Gateway Grange Rowner

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy and secure. There is a good settling-in process that helps children to build strong attachments with staff.

The manager has high expectations for all children to help them to make the best possible progress. She is dedicated and passionate about her role and responsibilities, including helping to build a highly effective team. Staff provide safe learning environments through a good use of risk assessments that are adapted continuously.

Children are developing good independence skills and are encouraged to persevere with tasks. For instance, children show immense pride as they manage to zip up their j...ackets by themselves. Children behave well.

Staff are good role models who provide consistent and age-appropriate explanations. These help children learn to manage their own emotions and feelings. Staff are very respectful of each other.

This helps children to learn and develop good social skills and an awareness of the similarities and differences in themselves and others. The diverse range of children and families who attend the pre-school helps children to have a deep understanding of the community and wider world around them. Children are inquisitive and engaged learners.

However, staff occasionally miss opportunities presented to further challenge children's emerging interests in their play. Although children have access to bright and spacious learning environments, these are not organised effectively enough to help children to fully concentrate on tasks.

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

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those who receive additional funding, are supported well.

There is a targeted approach towards the next stages in their learning. Partnerships with other professionals are well established to constantly share information on children's development.The manager uses the process of self-evaluation well.

The views and suggestions of the staff team, children and parents are valued as an important part of identifying areas for improvement and change. A firm focus has been placed on improving the planned mathematical opportunities to support children's learning even further.The manager uses a well-established supervision system to support and enhance the practice of the staff team.

Staff have one-to-one meetings and play a key part in planning their own professional development. Staff are well qualified. A recent course on supporting children's communication and language has helped staff to introduce further ways of increasing the vocabulary children use in their everyday play and learning.

The staff and the manager precisely track and monitor the progress of the children well. They are able to swiftly identify potential gaps in children's development to provide additional support if required. Staff observe the children to plan for their future learning.

Partnerships with parents are well established and they feel valued and included in their children's achievements and successes. Staff share ideas and suggestions with parents to help their children to continue to learn at home.Staff successfully support children's communication and language development.

They introduce simple words and sounds during story time for younger children and ask older children more challenging questions during circle time. This helps them to use and express their own opinions and views. However, occasionally, staff miss opportunities presented to further support and challenge children during their play.

Children are creative and imaginative. They enjoy pretend play together as they patiently wait to fill up at the 'petrol station' on the bikes. Younger children work together to fill up containers with coloured leaves from the garden.

They enjoy sensory experiences as they make shapes and patterns in wet sand. This helps children to have outdoor physical development opportunities and daily access to fresh air.Children are developing good physical skills.

They use tweezers to move objects around and recognise similar-sized, coloured bears. Younger children count as they play and enjoy working out problems as they press buttons and flaps to build on their early mathematical awareness. Older children use their increasing abilities to match patterns as they complete more intricate jigsaw puzzles.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.There is a vigilant culture towards the safeguarding of children. All staff have a secure knowledge of how to identify potential signs of abuse and the procedures they would use to report any concerns.

Recruitment procedures are robust and have a very firm focus on ensuring the suitability of staff who work directly with children. The manager uses daily risk assessments well to keep the children at the pre-school safe and secure at all times. For example, visitors are immediately informed about the policy for mobile phones before being shown around.

A secure keypad system on each door means unauthorised visitors cannot gain access to the spaces used by children. This allows children to have safe and unrestricted access to the indoor and outdoor play areas.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: review the organisation of the indoor learning environment for older children to fully support learning and improve concentration skills nimprove the way in which staff respond to children's emerging interests to provide more challenging learning experiences.