The Good Start

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children love spending time at the stimulating pre-school and form excellent bonds with the wonderfully nurturing staff. They leave their parents confidently at the door and eagerly engage in the wide range of activities on offer. For example, children enjoy painting, making sandcastles and creating with play dough.

Children develop strong self-esteem, good motivation and take pride in their achievements. For example, they celebrated together after successfully making the 'longest train track ever', using great teamwork.The manager and staff have high expectations for what all children can achieve.

They plan carefully ...for children's learning and are quick to spot any gaps that need closing. For example, due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, they have focused more on children's independence, confidence and emotional well-being. As a result, children feel particularly happy, safe and secure.

They explore the pre-school with great confidence and eagerly discuss their views, ideas and home lives. Staff treat each child as an individual and children feel valued.Staff support children's learning very well and use their interactions skilfully to offer further challenge.

For instance, as children filled up their toy trains with 'diesel', staff challenged them to count how many seconds they use the pump for. Children excitedly counted to 10 and said '10 seconds should be enough'.

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

The ambitious manager and staff provide a broad and challenging curriculum for all children.

They skilfully build on what children already know and can do and focus well on preparing children for school. For example, older children can recognise and write their name, dress themselves for the garden and have a good understanding of mathematics. Children are eager and inquisitive learners and quickly gain the knowledge and skills they need for their future education.

Children benefit from an exciting range of experiences to learn about nature. For example, they delight in 'forest school' sessions in the large and adventurous garden. They discover and investigate plants and wildlife and learn about safety and risks as they cook marshmallows on campfires.

Children are very physically active and get plenty of exercise. They show good physical development and control as they eat with cutlery, join train track pieces together and use ride-on vehicles outdoors.The passionate manager is very well supported by her dedicated deputy manager and staff.

There is high staff morale and a positive atmosphere in the pre-school. Together, the team reflect closely on how well they meet the needs of the children and where they can make further improvements. For example, although they use stories and toys to teach children about diversity, they understand there is room to develop this.

Staff do not yet provide a broad set of experiences to fully deepen children's understanding of people, cultures and communities that are different to their own.The manager and staff assess children's development closely and plan successfully for their next steps in learning. They provide a varied environment which helps children to engage busily in their play and learning.

For example, children made 'pizzas' by collecting natural objects from the garden and sticking them to their cardboard plates. Staff supported children very well and encouraged them to name and describe what they found. Children enjoyed working out what the different leaves and flowers were and described them as 'smooth', 'bumpy' and 'wild'.

Overall, staff support children's language development well. They use stories successfully to ignite children's interest in books, introduce new words and teach new ideas. For example, staff read books that challenge gender stereotypes and support children to be confident in who they are.

Staff encourage lots of conversation with children and ask plenty of interesting and thought provoking questions. However, on occasion some staff speak too quickly when talking to the youngest children. They miss opportunities to repeat their speech and model language clearly to support their early language development even further.

Parents are very appreciative of the high levels of support their children receive. They comment how the manager and staff 'go above and beyond' to ensure children achieve. Parents are particularly pleased with the children's developing social skills, behaviour and the 'lovely friendships' they make.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager and staff attend safeguarding training and confidently know the possible signs and symptoms of abuse. They know what to do should they become worried about a child or family and understand how to pass on any such concerns.

The manager, who is the designated safeguarding lead, understands wider safeguarding issues, such as the 'Prevent' duty, and ensures all staff have up-to-date knowledge. There are vigilant procedures in place for the safe recruitment of staff and staff fully understand their responsibility to protect children.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: provide more consistent support for two year old children, to further support their good early language development give children further opportunities to learn about people, cultures and communities who are different to their own.