The Roseacre Playgroup

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

The manager works closely with staff to provide children with an ambitious curriculum. Together, they provide children with an exciting and challenging indoor and outdoor learning environment, which they continually evaluate and improve.

Managers and staff have clear intentions for children to learn as much outdoors as they do indoors. Staff provide a good balance of free play and adult-initiated activities. They join in with children's play with great enthusiasm.

Staff have high expectations for all children and support them well to extend and challenge their learning and development. Children are motivated learners.C...hildren are happy, safe, very well behaved and thoroughly enjoy being at the pre-school.

Staff have a caring approach towards the children and know them well. They work closely with parents and other agencies to meet children's individual needs and reduce any gaps in their development. Parents say that their children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, have made good progress since starting at the pre-school.

Staff encourage parents to get involved in children's learning. Children take home library books for their parents to read to them at home.

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

Staff provide and use numerous interesting and accessible resources to support children's development.

For example, children enjoy learning about capacity while filling and emptying containers with soil in an outdoor mud kitchen. Staff confidently lead music-and-movement activities. They successfully adapt these activities to develop children's listening skills and ability to respond quickly to different instructions.

Children develop the knowledge and skills they need for their future. Staff skilfully develop children's language development and vocabulary. Children sing with enthusiasm and learn new words.

Staff explain the meaning of these words, such as 'foggy', 'murky', 'frosty', 'chilly' and 'arctic' while using props and picture cards and talking about the weather.Staff focus strongly on promoting children's interest in books. They make a huge variety of books available in all areas of the curriculum.

Staff often use the books to plan activities. For example, to support children's great interest in learning about space. Staff have improved how they organise group story times and singing activities, which has successfully developed children's concentration.

Staff are positive role models for children. They join in with children's play and respond to their interests and choices to extend their learning and development overall. They enthusiastically enter into children's imaginative play, for example when children decide to play with used train tickets to go on a journey with their friends.

Staff encourage children to share and take turns, to support their social skills and good behaviour even further.Staff provide a range of activities that support children's physical skills. Children use pipettes to extract water and use toy cars in paint to create patterns.

Staff encourage children to make marks and draw. Children purposefully write letters which they put into envelopes and post into a box in a role-play office. However, staff do not consistently support children to learn the sounds of letters of the alphabet when opportunities arise to extend their good emerging pre-reading and writing skills further.

Staff meet children's individual health and care needs well. Children develop good independence. They cut up fruit and use a liquidiser safely to make healthy smoothies.

Staff encourage children to serve themselves and to help wash up the plates and cups at snack time. Since registration, staff have further improved the opportunities for children to learn to put on their coats and shoes.The manager regularly supervises staff and gives careful consideration to their well-being.

Changes that have been made to children's developmental records have significantly reduced staff workload. The manager, committee, parents and staff work hard to raise funds for the pre-school, which is a registered charity. For example, they organise cake sales and sponsored walks with the children.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.All staff complete safeguarding training. They have a good understanding of what to do if they are concerned about a child's welfare and safety.

Staff understand and adhere to safeguarding policies and procedures, for example, for the use of mobile phones and social media. The premises are safe and secure. Staff give top priority to children's safety.

They consistently risk assess activities and outings to reduce and remove any hazards. For example, they supervise children well at all times when they use the first-floor play room and during outings to the nearby River Thames.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: support children to learn the sounds of letters when opportunities arise to extend their pre-reading and writing skills even further.