Happy Faces Pre-school (LAMPH)

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

Children settle very quickly and swiftly demonstrate how happy and safe they feel in this welcoming setting. They develop highly secure bonds with the attentive, kind staff. Children develop excellent independence skills for their age.

They take themselves to the toilet, wash their hands thoroughly and put on aprons, coats and boots by themselves. Children develop superb confidence and relish pretending to be 'the teacher' as they direct a group of their friends to sing songs. Staff provide much encouragement and offer children guidance without interrupting with their play.

They are passionate about helping each... child to reach their full potential in every area of learning.Children readily demonstrate positive behaviours, such as patiently taking turns to speak and listening carefully to their friends, without prompting. They are very kind and helpful.

Older children follow complex instructions and glow with pride at opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge. For instance, children find the correct cards for the day, date, month and weather conditions to complete the 'daily board'. They begin to recognise letters and play with sounds.

Children competently match rhyming sound cards in pairs. They delight in group activities, such as songs and stories, and are very eager to listen to staff read books. From a young age, children recall familiar refrains.

They enjoy predicting what might happen next and what each character might be feeling at different points in the story. Children concentrate for extended periods of time and exhibit extremely positive attitudes to learning and exploring.

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

The manager is highly organised and professional.

She leads staff in incisively evaluating and reflecting upon the curriculum to continuously improve and enhance the experiences of children and families. The manager meticulously monitors and reviews children's progress and seeks feedback from parents to identify areas for focus. She also uses this information to review the impact of changes, organise sharply focused staff training and provide children with targeted support through small-group or one-to-one activities.

Children are highly motivated and self-aware learners. They relish small-group activities and readily explore, investigate and ask questions within their play. Staff empower children to make links between their learning experiences.

For example, they enable children to transport toys and resources between areas. Children collect hard hats and hammers from the role-play area to tap small construction bricks together. They talk about keeping safe and explain the various stages of building their castle.

The promotion of children's speaking and listening skills is superb. Staff complete detailed assessments of children's level of language development. The manager has allocated an additional member of staff to provide one-to-one support for children's communication skills.

Children become confident communicators as staff teach them new words and reinforce new vocabulary.Children's uniqueness is celebrated, and all children thrive in this fully inclusive environment. They develop a wider, more-complex understanding of the world.

Staff encourage children to examine the weather outside and teach them about other countries where people live in extremely cold conditions. Children learn about Inuit people and how they wear special clothing and use different vehicles to move across the snow.Staff use a range of highly effective teaching techniques.

They skilfully introduce different concepts into their play alongside and with children. For instance, they turn tidying pens into a game where young children name each pen's colour as they count them into a pot.Staff encourage children to think about the meaning of numbers, quantity and sequence.

They prompt children to use tools to help them count, such as jumping or using their fingers. Children spontaneously recall previous learning. For example, they point to the correct number symbols on the fence as they call out to friends during a game of 'What's the time, Mr Wolf?'.

Parents are incredibly positive about the setting and the impact it has had on their children. They commend the 'wonderful, caring' staff team and describe how much their children enjoy attending.Staff know children and families exceptionally well.

They use this knowledge alongside highly accurate observations and assessments of children to inform their planning for each individual child. All children make excellent progress from their starting points and acquire skills to support their future learning.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The manager and her staff team have a robust knowledge of the signs and symptoms that may indicate a child is at risk of harm. They have an excellent understanding of how to report any concerns about the welfare of a child or the behaviour of an adult. The manager ensures staff keep their knowledge up to date.

Staff regularly attend training and refresh their understanding during staff meetings and training days. When appointing new staff, the manager follows thorough recruitment processes which include suitability checks. This ensures staff are suitable and have the necessary skills to fulfil their roles in the setting.