Avenue Playgroup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily at this setting and are greeted warmly by staff. They find their name cards and place them in the self-registration box before hanging their bags on their pegs. Very quickly, children are engaged in a range of activities and games with their friends and with adults. They demonstrate positive attitudes to their play, sharing the resources and waiting for their turn. Staff act as positive role models and gently remind children of the expected behaviours.

Leaders have thought carefully about the curriculum. Staff use their comprehensive understanding of their key children to plan interesting and exciting activities that support and extend children's learning. For example, children dig in the sand and search for shells and pebbles following a recent trip to the beach. Staff understand what motivates children. They consider how to organise the environment to meet children's interests. For example, children who enjoy connecting spend long periods of time creating large vehicles from magnetic shapes.

Children confidently lead their play. They engage and interact with peers, showing kindness and respect as they collaborate on ideas. For example, they create ramps for the toy cars, exploring what happens to their speed when the ramps get higher.

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

• Children make good progress in their learning and development. Staff capture starting points when children join. They use observation and assessment effectively to identify what children know and can do and plan appropriate next steps for children's learning. As a result, children know more and remember more. For example, as children scoop and mould the sand, they remember that sand needs to be wet to make a sandcastle. However, staff do not always help children to develop mathematical language, such as 'full' and 'empty', as they play.
• Children explore the environments with curiosity. Outside, children create large bubbles with wands. They explain how the dish contains soap 'which makes the bubbles so big'. Inside, children clean 'babies' with soap and rinse them off in the baby bath. Staff support children's communication and language very well. For example, they ask children to describe the smell, and they comment that it smells 'washy'.
• Staff weave prior teaching into the curriculum. For example, they make butterfly collage pictures that link to their topic about insects. Children use images of butterflies to create pictures from a range of craft materials. Children explain how the caterpillar changed into a butterfly and then 'flew into the daisies'.
• Children are developing their independence. They manage their personal hygiene, such as using the toilet and washing their hands. They are developing an awareness of what makes them unique as they recognise their photographs on pegs and personal boxes. Children are beginning to notice the similarities and differences between themselves and others. As a result, children are developing confidence and self-esteem.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress in their learning. Staff provide targeted and well-considered support through individual support plans. Parents are involved in conversations about next steps and the progress children are making.
• Relationships between staff and children are nurturing and kind. Staff take time to settle and reassure children who are upset. Children show kindness to their friends. For example, when children cannot reach the 'superhero' cloak, other children step in to help them.
• Leaders use self-evaluation regularly. Regular training helps to support improvements in the curriculum and the quality of teaching. However, the impact of training is not always measured to determine if staff have applied this new knowledge to their practice. For example, staff do not always extend children's thinking enough to help them develop their own ideas, despite attending training to support this.
• Parents speak highly of staff. They commend the excellent communication and range of experiences children have. Parents appreciate the number of outings children attend and how safe and happy their children are. They feel that their children are making good progress and have made many friends.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide further opportunities for children to develop mathematical language through their play and learning
• develop self-evaluation further to consider the impact that training has on the quality of teaching and curriculum improvements.