SeeSaw Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy, safe and secure and enjoy their time at the welcoming pre-school. They have developed warm and trusting bonds with their key person and the staff team.

Children are confident and self-assured. For example, younger children keep themselves busy, independently choosing their learning and asking adults for support when they need it. Older children talk confidently and use a good range of vocabulary in their everyday speech.

Children learn a wide range of skills, which prepares them well for school. Children have good opportunities to develop their independence skills and manage their personal care. The...y carefully dish up their own snack, pour their own drinks, wash up after snack and use the bathroom independently.

Children understand the importance of good handwashing. Children show good physical skills. They explore different ways of moving, such as climbing over the climbing frame, running, jumping and hopping.

Children are provided with a wide range of opportunities to extend on their physical development. They participate in plenty of physical challenges in the exciting pre-school garden and enjoy walks out in the local community, playing at the play parks and running through the nearby fields.

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

The manager and staff recognise the impact that the pandemic has had on children.

They have focused and prioritised the curriculum for personal, social and emotional development. This has greatly supported children in their sharing and turn-taking skills and helped them to generally engage well with each other.Staff understand what they want children to learn.

They follow children's interests and support them in a way that is appropriate to their level of development. For example, children enjoy playing in the garden with a range of tools and resources. Staff provide children with water, mud and pinecones, and the children delight in making 'pineapple soup'.

Staff encourage children to develop their communication skills. For example, they clearly emphasise key words within their interactions and ask meaningful questions, encouraging children to use their critical-thinking skills.Staff encourage children's mathematical development effectively.

Children regularly use mathematical language in their play. They confidently count and identify numbers in sequence as they play. Staff challenge children to identify and understand the concepts of size and quantity.

Children who might need additional support are identified quickly and plans are put in place to help them to achieve. Staff work closely with parents and other professionals to ensure that children receive the extra support they need. The manager has high expectations for all children's learning and development.

Partnerships with parents are good. Parents report positively about how happy their children are attending the pre-school. Staff collect information from parents when children first start, to make sure they fully understand each child's needs.

For instance, they carry out home visits to get to know the children and their families well before they begin at the setting. This means parents feel very confident about leaving children. Strong relationships exist between parents and the pre-school from the outset.

The manager and staff are committed to providing high-quality care and education for all children. They reflect on the pre-school and plan a broad curriculum that supports children effectively to make good progress from their starting points. Additional funding is used appropriately to meet children's needs.

Overall, leaders have a good programme of support, coaching and training in place for staff. Staff undergo supervision sessions. However, recently these have not been as regular and therefore do not focus intently on helping individual staff to extend their practice to the very highest levels.

Staff promote positive behaviour. They encourage children to take turns, for example when they want to play on the ride on toys in the garden. Staff suggest that children use a sand timer to help them understand the concept of time and when it is their turn.

However, staff do not consistently give children clear explanations to help them manage their own feelings and behaviour.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager deploys staff effectively to keep children safe.

The manager and staff make careful risk assessments to check that the areas of the nursery used by children are safe. Staff keep an accurate record of any accidents that children have and promptly inform parents. The manager and her staff recognise signs and symptoms that would cause them to be concerned for a child's welfare.

They have a good understanding of how to protect children and understand the procedures to follow if they identify any concerns. The provider follows robust recruitment procedures to help ensure staff suitability.

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 and provide regular and targeted support to each member of staff, to help to extend on their good knowledge, skills and practice help staff to consistently support children to manage their own feelings and behaviour.

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