Scallywags Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision requires improvement Children arrive happily and confidently separate from their parents or carers. They make independent choices about what they would like to play with from the well-resourced environment. Children are very confident.

They approach visitors as soon as they arrive and talk about themselves and ask to sit on visitors' laps to look at a book.Overall, most children gain the necessary knowledge and skills that they need for their future learning, including school. Children are imaginative, and they play well together.

For example, they role play being builders together, sawing and cutting boxes by using pretend tools. However, th...e manager and the staff are not always clear about what they want children to learn, so the activities are not consistently tailored to the children's learning needs closely enough.Although the curriculum meets the needs of most of the children attending, it does not have the level of detail in its design to enable staff to meet the learning needs of those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

This means that staff do not provide children with SEND with the support and interactions that are needed to develop their knowledge and skills, which, at times, causes these children distress, and they are often left to wander aimlessly or are sat with minimal interaction for long periods of time.Overall, children develop confidence and independence. They learn how to put on their coats and aprons.

They make choices about what to eat at the snack table. However, at times, staff do not deploy themselves effectively. They do not always ensure that children are supervised during mealtimes.

Staff are kind, and they model the behaviour they expect of the children they care for. They greet children warmly on arrival and offer affection when children are upset or need a cuddle. This helps children to settle well into their day.

Children eagerly explore the environment, indoors and outside. They thoroughly enjoy the time they spend outside in the garden, where they have plenty of opportunities to extend their physical skills, enjoy nature and become engrossed in role play.

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

The special educational needs and disabilities coordinator (SENDCo) has not ensured that the curriculum is designed to give children with SEND the knowledge and skills they need.

She has received support and guidance from external agencies, including examples of strategies to use to support individual children, but she has not ensured that effective strategies and systems are in place to support the individual needs of children with SEND. This means that levels of teaching for children with SEND are not good enough, and these children continue to experience difficulties that cause barriers to learning.Staff have some learning aims for the activities they provide.

However, the manager does not provide each child with an ambitious education programme that helps them to achieve their full potential. For example, during a board game activity, some children are told that they cannot have a turn because there is not enough space for them, and they sit waiting for the game to finish. Other children who are playing the game are disengaged and talk over the top of the other children.

This means that children do not have enough good opportunities to build on their knowledge and skills for their future learning.Children develop a love of books. When staff read to them, they vary their tone and rhythm to capture children's attention, and they encourage them to recall the missing words in their favourite stories.

Children concentrate well when they choose to look at books independently.Although adult-to-child ratios are maintained, staff deployment is not effective in ensuring that children are supervised appropriately. For example, children are left unsupervised at the table while they are eating their snack, and some children put the knife in their mouth, which staff do not immediately notice or address.

At times, staff prioritise tasks, such as cleaning and tidying up, over supervising and supporting the children sufficiently.Staff help the pre-school children become confident and skilled to explore mathematical ideas. Pre-school children are encouraged to estimate how many bangles they think are in the pot.

Staff take time to explain what 'estimate' means, and children show great delight when they start to estimate the amount and then work together to count them all. Staff extend children's mathematical knowledge further by showing the children the numerals on a number line and encouraging them to have a go at finding different numbers.Parents report that communication from the setting is a strength and that they feel well informed.

They receive information about what children are learning. This helps them to be more involved in their children's development and more able to support their children's learning at home.The manager and the staff support children to be emotionally ready for their move on to school.

They invite teachers into the nursery to see and interact with the older children. This helps children to become familiar with the adults who will be caring for them when they move on to school.Leaders are mindful of staff's well-being.

The manager keeps in regular contact with the team, and staff comment that they feel supported and valued. The manager has considered aspects of the setting's practice to develop. She has recently worked with staff to reorganise the indoor furniture and purchase low-level activity trays to encourage the children to focus on their chosen play better.

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 and Childcare Register the provider must: Due date ensure that the curriculum for children with SEND is ambitious and meets their individual needs 20/06/2024 improve planning of the curriculum to target each child's learning needs and provide them with more challenging experiences, to help all children make good progress 20/06/2024 improve staff deployment to ensure that children are in sight and hearing of a member of staff during mealtimes.

20/06/2024