Mitton Manor Pre-School and After School Club

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Staff provide an exceptionally welcoming environment. For example, children greet each other with real fondness at the start of the day.

Children are very secure in the relationships they have with staff and benefit from excellent emotional support at all times. Children continually receive praise and support in their attempts and experience lots of success, such as completing a giant floor puzzle. Children build lovely relationships with their special key person and this gives them an excellent platform from which to grow and develop.

Children's behaviour is exemplary. Staff brim with warmth, caring and positivity, an...d this helps teach children to value and respect each other's views and feelings. Children have a positive sense of themselves and others.

They confidently access the resources and seek out their friends and members of staff to join in with their play, for instance as they count and thread beads and entertain friends in the home corner. Children make good progress and are motivated and engaged in their learning. Staff support children's understanding of being healthy very well.

Each day, they encourage children to dance, jump and hop, then feel how fast their hearts are beating as they discuss feeling good after exercise. Even the youngest children know that they need to wash their hands before eating and demonstrate an excellent ability to keep themselves safe when taking part in more physically challenging activities outdoors.

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

The dedicated manager works with staff to complete an accurate evaluation of the setting.

This helps to identify areas for improvement and raise outcomes for children. For example, the manager is working towards incorporating forest school opportunities into their day to enable children to spend even more time exploring the natural world outside.Staff make accurate assessments of children's abilities and understand what interests them.

They use these interests to plan a stimulating curriculum with activities that help keep children focused and provide a wide range of opportunities. For example, staff help children to learn about simple mathematical ideas while they play with dough, sand and sorting games.Children have good communication and language skills.

Staff use prompts and simple questions to extend older children's thinking. They repeat words back to younger children to help them further develop. Furthermore, the setting has installed sound absorbing materials in the ceiling to reduce background noise to help improve children's listening and speaking skills.

Staff ensure books are easily accessible and children develop a genuine love of books. They enjoy one-to-one and group stories, becoming fully engrossed in what they are listening to. For example, staff introduce a favourite story to complement a resource brought in by children at 'show and tell' and encourage children to join in with repeated phrases.

All children, including those who are learning English as an additional language and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are supported very well. For instance, at the start of each session, staff highlight a visual timetable of activities and routines for the benefit of all children. Staff have excellent links with other professionals to promote consistency in children's learning.

They share information about children's achievements and interests when children attend other early years settings.Partnerships with parents are strong. Staff share information with parents about their children's progress effectively.

Parents are extremely complimentary about the service provided.Children use toys which play sounds and music when they press buttons. They are learning to use computers and electronic tablets in everyday play to help them learn about technology.

The manager evaluates staff practice regularly to identify areas for development. For example, she recently arranged whole-staff training on how to embed phonics in the early years curriculum. However, although staff strive towards consistently high standards, some staff interactions occasionally lack the challenge to support children to the highest level, to bring about rapid progress.

As an example, although children recognise letters of the alphabet and identify words that start with familiar sounds, such as their names and days of the week, staff do not consistently embed these growing skills in other aspects of children's play.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager and staff have a very good understanding of safeguarding.

The manager makes sure everyone that works with the children undergoes training. They know what to do in the event of a concern about a child's welfare or if there was an allegation about a member of the staff team. The committee has robust recruitment and vetting procedures in place.

This helps to ensure that new staff are checked to determine their suitability to work with children. A thorough induction process helps new staff to understand their roles and responsibilities.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: continue to improve staff's good teaching skills to help them make the most of all opportunities to extend learning for children of different ages and stages of development even further.

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