Aunty Sue's Day Care

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are supported to understand their feelings and emotions. For instance, younger children learn how to show different facial expressions, such as happy, funny and angry. Older children listen to staff read stories about characters in books who are worried. They learn why characters in stories feel a certain way and talk about their own experiences of feeling worried.

Staff encourage children to have a positive attitude to learning. For instance, when children say that they cannot put on an apron, staff encourage them and ask children to push one arm in at a time. This encourages children to persevere. Staff give children plenty of praise for their achievements. For example, when younger children manage to move a toy car that is stuck in dough, staff give them a 'high five', helping to raise their self-esteem. Children learn how to use tools for a purpose. Younger children copy staff and look through magnifying glasses to closely observe objects. Older children are supported by staff to understand where to put their fingers when they use scissors to cut. Additional funding that some children receive is spent effectively to help close gaps in their learning. For instance, support from staff offers children additional group times to help them understand language to describe quantity. This contributes to building on their mathematic skills.

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

• Staff support children's language skills well. For example, they sing songs with children and use descriptive words to build on their vocabulary, such as 'crunch' and 'pat'. When children say words incorrectly, staff repeat words correctly, helping them to hear the correct pronunciation.
• Staff provide children with a curriculum that promotes their independence, helping them to learn skills for the future. For example, staff help younger children to use tongs to serve themselves cucumber and carrots during snack time. Older children competently use tongs to serve their food at lunchtime.
• Children are keen to join activities that staff offer them. For instance, older children learn how to identify different colours when they mix paint. However, sometimes during group times, staff do not support younger children to understand the choices they make. For example, staff ask children to select a stick that represents a nursery rhyme. The sticks show the written name of the nursery rhyme. Therefore, children do not understand which song they chose.
• Staff are supported well by the management team. For example, they attend supervision meetings to help them reflect on their practice. Staff are supported to build on their knowledge of how to promote children's learning. For instance, recent training has helped staff to identify how to adapt activities to meet the different ways in which children like to learn.
• Staff help children to show positive behaviours. For example, they remind children to share when they use cardboard tubes and paint to make firework patterns. Older children listen to and follow staff's instructions when they ask them to put toys away and wash their hands in preparation for lunchtime.
• Parents and carers appreciate the support that they receive from staff for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They appreciate the referrals that staff make to other professionals to support their child's individual needs.
• Children have opportunities to learn how to care for animals. They help staff to clean, feed and pet the nursery guinea pigs. Children say that the guinea pigs like to eat salad and peppers.
• Staff have a good knowledge of their key children's learning, including those with SEND. They observe children and identify what they need to learn next. However, this information is not always shared fully across the staff team. At times, when staff are absent, other staff do not recognise how best to help some children with their learning.
• Children are invited to attend settling-in sessions before they start attending. This helps children to become familiar with staff and the environment. Staff support children well during this time. For instance, they give them comfort, get down on their level to share books and provide children with reassurance. This results in children settling quickly and showing that they feel safe and secure in staff's care.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to support younger children to understand the choices they make during group times
• strengthen the sharing of information between children's key person and other staff so that children's learning is promoted more consistently.