St. Marks Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy and settled at the pre-school.

They share warm and close relationships with the staff and one another. They choose whether to play inside or outdoors and enjoy a wide range of learning experiences. Children excitedly join in as they sing songs and move around.

They form a circle and take it in turns to jump like a 'jumping bean', while everyone claps their hands to encourage every child's involvement. This develops children's confidence and self-esteem.Staff have high expectations of the children and support them to make good progress.

Children experience a well-planned curriculum, which mot...ivates them successfully and encourages them to explore and investigate. They play well together, whether they are acting out different scenarios in the role-play area or exploring dinosaurs in the water play. Children's behaviour is good.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the setting only closed for a short while and then reopened for most children. Communication has remained good between the parents and staff throughout. Although parents do not currently come into the setting, staff greet each family individually at the door and share information with parents verbally and through an app.

This helps parents to feel well informed about and involved in their child's learning.

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

Children behave well. They have a good understanding of right and wrong.

Staff use effective strategies to encourage children to manage their behaviour for themselves. For example, staff support children to use a sand timer to help them negotiate with one another to share favourite resources, such as a wheelbarrow.Children take part in a good variety of activities.

They enjoy using a wide range of materials to create pictures. They skilfully use scissors to cut shapes out of paper. Staff sound out the letters in children's names as they label their pictures for themselves.

However, children have less opportunity to count and use numbers, particularly in routine activities, such as snack time.Staff use language well to extend most children's vocabulary. For example, they introduce words such as 'heavy' when children play catch with different-size balls.

Most children are confident to talk about and share their ideas when engaged in spontaneous activities. However, staff do not do all that they can to encourage children to use their language when taking part in adult-led activities.Partnerships with parents are good.

Parents enjoy receiving regular updates about their child's progress and appreciate the good communication provided by staff. Staff recognise the importance of effective partnerships with parents and the positive impact this has on children's learning and well-being.The manager and staff regularly reflect on the provision and their practice.

They seek out regular training opportunities and assess the quality of the provision to identify areas for development. They have introduced more opportunities for children to partake in messy play and creative activities. As a result, children use their imaginations more.

Children develop good independence skills in managing their personal care. Children help to cut fruit and pour milk or water from a jug into their cup at snack time. They dress for outside play with little support.

Children learn a wide range of skills, which prepare them well for school and their future learning.Children have good opportunities to develop their physical skills and excitedly explore outside. They put on hard hats and take on the role of a builder.

They pretend to mix cement in the cement mixer, move resources around in wheelbarrows and help one another to build towers of bricks to build a wall.Children develop a love of books and stories. They listen well to a story at group time or enjoy sharing books with their friends.

Staff support children's listening skills well as they ask them questions about the characters in the story or ask them to describe what they can see in the pictures of a book.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff are knowledgeable about child protection issues and have good safeguarding knowledge.

They are clear on their role and responsibilities to keep children safe. There are thorough vetting and recruitment procedures in place to ensure that all those working with children are suitable to do so. The manager implements effective systems to ensure the ongoing suitability of all staff.

Staff carry out thorough risk assessments to identify and minimise potential hazards so that children can play safely. Staff always remain vigilant and supervise children appropriately, engaging them in conversation to help them think about how they can keep themselves safe as well.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nextend opportunities for children to count and use numbers develop staff's practice further to encourage children's language development more in adult-led activities.