St. James Pre-School Woolton

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

The manager and long-serving staff team provide a cheery welcome for children and their families. They greet them personally as they enter.

Children show that they feel safe. For example, they arrive in high spirits and are eager to seek staff out to share their news. Children behave well.

They engage with enthusiasm and confidence in various activities that ignite their interest. Children who are new to the setting form close attachments to their key person, who tunes in to their emotional needs well. The key person works closely with parents to help new children to settle quickly.

Staff are nurturing and res...ponsive. They offer plenty of cuddles and reassurance and support children's individual needs well.The manager and staff have high expectations of what children can do and achieve.

They get to know the children well. The manager and staff provide children with a well-planned curriculum that helps them to make good progress. The staff know how to build on children's prior learning.

They complete regular observations of children's learning. Staff use this information well to plan interesting activities indoors and outside. However, staff do not provide a rich range of opportunities to extend some aspects of older children's learning even further.

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

The manager and staff team are well qualified. They successfully support children to build good knowledge and skills across different areas of learning. This includes funded children and those who speak English as an additional language.

Staff identify any potential gaps in children's learning, providing further help when needed. For instance, staff go with parents when they attend external speech and language sessions with their children. They work with parents and other professionals to ensure that children receive targeted support.

This helps children to catch up quickly with their peers. The manager uses extra funding well. For example, she buys resources, such as books, to stimulate children's interest.

Staff set up the reading corner so that it is interesting and enticing for children. This helps children to develop a fondness for reading.Overall, the staff promote children's language skills well.

For example, staff working with younger children speak slowly and clearly when they talk. They ask skilful questions that encourage younger children to think and respond with an answer. Staff working with older children read stories with enthusiasm.

They encourage children to join in at appropriate times. However, occasionally, staff do not fully engage older children in discussions about what they know. This does not support older children to develop exceptional conversational skills.

Children develop good physical skills. They enjoy being active outside. For example, staff encourage younger children to count the steps they take as they walk on small stilts.

This helps younger children to balance and develop good coordination skills. It also helps them to build on their early counting skills. Older children practise throwing bean bags into baskets to score a goal.

They whoop for joy when they are successful. However, staff do not act on opportunities to extend older children's learning further. For example, they do not encourage them to guess the score and check this quantity by counting.

This does not fully support older children to develop an excellent understanding of estimating and exploring quantities.Children learn about people and engage with the wider community. For example, they visit the local church and learn about Remembrance Day.

Children discover that purple poppies commemorate animals that served in the war. They gain an understanding of how we pay tribute to others. Children conduct themselves well and develop a positive attitude to learning.

They show kindness and respect for others. This is demonstrated, for example, when younger children share the toys and resources with each other.The manager provides staff with effective coaching and guidance.

Staff use information gained from recent training well. For example, they help children to understand the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle. The staff have recently changed the snack menu to include even more fruit and vegetables.

Staff invite professionals into the pre-school, such as a dentist. Children learn how to clean their teeth thoroughly to get rid of 'sugar bugs'. They take part in daily exercise sessions, including yoga.

This helps them to keep fit and active.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager has robust recruitment procedures in place.

She ensures that new staff are suitable to work with children. Staff have a good knowledge of safeguarding issues. They know the procedures to follow should there be any concerns about a child's welfare.

Staff complete daily risk assessments, including for any planned outings into the community. For example, staff carry out a visit beforehand for off-site trips. This helps them to identify and minimise any potential risks to children's safety.

Children develop an understanding of how to keep themselves safe. For instance, they learn how to handle simple tools, such as scissors, safely.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: support older children even more to engage in discussions so that they develop exceptional conversational skills nextend older children's learning even further so that they develop an excellent understanding of estimating and exploring quantities.