Walberton Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Managers and staff plan carefully and set out a range of inviting activities to cover all areas of learning.

Staff interactions reflect the managers' aim of promoting learning as fun and helping children to become sociable individuals with good language skills. Children are happy and relaxed, and settle well into their playrooms. They quickly become engaged in purposeful activity.

For example, children develop their imagination as they choose dressing up and make up stories. Younger children enjoy looking at a book or make cosy dens under a table.Children are very motivated and confident.

They demonstrate this... when they eagerly take on physical challenges. For instance, children use large blocks to build walls. They climb and balance, know to wait for a turn and stay safe.

Children recall mathematical learning as they build higher and say they are taller than the adult's height. Managers and staff are good role models, showing respect to each other and the children. They use supportive techniques to help children follow routines and boundaries.

For instance, a calm musical sound announces register time for the older children. Staff give praise and gentle reminders to encourage good listening and appropriate behaviour. Children develop self-confidence and positive attitudes to learning.

They show kindness for their friends as they play together and behave well.

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

Managers are committed to ongoing improvement and have ambitious plans for the future. Together with staff and parents, they evaluate the nursery and make changes that improve outcomes for children.

For example, they introduced planning that links more clearly to the needs of individual children. However, they have not fully considered how snack time can be used to promote a healthy lifestyle and encourage children's growing independence.Managers support staff to access a range of training opportunities that meet their needs and help them to keep their skills and knowledge up to date.

Staff are encouraged to bring new ideas to influence practice and benefit the children. For example, recent training helped staff to understand how young children test out their ideas through repetitive schema play. Staff now recognise this and can support it further.

Staff encourage very good language skills through lively conversation as children play. Staff add new vocabulary and help children to recognise that words have meaning. For example, older children read the labels in the pretend building site.

Younger children are surprised to discover messages in their Chinese fortune cookies.Staff have a strong focus on developing children's hand control, encouraging mark making and writing skills. They model writing and carefully plan activities where children can write for a purpose.

Staff use a range of activities to help children learn to control the muscles needed for writing. For example, children excitedly draw chalk tracks and 'stop' and 'go' lines outside. Others use scissors successfully to cut out their pictures.

Managers and staff work closely with parents to benefit the children. Parents talk about the 'gentleness' of staff and how much their children look forward to attending the pre-school. They comment on the help and support they receive from staff to promote children's development, for instance in potty training.

Managers and staff have a precise understanding of children's progress. They observe children carefully and identify when they need extra support. They work closely with parents and outside professionals, such as speech therapists, to help ensure all children, including those with special educational needs/and or disabilities (SEND), make good progress.

Children's well-being is supported effectively, particularly when they move room or to school. Staff enable them to become familiar with new people and surroundings and to see the move as an exciting new experience.Managers and staff are experienced, well qualified and work closely together.

They meet daily to plan and discuss children's needs. However, there are limited opportunities for managers to talk to staff individually outside of the annual appraisal meeting to discuss, for example, their teaching or sensitive issues.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Managers and staff regularly refresh their knowledge of safeguarding through training and staff discussions. Managers use these conversations and a quiz to check staff understand the wider aspects such as the risk of radicalisation. Staff are aware of the procedures to follow should there be any concerns regarding a child's welfare.

All staff hold current first-aid certificates, which helps to protect children in the event of an accident. Managers use thorough recruitment procedures to ensure children are cared for by suitable adults.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen the system of staff supervision meetings, to allow more frequent opportunities for staff to discuss their practice and set targets to help raise the quality of teaching and children's outcomes even higher review and improve snack times to help to promote children's independence as they learn about, and can make, healthy choices of food and drink.

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