Peterpan Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

The staff have strong relationships with the children and their families. They dedicate time to get to know children prior to them joining the setting. This enables them to plan activities that follow the child's interests and experiences.

They understand the importance of working together with parents and sharing the learning journey so that children can reach their full potential. Staff are excellent role models and children demonstrate kind behaviour towards each other. They encourage the older children to help and look after the younger children during activities.

Children are prepared well for their next stage of ...learning. They enjoy participating in a wide range of physical activities and have use of several outside spaces, including a large field. The parents speak very highly of the setting, referring to it as a pre-school that goes 'above and beyond' and a place where 'nothing is too much trouble'.

They are included in lots of activities and the setting offers a lending library and creative activities for the parents to share with their children at home. The curriculum is varied and the staff plan activities to excite and challenge the children. The children enjoy lots of baking and recently had a yoga session with an outside provider.

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

The manager works closely with the parents to ensure that children settle quickly into the setting. She provides a six-week settling-in period, where the parents can really get to know the key person and share their children's interests prior to them starting.Parents report that they feel included in the setting.

They are invited on trips with the children. They recently went apple picking at a local farm and are due to visit Father Christmas soon. The setting shares next steps for the children during parents' meetings and regularly during drop-off and pick-up.

As the setting has a small staff team, all staff know the children well and parents can speak to any member of staff in the absence of the child's key person.The children enjoy participating in lots of exciting and challenging activities. The setting has a vast selection of resources which are easily accessed independently by the children throughout the day.

The role-play area is adapted regularly to follow the interests of the children. It is currently a hospital due to the recent experiences of one of the children. They discuss x-rays and the children learn how to use doctor's equipment, such as stethoscopes.

Staff have some opportunities for professional development. For instance, one staff member attended a sign language course and has taught the children to use this to say good morning. However, highly effective systems for staff development and supervision are not in place.

On occasion, the manager misses some staff training needs. She does not monitor staff closely enough to ensure teaching is consistently of a very high quality.The setting has close links with the local primary schools and this ensures that children are well prepared for the next stage in their learning.

The setting supports the children well for their transition to school, providing uniform for the children to dress up in and visiting the schools with the children.The staff read exciting stories to the children. They use different intonations in their voice and props to keep the children interested.

Even the youngest children are attentive throughout the story and join in with the repeated parts of the story that they recognise.The setting promotes healthy eating and the children have a selection of fruit and vegetables to choose from at snack time. They develop their independence through pouring their own drinks and selecting the fruit of their choice.

They also promote healthy lunch boxes by sending notes to parents with suggestions of what to put in them.Staff are very skilled in supporting children who speak English as an additional language. They say hello in their home language and staff provide translations of their assessments of children for parents.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The staff have a good understanding of safeguarding. The manager ensures staff complete mandatory child protection training and have a good knowledge of their role.

This helps them to keep children safe and secure at the setting and enables them to identify any signs of abuse. The manager follows robust recruitment procedures to ensure that staff are suitable for the role. Continued suitability is monitored through staff joining the Disclosure and Barring Service update system and discussion with staff at appraisals.

The manager ensures that policies and procedures are regularly checked and updated and these are shared with parents at the setting. Staff share information with parents via their newsletters to ensure that children are kept safe at home as well as at the setting.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen the arrangements for staff supervision, support and training, to help ensure all training needs are promptly identified and raise the quality of teaching to a consistently high level.