Knaphill Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Staff, including those who have very recently been employed, quickly get to know the children. They have high expectations for all children and support them to make good progress.

There is a strong focus on supporting children to develop a sense of belonging, self-confidence, independence and life skills. Staff form close emotional relationships with children and work well as a team to meet their individual needs. All children benefit from an exciting, ambitious curriculum.

Staff make sure that children who prefer to learn outdoors have access to the same curriculum as indoors. As a result, children are happy, active, ...enthusiastic learners, who make good progress. They confidently choose to play indoors or outdoors throughout the day.

Staff have a very kind, caring approach. Each day, they warmly welcome children and their parents into the pre-school. They successfully support all children to settle and feel secure.

Children are influenced by this positive approach and form close friendships. For example, some children ask others 'Can I be your friend?' to which they respond by including them in a 'group hug'.Staff are positive role models for children.

They communicate in a calm, respectful way and set clear expectations that gain children's cooperation.

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

Staff provide a wide range of activities that support children's physical development. For instance, children develop control of their movements as they fill and empty containers with water, seeds and pulp from a pumpkin.

Staff join in the activity and teach children new words that develop their vocabulary as they make play 'pumpkin soup'. For example, as they talk together about Halloween.Staff successfully develop children's communication skills and emotional well-being.

For instance, during group circle times, they ask children to individually say hello to others and to think and talk about how they feel. Children develop the confidence to say they feel happy or sad, identifying the reason why and sharing this with others.Staff meet children's individual care needs well.

They encourage children to do as much as possible for themselves to support their independence. For instance, at snack time, children use small jugs to pour drinks of milk. and build their coordination skills.

Since the last inspection, managers have worked well with staff to successfully improve children's pre-writing skills. However, they do not consistently monitor how staff introduce books to children to enhance their learning across all areas of the curriculum. For example, staff are not consistent at encouraging children to build on their knowledge, such as through using books to retrieve information.

Managers establish good communication with a local children's centre and school. They use feedback from these settings to make improvements to planning and the implementation of the curriculum. For instance, staff have recently introduced large-group activities that have successfully developed some of the skills that children need for starting school, such as their concentration.

Children are motivated to learn. Staff respond to children's emerging interests and engage them in purposeful play. For example, when children ride tricycles around an outdoor track and talk about the start and finish points, staff suggest they make flags to mark the points.

Children develop creative skills as they use resources, such as glue, sticky tape, paper and lolly sticks, to make the flags.Children behave well and learn to share. Staff notice when children help to tidy up the resources and praise them for working well as a team.

Staff have improved children's mathematical development. For example, they teach children to identify shape as they use small brooms to sweep dried leaves into circles and triangles drawn on the ground outdoors. Staff respond to children's interest in counting and set them challenges.

For instance, children eagerly count in numerical order while building with large blocks and enthusiastically join in songs about a flying saucer.Staff work well in partnership with parents. They share information with parents about activities and their children's progress.

However, staff do not regularly share and discuss children's next steps for learning with parents to provide further continuity and support children to make the best possible progress.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager and staff have a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities to safeguard children's welfare.

There is a strong focus on keeping children safe. All staff complete child protection training, which is regularly updated. The manager often checks staff understanding of safeguarding policies and procedures, including whistle-blowing.

They know what to do if they are concerned about a child's safety. Staff consistently risk assess the premises and all activities. For instance, when they take children on walks in woodland areas.

Staff are aware of potential hazards in relation to sharing the premises with a sports club. They remove any hazards to keep children safe.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen processes for sharing information about children's learning and development with parents to ensure they are fully informed about their children's next steps for learning develop a more consistent approach to supporting children's early literacy skills, including their exploration of books, to build on their learning.

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