Cygnets Pre-School

Cygnets Pre-School

Unique reference number (URN): EY275703 Address: Sandalwood Road, WESTBURY, Wiltshire, BA13 3UR Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 12/01/2004 Registers: EYR Registered person: Cygnets Pre-School Committee

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

Overall, children behave well. They form friendships and play cooperatively with their friends. Children learn to share and take turns, and staff help them negotiate minor disputes and be considerate of others. Older children sit together and solve puzzles, showing they can wait and take their turn. This means they develop some key skills for starting school.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

Overall, staff help children to manage their feelings and emotions. They use specific strategies to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Children are offered time in the outdoor area and in the swivel-chair if they feel overwhelmed and need some quiet time. Typically, children show they enjoy their learning and can concentrate well, such as when drawing, listening to stories and using the play dough. Staff generally praise children for their achievements and encourage them to persevere. For example, when putting snacks back in their lunch box, children say they do not fit. When encouraged to try again, they succeed and show pride in their achievement.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

Leaders have respectful conversations with parents and carers regarding their children's attendance. They help parents understand the importance of attending regularly in advance of starting school.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

On occasion, children are not consistently supported to follow the rules and boundaries. Staff do not always explain why children should not do something to help them understand why these rules are in place and to help them consistently learn respectful behaviour.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Staff make sure the environment is safe for children to explore. They help children learn about their own safety, such as when riding the balance bicycles, outdoors. Children know they need to get a helmet and put it on before they ride.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Staff encourage children to cut up the fruit they have for snack, helping them to learn to keep themselves safe while they eat. Snacks are healthy, and children butter their own crackers, drink from open cups and take their plates to the washing-up area. Children put on their own all-weather suits and boots before they go and play outdoors. This supports some aspects of their independence and self-care skills. However, staff do not consistently support children to learn about the benefits of healthy foods. This limits children's understanding of how food affects their bodies and how to make informed healthy choices.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Leaders acknowledge that they have not fully engaged with parents to support some aspects of children's development, such as toilet training, at the earliest opportunity. Although children develop these skills in readiness for starting school, they are capable of learning these skills sooner.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Staff assess and monitor children's progress carefully and put in place swift support to help children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who are known (or previously known) to children's social care be included in the pre-school. Leaders and staff liaise with other specialist settings that children attend and other professionals involved in their care and learning. They implement targeted support, following advice from others working with children. Generally, children with SEND and families requiring additional support at home are well supported.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Parents and carers report that they are fully involved in setting targets for their children, particularly those with SEND. Parents know what additional funding has been spent on to support their children in the pre-school, such as one-to-one support and resources. For instance, a black-out tent offers a calm place for children to regulate their emotions. Overall, this helps reduce barriers to learning and encourages children to make the progress they are capable of.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Staff make adaptations so that all children can access all aspects of the pre-school, according to their individual needs. Overall, they help all children develop respect for others and to recognise that everyone is different.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Since the last inspection, leaders have made significant improvements to the safeguarding culture in the pre-school. They maintain records and liaise with the relevant agencies to make sure that any concerns about children's welfare are monitored. Staff have attended some training and leaders have engaged with the local authority to seek training and support. Although improvements to the curriculum and teaching are in the early stages, leaders have put in place some plans to help support older and more able children. The curriculum is beginning to help children access more areas of learning and make better progress. Staff support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is helping them to make the progress they are capable of from their varying starting points.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Staff feel well supported by leaders and that they can ask for help and advice at any time. For example, they take turns to provide one-to-one support for some children with SEND, which supports staff's wellbeing effectively.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Parents and carers report that their children enjoy coming to pre-school. They say their children have made progress in their development and that staff help parents understand how their children are progressing. Parents say they know what their children are learning and what their next steps are. They receive information to help them support their children's development at home.

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Achievement Needs attention

Typically, most children achieve well from their starting points. Gaps in children's learning, especially for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, generally close over time. Children develop some of the key skills they need for starting school. Older children learn to express themselves and engage in conversations. They listen and take turns in conversation, with reminders from staff. Children independently select books and ask staff to read stories to them, which they listen to and join in with. This supports children's early literacy skills and their communication and language.

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Achievement Needs attention

Children develop their physical skills, outdoors, including their balance and coordination. They negotiate space well and are mindful of their friends when moving around the outdoor space. Children develop strength in their hand muscles as they use pens to draw and paints to make their pictures. They manipulate dough with their hands and a range of tools, and scoop and pour water using various containers. However, the older and more able children do not have their learning extended in all the areas of learning or their access to all the areas monitored carefully enough.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Leaders do not ensure that older, more able children have consistent access to high-quality teaching and learning across all curriculum areas. Although plans are in place to improve the balance of adult-led and child-initiated activities, these have not yet been fully embedded in practice. Therefore, not all children are supported to make sustained progress across all areas of learning.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Staff promote children's language development effectively, overall. Staff encourage children to listen to stories, talk about the pictures and join in with repeated refrains. Staff read stories with enthusiasm, mostly helping children to listen and concentrate. Children are invited to take part in singing and nursery-rhyme sessions. However, staff do not always monitor carefully which children do not participate, meaning some children miss valuable learning.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Staff generally support children's mathematical skills well during their play. They encourage children to talk about the properties of different shapes, counting how many sides they have and comparing the lengths. Children name simple shapes, such as 'square' and 'triangle', and use mathematical language such as 'shorter' and 'longer'.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Staff offer children plenty of opportunities to develop their physical skills. Children enjoy jumping on the mat in the rain, looking delighted as they splash their waterproof trousers. Others, use ride-on toys and negotiate space well.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Since the last inspection, leaders and staff have liaised with the local authority, received curriculum training and plans have been put in place to make some changes to how this is delivered. However, this is in the early stages and the impact on all children's learning, particularly older and more able children, is not yet evident.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Children confidently enter this welcoming pre-school and settle quickly. They are keen to choose what resources they wish to play with and seek out their friends, such as to engage in role play together. Children enjoy playing with dolls, engaging in role play based on first- hand experiences. Children are keen to approach staff, who know them and their individual needs well. Staff respond well to children's requests, such as to read a story to them or to draw pictures together. Children talk about their creations and show they feel settled and secure in staff's company.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Overall, children develop confidence in their abilities, and most staff reinforce their learning. For example, when talking about the sunflowers they have grown, staff encourage children to recall how they used the seeds from the sunflowers they grew last year to grow the new ones. Some children speak with confidence and engage in conversations. They talk about the insects they find, telling staff that their family members are scared of spiders when they find a cobweb. All children, including those with barriers to their learning, are included in this welcoming pre-school.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Typically, staff support children to share and take turns. For example, when children want to use a toy that another child has, they encourage them to ask if they can have a go. When children say they can use it together, staff praise them, which raises their self-esteem. Generally, children develop some useful skills in readiness for school.

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Next steps

To meet the requirements of the Early years foundation stage the provider must take the following action by the assigned date:

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Action Completion Date

ensure that there is a balance of adult-led and child- initiated activities that cover all the areas of learning and help all children, particularly those who are older and more able, to make appropriate progress. 07/10/2026

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Address:

Sandalwood Road WESTBURY Wiltshire BA13 3UR

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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Address:

Registered person: Cygnets Pre-School Committee

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Address:

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 18:00

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders, staff, special educational needs coordinators, children, parents and carers during the inspection.

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About this inspection

We carried out this inspection under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children's learning, development and care, known as the early years foundation stage.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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