Active Kids

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff have high expectations for all children to succeed and as such, children make good progress. Staff plan well for children's development, and children show that they are ready and eager to engage in these learning opportunities. For instance, staff build on children's interest in books by giving them picture cards that match the scenes in the story. Children enjoy matching up the pictures and placing them in sequence order, which enables them to develop an awareness of how stories are structured.

Children are supported to become independent learners. They enjoy the range of activities and experiences on offer. Staff follow their interests to extend their learning, such as challenging children to use scissors to cut out different shapes. Staff also support children to manage tasks for themselves. For instance, they help younger children to wash their own hands before they eat. Older children learn to serve their own food during mealtimes and scrape their food into the bin afterwards. Staff recognise when to step in to support children, which helps them to gradually build on these skills.

Staff implement effective methods to support children's behaviour. For instance, they remind older children of the rules during group times and by showing visual prompts when they need support to regulate their behaviour. Staff also use a tambourine to get their attention. Children respond positively by stopping what they are doing and listening to staff. This supports children to show positive behaviour.

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

• Leaders have made significant improvements since they reopened. They have greater oversight of the nursery and ensure that they are available to support staff in their roles. Leaders are reflective of the service they provide and consider ways to ensure they are aware of any issues so that they can address them promptly and appropriately.
• Leaders have implemented effective strategies to provide staff with coaching, mentoring and support that helps them to strengthen their practice. For example, they have regular one-to-one meetings with staff to discuss their roles and responsibilities. They also monitor practice and give staff feedback to help them further strengthen the quality of their teaching. Staff enjoy working at the setting and have noticed positive changes since the nursery reopened. This includes improved communication, which has helped to improve staff well-being.
• Staff have good knowledge of their key children. They know where they are in their development and how they are supporting them to make progress. Staff work in partnership with parents and other agencies in order to support children's ongoing development.
• Staff support children to learn how to keep themselves safe. For instance, they teach children about how to manage online risks through discussions and reading relevant stories with them. Staff also share appropriate information with parents about how to promote online safety at home. This helps to keep children safe.
• Staff track children's progress well, which enables them to promptly identify when children have delays in their development. They work with parents to ensure that children access the support they need, which helps to ensure that children make the progress they are capable of. Staff also use effective strategies to support children's development, such as using visual prompts and sign language to enable them to communicate in different ways.
• Overall, staff interact well with children. They organise activities and experiences that engage children's attention. For instance, staff support children to construct shapes with shaving foam and toy bricks. Staff talk about their creations getting taller, which helps children to develop their mathematical knowledge. However, at times, staff interactions with children are not consistently of a high-quality. At these times, staff do not always support children well during back-and-forth conversations. At other times, staff do not let younger children know when they are about to move them. This does not fully enable children to benefit from interactions that supports them to feel respected and listened to.
• Parents report that they love the nursery and their children enjoy attending. Staff work in partnership with parents to ensure that all relevant information is shared. They listen to parents and respond swiftly to any concerns or queries. This enables parents and staff to work together to meet children's needs.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff practice so children benefit from consistently good support in their care and learning needs