Thorverton Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children confidently say goodbye to their parents and come into the pre-school, settling quickly with the familiar and caring staff. Children soon become engrossed in activities, such as listening to a story or looking for flowers and bugs in the forest school area.Staff plan ambitious and engaging opportunities for children, which supports the development of all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

For example, staff understand how long children will focus on an activity and identify when they need to engage children with SEND in a more active way. Staff talk to children about th...e wildlife and plants they could find in the outside area and encourage them to look for different ones. Children show curiosity in exploring the outdoors and become deeply involved in their play.

For example, they ask staff to help them turn over a log, look for worms and other creatures and talk about what they find.Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour, and children behave well. Parents are highly complimentary about the setting and the care and learning that their children experience.

They value the opportunity to talk to staff about their child's development and how they can further support their child at home.

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

Staff encourage children to develop their communication skills well. They engage with children in meaningful conversations, encouraging children to think about what they are doing and to explore the natural environment.

For example, staff use words such as 'spiky' to describe leaves and talk to children about the bird sounds they can hear.Staff teach children about the environment around them, and children are keen to share their new knowledge with others. Children enthusiastically talk about what they have learned previously, for example talking about stinging nettles and that they need a dock leaf if they get stung.

Staff know children and their individual needs well. They adapt learning opportunities for each child to enable them to further their development. Staff challenge children's learning and recognise when they need to challenge the most able children as well as supporting them when they have identified gaps in children's development.

Children are starting to show some independence, for example in washing their hands. However, staff do not consistently support children to do things for themselves. For example, staff prepare and hand children their snack, lunch and drinks.

This limits children's opportunities to do things for themselves, ready for moving on to school.Children know the clear routine of the setting and respond well when moving from one activity to another. They listen intently to instructions and to each other, and they patiently wait for their turn at an activity, for example for a turn on the swing.

At times, the deployment of staff during mealtimes means that staff are not able to support children as well as they could. Some groups of children who are further from staff lose focus, which results in mealtimes taking longer and children not benefiting from mealtimes being an opportunity for engaging in social interactions with peers.Staff support children to take appropriate risks and learn how to keep themselves safe.

For example, when climbing trees, children know to 'hold on tight' and that they could fall if they slip. Children know that staff are close by to help them and keep them safe.The setting works with other professionals, such as health visitors and local support networks, to help children and their families.

They share information with other settings that children attend so that they can work together on supporting children's learning and development.Managers and staff develop their skills and knowledge through research and attending training and use what they have learned to improve their practice. For example, following recent training, staff have introduced new ways to teach children about their emotions and build their emotional security.

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 further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: provide more opportunities for children to do things for themselves, to improve their readiness to move on to school deploy staff more effectively so that they can support all children to engage and maintain focus at mealtimes.

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