Coton In The Elms Preschool

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children enter the pre-school with excitement and enthusiasm. They sit on the carpet and listen to staff attentively.

They join in singing about the days of the week and thoroughly enjoy saying 'hello' to their friends. Children move around the room with confidence, choosing what to play with. They snuggle close to staff and talk to them about what they are doing.

Children use outside equipment skilfully. They climb up the steps of the slide and scream with delight as they slide down. Children negotiate the obstacles in the playground as they race up and down, safely riding the tricycles.

Children are eager to... play and have a positive attitude to their learning. They are keen to take part in focus activities. For example, they relish making hedgehogs out of play dough and dry pasta.

They use rollers and manipulate the dough using their small-muscle skills. They pick the spaghetti up, being careful not to break it, and stick the pasta into the dough. Staff encourage children to talk about the prickles hedgehogs have on their back.

They extend this and ask children about where hedgehogs live. Children say, 'In the forest, in the dark'. Children compare the patterns they make in the dough and decide if their creations are long or short.

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

The manager is new in her post. She is ambitious and reflects on her practice to improve the quality of the pre-school. The manager supports her staff through meetings and training.

For example, the manager and staff attend training to help them understand the new 'Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage'. This has helped to improve their knowledge and think more about what and why they plan activities to enhance children's learning. For instance, the water play to help children to learn to pour and use their small-muscle skills.

The manager and staff provide a curriculum that builds on what children already know. They follow children's interests and support their play. Staff provide activities to enhance children's individual learning, for example, staff encourage children to use numbers and count as they play.

Children count the spikes on their hedgehog, the pieces of banana at a snack time and the number of toy cows on the farm.Parents speak highly of the pre-school and are aware of the learning their children are doing. Staff share children's next steps with parents.

They give parents ideas of how they can support their children's learning at home. For example, the manager introduces autumn bags. These are to encourage children and their parents to collect autumn things at home and bring them into pre-school to talk about.

Staff foster children's independence and self-care skills well. They consistently encourage children to try to do things for themselves. As a result, children develop confidence in making decisions.

Children know to wash their hands before snack, they find their name and know where to put their bags as they arrive at pre-school. This helps children develop a sense of belonging and helps prepare them for school and their future learning.Staff find out about children's experiences at home as children start pre-school.

They build on these experiences to broaden children's learning. For example, children who have fewer opportunities at home to look at books can choose from the pre-school library and take books home to read with their parents. Children who have less experience of people who help in their local community benefit from visitors, such as fire fighters and police officers.

Staff promote children's behaviour well. They have good strategies in place to help children understand what to do. Children know the routine and take part in tidying away toys.

Children learn to cooperate and play well together. This is evident as children share the jugs and syringes in the water play. They wait their turn to spurt the water down the tubes and laugh as the water splashes at the bottom.

Staff develop children's communication and language skills. Staff help two-year-old children to understand words when they repeat them clearly during conversations and talk to children about what they are doing. However, staff do not use opportunities during activities with three-year-old childrens to introduce new words and increase their vocabulary.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager and staff know and understand their duty to protect children from harm. They have sound knowledge of the signs and symptoms of abuse and know who to contact if they have a concern.

They keep their safeguarding knowledge up to date through regular training. The committee follow safe recruitment procedures and carry out inductions to ensure staff know their responsibilities. Staff identify and remove any hazards so that the pre-school is safe for the children.

Staff supervise children at all times. They hold paediatric first-aid certificates to help them deal with any accidents.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nintroduce new words to three-year-old children to extend and increase their vocabulary and speaking skills.

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