Longparish Little School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are incredibly happy and settled at this calm and inviting pre-school. They embrace the warm welcome they receive from staff and enter with ease and confidence.

Children demonstrate a sound sense of belonging, which helps them to engage quickly in meaningful play. Children are fascinated by the resources and activities on offer and show high levels of involvement. They independently initiate their own play, freely accessing thoughtfully planned resources and activities.

Skilled staff enhance and extend children's interests and involvement by joining in with children's play and forging purposeful learning exper...iences. This at no point interferes with the fun the children are having. Staff know the strategies that help individual children to settle and use these effectively.

All children, including the very youngest and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), demonstrate a positive attitude to learning, with high levels of focus and concentration. Enrichment activities are carefully planned to ensure children gain an understanding and respect for others in their own communities and beyond. For example, the children go on trips to the local wheat farm to appreciate the efforts made by local farmers.

They celebrate a range of cultural festivals with dance and food activities integrated sensitively into day-to-day learning when relevant.Children behave exceptionally well. They are highly respectful of adults and peers and regularly show empathy and care for one another.

Staff promote independence and resilience well. For example, the children access the hose, taps and containers for themselves when requiring water in the garden. If children find things challenging, staff provide encouragement and praise for attempts being made rather than immediately helping.

Further guidance or support is only given if needed and after the children have already attempted to problem solve for themselves. Staff have high expectations for children. Consequently, children are consistently motivated and curious, with a desire to gain further knowledge and to try new things.

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

The manager has a clear and ambitious vision for the pre-school, with clear aims of how to further improve what the setting has to offer children. She is hands-on in her practice and is an enthusiastic and knowledgeable role model for staff. The leaders provide extensive training opportunities to develop staff skills.

Staff work very well as a team and support one another in their work and share the breadth of experiences and training knowledge acquired. This helps to provide consistently high-quality experiences for the children.Children arrive keen and excited.

The space and resources have been well planned to allow children to access things that interest them and the space that they require to move freely and actively. All children demonstrate high levels of engagement in their play and remain focused for prolonged periods of time. Additional off-site activities, such as visits to local farms, help the children to make sense of the wider world around them.

Children with SEND are swiftly identified and the pre-school works hard to ensure that they receive appropriate support. Staff work effectively with outside agencies and other professionals to help them to adapt their practices to suit specific needs of individuals. Staff make specific adjustments to the provision to ensure that all children have equal access to what the pre-school has to offer.

For example, they provide breakout spaces with sensory toys available and place activities on the floor to make them more accessible and desirable.Staff encourage children to be independent and resilient. At lunchtime, the children serve their own lunches using tongs and spatulas.

At snack time, the children peel and chop their own fruit, while general resources are set out in such a way that the children are free to access what they need, when they need it. Children have a clear purpose in their play and are becoming confident, self-assured and independent learners.Children are encouraged to develop their language and communication skills well.

The staff are skilful at deciding when to stand back and when to engage in the play with the children to enhance the learning experiences and offer more ambitious vocabulary choices. For example, when playing in the sand, children are encouraged to find treasure, with positional language such as 'beneath' and 'below' being introduced.Staff support children's emotional well-being exceptionally well.

Children have excellent relationships with their key person and feel safe and secure. Children who demonstrate communication and language difficulties are supported by the use of sign language and the provision of additional quiet spaces when required. Mirrors are also used effectively with children so that they can explore expressions and how to read and react to these appropriately.

This helps children to develop empathy and understand how to treat each other with respect, kindness and care.Overall, staff have established a stimulating and broad curriculum. They assess children's progress and generally build upon what is already known, to ensure that children make good progress.

However, at times, the planning for some children's next steps in their learning is not sufficiently clear or specific. This does not support best rates of progress in some areas for some children.Staff form strong relationships with families.

Parents report that their children 'adore coming to the pre-school' and that the staff 'go above and beyond' when supporting their children. Parents appreciate the open-door policy and feel that the online communication system is informative and effective. Families and children are incredibly happy with their experiences at the pre-school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager and the staff have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities to keep children safe. They have an accurate knowledge of the signs that could indicate that a child is at risk of abuse or neglect.

All staff demonstrate a sound understanding of what processes they should follow if they become concerned for a child's safety and welfare. Staff know how to contact local safeguarding partners to help protect children from harm. Staff are also aware of correct protocol to follow should an allegation be made about a member of staff.

The managers ensure ongoing staff suitability though their robust and thorough recruitment and induction procedures, alongside regular supervisions. The premises is secure and safe, with the vigilant staff supervising children closely at all times.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen staff's skills in focusing even more precisely and consistently on what children are ready to learn next, to help them make the best possible progress.

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