St Michael and All Angels Pre School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children enjoy the time they spend at this warm and welcoming nursery. They eagerly choose where, and what they would like to play with. Children have a positive attitude to learning and engage in interesting activities for sustained periods of time.

They solve problems together and listen to each other's ideas. Children work out that they need to join lengths of drainpipe together for a ball to roll along them. They make adjustments to the height of the first drainpipe, so that the ball runs faster.

Children express a strong interest in making marks and writing. Some children know the sound of familiar letters and can... write their name.Children are independent.

They confidently manage their own personal needs and know to follow a good hygiene routine. They demonstrate friendly relationships. Children use complex sentences to describe how they are making invitations for their birthday party, and how they plan to invite all their friends.

They swiftly learn the correct pronunciation of words. Children laugh with delight as they use a syringe to suck up water. They squirt the water at the wooden fence and up in the air.

Children develop the muscles in their hands as they use small tools to search for treasure hidden in the large sandpit.

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

Staff are proactive at finding out about children's previous experiences. They provide children with many opportunities to broaden and recall these.

Children use their vivid imagination to create ice creams using foam and shredded vegetables. They take orders and serve these to staff and their friends. Staff extend children's knowledge of mathematical concepts, such as addition and subtraction, as they use pretend money to pay for the ice creams.

Children show that they feel safe and secure. They thoroughly enjoy the warm interactions from their key person and all staff, who know them well. They benefit from tailored settling-in processes.'

The waving window' helps children's emotional well-being as parents are not entering the setting due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Staff are positive role models. They consistently encourage good manners and respect for others.

They manage any minor disagreements between children calmly. This means that children are learning how to share resources and show that they understand what is expected of them. They patiently wait for their turn to pour their drink at snack time.

The introduction of forest school sessions has had a positive impact on children's growth in confidence. They learn how to assess risks, develop respect for the natural world and follow rules to help keep themselves safe. Children enjoy being active and benefit from an inviting and well-resourced outdoor area.

They negotiate space very well and create a trail of stepping stones, which they jump from one to another.Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents are overwhelmingly positive about the setting.

They appreciate the wealth of feedback they receive about their child's progression in learning. Parents describe the staff team as 'nurturing' and who are clearly 'passionate' about their roles.Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities have tailored support to help them to make good progress in relation to their starting points.

The manager and staff work in close partnership with parents and other professionals to ensure a suitable curriculum is in place.Staff complete regular training to continue to develop their knowledge and skills. They share their learning with the whole staff team, which supports a consistent approach to new methods of practice.

Recent training has had a positive impact on helping children improve their control and coordination when using real tools. Staff receive regular supervision meetings to reflect on their practice. However, current supervision arrangements are not yet thoroughly embedded to precisely focus on raising the quality of teaching to an even higher level.

There is a unified approach between the committee and manager to ensure the seamless running of the pre-school. Children benefit from weekly visits from a committee member, who reads and sings songs with them. Staff work in partnership with most staff at other settings that children attend.

However, they are not yet successful in developing working partnerships with all other settings to support all children's continuity in learning effectively.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager ensures that staff complete regular safeguarding training and attend meetings to keep their safeguarding knowledge up to date.

Staff are very knowledgeable about how to protect children. This includes broader aspects of safeguarding, such as female genital mutilation and the 'Prevent' duty. Staff know the signs to look out for in children and their wider families that may indicate they are at risk of abuse.

They know who to report these concerns to, including external agencies. The manager follows robust recruitment procedures to ensure that those she employs are suitable to work with children.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: develop partnerships with all other settings that children attend to promote continuity in children's learning and development strengthen the existing arrangements for the supervision of staff to focus on raising their professional development to the highest level.