Knightsfield Nursery & Pre-School C.I.C

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children arrive confidently and ready to start the day.

Kind and nurturing staff welcome them to the pre-school and they settle well to activities of their choice. Children show that they feel safe and secure. They demonstrate that they have strong bonds with staff, such as when they involve staff in their games and discussions.

Children listen to staff and follow simple instructions. Staff provide children with consistent messages about behaviour expectations and give gentle reminders at appropriate times. Children learn about their emotions and, over time, build strategies that help them to self-regulate, share, and ...take turns with their peers.

Staff encourage children to make choices in play. They ensure children have opportunities to practise new learning. Children learn how to describe their facial features.

They re-visit this vocabulary in different ways, such as when creating a passport and when they describe each other to identify who to roll a ball to in a game. Staff promote equality, respect and tolerance at all times. Children learn to identify and voice what makes them unique and build strong peer friendships.

This helps to build a true sense of community in the pre-school.

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

Leaders are well organised and ensure that staff have the information, resources, and skills they need to fulfil their roles. Staff work well together as an effective team and are committed to providing children with the best start in life, helping them gain the skills they need for the next step in education and life in modern Britain.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive targeted support that helps them make progress. Staff work closely with parents and other professionals to understand children's precise needs. They plan and adapt their practice to ensure all children access and enjoy a wide range of activities and experiences.

Staff work closely with other professionals, such as the host school's nursery class, to share information and understand older children's needs when they attend both settings. This includes recognising when children need time for rest. Staff follow children's lead in play and provide quiet spaces for reflection and to look at books.

Leaders have established a curriculum that helps children build on what they know and can do. However, some aspects of the curriculum for literacy do not precisely reflect what leaders know about typical child development to ensure that learning is sequenced appropriately. For some children, this means time to embed new learning and skills is reduced.

Parents are very positive about the pre-school. They notice the progress their children make in their increased levels of self-esteem, concentration and communication skills. Parents say that they are well informed about their child's learning.

They say that staff provide them with ideas of how to support their child's ongoing learning at home.Leaders and staff understand the importance for children to become confident and strong communicators. Children benefit from meaningful discussions with staff as they play.

Staff read stories to children throughout each day. Children enthusiastically join in with singing songs and rhymes, building a repertoire of remembered songs. Not only does this support children's feelings of self-worth, but also helps to embed new words and phrases as children acquire a varied vocabulary.

Children gain a secure understanding of early mathematical language and concepts. Staff focus on helping children build a strong understanding of numbers one to five, shapes, and measurement. Children build three-dimensional shapes and know what will happen if some blocks are taken away.

Staff encourage children to speculate what will happen and to try out their ideas. This builds positive attitudes to learning as children are confident to 'have a go'.Staff promote healthy lifestyles and good hygiene practices consistently with all children.

Children explore and discuss with staff the differing features of a range of fruits as they use safety knives to cut and chop. Children automatically wash their hands before eating or cutting the fruit. They learn how to handle knives safely and start to build knowledge of how to keep themselves safe.

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: refine the curriculum for literacy more precisely to reflect the age of children that attend and what they need to learn next, to equip them with the skills they need for the next stage in education.

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