Fetcham Village Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

A very firm ethos and culture are at the very centre of the pre-school, with an extremely passionate and dedicated staff team that has tremendously high expectations for children's learning. Staff effortlessly follow children's emerging interests and help them to develop a very strong sense of belonging and excellent emotional stability.

The environment is organised to provide children with outstanding experiences and activities, indoors and outdoors, to enthral and excite them in their play. Formidable partnership working with parents and other professionals helps children to make impressive progress and to reach their ...fullest potential. Staff are outstanding role models and show immense respect for each other and for the children in their care.

Through this, children are learning vital social skills for their future learning and in building important friendships. Staff fully help and encourage children to take calculated risks in their play, such as during wonderful woodland play experiences. Children's behaviour is exceptional.

They show immense levels of patience and understanding as they learn together. For example, as they embark on making pretend soup in the garden home corner, they encourage each other to add some of their favourite ingredients into the pot. Staff retention at the pre-school is excellent and they are highly qualified with a wealth of experience.

Staff have an admirable understanding of how children all develop at different rates and how to meticulously plan to provide further challenges for their learning.

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

Staff prioritise children's early communication and language to the highest possible levels. They use exceptional questioning techniques to support children to share their own ideas and suggestions in their play.

Older children are eloquent in their use of language and younger children thrive in this area under the targeted practice of the staff.The manager precisely monitors and tracks children's learning to ensure that gaps in their progress are very swiftly identified. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make steady progress, and external professional partnerships are of a noteworthy mention.

Parents' 'aspirations' for their children's learning are captured and the next steps for their progress are very carefully planned.Children thrive in this rich and highly stimulating environment. Their emerging interests are quickly acted upon to consistently build on their learning.

For instance, as they work on the painting table, they use spinners to place their paper inside and watch in wonder as the droplets disperse to make intricate patterns as they spin the lid.Children have wonderful opportunities for outdoor learning and to be inspired by nature and the wider world around them. For instance, they complete complex spider webs from twine and sticks and learn about endangered species such as stag beetles.

This emerges and adapts into group wall displays, with children investigating specific subject books to seek additional information and facts.Staff help children to immerse themselves and to build a love of stories and poems. Children intently listen to the staff and react with delight as they repeat their favourite parts of books.

Children have access to an abundance of story boxes to help them recall memories and recreate scenes from their favourite tales. Staff help children to be creative and delightfully imaginative. Children enjoy taking part in stage shows to act out their favourite songs and dances.

The manager supports the staff team with highly effective supervisions, and staff take complete ownership of their roles and responsibilities. Their professional development is planned with precision and has a true impact on the experiences and progress of children. For instance, recent forest school training has greatly increased the outdoor physical play and learning opportunities and exploring with more natural resources.

The process of self-evaluation is used masterfully. Areas for improvement are reflective and highly reactive to the constantly evolving needs of children and families who attend the pre-school. The comments and views of staff, parents and children are highly regarded as an integral part of this notably effective system.

Children have an impressive understanding of using early technology in their learning, under the exemplary teaching and guidance of staff members. They quickly absorb new instructions for making characters on a screen move around and how to repeat these actions. Younger children take photographs of their favourite areas of the pre-school that are created into small books that help them to celebrate and build on their own interests and choices.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.There is a vigilant culture towards safeguarding children. All staff are highly trained and have an impressive understanding of their role in protecting children.

They have excellent knowledge of how to identify potential signs of abuse and the procedures to report concerns about a child's welfare. This includes protecting children from extreme views and using technology securely, while building an early awareness. Daily risk assessments provide children with safe environments to play and learn.

Emergency contact numbers are displayed and meticulously planned fire drills help children to learn about staying safe. The manager and staff update the safeguarding policy and other policies in line with changes to legislation or local authority requirements. Recruitment is robust and focused on ensuring the suitability of all staff who work with children.

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