Alverstoke Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

The manager and staff team are passionate about enabling every child to have access to high-quality experiences. They understand that children come to the pre-school with different skills.

Staff seek to provide activities to enable all children to make good progress in their learning and development. Children freely explore the stimulating activities and resources that staff provide. For example, following children's interest in the seaside, staff offer edible seaweed as an alternative at snack time.

Children are curious about this, and staff offer reassurance and encouragement to those who want to explore the taste an...d texture.Staff are caring and nurturing, and they develop positive relationships with the children at the pre-school. Children are developing an awareness of their emotions and are caring towards each other.

For example, they know that when a sand timer runs out, they need to share their bicycle with a friend. Children's behaviour is good. They understand the rules of the pre-school and remind each other about following them with confidence.

Staff are vigilant about keeping children safe. They deploy themselves effectively and help children to identify potential hazards to ensure they have a safe and secure environment to play in.

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

The committee and manager have a good understanding of the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the early years foundation stage.

They understand when they need to inform Ofsted of any significant incidents or changes to the registration.Children are confident and independent learners. They happily leave their parents on arrival at the pre-school and quickly engage in play.

Children are beginning to identify their own names as they place their name card on the registration display.Staff encourage children's vocabulary well. They hold conversations with children and introduce new words.

For example, they introduce 'octopus' and 'tentacles' as children explore pictures of animals that live under the sea. However, at times, not all staff provide children with enough challenge to extend their learning even more.The experienced staff team has a good understanding of how to help children learn and develop.

Staff gather a wealth of information about children's interests and what they can do already by having conversations with parents before they start. This enables staff to support children in their next stage in learning.Staff place a strong focus on supporting children's literacy.

There is a wealth of books in the indoor and outdoor areas of the pre-school. In addition, the manager has developed a lending library for children to take books home to share with their parents. Parents value the ability to access the stories that children hear at pre-school through the pre-school website, enabling them to play or read the same story at home.

This supports those parents who wish to continue their child's learning at home well.Staff teach children about the importance of leading healthy lifestyles. Children complete races outdoors and notice the changes to their breathing and heartbeat after running.

During snack and meal times, staff hold conversations with children about the food they have and why it is important for their good health.The manager uses additional funding effectively to support children who need extra help. This has recently been used to promote children's physical development.

As a result, children develop their physical skills well. They enjoy climbing and balancing on low-level equipment. Staff are aware of children who find this challenging and they offer reassurance and guidance to help them succeed.

This helps children to develop their self-esteem and confidence.Members of the committee place high importance on staff well-being. They ensure that the manager and staff have regular supervision and opportunities to attend training to keep their own learning up to date.

For example, staff have recently completed food hygiene training.The manager has put new arrangements in place to monitor the quality of teaching in the pre-school. However, these are in their early stages and have not yet been fully implemented.

This means some minor weakness in teaching, across the staff team, is not always identified.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The committee and manager adhere to safe recruitment procedures.

They ensure that staff are suitable to work with children. The committee members, manager and staff team have all attended safeguarding training. They know the procedures to follow if they have concerns about the well-being of any children, including those who may be at risk from extreme views or behaviours.

Staff have a good understanding of wider safeguarding issues and the impact these may have on children. The manager works effectively with other safeguarding professionals to keep children safe.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: provide children with further challenges, particularly in solving problems themselves, to extend their learning even more nembed the newly implemented process for monitoring the quality of teaching, to ensure highly effective teaching across the whole staff team.