Sudbrook School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

Children develop exceptionally strong bonds with staff in this warm and welcoming setting. They feel safe and secure because of the attentive and caring nature of staff.

Children's behaviour and attitudes to learning are inspirational. They show extremely high levels of respect for each other and the resources they play with. All children, including those with special educational needs/and or disabilities (SEND), make excellent progress from their starting points.

Children are highly motivated and eager to learn. They show wonderfully high levels of engagement and enthusiasm as staff follow their unfolding inter...ests. For example, staff skilfully support children to investigate rainwater, following the discovery of a leak in the roof.

Children eagerly collect water in a tray and watch the raindrops 'plop' into the puddles. They discuss the impact of too much or too little rain on the environment. Other children dig up home-grown carrots and potatoes from the vegetable patch and marvel at the 'tiniest potato I have ever seen,' and count the 'legs' on wonky carrots.

Staff support them superbly to further their understanding.All children easily access resources to play with. Toddlers have immense fun making marks with paint on large boards.

They then feel the paint with their feet as it drips on the floor. Children become extremely independent from a young age. Younger children learn to find their name pegs and hang up their coats, and older children self-register and put their leftover food into the bin at mealtimes.

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

Staff confidence to deliver the curriculum is very evident. They know the children extremely well and coherently sequence learning opportunities to develop their skills to the highest level. For example, staff support children's physical development superbly.

They have an excellent understanding of the stages children move through when learning to hold pens and pencils, and they give children the support and guidance needed to develop from a full-hand grasp to a pincer grip. Staff precisely identify children who need to develop their balance and provide exciting opportunities for them to practise balancing while moving along a beam. They extend this to pushing along on balance bicycles and then using pedals to ride bicycles independently.

This is highly effective in helping children to master new skills.Staff are highly successful at giving children rich experiences to promote children's understanding of other people. For example, children learn about how people live in different countries.

They learn about deprivation and they actively raise money to fundraise to support others, such as children in Africa. This offers children unique and different ways to learn about people from other communities and countries.Staff tell the inspector that the setting is a wonderful place to work and that they feel totally supported by the manager.

They complete highly effective professional development and training, which enriches the provision. For example, staff working with the younger children learn about how to support children's natural curiosity and sensory development. This is having a superb impact in the one- to two-year-old room where young children are able to explore the activities within the environment at their own level.

This leads to sustained levels of concentration in relation to children's age.Partnership with parents is outstanding. The manager and staff fully understand children's needs and support families exceptionally well, such as by following all avenues to acquire additional support.

Parents say that they feel completely involved in decisions regarding their children. They speak highly about the excellent support their children receive in preparation for their transition to school. In addition, parents frequently volunteer in the setting to share their skills and talents.

For example, a parent who is an engineer built a propeller with the children who discovered how the crank enables the blades to turn around. These inspirational opportunities considerably strengthen opportunities that children have to develop their knowledge and skills.Children are highly motivated to learn, and they demonstrate consistently positive attitudes to their play and learning.

For example, children of all ages enjoy stimulating and exciting learning opportunities outdoors. They delight in making their own decisions and solving problems in their construction play, such as when they decide where to join pipes together to enable the water they scoop and pour down them to trickle 'downhill'.Staff are highly successful at taking intelligent and swift action to support children who encounter difficulties.

For instance, in the past they have supported children with SEND to learn to manage their feelings and emotions. This has enabled them to fully benefit from the curriculum offered.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

All staff have excellent knowledge and understanding of safeguarding issues. Staff talk confidently about the risks of children being drawn into radicalisation. Staff know possible signs to look out for.

They are confident in reporting any concerns to their safeguarding lead and, when necessary, beyond the setting. Staff carry out regular risk assessments, and children are taught to manage risks safely. For example, from a young age, children are taught about safety, and they learn the rules for their forest-school activities, such as for safe sitting around the fire pit.