Craven Arms Childcare and Preschool

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy and show that they feel safe and secure. They arrive ready and eager to start their day.

Children form secure relationships with staff, giving a sense of joy and happiness for everyone at this nursery. Children behave well and are kind and caring towards one another. Staff are close by to model good behaviour and give gentle reminders.

The manager and staff have high expectations for all children. They foster children's independence by helping them to develop important life skills, build confidence and nurture a sense of autonomy. Children develop the important social skills to be ready for their mov...e on to school.

Children enjoy their time in the sensory room where they benefit from a calm atmosphere. They explore light boxes, torches and patterns that are projected onto the walls and ceiling. Children access a wide range of resources and become engrossed in their play.

They use their imaginations to extend their learning. For instance, they use pots, spoons, stones and sticks and work together to create their pretend chocolate sand birthday cake. Outdoors, children huddle with staff in the tent and consider what they would need to pack for their imaginary picnic.

Babies have their own safe area to play and explore outdoors. Toddlers further develop their physical skills as they climb, run and kick the balls.

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

The manager has set an ambitious curriculum.

However, at times, it is not implemented as well as possible. On occasion, staff do not plan experiences for the youngest children to promote their individual learning needs.Children enjoy making their own play dough.

They roll and stretch the play dough and develop their gross and fine motor skills that will support pre-writing activities. Staff skilfully embed mathematics by encouraging the children to consider how many pieces of play dough will be needed for each child at the table. Children count their friends and say 'we need two more pieces'.

Staff demonstrate the concepts of 'whole', 'half' and 'quarter' as they cut the play dough.At times, the learning environment becomes distracting for children. This is particularly noticeable when staff are preparing for lunch.

Children who are listening to a story become distracted, which makes them lose focus on their learning.Children learn about the world and their local community. They go on trips to local shops and engage in community events, such as fundraising.

Visits from the local fire and police enhances children's understanding of people who help us. Local elderly neighbours delight in speaking to the children through the fence. Children learn about a variety of festivals, which helps them to develop an understanding of the lives of their friends and life in modern Britain.

Overall, reading stories is embedded as part of the daily routine for children. Staff introduce children to new words during discussions, stories and play, ensuring that children hear a wide range of new words. Children engage well as they talk about new learning concepts during these times, such as what noise a snail makes.

Partnerships with parents are good. Parents speak highly of staff and are happy with the standard of care and education that children receive. They regularly use the parent online platform to share and receive important information.

Staff work well with parents and other agencies to put steps in place to help every child to develop further according to their learning abilities. This ensures that all children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress in the setting.Staff provide open-ended resources to help children to be creative.

For example, children enjoy making obstacle courses out of crates and wooden planks. They work together to lift and manoeuvre the crates into position. Children discuss ways that they can make the obstacle course harder.

Staff skilfully position themselves to support children's learning through modelling and suggesting new ideas to extend their obstacle course.The manager has a strong team of staff who are confident in their roles and enjoy coming to work. Both the manager and her team are reflective of their practice and, together, have an ambitious vision to continuously improve the pre-school.

Staff are coached sufficiently, and access regular training so that they can further develop their skills.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff demonstrate a good understanding of how to keep children safe and promote their welfare.

They know how to recognise the signs and symptoms of abuse and they understand the procedures to follow to ensure that safeguarding concerns are reported correctly. Staff's ongoing suitability is checked regularly. The designated lead for safeguarding understands the procedure if an allegation is made against a member of staff.

Staff know the whistle-blowing procedure to follow if they have a concern about an adult working at the nursery. All staff receive safeguarding training and regular opportunities to discuss any concerns.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: support staff to consider the learning environment, particularly when staff are preparing for lunch, to help to ensure that children do not become distracted from their learning nimplement the curriculum even more successfully to help to promote the individual learning needs of the youngest children.