Castle Hill Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Staff create a warm and nurturing environment for children.

The cheerful and relaxed atmosphere ensures that children feel comfortable and settle in quickly. Children arrive happy and excited to see their friends. They independently put away their belongings and enthusiastically engage in activities of interest.

For example, children enjoy taking on different roles as they engage in pretend play. They use clipboards and pens to collect orders in their café and practise their early writing skills. Leaders place a strong focus on developing children's physical development and understanding of the world.

Childre...n show great pleasure as they carefully lift objects to seek out bugs in the garden. Staff offer them magnifying glasses, which further builds on their curiosity as they excitedly talk about the insects that they find. Staff build on their learning further with daily opportunities to feed the pre-school pets.

This helps children learn how to care for living things. Staff are kind and patient, and manage children's behaviour well. They have secure and consistent boundaries in place, which helps children to understand what is expected of them.

For example, children naturally help to tidy toys away before they move on to the next activity. Staff praise them for their efforts, which boosts their confidence and self-esteem.

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

Since the last inspection, leaders have made positive improvements that benefit children.

They work closely with staff and use information from assessments to provide a curriculum that is focused on children's learning needs. They place a stronger focus on children's next steps in learning and have enhanced the experiences they provide. All children make good progress in their development Staff provide good support to children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

They seek support from the local authority early years team and work closely with other professionals involved in children's care. This ensures children swiftly receive tailored support to help close gaps in their learning.Leaders use additional funding well to benefit the specific needs of all individual children.

For example, they recognise some children do not have access to a wide range of play and learning experiences outside of the setting. Therefore, they regularly plan outings to local shops, parks and woods, to help broaden children's curiosity and an understanding of the world.Overall, staff support children's developing communication and language skills well.

For example, they engage children well in stories, model words and provide a narrative as children play. However, at times, the staff are a little directive. They ask children questions, but are quick to answer for them.

This does not give children time to think for themselves and use their own words, to help build on their developing speech and vocabulary even further.Staff provide children with many opportunities to develop their physical skills. Children happily run around the outdoor play spaces and delight in creating obstacle courses alongside staff and their friends.

Staff foster opportunities such as these, to build on children's confidence in taking safe risks. They demonstrate this as they sensitively give children encouragement to balance across equipment and independently jump off apparatus.Staff place a strong emphasis on supporting children to develop their independence skills.

For example, they give children assistance to help them successfully butter their toast at snack time. They give them gentle encouragement to wash up their plates and cups when they have finished eating. Children manage their personal care needs well.

They wash their hands and open their own food containers at lunch time. This supports children gain the skills they need in preparation for school.Staff are good role models.

For instance, when children have small disagreements about the mode of transport to use during their imaginary play, staff encourage them to negotiate and take turns. Consequently, children happily continue their play and work as a team to find the props they need.Partnerships with parents are a strength of the pre-school.

Staff share information on their children's on-going learning through digital media as well as discussions at drop off and collection times. Parents comment they feel involved in their children's learning. They say that staff are always available to offer advice and support, when needed.

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 staff interactions with children to continually support and enhance their developing speech and vocabulary to an even higher level.