Mere Green 0-5

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children thoroughly enjoy their time at pre-school and benefit from being cared for by friendly and caring staff. On arrival, they settle quickly, waving goodbye to their parents and carers before running off to enjoy the activities on offer. Staff encourage children to learn through play.

For example, children enjoy playing with cooked spaghetti and mould it into different shapes. They compare the lengths of different strands of spaghetti, while also likening it to the appearance of worms. Staff introduce them to a new song about a worm, which children giggle about while using the spaghetti to join in with the actions.
.../>The new manager benefits from having an experienced team around her. She is spending time getting to know staff, children and parents in order to assess the levels of support that they need. For example, she has recently introduced extra time within the routine for staff to get to know their key children better and has further plans for improvement.

Staff use spontaneous opportunities within play to encourage children to be inquisitive. For example, children become fascinated at how the water from their watering cans combines with the paint on the floor to create a running stream. They work together with their friends to see whose stream of water reaches the grass first.

Staff use these opportunities to introduce new language, including 'faster' and 'slower'.

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

As many of the children are new to the setting, staff have focused on supporting children in developing strong relationships and friendships with staff and other children. The impact of this is very evident as children greet each other on arrival, happily play together and chat to each other and staff.

Staff are positive role models, speaking calmly and with respect to each other and to children. Children's behaviour is good. They take turns in their play with very little need for any reminders from staff.

For example, children wait for their turn to have a go at throwing the ball into the basketball hoop.Staff have high expectations for all children. They use information gained from parents and their own observations to plan a range of carefully considered activities.

This allows them to build on what children already know and can do in all areas of learning to support and extend their learning even further.Staff plan a wide range of activities based on themes and children's interests. For example, during colour week, children mix different-coloured powder paints into dough and talk about how they are making 'rainbow cakes' for their friends to celebrate their birthday.

Staff spend time with their key children, getting to know them better while reading them a story. However, they have not fully considered how best to plan for these activities to ensure that children of different ages and abilities all remain interested.The new manager has started to meet with the staff team individually to find out about the children in their groups and give them feedback on their performance.

However, this is still very much in the early stages of development. The manager recognises that she needs to provide further support to staff, in particular, to help them gain the confidence needed to provide appropriate guidance to parents when discussing their child's development.Parents and carers report how happy they are with the pre-school and in particular, how caring the staff team is.

The manager has good processes in place to listen and respond to feedback. For example, they have introduced questionnaires and parents' evenings to share information and gain feedback.Staff promote children's physical health effectively.

Children can choose from the different fruits on offer at snack time. They also have daily access to physical play outdoors, where children play on the bikes, confidently steering around different obstacles. Staff, in partnership with parents, support children with toilet training and praise them for using the toilet successfully.

Consequently, this helps many children gain confidence in using the toilet independently.Staff and children enjoy singing songs together, moving their bodies and coloured ribbons to the rhythm of the music. New songs are introduced to encourage new vocabulary.

For example, while children learn a new song about a turtle, they talk about what turtles look like and think about where they might live. Children excitedly shout out, 'River' and, 'Sea'.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

All staff have attended safeguarding training and demonstrate a secure understanding of their responsibility to keep children safe. The premises are safe and secure. Access to the pre-school room, which is within a community library building, is monitored by staff who are extra vigilant at arrival and departure times.

Children are supervised effectively. Staff regularly check and assure the safety and suitability of the resources and environment indoors and outdoors.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nenhance the planning of activities where children of mixed ages and abilities are grouped together, so that all children remain interested and their learning is maximised fully support staff to enable them to confidently share information with parents and offer guidance to promote their child's development.