Chalfont St Peter Preschool

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children arrive happily at the pre-school and are greeted warmly by staff. They develop a clear sense of belonging, which helps them to settle quickly when they arrive.

For example, they see their faces on their individual pegs as they place their coats there and change into their indoor shoes. Children's art work is regularly framed and displayed in the art-and-craft area, which helps them to take pride in their achievements. Leaders and staff place a strong emphasis on getting to know children and their families very well.

Staff talk to children about their home lives and families as they play. As a result, children ...can talk positively about life events, such as moving out of the area, or an important person who is on holiday. This helps to support children's emotional well-being.

Children benefit from a safe, bright and stimulating environment. They independently explore the wide range of interesting resources and activities that staff plan for them. Children behave well and form positive relationships with each other and with staff.

There is a strong team atmosphere. For example, children excitedly work together to find different insects in the garden area during a 'bug hunt'. They share different equipment, such as magnifying glasses, torches and trowels, as they hunt and dig in the mud and bushes.

Staff encourage children to think of solutions when they decide where the bugs might be hiding.

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

Leaders demonstrate a strong commitment towards ensuring that all children achieve the best possible outcomes in their learning, regardless of their background. They engage proactively and effectively with parents and other professionals.

As a result, children who are at risk of falling behind their peers receive the support they are entitled to. Additional funding is used appropriately and meets the individual needs of children who are entitled to it.Staff plan and implement a varied and interesting curriculum, which helps children to develop skills and knowledge across all areas of learning.

Leaders and staff have a clear understanding of the children in their care and how to support their development. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress.Children benefit from a language-rich environment.

Staff talk to children constantly as they play alongside them and introduce a wide range of vocabulary. For example, staff link activities to the current theme of 'Antarctica'. Children use and learn the meaning behind words such as 'crunchy', 'slippery' and 'icy' as they play with dinosaurs in frozen water.

They use language such as 'silky', 'soft' and 'rough' as they talk about the feeling of the ingredients they use to help make play dough. Children can freely access books to read at their own will indoors and outdoors.Leaders provide staff with regular opportunities to enhance their skills and knowledge through training, peer observations and regular supervision.

However, this is not yet fully effective in ensuring that staff's practice is consistently of a high quality. As a result, staff do not always make the most of their interactions with children in order to fully engage, challenge and extend their learning. For example, staff do not consistently allow children sufficient time or opportunity to think and try things out for themselves during activities.

Children enjoy a wide range of additional activities that not only support their physical development but help them develop other skills to support their future learning. For example, yoga and ballet sessions help children to develop self-confidence and self-control as they concentrate on learning different poses. During weekly nature walks, they learn about what happens to the local wildlife and plants when the seasons change.

The leadership and staff team provides a wide range of support and guidance to families. For example, following requests by parents, they devised a nutrition guide to help parents provide healthy and balanced packed lunches for their children. The 'book-bag' scheme encourages parents to read with their children and provides useful activities to help them promote their child's learning at home.

The staff use their effective links with local schools to make sure that both children and parents are supported in those transitions. Parents were eager to provide feedback during the inspection and are extremely happy with the care and education provided to their children.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders make sure that all staff receive essential training, such as paediatric first aid and safeguarding, and that it is kept up to date. All staff have a confident understanding of the signs that could indicate a child is at risk of harm, including being exposed to extreme views or behaviour. They are clear about who to report concerns to, and their responsibility to make sure that leaders take appropriate action to safeguard children.

Staff are vigilant towards children's safety indoors and on outings. They provide children with clear messages about how to keep themselves and each other safe as they play.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nenhance the programme in place for the training and coaching of staff so that it is effective in ensuring that practice is consistently of a high quality nextend children's learning and enjoyment of activities even further by ensuring that staff consistently challenge children and allow them time to think and try things out for themselves.

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