Hilmarton Preschool

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy and enjoy the time they spend at this welcoming and friendly pre-school. The acting manager and staff are extremely kind and caring in their approach and develop close relationships with children, which helps the children to feel safe and secure.

Staff develop good partnerships with parents. They work well with parents to keep them updated with how their children are developing and give them ideas to continue children's learning at home. Children make good progress and gain the key skills that will support them with the next stage in their learning.

They show good independence, such as pouring their ...own drinks at snack times and putting on and taking off their coats.Staff are good role models and teach children to recognise how they are feeling. For instance, when children need support to resolve a conflict, they are confident to ask staff for help, which helps the children to understand how their behaviour makes others feel.

Staff develop close partnerships with other settings children attend and share information to enable continuity in children's care and learning. Links with the local school are effective. For example, children join the Reception class regularly for story time and staff provide teachers with a wealth of information to help children transition smoothly on to school.

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

Staff know the children well and recognise their individual needs. They make good use of their observations and assessments to identify children's stage of development and plan for their future learning. Children thoroughly enjoy a range of enjoyable and exciting activities throughout their time at the pre-school.

However, larger group activities, such as circle time, are not as effective as other group activities at keeping children engaged. Some older children become distracted and younger children also lose interest.Staff promote children's physical skills well.

Children benefit from regular physical activities and staff talk with them about the effects of exercise on their bodies. These sessions also support children's listening and attention skills, as the children listen intently to staff's instructions.Children develop good mathematic and literacy skills.

Staff place a strong emphasis on developing these areas. For example, children experiment with digital and manual scales as they pretend to cook using play dough and oats. Staff support them as they play and introduce a range of mathematical language as they weigh and measure.

Children are highly engaged in their self-chosen activities, such as when they write letters, put them into envelopes and post them in the pretend postbox.The manager supervises and monitors staff's practice well. She encourages staff to observe each other and to give feedback, to support all staff to continually improve and reflect on their teaching skills.

Staff are also encouraged to develop their skills through training. For instance, recent training has enhanced staff's knowledge of how to deal with any inappropriate behaviour in a more effective way.Overall, staff promote children's communication and language skills well.

They often engage children in conversations as they play. However, at times, staff do not support children to think and share their ideas.Staff provide children with good opportunities to learn about the world around them.

For instance, children take part in regular forest-school sessions that are led by the manager, who is a qualified forest-school teacher. Children learn how to keep themselves safe outside when they toast marshmallows on a campfire and use a hand drill to make holes in conkers to make 'conker caterpillars'.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The acting manager and staff have a good understanding of the procedures to follow if they have any concerns about a child's welfare. They have a secure knowledge of the possible signs to be aware of that could indicate a child is at risk of harm. The manager regularly tests staff's safeguarding knowledge, such as through discussions and quizzes.

She implements robust recruitment and induction processes to ensure that staff understand their roles and are suitable to work with children. Staff use daily safety checks indoors and outside to provide children with a safe environment.

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 group times to take into consideration the age ranges and individual needs of the children present, to help sustain their concentration develop staff's teaching of communication and language, to provide more opportunities for children to build their language and thinking skills.