Mama Bear’s Pre-School Whitchurch

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children and their parents enter this friendly nursery with confidence and children are keen to settle to their activities. Staff warmly welcome the children and offer comfort to those who need a little help to separate from their parents, helping them feel safe and secure to say 'goodbye'.

Children form good friendships and happily play with their friends, requesting activities to do together. A group of children decide they want to do some painting and staff help them choose the paints they want and the brushes they wish to use, and they sit together chatting about their pictures. Other children decide to complete a puzzle to...gether, taking turns to put their piece in the correct place.

The environment is generally calm and conducive to children's learning. The area manager has implemented a balanced curriculum and knows the skills and knowledge the children need to gain before their move to school. There is a strong focus on communication and language and helping children talk about and manage their emotions.

Additional funding gained for children is used well to help close any gaps in learning. Overall, most children make good progress from their varied starting points, including those who learn English as an additional language and those who have delays in their development.Partnerships with parents are positive.

Parents report they are happy with the progress their children are making. They report staff are warm and caring and share information about their children's learning with them. Children say they enjoy going to nursery, especially to play with their friends.

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

Management has faced some staffing difficulties, and this has meant some nursery closures and reduced opening times. This has led to some staff changes and has been unsettling for the children and families. Management has prioritised building on the key person system and having long standing staff share their knowledge of the children with the newer staff.

This has helped children settle well and form positive relationships with the staff.Staff monitor children's progress well and identify gaps in learning. They liaise with parents and the local authority to seek appropriate support and additional funding.

However, this is not always effective to ensure children get the prompt support they need.Children's behaviour is good. They play cooperatively with their friends and learn to share and take turns.

Staff provide activities to help children wait and listen and offer lots of praise for children's achievements. This helps promote children's self-esteem.Children develop well in their communication and language.

Those children with delays are catching up and staff offer lots of praise so they are confident to communicate. Older children speak fluently and recall past experiences. When reading a book that has a picture of a swan in it, they talk about seeing a swan when out with their family.

Staff then extend children's learning by talking about baby animals, introducing the word 'cygnet' to the children. They encourage the children to remember the names of other baby animals, such as 'puppy' and 'calf'. This helps broaden children's vocabulary.

Children enjoy being physically active in the fresh air. They climb, balance and play 'superhero' games, running around using their imaginations and negotiating space well. Children develop good self-care skills.

They go to the toilet independently, wash their hands, serve their lunches, and feed themselves using cutlery, for example.Staff help children talk about their emotions and how to manage their feelings. Children talk about what may make them feel 'sad' or 'excited'.

They sing a song in an angry voice and choose the puppet with the matching face. Children draw pictures of themselves when looking in mirrors. They talk about their features, to help them learn what makes them unique.

Children show they are developing an interest in books and stories. They are keen to sit and listen to stories, talk about the characters and the pictures. Staff use props and different tones of voices, to gauge the children's interests and make the story more exciting.

Children persevere when staff teach them new skills, such as holding a pencil so they have more control using it. At times, staff do not encourage the children to solve simple problems, such as when they get stuck putting the train track together. Staff sometimes offer the children solutions, rather than encouraging them to think for themselves.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: forge closer links with the early years teams in the local authorities to access specific funding, to support children's individual learning needs more swiftly help staff understand the importance of encouraging children to think about and solve simple problems for themselves.