Lyndhurst Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Staff welcome children warmly. This helps children to enter the pre-school confidently and greet their friends.

Staff create a welcoming environment that helps children feel safe and secure. Children are happy to be there. They independently put their belongings away and access their chosen activity.

Staff provide a vast range of stimulating activities based on the children's interests. For example, children learn about 'people who help us'. They play alongside each other in the role-play vet's surgery, and they construct with the bricks.

Staff arrange for doctors, teachers and a farmer to visit the pre-school... to talk to the children about their occupations. Children are fully engaged and make good progress in their learning and development.Children enjoy the broad range of experiences that staff provide for them.

For instance, children have access to the mud kitchen. This allows them to be away from the pre-school and participate in activities in an outdoor environment. For example, they have great fun bug hunting, gardening and mixing materials to create mud pies.

Children gain an understanding of the world they live in and they use their social skills to work together.Children have a positive attitude towards their learning and demonstrate great focus. Staff encourage children to persevere when challenges occur.

They encourage them to problem-solve. For example, children use tools to remove play dough that is stuck in resources. They are proud of their own achievements and those of others, and staff regularly praise them.

Children have good relationships with their peers. There is constant two-way communication about what they are doing and their home life. Children have good personal, social and emotional skills.

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

The management team leads by example and works closely with all the children. Staff have an effective key-person system that allows them to work on the individual needs of the children. Staff discuss regularly what each child is working on in their development.

For example, staff use group activities to support turn-taking. However, some less-experienced staff lack confidence, and at times they do not match activities precisely to children's developmental needs. For example, on occasion, some activities are too difficult or too easy for children and so do not fully support their learning.

This has an impact on the quality of education that is consistently provided.Children's behaviour is good. They follow the rules with ease and can relay these rules to the adults.

They follow an effective routine. For example, children hear a bell ring and begin to fetch tubs to put the toys away. When a song plays, they find their water bottles and go to the snack table.

Staff use repetition and structure to ensure children know what is expected of them. Staff have high expectations of good behaviour and manners.Staff provide a range of stimulating activities to encourage children's physical development.

For example, children use screwdrivers, hammers and nails, and they manipulate play dough. Through these activities, staff help children gain important physical skills for early writing. Children use note pads and pens as they explore the environment, and they enjoy making marks on large chalk boards.

They also have access to large physical equipment, such as bikes and climbing frames. This supports children's overall physical development and builds effectively on their existing skills.The pre-school receives funding to support children's learning and development.

For example, the money is used to buy new technology equipment. This supports children's interests and the next steps in their development, such as turn-taking. For instance, children use cameras to take pictures of each other and work together on the computer.

The pre-school benefits from a highly skilled special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) who supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The SENCo provides support for staff and families and works with outside agencies. For example, they work alongside speech therapists to support children with speech delays.

This ensures that all children are progressing well in their development and have equal opportunities.The children lead a healthy lifestyle. They understand which foods are good for their bodies.

For instance, staff support children to grow their own vegetables and to eat them for snack. Children learn about the risks in the environment and how to keep themselves safe. However, at times, staff do not organise the environment fully effectively to support children's learning.

For instance, sometimes there are too many resources out at one time and the space is cluttered. This distracts children and, on occasion, they are not able to choose and engage easily with activities.Parents are extremely pleased with the care provided for their children.

For example, a parent commented, 'It exceeded my expectations by far and is run with a lot of passion and heart, where everybody is thriving.' Staff update parents regularly on their child's development. For instance, they use an online journal, hold meetings and do regular assessments.

Staff have strong partnerships with parents.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.All staff have regular safeguard training.

Staff are aware of the procedures to follow if they feel a child is unsafe. Staff confidently approach the designated safeguard lead (DSL) if they have any concerns about a child. There is a safeguarding director to support the DSL and staff.

Staff are aware of other agencies they can contact for support, such as the local authority. Staff have extensive knowledge of safeguarding issues. For instance, they know about radicalisation and county lines, and how these can be identified.

Staff are aware of the different types of abuse and possible signs. They deploy themselves well and communicate to ensure the children are safe.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen support for less-experienced staff to develop their understanding of how to match activities more securely to individual children's next steps in learning to help children make even better progress review and improve the organisation of the play environment to reduce distractions and help children fully engage in the learning experiences on offer.

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