Beech Tree Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children and their families receive a warm welcome from leaders on arrival. They exchange any relevant information that may impact on the children's day. This helps staff to meet the ever-changing needs of children. Babies take great delight in being creative. For instance, they search for items in the tray filled with shredded paper. They copy staff as they say 'one, two, three', then toss the paper in the air, watching in wonder as it falls. This helps to maintain babies' interest in their activity, building their concentration. Children enjoy looking at books with staff, pointing out aspects on the pages and using their words to talk about them. Staff extend this, such as by adding additional words, helping children to constantly hear more vocabulary. Children learn the differing parts of a book, such as when staff talk about the next or last page.

Children learn to be resilient. For example, if they accidentally take a tumble, they assess their situation quickly and promptly get themselves back to their feet. This encourages children to learn to manage their own well-being and to try again. Toddlers learn about music and rhythm as they explore instruments. Staff extend learning, introducing words to replicate the sounds the children make with their instruments. Toddlers enthusiastically show their recall skills, and they sing nursery rhymes with great gusto. Pre-school-age children show clear interest in knowing and using simple sign language. For example, they ask staff about the sign for jellyfish and then proceed to draw one. Staff seamlessly weave counting and calculations into the activity. This increases children's understanding of how many things they have and how many more they need.

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

• There are clear intentions for children's learning. Leaders offer an effective curriculum, which contributes to staff planning worthwhile activities and experiences for children's learning. They implement a clear system to enable staff to observe and assess children's development. Staff use this information alongside children's interests to plan for what children need to learn next.
• Leaders have highly effective processes for supporting staff's well-being and ongoing training. Staff have a full induction to help ensure they are secure in their roles and responsibilities. There are procedures for the completion of individual meetings with staff, where leaders and staff review ongoing training and development opportunities. Leaders ensure that staff receive good levels of challenge to expand their knowledge of the theory underpinning their roles.
• Leaders have a secure and working knowledge of how to assess the impact of staff's interactions with children. They recognise how to best support individual members of staff to enhance their knowledge and build their teaching skills. Staff comment about the very good levels of support they receive from the leaders for their well-being.
• Staff show respect to children from a young age. For example, they ask babies if they can help wipe their faces after eating and if they can change their nappy. However, staff occasionally use language that does not fully support positive reinforcement. They do not consistently provide children with simple explanations as to the possible consequences of their actions and the impact of these on themselves and others.
• Staff understand their key children's personalities, interests and learning needs. There is clear and effective support for children with any special educational needs and/or disabilities. This includes prompt referrals, seeking guidance and liaising with parents and any professionals involved in children's care and education. This enables all children to access opportunities to help them make the progress that they are capable of.
• Staff readily extend and challenge children's learning during children's chosen play. For example, once children decide to build a volcano with the sand, staff explore with children how they could represent the lava flow. This contributes to helping children to use their critical-thinking skills and extending their understanding of the world.
• Staff use a variety of strategies to enable all children to make choices about their play and learning. However, they do not consistently support children to fully understand what is happening next, especially when staff announce changes to the routine. Sometimes, this interrupts children's enjoyment of their activity and does not give them time to prepare for what is happening next.
• Parent partnerships are good. Staff readily share information about the routines of the day with parents receiving real-time information through an online system. Key persons share children's developmental information at the regular parents' days and through written reports. Leaders plan to offer even more updates to parents on children's learning and development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance staff's understanding of effective techniques and the use of positive reinforcement to further support children's understanding of the consequences of their actions
• strengthen staff's knowledge of consistently supporting all children to understand what is happening next, including changes of routine.