Newborough Pre-School Playgroup

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children make good progress and are very happy and settled at this pre-school. They and their families are warmly welcomed by staff.

The hall is set up each day to provide children with an interesting choice of activities. For example, some children work together to decorate a small Christmas tree while others create their own 'robots' from construction resources. Children freely choose to play outdoors and benefit from a wide range of activities, such as number-recognition games and balancing on stepping stones.

Children are encouraged to persevere and have a positive attitude towards learning. For example, a child is... helped to complete a complex jigsaw puzzle by looking at the picture, turning pieces around until they fit and matching colours. They gain satisfaction from the end result and praise given by staff for their efforts.

Children develop good communication and language skills. They are listened to by staff, for example, as they talk about experiences important to them at home or comment, 'I think that one will take too long,' about a song choice. Children enjoy favourite stories and there are effective strategies in place for supporting those children who find verbal communication difficult.

Older children gain the key skills necessary to support them when they move on to school. Activities aimed specifically at the older children help them to develop very good mathematical skills. For example, children recognise when the number line on the wall is in the incorrect order and ably show staff how to correctly re-order the numbers.

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

Children build lovely relationships with their key person, and parents also recognise this. This provides a secure foundation for children to develop their confidence, especially when they start. However, sometimes when key persons are absent, other staff do not have specific enough information to ensure that those key children receive the highest quality learning experiences during planned activities.

Staff's assessment of children's learning and development is accurate. They use this information to identify children's next steps in learning and provide activities to incorporate these. Staff are aware of children's interests and use this information to extend children's learning.

This makes their learning enjoyable and relevant to them.Children show that they are aware of safety. For example, they explain to staff that they must wear 'goggles' and 'look away' while they are pretending to weld a model together.

Staff ask questions, such as 'How will you…?', to make children think and to extend their creative ideas.Staff support children's learning well. They model actions and repeat instructions to give children the confidence to have a go at balancing and moving from stepping stone to stepping stone.

Staff join in, for example, when practising action Christmas songs and, for the most part, children remain actively engaged.Children enjoy decorating pine cones for the Christmas tree festival at the local church, and making Christmas clay figures to sell. However, there are too few opportunities for children to gain a deeper understanding of diversity in terms of people, families and communities beyond their own.

Risk assessments are robust and children are kept safe. The premises are secure and children are supervised constantly. There are clear procedures in place with regard to visitors to the pre-school.

Effective recruitment procedures ensure that staff and committee members are suitable for their roles. All required documentation is maintained appropriately to ensure children's safety and welfare.Staff attend regular training initiatives and those specific to children's medical needs.

The committee is supportive of staff's professional development. Supervision sessions are completed regularly and give staff the opportunity to gain valuable feedback about their practice.Staff work hard to ensure good partnerships with parents and other professionals.

Open days provide parents with opportunities to speak directly with staff about their children's development and to see the activities they enjoy. Parents comment that they are very happy with the care their children receive and appreciate the supportive and approachable staff.The manager feels very strongly that each child should take good memories of their early years with them when they leave pre-school.

This is what the whole staff team endeavours to provide. Any plans for improvement focus on having a positive impact on children.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The manager and staff understand their responsibility to protect the children in their care from the risk of harm. They attend regular safeguarding training and have a good knowledge about what to do if they have concerns about a child, or a colleague's behaviour towards children.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nensure that in a key person's absence, all children still receive the highest quality learning experiences during planned activities provide a richer set of experiences for children to gain a deeper understanding of people, families and communities beyond their own.