Bellfield Daycare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff greet children warmly as they enter the nursery. Children are happy to attend and settle quickly into their play. Staff take time to build relationships with children so that they feel safe and secure. This supports children's personal, social and emotional development. Staff gather information from parents about their child's likes and dislikes at the start of their placement. This helps staff to plan effectively to meet their individual needs from the start. Staff share information with parents about the curriculum, the intent for children's learning and ideas for continuing their child's learning at home. This helps to build very positive partnerships with parents from the start.

Staff encourage children's awareness of the expectations of behaviour. They act as positive role models to children, who in turn behave well. Children learn to share and take turns during their play. Staff recognise children's achievements and offer praise and encouragement. This builds children's confidence and self-esteem. Staff continually encourage children's independence. Children understand the importance of washing their hands at appropriate times during the day. They learn to put on their coats ready to go outside to play, and they use the bathroom independently. Younger children sleep safely because staff follow effective routines and practices.

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

• Managers and staff work in partnership to ensure that children enjoy a wealth of experiences to support their ongoing learning and development. Staff access training to enhance their knowledge and skills. Staff well-being is a priority, and time is taken to talk about the service and share new ideas. Staff gather the views of parents to continually evaluate and enhance the provision.
• Staff encourage children's understanding of eating foods that are good for their bodies. They enjoy a variety of meals that are freshly prepared each day. Children's dietary needs are well known and catered for. Stringent routines are in place to ensure that children with allergies and dietary needs do not access foods that may make them poorly. Children at snack time are given food without plates, which means some of it falls onto the carpet area. This does not encourage good hygiene practices or support children's social skills.
• Children are very active and freely explore resources and toys that are attractively displayed within the rooms. However, at times, there are too many children involved in planned activities, noise levels rise and the environment appears chaotic. This impacts on children's learning and play.
• Children learn about the living world and are actively involved in caring for the nursery pets. Staff remind children about treating the African snails carefully and the correct way to hold them to make the snails come out of their shells. Children recognise the foods the snails like, such as apple, lettuce and carrots.
• They place them directly in front of the snails and watch how the snails eat them. Children confidently handle the snails and enjoy spraying water over them to give them a shower.
• Children's physical development is supported well, and they benefit from plenty of fresh air and exercise. They particularly enjoy rolling large cable drums down slopes and watching which one reaches the bottom first, chasing after them. Children involve staff to recreate the story of 'The Three Little Pigs'. They pretend the climbing apparatus is their house and squeal with delight as staff try to blow their house down.
• Partnership with parents is good. Parents are very happy with the care and learning opportunities staff provide for their children. They feel that staff keep them informed and involved in their child's learning. Parents are happy with the progress their children are making.
• Children learn about cultural events that take place throughout the year. They see positive images of people from differing cultural backgrounds and with different abilities through resources and books. Children enjoy talking about their own families. They delight in looking at their learning journals, where they can access photos of themselves with their families and recall what they were doing.
• The manager and staff are quick to respond if they identify possible gaps in children's learning. They work collaboratively with parents and outside agencies to ensure that children receive the support they need as soon as possible. This helps children make the best possible progress from their starting points.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide children with appropriate utensils at snack time to provide better hygiene practices and support children's social skills
• consider the organisation of daily routines to minimise disruption to children's learning and play.