Holy Family Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

Staff offer children an extremely well-resourced, interesting learning environment. Staff are warm, caring, passionate and enthusiastic. They know each individual child very well.

Children demonstrate high levels of social and emotional development. They thoroughly enjoy their learning and show that they are happy to attend and they feel safe and secure. Children have exceptionally good relationships with their friends and the staff who care for them.

They are polite and respectful to each other, and their behaviour is impeccable at all times. Staff have an ambitious understanding of their intentions to promote ...how and what children learn. A high focus is placed on language and literature.

The experiences staff offer to children thoroughly support children's skills for their future. Staff encourage children to take an active part in their learning. This is demonstrated during an outdoor activity that helps children extend their awareness of nursery rhymes.

For example, they act out being 'Jack and Jill' as they transport various water containers and storage resources along ramps and stepping areas so that they can 'fetch the water'. Children plan together and problem-solve to move the water from one area to another along the bridge. While children benefit immensely from engaging in their learning to understand literature, they also enhance many other skills through these outstanding teaching methods.

These include balancing, problem-solving, discussions, decision-making, turn taking, using mathematical language and following instructions.

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

The manager is extremely positive about her role. She is highly focused in ensuring that staff reflect securely on their practice.

She is particularly mindful of staff well-being. Staff are keen to state that they feel thoroughly supported, love working at the setting and find their jobs rewarding.Teaching is of an exceptionally high standard.

Children show motivation, concentration and engagement in their play. The manager and deputy are conscientious to ensure staff implement the early years foundation stage curriculum consistently across all levels of learning. They use secure strategies to help staff to be robust in their planning.

All children, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, those in receipt of additional funding and children who speak English as an additional language, are making rapid progress in relation to their starting points.Staff are extremely proactive to make timely interventions. They act with integrity to support children and parents to access additional care and support if needed.

Staff plan incredibly well for all children who speak English as an additional language. For example, they know and use basic words in children's home languages. Other interventions include highly effective modelling of language and use of professional programmes that promote children's skills for listening and attention, language, communication and literacy.

Staff speak regularly with parents to ensure children are developing good levels of communication in the languages they speak at home. The impact is that all children make great strides in their speech and language.An extremely high focus is given to how children access literacy.

This includes resources to promote mark-making skills, a home lending library, and small-group reading. Children listen attentively, for example, to the story 'Shark in the park'. Children are actively involved.

They demonstrate an outstanding comprehension of what is happening, for instance as they make a telescope with their hands to look around the park for the shark, as written in the book. They are highly excited as they 'scream' when they think it is the shark and rock their bodies, 'just like in the wind', with the character in the story. Children call out as they recall repetitive lines and verses.

Children show positive attitudes to learning. They try very hard when encountering something different or practising new skills, such as learning to write some letters of their name. They play cooperatively together, including when language could be a barrier.

Children are incredibly independent. This includes self-care skills and putting on coats and shoes. They are gaining an awareness of healthy eating through the implementation of a healthy lifestyles programme.

Staff offer children rich experiences that broaden their learning. For example, the vast, interesting outdoor areas are used whatever the weather. Children make 'soup' at the mud kitchen, sharing tools and learning new terms, such as a 'whisk'.

Enthusiastic children recall how they learned about the life cycles of plants and how much they enjoyed eating strawberries. Children pretend to be superheroes, dressing up and talking with friends about their powers. They create life-sized models of themselves to display.

Children enjoy planned visits from professionals, such as the fire service, and a mobile zoo. They delight when parents join them for craft workshops and when they compete with friends in 'bake off' competitions.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff demonstrate an excellent understanding and knowledge of all safeguarding aspects and legislation. Staff are competent to respond to questions and scenarios discussed at inspection to show their awareness of the signs and symptoms that may indicate abuse or neglect and the procedures to follow. They are extremely confident about what to do if they had concerns about a senior staff member and how to access external support.

The manager uses robust systems for the recruitment and training of her staff. This includes regularly checking that staff remain suitable for their roles. Staff adhere to the manager's robust policies, procedures and risk assessments to promote children's health and safety.

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