1st Safari - Genesis (Milnrow)

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provider, manager and staff have worked with parents and other agencies to make the required improvements in the setting. Staff have attended curriculum training and other useful courses, such as the care of babies and child development. As a result, the curriculum is now much more ambitious and helps children refine and develop their skills as they move through the setting's rooms. Leaders and staff have high expectations for all children. All children, including children who receive funded places and children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress from their starting points.

Staff warmly greet children and parents at the door as they arrive and are interested in children's home lives. As a result, children separate from their parents with ease and are excited to start their day. Staff know children well. This means they are able to support the children's emotional well-being. For example, they cuddle and reassure younger children when they indicate they are tired. Staff support older children to work together to solve simple problems.

Staff shower children with praise and encourage them to have a go and do things for themselves. As a result, children have high levels of self-confidence and self-esteem. Furthermore, children are fiercely independent. Children relish opportunities such as serving themselves food and pouring their own drinks. Staff are good role models and have high expectations for children's behaviour. As a result, children are extremely well-mannered and are kind and thoughtful towards the staff and their peers. For example, they tidy up the classroom and place items back into the correct places without being asked.

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

• The new managers have worked hard to improve the staff's skills. They have provided lots of training and coaching. This has enabled staff to strengthen their teaching and increase their confidence when interacting with children. As a result, all children make the progress they are capable of. More can now be done to provide even more timely monitoring and incisive feedback on staff's practice. This will help raise the quality of education to consistently high levels across the team.
• Staff know children well and plan a broad range of activities and experiences that are linked to children's interests and take account of what they need to learn next. Babies develop their core muscle skills as they scale low-level equipment. Older children refine their small-muscle skills as they snip play dough with scissors and carefully use tools such as rollers and cutters.
• Children develop good language and communication skills. Staff model language well. For example, they provide a narrative as they play alongside babies and
• Inspection report: 1st Safari - Genesis (Milnrow) 31 August 2023 2 encourage them to babble and make sounds. When interacting with older children, staff introduce positional language and extend children's speaking skills and vocabulary by using a range of open-ended questions. As a result, children are confident communicators and can express their thoughts and ideas.
• Staff help children to develop their skills in mathematics. For example, when playing with babies, staff count out the number of balls as they roll down a tube. Older children separate building cubes into colours and confidently count out how many of each colour they have.
• Partnerships with parents have been improved. Parents know who their child's key person is. In addition, they report that they now feel staffing arrangements are more secure. This has a positive impact on the amount and quality of information they receive about their child.
• Staff share relevant information with other professionals who are involved in children's care and education. This supports children's good progress and ensures that they are ready for the next steps in their learning, including the move on to school.
• Snacks provided for children are healthy. However, main meals are not always as nutritious. This is because staff doing the cooking do not make sure these are always healthy and balanced, as is required. As a result, some meals are bland and most children refuse to eat them. Additionally, due to the absence of a cook, there are times when convenience foods are used. These are high in salt and sugar and do not best support children's good health. That said, staff do support children to develop an understanding of how to maintain their oral health. Furthermore, children have daily access to fresh air and exercise.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• continue to embed the new arrangements for staff supervision to help all staff develop their practice to consistently high levels across the team
• ensure that all meals provided for children are healthy, balanced and nutritious.
• Inspection report: 1st Safari - Genesis (Milnrow) 31 August 2023 3