Millbrook Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision requires improvement Children enjoy the time they spend at the pre-school.

Staff are caring and provide a calm, reassuring approach for children. They nurture children's well-being and encourage them to share and play cooperatively. Children gain confidence and build relationships with staff and their friends.

They benefit from the praise staff give them. They develop a clear sense of self-worth and feel valued and welcomed in the pre-school.Children gain some knowledge and skills to help prepare them for school.

However, there are inconsistencies in the quality of education that children receive, which hinders their progress. Staff ...do not organise learning opportunities that support the youngest children effectively. Learning intentions and staff interactions typically focus on developing older children's learning.

This means that younger children are often unable to engage in learning that meets their needs and promotes their learning and development. At times, younger children sit for long periods without being actively supported by staff.Children develop good hand-eye coordination, such as when they carefully pour and mix ingredients together to make dough.

They enjoy going on local walks with staff, such as to the beach, the park and around the community. This enables children to develop an understanding of the world around them. However, opportunities for children to develop their large-muscle skills are limited.

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

Children's overall experiences in the pre-school are variable. Staff do not support the youngest children effectively to build the key skills that they need to learn. Activities and themes are mostly enjoyable for all children.

However, they are often planned without considering how they will promote younger children's development. As a result, younger children often sit alongside the pre-school children during planned activities that are tailored towards the older children. Due to receiving less support and engagement from staff, younger children often lose interest and do not always show a positive attitude to learning.

Older children develop their imagination as they play in the role-play area that staff have transformed into a shop. Children re-enact a recent visit to the shop, weighing out pretend food and asking staff how much items cost. Staff weave mathematics into children's play, and older children are confident and familiar with counting in order and recognising basic shapes.

However, staff do not always engage with younger children in a way that promotes their sense of curiosity and exploration. Younger children often do not join in with the learning opportunities on offer because they are beyond their level of understanding and development. Some staff do not have the skills they need to adjust the activities to suit the needs of younger children to promote their learning and development appropriately.

Staff encourage children to be independent, which helps to build their self-esteem and confidence in preparation for school. For example, staff teach the older children how to fasten a zip. Older and younger children help themselves to healthy, nutritious snacks and pour their own drinks from a jug.

Children enjoy the time they spend outside. They talk about the insects and birds that they see on their walk around the local village and learn about their local community. However, the curriculum does not fully promote the development of children's gross motor skills.

For example, staff do not provide children with the time and space they need to run around or to strengthen their muscles to help keep them fit and healthy. While children enjoy some physical activities, such as dancing, they do not have enough opportunities to develop and practise their physical skills to prepare them for later, more-complex movement.Staff promote children's early reading skills during group activities.

Children access books independently and find a quiet space to enjoy these with staff. The provider has also recently introduced a 'lending library'. Parents comment that they value this opportunity to borrow books to share with their children at home.

When children start to attend the pre-school, staff find out about their home languages and learn some key words to help children to settle. Staff encourage older children who speak more than one language to translate new vocabulary into their home language, such as when singing familiar songs together. This helps to nurture a sense of belonging.

Staff communicate with parents to help provide continuity in children's care and learning. For example, they share daily feedback about children's care and learning activities. Staff say that their well-being is well supported by the provider and their morale is high.

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 meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage, the provider must: Due date plan and implement a broad and balanced curriculum that meets the needs of all children and builds on what they already know and can do 29/11/2024 improve staff interactions with younger children to help ensure that all children can actively engage in learning that extends their knowledge and skills.

29/11/2024