Painswick Playgroup

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are very happy in this warm and welcoming playgroup and have good opportunities to reach their full potential. They form strong relationships with their peers, their designated key person and every member of the staff team. Staff know the children well and are able to provide a varied and interesting curriculum.

Small-group learning opportunities linked to children's individual needs ensure children make continuous progress from their initial starting points. Pre-school children make particularly good progress and quickly acquire the skills they need for their future learning. For instance, they count confidently and r...ecognise some letter sounds on their named table mat at snack time.

Children take part in a wide variety of activities that help broaden their experiences, such as local and cultural celebrations, and food and music from around the world. Supporting children's personal, social and emotional development is a particular strength within the playgroup. Children's behaviour is very good.

Staff ensure children grow in confidence and independence. Younger children explore their environment confidently and practise their physical skills, such as filling and emptying containers in sand play outdoors. Older children ask staff if they can help them and enjoy taking responsibility for simple tasks, such as tidying the toys away.

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

The committee and leaders have a strong commitment to providing high-quality care and education for children. The staff team uses feedback from children and parents effectively to make improvements which benefit the children. For example, after suggestions from parents, staff reviewed the busy collection time at the end of the session to help make this a calmer experience for children and families.

Staff are particularly knowledgeable about how to teach children mathematics and to recognise early phonic sounds. They make use of counting and alphabet games and bright wall displays as well as written labels, so children become familiar with the concept that print in the play areas conveys a meaning. Such learning opportunities help prepare children well for the next stage of learning when they move up to school.

Staff are positive role models and offer constant praise to children. They know that confidence and independence to learn are the building blocks for children's high self-esteem. Children have very good social skills and manners.

They learn to share and wait patiently for their turn, for instance, they use the sand timer provided to use a digital touch table.The playgroup staff offer different types of activities indoors and outside for children to explore, with exciting challenges, in particular for pre-school children who are enthusiastic about their play. For example, they make 'smelly potions' with celery, ginger, garlic, sage and lemon.

However, at times, staff do not use information from the assessment process to build on the quieter, younger children's learning. They overlook opportunities to help children achieve as much as they can and gain the most from their experiences.Staff have a good awareness of how children develop and use a range of different teaching approaches to help them make effective progress in all areas of learning.

However, staff do not provide a wide enough range of activities to extend younger children's creative and imaginative skills.Staff encourage children to play outside to develop their physical skills in the fresh air. They consistently help children learn more about a healthy lifestyle by providing and talking about healthy food at snack time and explaining the benefits of regular exercise.

The staff have effective partnerships with parents and other agencies, such as health professionals, to support children's care and learning. Parents are happy with the service provided. They comment positively on the improvements made to the way they can share their children's progress at home, through the recently developed online learning record.

This helps to support a consistent approach between the playgroup and home and improve outcomes for children.The committed management team ensures that all staff receive support to develop their skills further through effective supervision, observation and training. For instance, staff have undertaken further safeguarding training to improve their knowledge and understanding of data protection issues.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The committee and the joint managers give good attention to safeguarding children and have a good knowledge of their role and responsibility in this area. They demonstrate they can respond promptly to any concerns to keep children safe.

All staff have attended regular child protection training to ensure they keep their knowledge current and know what to do in the event of concerns about a child. Staff teach children how to assess risks, so they learn and play safely.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: help staff to use information from the assessment process to influence their interactions with children and to seize opportunities to challenge all children's learning, so that they consistently benefit from the very best experiences strengthen sensory and creative opportunities for younger children so that they can pursue their own interests and choose resources independently to allow children's free expression.

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