St Marys Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents

This provision is good • Children arrive happy and keen to start their day. Staff plan and provide a variety of exciting resources, activities and experiences for children, based on their interests and abilities. Children enjoy the activities, such as water play and the very popular mud kitchen in the outdoor play area, and join in enthusiastically.

• Staff support children's communication and language skills well. They talk to children and encourage them in conversation, helping them to become confident talkers. They teach them new songs and ask questions to encourage children's listening, attention and speaking skills.

• Staff provide good opportunities for children to... develop their early reading skills. Children learn about the different sounds that letters make, and confidently blend them together to make simple words. • Children enjoy learning about the natural world through activities which help them understand about growth and change.

For example, they look at leaves using magnifying glasses. They explore the different leaf shapes and discuss how they feel. They use words such as 'smooth' and 'rough' to describe them.

• The pre-school is well established within the community. Some staff have worked at the pre-school for several years. This helps to provide stability for parents and children.

Parents say they are very happy with the care and education their children receive. • The manager does not make the best possible use of supervision meetings to monitor and evaluate staff's practice, and to focus on raising the overall quality of teaching to the highest level. • Although staff complete required training, there are no focused plans in place to enhance their professional development even further.