Walton Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children enter the pre-school enthusiastically. With a quick wave or a hug, children part from their parents and carers and become immediately engrossed in their chosen play. They are greeted by caring staff, who show great interest in their well-being.

Children are busy, keen learners throughout their pre-school day. They chat confidently with their friends, planning and organising games, especially in the role-play area. Children behave well and show respect for each other.

They use clear manners when asking for things and patiently wait for their turn. Children proficiently use sand timers as a measurement of time a...nd know that this is a fair way of sharing the resources. Children are happy and behave in ways that show that they feel safe.

Staff provide children with some opportunities to take risks and solve problems for themselves, such as cutting their own fruit up and exploring in the extended outdoor area. All children make good progress from their starting points, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who learn English as an additional language. Staff are extremely knowledgeable about every child's needs and stage of development.

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

The pre-school is run and managed by a committee. A number of the staff are employed directly as one-to-one support staff for individual children. The committee and management team of the pre-school have undergone several changes over the past couple of years.

The team is now stable and working hard to build strong links and management strategies. Staff are well supported, for example, through regular supervision meetings and online training opportunities.Parents speak extremely highly of the pre-school management team and staff.

They comment on how well staff know their children and how they support the whole family. Parents like using the online system to receive regular updates on their children's activities at pre-school. Staff provide parents with regular assessments to show what progress their children are making.

They involve them in deciding their children's next steps in learning.Children excitedly explore a tank of tadpoles. They listen intently as staff read about the life cycle of a frog and show them the various parts of the tadpole.

Children know that when the tadpoles become frogs, they will need to put them in the local wildlife pond to live.Children explore weight and measurement when they make their own play dough. They learn about how the ingredients change when they add water.

Children talk about the feel of the dough once made and find a range of utensils from the self-select trays to enhance their play.Staff present children with a wide and interesting range of resources each day.They use the information about each child to provide activities that they know will capture their interests.

Staff use some explanation and clear language to help children to make the best of the activities. However, they do not consistently extend and enhance children's thinking, for example, through effective questioning skills.Children enjoy singing, dancing and listening to stories.

For example, some children enthusiastically participate in dance activities. At times, however, staff do not plan group activities such as this well enough to fully engage all children present. They do not always prepare the environment well enough to enable children to explore a large space or organise them into a large circle so that all can see the activity.

Children who require additional help or who receive specific funding are very well supported. Funding is spent wisely to provide additional staff so that children can be well supported to gain the best from their pre-school experiences. An early years teacher spends one morning per week providing more focused activities to help to close gaps identified in some children's learning.

She shares her expertise with other staff through in-house training sessions.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff and managers demonstrate good knowledge of the types of abuse.

They are aware of the main indicators that might alert them to a child's safety or welfare being compromised. Staff and managers regularly update their safeguarding knowledge, for example, through in-house meetings and online training. The committee has effective procedures in place for the safe recruitment of new staff.

They undertake a series of checks to assess the person's suitability to work with children. New staff complete a thorough induction programme, which includes familiarising themselves with the pre-school's policies and procedures.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: review and develop the organisation of planned and adult-led activities to make better use of the available space to help capture more children's interests and enable them to extend their learning further strengthen staff's interactions with children and questioning skills to help to raise children's learning experiences even higher.

Also at this postcode