Blackmoor Badgers

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thoroughly enjoy their time at the setting. They arrive confident and eager to learn, demonstrating that they feel safe and secure. Children form meaningful relationships with staff, who are caring and considerate. Children have lots of opportunities to learn about what makes them unique. For example, they compare their lunches and regularly discuss their likes and dislikes. Staff place great importance in nurturing children's individual characteristics. As a result, children feel valued and develop high levels of self-esteem.

Children have lots of opportunities to develop skills they will need for future writing. For example, they practise large arm movements as they paint with water in the garden. Children practise their fine motor skills as they use pens to create their own interpretation of insects. They demonstrate good hand control as they draw straight lines for legs and circles for body parts. Furthermore, children enjoy exploring letters and sounds. While drawing, they discuss how their marks resemble letters found within their own name. This helps create a secure foundation on which future learning can be built.

Overall, children behave well. They listen, follow instructions and engage in activities for extended periods. Children begin to gain an awareness of the feelings of others. They show care and concern, recognising behaviours that might cause their friends harm, such as banging elbows on tables. Children start to develop negotiation skills when playing together. However, on occasion, staff do not respond to potential conflict at the earliest opportunity. As a result, disagreements can take longer to resolve.

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

• The manager and staff have a secure understanding of their curriculum and what they want children to learn. They use assessment well to identify what children already know and what they need to learn next, prioritising any potential gaps in development swiftly. The manager has a secure overview of staff practice and how this links to the progress children make. As a result, all children, including those in receipt of additional funding, are making good progress across all learning areas.
• Staff recognise children's fascination with construction and use this to introduce mathematical concepts, such as measure. While creating towers, children use words such as 'taller', 'longer' and 'shorter'. Children compare the height of their towers and add their creations together to make the tower taller. Children then use number cards and stones as they count the cubes in sequence and find the correct corresponding number. This helps children develop the skills they will need for their next stage in learning.
• Overall, children gain an early understanding of how to keep their bodies safe and healthy. For instance, children learn about healthy choices as they discuss items of food and how these provide their bodies with energy. They understand the importance of keeping their hands clean and regularly engage in hygiene routines. However, on occasion, staff miss opportunities to extend children's knowledge of cross contamination as they share each other's handwashing water. As a result, children do not gain consistent knowledge of the risks of cross-contamination.
• Children have lots of opportunities to develop their gross motor skills and core strength as they play in the well-resourced garden. This helps children build the strength and control they need to be successful future learners. Children concentrate intently as they fill containers with water and transport them with care. They demonstrate good coordination and spatial awareness as they climb, run, bounce, dig and navigate slopes skilfully.
• Staff support children's speech and language development well, providing them with the skills to be effective communicators. They commentate on children's play and model language well, simplifying or providing more complex questions depending on children's individual learning needs. Children chatter freely throughout the day, practising new vocabulary. They enjoy discussing recent events, such as the King's coronation, and sharing their love of books with each other.
• Staff provide opportunities to develop children's critical thinking. For instance, while preparing for lunch, staff direct children's attention to the table layout. Children identify that one table has too many plates for the number of seats and that the other has too few. Children then work together to redistribute the plates correctly. They show determination and resilience when experiencing setbacks. For example, children explore different ways of securing blocks when towers continue to break, demonstrating resilience. As a result, children are developing positive attitudes towards their learning.
• Partnership working with parents and professionals is effective. Parents are happy with the care and education their children receive during their time at the setting. They comment positively on the progress children make, particularly in regards to communication and language skills. Parents are kept up to date on children's progress and receive informative newsletters. This helps extend children's learning at home, creating consistency. Staff work in partnership with local schools to provide a seamless transition.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• utilise all opportunities to extend children's understanding of why hygiene practices are important in maintaining good health
• extend children's opportunities to practise newly acquired turn-taking skills, helping them gain a deeper understanding of their own feelings and those of others.