Baddeley Green Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children leave their parents and carers with ease as they excitedly run into the pre-school and start to play with their friends. They receive a warm welcome from the staff, who engage them in meaningful conversations as they play.

Children form strong bonds with staff and actively want them to play with them. Children are confident learners and show they feel safe and secure in their surroundings.The well-sequenced curriculum links to children's interests and gaps in their learning.

Staff use their expert knowledge of child development and individual children to build on and extend children's learning. For example, ac...tivities in the craft area link to the story of the week. Children are making telescopes to see the 'shark in the park'.

Children describe colours and shapes as they create patterns for the telescopes. They develop their hand-eye coordination and small-muscle skills as they glue on their patterns, all the time talking about the story and what they can recall from it.Staff show children respect and model good behaviours.

For example, staff always say please and thank you to the children. They have high expectations of the children's behaviour. Children show they understand the rules and boundaries, and they confidently recall they must have 'kind hands', 'share' and 'be kind'.

They are taught about risk and the consequences of not following the rules, such as falling over and getting hurt. Children's behaviour is good; they listen to and follow instructions well. Staff swiftly distract away from any unwanted behaviours and help children to start to manage their own feelings.

Staff praise and encourage children as they attempt to do things. This builds children's confidence and self-esteem.

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

The manager and staff show strong passion and pride in their pre-school.

They have worked together for many years and fully understand how to support each other in their roles. This leads to a calm and efficient pre-school in which children thrive. Staff have daily conversations with each other and reflect on the provision and whether it can be improved on.

The manager supports staff with regular supervision and targets to enhance their skills. Staff undertake training to improve their teaching, and this is disseminated back to other staff to ensure best practice throughout the pre-school.The well-thought-out curriculum supports children's learning in all areas.

Children have access to a wide range of age-appropriate resources, both indoors and outdoors. For example, outdoors, they have the opportunity to build on their physical skills as they pedal on bikes and push along on scooters, developing their large muscles as they do so. They build on social skills and coordination as they work together and construct items out of large bricks.

Overall, children engage well with activities. They enjoy taking part in free play and story time with staff. However, the organisation of some group sessions does not always enable children to fully engage in their learning.

For example, at phonics time, there is a large group of children. Some of the children become distracted, and this leads to others not being able to hear, so they too lose focus.The team has a focus on children's mathematical learning.

Mathematical language and concepts are now well integrated into everyday play. For example, staff ask children to estimate how many bottles it will take to fill containers in the water play. They count and hear words such as 'more' and 'less'.

They help children to recognise amounts by counting objects and matching them to numbers, giving numbers context. This helps children to understand mathematics and gives them foundations for the next stages of learning.Staff support children to develop an enjoyment of books and literacy.

At story time, staff read the story of the week. They create excitement and intrigue as the story progresses. Children are eager to join in the familiar story, and they shout out key phrases when staff encourage them to do so.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported. The setting's special needs coordinator works with parents, carers and other professionals to ensure children get the additional help and support they need. This ensures that all children, including those with SEND, make good progress from their starting points.

Staff are good role models for children as they develop their speech and language. They talk to children throughout activities, sound out letters so children can hear the sound of them and narrate their play. At mealtimes, children and staff sit together and talk about the day and events from home.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen the organisation of group times to enable all children to fully engage in the learning and get the best outcomes from the already good teaching.