Millfield Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision requires improvement Children develop confidence and curiosity. They explore a range of activities and resources and enjoy choosing what to play or join in with next. Children explore cause and effect.

They learn how to turn stencil torches on and how to hold them at the right distance from a wall to see the shapes. Children create play dough shapes and watch what happens if they flatten or squeeze them. They compare the shapes and sizes of their dough creations.

Children listen to staff and are eager to demonstrate what they know. They remember going on a treasure hunt to find painted pebbles and poppies. Children recall key points of the st...ory staff told to them about Remembrance Day and can talk about the emotions of people involved.

Children behave well and demonstrate that they feel safe and secure in the setting. Staff promote their understanding of expectations in a positive, calm manner. They give children gentle prompts and praise their kind actions.

Children know what is expected of them. Staff encourage them to talk about their feelings using soft toys and props. Staff have high expectations for children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

They work closely with parents and other professionals to ensure children's unique needs are met to a high standard.

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

There have been changes to the committee. Some new committee members have not completed and submitted appropriate forms to allow all the required suitability checks to be carried out.

However, the impact on children's safety is minimised as the current nominated individual has completed their suitability checks with Ofsted and acts as the main contact for the manager and staff. Other committee members have limited responsibilities at this time and no unsupervised contact with children.Staff use spontaneous opportunities to promote children's literacy and mathematical skills.

They give children examples of the week's focus letter during play, and encourage children to practise comparison and measuring skills while playing with dough. Staff also encourage children to count in fun ways, such as a rocket countdown. Children recognise numbers and shapes in the playground and are keen to point out the different shapes and features of medals.

The management team meets regularly with staff to discuss best practice and new ideas. The team has have effective systems in place to pinpoint what the pre-school does well. However, the team is not as methodical at identifying areas it could develop further, to consistently improve the overall quality of the provision, such as enhancing parental engagement.

Staff interact with children in a warm and engaging manner. They listen to children's ideas and supply relevant vocabulary and encouragement. Staff move flexibly between areas to respond to children's needs and interests.

This helps to promote children's safety and emotional well-being.The manager and staff design and deliver a thoughtful and carefully sequenced curriculum, which promotes children's progress in all areas of learning. They also prepare children well for their next stage in learning.

They invite reception teachers into the pre-school to meet and get to know the children in familiar surroundings. This supports children to feel relaxed and confident when they move on to school.Staff support children with SEND effectively.

They work closely with parents and other professionals to ensure children's unique needs are met to a high standard. Staff spend additional funding to promote children's progress and access to learning experiences.Staff share information with parents about their child's progress in a range of ways, for example, through online learning records and meetings.

Parents speak highly of the pre-school. They praise the kind, welcoming staff and the range of activities their children enjoy, as well as their recent progress and achievements. The manager has developed a new system for gathering information about children's learning and experiences on entry.

However, this is not yet fully embedded.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff know the signs that may indicate a child is at risk of harm.

They understand how to identify and report concerns, including those regarding adults who work with children. The manager ensures staff refresh their knowledge with regular training and updates during staff meetings. When appointing new staff, the manager follows thorough recruitment processes to assure herself that staff are suitable.

She also conducts reviews of staff suitability checks and staff complete regular self-declaration forms.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage and Childcare Register the provider must: Due date improve knowledge about the nominated individual's role and responsibilities, including the processes required to complete suitability checks for new committee members in their entirety 09/12/2022 ensure new committee members submit the necessary forms and information to Ofsted to enable the required suitability checks to be completed.30/12/2022 To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: sharpen self-evaluation to identify areas of opportunity as well as strengths to build on, to enhance the quality of the provision further fully embed new arrangements for gathering information about children on entry.