Westwood Farm Community Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children skip into pre-school, separating from parents and carers with ease. They actively engage in the activities that staff have attractively set up and are keen to start their day of learning and play. Staff greet children warmly and engage in conversations about the children's activities at home and what they would like to do at pre-school today.

As a result, children form positive and strong bonds with staff. Children freely explore the environment and ask for help or resources as and when needed. Staff skilfully challenge children to try tasks for themselves before helping them.

For example, they encourage child...ren to open the packaging in their lunch boxes, put on their coats and build towers by themselves. Subsequently, children demonstrate high levels of confidence and strong independence skills.Managers and staff plan an ambitious curriculum that considers children's preferences and interests.

Children benefit well from the plentiful opportunities staff provide for them to play outside. Staff have thoughtfully planned the outdoor area to allow children opportunities to develop their large-muscle movements and to get messy and engage in sensory play. Children relish the challenge of crossing the ladder bridge in the climbing area, as well as using foam as mortar when building walls with large toy bricks in the role-play building site.

Staff provide high-visibility jackets, adding to the realism as children play. Children are happy, stimulated and challenged in their learning experiences at the pre-school.

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

Managers and staff promote children's creativity well and provide opportunities for them to learn while exploring their imaginations.

Children enjoy being offered the opportunity to come to pre-school in dressing-up outfits and love the superhero role-play opportunities that staff engage children in during their play.Children gain a sound understanding of the world around them. The current theme of summer and holidays supports this well.

For instance, staff have created a role-play aeroplane area complete with oxygen masks and window seats. Staff play alongside children, acting as passengers or pilots to extend children's understanding of what it is like to go on an aeroplane. This helps children prepare for their first flight experiences in the coming weeks.

The wide range of cultural celebrations staff plan and explore throughout the year support children in gaining a sound knowledge of communities different to their own.Staff provide good support for children's communication and language development. They offer frequent story-sharing experiences that enable children to extend their vocabulary and enrich their storytelling abilities.

Children eagerly join in with repeated refrains from 'The Gingerbread Man' inside at group time. They equally gain high levels of enjoyment when engaging in staff-led impromptu opportunities outside in the quiet and cosy den while sharing 'We're Going On A Bear Hunt'. Children's communication and language development is given high priority and children make very good progress in this area.

Overall, staff promote children's behaviour well. They explain the rules and expectations, for example for children to be kind to their friends and not to run indoors. However, there are times when staff are not consistent in responding to unwanted behaviour, which means that children do not always receive clear messages.

The manager is committed to staff's continuous improvement. Managers ensure that mandatory training is always kept up to date and that additional opportunities for professional development are offered. Staff say that they appreciate the team that they work in, and the very low level of staff turnover is a testament to this.

There are good arrangements to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff are vigilant in identifying potential concerns about any child's learning or development. The special educational needs coordinator works effectively with parents and staff at other relevant agencies.

They work collaboratively to devise targeted educational plans for individual children. As a result, children with SEND progress well.Children are aware of the need for a healthy lifestyle and good hygiene practices.

Staff discuss with children the benefits of eating fruits and vegetables at snack time and lunchtime. For example, they share information about vitamins and minerals keeping coughs and colds away. Staff also ensure that children know to wash their hands properly before eating.

Partnerships with parents are good at the pre-school. Managers and staff complete home visits to establish a good understanding of each individual child's starting point. They engage with parents through face-to-face conversations, parent consultations and written feedback.

Parents are encouraged to share information about their child's developmental progress at home as well as any fun or interesting family news. Parents are highly complimentary about the setting. This helps to provide a consistent and coordinated approach to children's learning.

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: support staff to provide greater consistency when helping children to manage their behaviour.