Ash Park Childcare Services Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled in this small, friendly nursery. Staff promote warm, caring relationships and children become increasingly confident. For example, they approach staff readily to have their needs met. Older children happily interact with visitors, sharing their thoughts and ideas. They are excited to talk about what they saw on their walk to the local fire station, or what they did at their weekly forest school session. Children enjoy their learning. They are encouraged to be imaginative and particularly enjoy role play. Children are well-prepared for their future move to school.

Staff create a well-sequenced curriculum that children access freely, according to their level of understanding. For example, younger children learn to talk about the police car and fire engine that they are playing with. Older children correctly work out an individual's profession from the job description read from their favourite book. They learn how to call the emergency services to summon help by calling 999. They also know that four and five added together make nine.

Children are very well behaved. Although confident to communicate their own thoughts, children are used to listening to adults and heeding what they say. Group time is used successfully to discuss how children are feeling and to reinforce rules. This helps children to follow routines that promote their learning, development and well-being. Older children use terms such as 'kind hands' and 'listening ears' as they play.

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

• There have been changes at the staff and management levels. However, this has had minimal impact on children's care and learning. The owner has maintained good oversight of the provision throughout the changes. Procedures to deputise work well in practice, and staff are deployed effectively. There is a useful range of staff qualifications and experience in each room. This means that there are always positive role models for newer or unqualified staff in all areas.
• Staff get to know children and their families very well. They establish which children might need extra support from other agencies. They quickly implement plans to support children's communication skills. For example, they teach simple sign language so that children can make themselves understood as they play with their friends.
• Staff effectively promote children's language. Children love books, stories and rhymes. Babies crawl to choose their favourite book. They enjoy the feel of the pages and colourful pictures. Toddlers confidently choose their favourite song and join in with the actions until they know the words. Older children remember the text in well-known stories and chat about the books with their friends after lunch.
• Staff work well with parents. Parents are pleased with the information they receive about how their children have spent their time. They receive regular observations and photos to inform which areas of learning are being covered. However, children's next steps are not always as focused as they could be so that learning can be consistently reinforced. For example, staff do not routinely share which song children are learning, or which sound, word or sign they need to practise.
• Staff promote children's good health. Younger children confidently follow well-rehearsed routines for washing their hands before lunch and wiping their faces afterwards. Older children understand the importance of washing the germs off their hands. They enjoy the home cooked meals. They develop their physical skills and independence as they chop fruit and serve their own lunch. Staff remind children to drink water to keep their bodies and brains hydrated.
• Staff provide a well-planned environment and good quality open-ended resources. This invites children to explore freely and engage fully with the learning opportunities. Older children have free access to outdoor play and learning throughout most of the day. Children learn about their community through regular outings to the local library, fire station or nearby parks. However, outdoor play is not consistently provided for all age-groups. For example, younger children do not access outdoor play as often as the older children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve younger children's access to outdoor play and learning
• consider an even more focused approach to children's language development to help speed up their progress.