them from harm, including the safe use of mobile phones when in the pre-school.

They keep their safeguarding knowledge up to date, including local safeguarding concerns such as the 'Prevent' duty and female genital mutilation. They know the signs and symptoms that may indicate a child is at risk of abuse and can report their concerns confidently. The manager ensures that staff are suitable for their roles by carrying out rigorous background checks when they are first employed.

All staff and committee members have the necessary Disclosure and Barring Service checks.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage, the provider must: Due date improve the quality of teaching so that staff interact consistently to respond to the spontaneous opportunities that arise during children's play to challenge their thinking and learning experiences 31/08/2023 support staff to promote children's positive behaviour by providing consistent opportunities for them to understand the behaviour that is expected of them.31/08/2023 To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen the support given to children to develop their communication and social interactions nimplement an effective and consistent curriculum that focuses on what children need to learn, particularly in literacy fully embed training plans for staff in order to raise their practice to a higher level.